Hi all
Comparing PM-3 and Hifiman HE400, which is better? What will I get and what will I lose if I change my he400 to pm-3? I like the he400, but I want the closed headphones.
Hi all
Comparing PM-3 and Hifiman HE400, which is better? What will I get and what will I lose if I change my he400 to pm-3? I like the he400, but I want the closed headphones.
You have your answer already. If you want a closed headphone the PM3 is excellent. I personally think the HE400i (which I owned) is more dynamic, but both are excellent and engaging.
One thing i dig about the PM-3— they take to EQ very well. Fixing that m-shaped bump from 100-300hz (according to innerfidelity’s FRG) cleans up the transition from bass to mids and improves soundstage a bit. That bump might partially responsible for the narrow sound, perhaps? Also boosted the sub-bass (and top octave) a bit and that sounds great.
Even though the stock voicing for the PM-3 is a bit mid-humped, with EQ, they can be flattened, extended, and generally tweaked to a variety of preferences. As long as you’re looking for something fairly neutral.
I want closed, but not at the expense of sound quality. Especially PM-3 is more expensive.
I'm a bit worried that many people say that PM-3 is "boring".
I want closed, but not at the expense of sound quality. Especially PM-3 is more expensive.
I'm a bit worried that many people say that PM-3 is "boring".
Well, in the world of closed planar headphones, if you prefer to stay with planar, I think you would be hard pressed to find better than the PM3 (at that price point) but certainly it lacks a little energy up top, but not everybody finds that boring. However, you might find it boring. Are you able to try it first which of course would be my suggestion. Personally I really liked the PM3, but I won't lie, I did hear it as a little restrained up top, but not enough to overshadow the other excellent qualities that I found it had. Good luck with however you go.
Well, in the world of closed planar headphones, if you prefer to stay with planar, I think you would be hard pressed to find better than the PM3 (at that price point) but certainly it lacks a little energy up top, but not everybody finds that boring. However, you might find it boring. Are you able to try it first which of course would be my suggestion. Personally I really liked the PM3, but I won't lie, I did hear it as a little restrained up top, but not enough to overshadow the other excellent qualities that I found it had. Good luck with however you go.
I have been tracking pm3 (and EL-8) for a long time on ebay, but I have not found it at an interesting price yet (in case I do not like it, will sell it without losses). Otherwise I would have already bought it and listened to it. I like my headphones. I want closed headphones, but it's not necessary. I would gladly buy PM3, but if I'm sure that they will suit me and will not be worse than old headphones.
And further. Perhaps this is a stupid question, but I will ask
Due to the closed design, are there any extraneous sounds, distortions, reverberations? I do not know how to write this in English, sorry. I've never had good closed headphones. All my cheap closed headphones sounded flat, I heard a drone that probably arose from the resonance of the casing. That's why I always used to prefer open headphones.
Are there any such problems on PM-3?
I kinda listen to a bunch of genres but mostly rock, pop, electronic, hip-hop, and some classical/soundtracks, but I do get treble fatigue pretty regularly. So I prefer a decent bass boost and some top end treble roll-off to my audiophile neutrality. That just sounds "right" to me.
To that point, I just smoothed out some of the peaks and valleys according to my personal tastes. I boosted the sub-bass (~30Hz) by 2dB (~60Hz) by 1dB, boosted the highest end of my EQ (16kHz) by 1dB. To smooth out some of the mid-humps in the PM-3, I brought down the 125, 250, and 4k parameters down by -1dB. That seemed to push out the soundstage a bit without losing any vocal presence, and allowed the very bottom and top end to bring more to the party, so to speak. Your ears (and EQ for that matter) might prefer a different voicing but I based my minimal tweaks off of Tyll's measurements in the innerfidelity review. That seems like a good place to start.
I just joined but I've had my Oppo pm-3s for about a year now. I can honestly say they are the most disappointing headphones I own.
Boring is an understatement. Bass depth is awful and cannot be fixed with eq, they clearly undersized the planar driver. Yes, they sound clear and resolve well, but so does everything nowadays. Soundstage is mediocre. I really should sell these... But want to see if they scale more when I get my hiby r6. I much prefer my blue Lola and rbh hp2, and many of my IEMs to these.
I don't think it makes sense to try and EQ a headphone too far past its core tonal characteristics. One can tweak something to better suit one's tastes but my limited experience has shown drivers tend to sound like themselves like a kind of gravitational pull. In the case of the PM-3, I just wanted a more extended neutral signature. Not necessarily fun (although I find the PM-3's vocal response can be "fun") but it has its uses.
I don't think it makes sense to try and EQ a headphone too far past its core tonal characteristics. One can tweak something to better suit one's tastes but my limited experience has shown drivers tend to sound like themselves like a kind of gravitational pull. In the case of the PM-3, I just wanted a more extended neutral signature. Not necessarily fun (although I find the PM-3's vocal response can be "fun") but it has its uses.
I don't disagree but think it has to do more with the characteristics of the driver and not how the maker has tuned it. I found the pm-3s bass range to be particularly unresponsive to eq though as I think the driver itself is undersized, therefore simply can't produce what it can't produce.
Compare that my tfz king pro with a 12mm driver, which is tuned pretty balanced, but if you EQ the bass it can really crank it out because of the capabilities of the driver...
I'll begin by saying sound is subjective & I agree with those here who say trying to EQ a planar is pointless & I will also add ridiculous as it all depends on the driver & how it's tuned, like Scioc said.
For all those who say the PM 3 is boring, what are they actually listening to & how good is the source, have those same people tried the PM 3 with the balanced cable as this changes the sound to wider & rear facing rather than narrow & front facing, there is more 'precieved head room' whether this is really the case or not is tricky to tell & largely subjective.
Also, after source, amplification is important as that makes a difference as well to how sound is precieved.
As an example, I never EQ anything as a general rule unless there is a specific purpose in mind which is hardly ever.
If after a different sound, I rather change headphones.
Andr_id,
If you experience extraneous sounds, distortions, reverberations, I check your source first, not to mention you get what you pay for.
It also depends what you mean by 'cheap headphones' as there are good cheap headphones which are better in some cases than their pricer counterparts though this is highly subjective.
Always demo with good quality sources, trust your own ears, not anyone else's.
Is there a good relatively cheap balanced cable you can recommend? I get my hiby r6 soon and want to give these a chance with that to see the scaling. Kind of thought balanced would require a rewire on these, and an Amazon search doesn't turn up anything reliable.
I just downloaded and installed a trial copy of Sonarworks True-Fi headphone Calibration App for Maci to see how it might improve my Oppo PM3 headphones, which BTW I am very pleased with, for classical music, playing either from my 2016 MacBook Pro, on my bedroom system plugged into the headphone output of my Audio Labs M-DAC or on the move, with my iPod touch and Oppo HA2-SE DAC/Headphone amp. However, nothing is so good it cannot be improved. After installation of True-Fi, I tried listening on my MBP with True-Fi enabled and then disabled on the button on the app. With True Fi running but not enabled, the sound was awful, thin and muffled but then improved hugely when I enabled the app. "Wow this app really does the business..........but hang on a minute", I thought, "I don't remember them sounding that bad before I installed True-Fi". So instead of disabling True Fi with the button on the app, I shut the app down totally. The excellent sound I remembered from my PM3's returned. I did this a couple of times to make sure it was not my ears. The sound of the PM3's with the app not running at all, is virtually identical to the app running and enabled but totally different to the app running but not enabled. Sorry Sonarworks, I will not be buying after this underhand wheeze to try and fool me into buying. Snake Oil!
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