Oppo PM-3 : The Portable Planar - Impressions

[megabigeye]

that seems about right due to the measurements at audioscience review! Due to measurements, the HA-2se was not recommended! The dacport ofc is=)

I don't think AudioScienceReview has measurements for the DACportable, do they? I only see measurements for the DACport HD. Different device, similar name.
Also, I don't think the HA-2 SE was "not recommended" because it's a bad device, but because other similar devices measure objectively better* for a lower price. At least that's the way I read it.


*Be careful reading measurements, as a lot of "worse" measurements are already taking about things that are either completely inaudible to humans or don't matter in actual listening scenarios. So it ends up not mattering if something measures better because nobody can actually hear the difference. It'd be nice if ASR spent some time talking about the thresholds of human hearing so people could better understand their measurements, but that'd probably take away some of the cachet of their whole site.
Also, know that good measurements don't necessarily equate to a pleasing sound. In fact, some gear sounds preferable precisely because it "measures poorly," e.g., tubes and vinyl.

 

[Thunder240]

For one, the DACportable is class A. So you’re feeding the PM-3’s good, clean power. It’s also a neutral sounding amp so it’s not making the PM-3’s sound any warmer than they already are. I have a silver cable attached to my PM-3’s. The pairing is detailed, the bass is tight, the midrange is clean and you get some added treble presence from the silver cable and from the treble boost. The PM-3’s sound so much better.

I haven’t tried any pad rolling. My PM’3’s are still in stock form. I’m happy with the sound I’m getting from the DACportable and Moon Audio Silver Dragon Cable.

I agree with Slim’s DACPortable description in regards to the improvement I found with my DACPort HD. I can’t say whether whether the amp sections are the same between the DACPortable and the DACPort HD, but the latter is also class A. Obviously you get some additional features with the DACPortable which could come in handy, namely the interval battery and the the boost. I run mine strictly from the docking station for my laptop. If I had the DACPortable I’d certainly give the bass boost a try.

The only thing about the sound that Slim didn’t mention and which I’ll add is that instrument separation. I consider the DACPort HD to be a somewhat clinical sounding DAC/amp. Not overly so — it’s not at all skimpy (as the power measurements on ASR show), it just doesn’t add any meat that isn’t already there. I heard this same characteristic on the Centrance M8 that I borrowed from a friend, so it might be a house sound. Anyhow, this works best on headphones that are rich, warm, meaty, and whose sound is very coherent, which the PM3 is in my opinion. It doesn’t work as well on Headphones that are already geared to studio listening, nor on headphones where the instruments don’t fit together coherently. It finds the edges of each instrument and puts some air around them, which I find is nice in moderation, but it’s possible to go overboard on this which detracts from the listening experience. PM3 + DACPort HD is just right IMO!

 

[W1ll1eTheP1mp]

I agree with Slim’s DACPortable description in regards to the improvement I found with my DACPort HD. I can’t say whether whether the amp sections are the same between the DACPortable and the DACPort HD, but the latter is also class A. Obviously you get some additional features with the DACPortable which could come in handy, namely the interval battery and the the boost. I run mine strictly from the docking station for my laptop. If I had the DACPortable I’d certainly give the bass boost a try.

The only thing about the sound that Slim didn’t mention and which I’ll add is that instrument separation. I consider the DACPort HD to be a somewhat clinical sounding DAC/amp. Not overly so — it’s not at all skimpy (as the power measurements on ASR show), it just doesn’t add any meat that isn’t already there. I heard this same characteristic on the Centrance M8 that I borrowed from a friend, so it might be a house sound. Anyhow, this works best on headphones that are rich, warm, meaty, and whose sound is very coherent, which the PM3 is in my opinion. It doesn’t work as well on Headphones that are already geared to studio listening, nor on headphones where the instruments don’t fit together coherently. It finds the edges of each instrument and puts some air around them, which I find is nice in moderation, but it’s possible to go overboard on this which detracts from the listening experience. PM3 + DACPort HD is just right IMO!

But how is the batterylife/draining?

 

[Thunder240]

But how is the batterylife/draining?

sorry I wasn’t clear. I’m running it from the docking station, which is wall-powered. Therefore, there is no drain my the laptop’s battery, but clearly there would be drain if I were running it directly from the USB port on the laptop which itself is running on battery.

If that’s how you’re thinking of running it, I suggest you post a question on a Centrance owner’s thread.

 

[hakunamakaka]

Does anyone know which cable would fit for pm3 on balanced 4.4mm input ? Looking through ali express and can't find any.

I've ordered lotoo S1 portable dac/amp and balanced output has a bit more juice there. So far haven't found better sounding portable hp

 

[megabigeye]

But how is the batterylife/draining?

I don't have any experience with the DACport HD, but on the second page of the comments on ASR, amirm posted a comparison of current draw vs. the Dragonfly Red. According to that, the DACport HD draws three times a much current during playback and six times as much current during idle compared to the DFR.
My DFR would drain my phones' batteries between 5% and 10% per hour, depending on which phone. I'd extrapolate that the DACport would drain between 15% and 30%.

That's just a rough guess, though. You should definitely ask in the appropriate thread if you want want a more experienced answer.

 

[W1ll1eTheP1mp]

I don't have any experience with the DACport HD, but on the second page of the comments on ASR, amirm posted a comparison of current draw vs. the Dragonfly Red. According to that, the DACport HD draws three times a much current during playback and six times as much current during idle compared to the DFR.
My DFR would drain my phones' batteries between 5% and 10% per hour, depending on which phone. I'd extrapolate that the DACport would drain between 15% and 30%.

That's just a rough guess, though. You should definitely ask in the appropriate thread if you want want a more experienced answer.

crap! That's lot! Hmm.. im still msg with the guy who has the ifi hip-dac! Ive read a crap ton about dac/amps the last week and idk what to do.

Alot of pm-3 owner says that they benefit/scale with amping. And offcourse im curious about that.

But on the other hand, due the way dac and amps work , they should be totally transparent!? Just boost the volume? I saw the dac/amp side by side on oluv's gadgets and they sound very very similiar.

I dont have any experience with it though! Idk if its worth it or if it matters. I even read that several people say thay pm-3 will be better than it is with balanced cable?

Well, i think the most reasonable thing to do is to maybe buy the ifi dac at that price. If i cant hear a difference, i atleast can stream MQA on tidal with UAPP??

my last problem: Pads from brainwavz or aliexpress? Hmmm. It is to much options! Angled or not, bla bla bla! Hehehe.. life is hard!=)

 

[hakunamakaka]

crap! That's lot! Hmm.. im still msg with the guy who has the ifi hip-dac! Ive read a crap ton about dac/amps the last week and idk what to do.

Alot of pm-3 owner says that they benefit/scale with amping. And offcourse im curious about that.

But on the other hand, due the way dac and amps work , they should be totally transparent!? Just boost the volume? I saw the dac/amp side by side on oluv's gadgets and they sound very very similiar.

I dont have any experience with it though! Idk if its worth it or if it matters. I even read that several people say thay pm-3 will be better than it is with balanced cable?

Well, i think the most reasonable thing to do is to maybe buy the ifi dac at that price. If i cant hear a difference, i atleast can stream MQA on tidal with UAPP??

my last problem: Pads from brainwavