[Koolpep]

   
Thanks keeferdog and others for your input. It definitely helps forming my opinion. I think I will go listen to them for some time, without comparing with my own Hifiman RE400's. One thing you said I don't understand keeferdog. You say that the PM-3's are very good headphones, and perfect for traveling. But...........they are not the cans to use at home listening, to the good stuff, the nice amp and good source. Why not? Which headphone would you recommend for that purpose? Basically, what I want is ONE headphone for both traveling and listening at home. Only, listening at home for me will mean using the same iPhone with DragonFly, not a fancy headphone amp. And since there will be other people around, it has to be a closed back headphone.

The PM-3 is very good - especially with a nice amp and DAC. And they can be used for home listening perfectly well. It just depends on what you are used to and what your budget is. Pair it with a Mojo or like I do with a Liquid Carbon and you are in for a very nice treat. Home listening is absolutely possible and enjoyable.
 
I currently have some Stax and the Focal Elear at home and a few other lovely cans, and the PM-3 still holds up very nicely. I found them boring at first listen, but give them a few hours on your head and all of that is gone, they are engaging and overall amazing headphones that I love after years of owning them. And I have a couple of "better" headphones as well.
 
Will open cans for the same budget sound better? Not so sure, some might, some won't. But for your use case these are a very good choice in my opinion.
 
Would I listen to the PM-3 at home when I can listen to elears? No. But then, different budget.
 
Cheers.

 

[EricDH]

 
The PM-3 is very good - especially with a nice amp and DAC. And they can be used for home listening perfectly well. It just depends on what you are used to and what your budget is. Pair it with a Mojo or like I do with a Liquid Carbon and you are in for a very nice treat. Home listening is absolutely possible and enjoyable.
 
I currently have some Stax and the Focal Elear at home and a few other lovely cans, and the PM-3 still holds up very nicely. I found them boring at first listen, but give them a few hours on your head and all of that is gone, they are engaging and overall amazing headphones that I love after years of owning them. And I have a couple of "better" headphones as well.
 
Will open cans for the same budget sound better? Not so sure, some might, some won't. But for your use case these are a very good choice in my opinion.
 
Would I listen to the PM-3 at home when I can listen to elears? No. But then, different budget.
 
Cheers.

​Thank you Koolpep, very wise and balanced advise. As I said, I will do exactly what you propose, listen to them couple of hours and see how I like them after that. I think that the problem with my earlier listening session was that I kept going back and forth between my own (more forward sounding) Hifiman RE400 and the PM-3. Maybe that can be compared to starting to listen to loudspeakers with soft dome tweeters coming from speakers with metal domes. In the beginning these speakers with soft domes will always sound boring. For me it always takes half an hour or more continued listening before I can appreciate and enjoy these more polite soft domes (my own speakers, Magico S1, have metal domes). It takes time to wash off the sound your ears are used to (at least, in my case).
 
Edit: I checked your profile, and you have an impressive list of headphones you own (understatement of the day). So it looks like you know what you are talking about. Are you still in Dubai? I am in Abu Dhabi. I listened to the PM-3 at the Sound + Vision shop here, which is owned and managed by Dubai Audio. I haven't found any other serious hifi shop in the UAE apart from Dubai Audio. My Devialet 200 comes from there.....

 

[Koolpep]

 
​Thank you Koolpep, very wise and balanced advise. As I said, I will do exactly what you propose, listen to them couple of hours and see how I like them after that. I think that the problem with my earlier listening session was that I kept going back and forth between my own (more forward sounding) Hifiman RE400 and the PM-3. Maybe that can be compared to starting to listen to loudspeakers with soft dome tweeters coming from speakers with metal domes. In the beginning these speakers with soft domes will always sound boring. For me it always takes half an hour or more continued listening before I can appreciate and enjoy these more polite soft domes (my own speakers, Magico S1, have metal domes). It takes time to wash off the sound your ears are used to (at least, in my case).
 
Edit: I checked your profile, and you have an impressive list of headphones you own (understatement of the day). So it looks like you know what you are talking about. Are you still in Dubai? I am in Abu Dhabi. I listened to the PM-3 at the Sound + Vision shop here, which is owned and managed by Dubai Audio. I haven't found any other serious hifi shop in the UAE apart from Dubai Audio. My Devialet 200 comes from there.....

Samma3a.com - run by audiophiles - they have an office that is also a showroom - they have nearly everything available to try and supported me for the last 3 meet ups we had in Dubai:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/764580/dubai-head-fi-meet-8th-may-2015
http://www.head-fi.org/t/800326/3rd-dubai-middle-eastern-headphone-meet-15th-april-2016
http://www.head-fi.org/t/785905/2nd-dubai-headphone-meet-27th-november/15
 
Another great company is: djcorner.ae we used their shop for a meet-up as well twice. Great guys!
 
And in general we have a great loaning philosophy with a couple of head-fiers in the region, so we send each other things we would like to try, have mini-meets etc. So other people don't have to burn through as much cash as I did to find what I liked.
 
Let me know the next time you come to Dubai - we can meet - if there is anything you want to try let me know.
 
Cheers!

 

[EricDH]

 
Samma3a.com - run by audiophiles - they have an office that is also a showroom - they have nearly everything available to try and supported me for the last 3 meet ups we had in Dubai:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/764580/dubai-head-fi-meet-8th-may-2015
http://www.head-fi.org/t/800326/3rd-dubai-middle-eastern-headphone-meet-15th-april-2016
http://www.head-fi.org/t/785905/2nd-dubai-headphone-meet-27th-november/15
 
Another great company is: djcorner.ae we used their shop for a meet-up as well twice. Great guys!
 
And in general we have a great loaning philosophy with a couple of head-fiers in the region, so we send each other things we would like to try, have mini-meets etc. So other people don't have to burn through as much cash as I did to find what I liked.
 
Let me know the next time you come to Dubai - we can meet - if there is anything you want to try let me know.
 
Cheers!

 
I know Samma3a.com, I bought the V-moda XS from them (not for myself). But I didn't know that they have an office annex showroom, and that they are that helpful. Good to know. 
 
And sure I would like to meet, and take part in meet-ups when these are organized. Great to know that there is a hifi (head-fi) community here!

 

[RPL88]

All well and good, but can anyone answer my specific question - is the Oppo's isolation sufficient to allow enjoyment of classical music on a train or (even more challenging) a plane.  For the record, I have Etymotics that I can use on either and PSB M4U2s that I can use on a train and for most classical music (i.e. except for works with the widest dynamic range) on a plane.

well I'm flying with my new refurb pm-3 on Friday on a small prop and a larger bird. Link me up with some tracks you want to know about and what elements you are looking for and I could get back to you--I'm a noob to audiophilia but this could be a fun exercise haha. Tell me a subtlety to a track you really need to hear and I'll let you know my experience trying to hear it (volume, gain, gear, etc.).

 

[jegnyc]

well I'm flying with my new refurb pm-3 on Friday on a small prop and a larger bird. Link me up with some tracks you want to know about and what elements you are looking for and I could get back to you--I'm a noob to audiophilia but this could be a fun exercise haha. Tell me a subtlety to a track you really need to hear and I'll let you know my experience trying to hear it (volume, gain, gear, etc.).

Thanks!
 
Almost any orchestral work from the 19th century will have a large dynamic range,  Even more challenging would be ones that contain soft passages in the lower instruments.  Several that spring to mind are the third movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (especially the end of it as it transitions into the fourth movement), the opening of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony (No. 8), and the opening or second movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony (No. 9).  And from the 18th century, there is always the second movement of Haydn's Surprise Symphony (No. 94).  Let me know how big the surprise is.
 
The test is to find a volume level that allows you to hear the soft passages without doing damage to your ears when the music gets louder.

 

[EricDH]

well I'm flying with my new refurb pm-3 on Friday on a small prop and a larger bird. Link me up with some tracks you want to know about and what elements you are looking for and I could get back to you--I'm a noob to audiophilia but this could be a fun exercise haha. Tell me a subtlety to a track you really need to hear and I'll let you know my experience trying to hear it (volume, gain, gear, etc.).

Thanks!
 
Almost any orchestral work from the 19th century will have a large dynamic range,  Even more challenging would be ones that contain soft passages in the lower instruments.  Several that spring to mind are the third movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (especially the end of it as it transitions into the fourth movement), the opening of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony (No. 8), and the opening or second movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony (No. 9).  And from the 18th century, there is always the second movement of Haydn's Surprise Symphony (No. 94).  Let me know how big the surprise is.
 
The test is to find a volume level that allows you to hear the soft passages without doing damage to your ears when the music gets louder.

The part of Mahler's 2nd Symphony with the chorus would do fine too, for this purpose

 

[Hoax86]

Has anyone had experience with the alpha design labs cable and oppo pm3, looking for advice.

 

[Hoax86]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5MM-TO-3-5MM-MALE-8-Cores-Litz-Braid-Upgrade-Cable-For-OPPO-PM-3-H6-AUX-Car-/112351442639?var=&hash=item1a28aaf6cfms4OKEZkY_MlnGdX7U51KAQ
 
Does this look like a well priced cable upgrade over stock? 
Thanks for any advice

 

[axle_69]

Any recommendations for a transportable amp or amp/dac for the PM3?
 
I bought a PM3 some time ago to replace a DT-48E mostly because of comfort and bass, and although tonally I'm happy with them they seem recessed, like they are difficult to drive. I could plug my 25 Ohms DT-48E directly to a digital piano or to the amplifier of an AQVOX dac and they sounded fantastic (not considering the bass) but the PM3 just sounds like it's starving. I use them only at work and that can be in different places, therefore I need something that I can carry in a backpack and put over the desk, it only needs to be transportable as opposed to truly portable. Would the Chord Mojo or Oppo HA-2SE be enough to drive them?
I guess power per se doesn't say much (a long time ago I built a parallel 300B just with 14W? that could drive my relatively inefficient speakers with more authority than a 60W rated amplifier).

 

[sabloke]

Mojo drives them very well and makes them sound fantastic. Right now I'm on a bus listening to them driven by my LG V20 in high impedance mode. They won't go as loud as they do from the Mojo but the sound is full, indicating there's sufficient power. Also DP-X1 does a great job, especially balanced.

 

[chillaxing]

  Any recommendations for a transportable amp or amp/dac for the PM3?
 
I bought a PM3 some time ago to replace a DT-48E mostly because of comfort and bass, and although tonally I'm happy with them they seem recessed, like they are difficult to drive. I could plug my 25 Ohms DT-48E directly to a digital piano or to the amplifier of an AQVOX dac and they sounded fantastic (not considering the bass) but the PM3 just sounds like it's starving. I use them only at work and that can be in different places, therefore I need something that I can carry in a backpack and put over the desk, it only needs to be transportable as opposed to truly portable. Would the Chord Mojo or Oppo HA-2SE be enough to drive them?
I guess power per se doesn't say much (a long time ago I built a parallel 300B just with 14W? that could drive my relatively inefficient speakers with more authority than a 60W rated amplifier).

 
The pm-3 is efficient enough for a phone but they love power.
 
the ha-2 has good power and would be good enough for the majority, but I've maxed out that amp on high gain and the pm-3 would still ask for more.  I was basically clipping the amp and introducing distortion.  Its when I fed it with an amp with at least 1w of clean power is when they were happy.  The pm-3 can take 500mw of continuous power.
 
I'm a true basshead and will add 10+db into the sub-bass region when I want to bass out, so gobs of power is a necessity for me.
 
I would also suggest the idsd BL besides the ha-2 and mojo.  All three are good.
 
 
of course this is just my point of view for this set.  others might think i'm crazy.

 

[SLC1966]

ADL furutech IHP-35 II is a wonderful combo with PM-3. Can find for $80 new with a little bit of searching.

 

[SLC1966]

Has anyone had experience with the alpha design labs cable and oppo pm3, looking for advice.

ADL furutech IHP-35 II is a wonderful combo with PM-3. Can find for $80 new with a little bit of searching.

 

[whaiyun]

ADL furutech IHP-35 II is a wonderful combo with PM-3. Can find for $80 new with a little bit of searching.

Who sells this product at this price? Thanks in advance. Nevermind, I see that Partsconnexion has a 1.3m for $82
 
But damn the Sennheiser HD-650 3m version of this cable is $250!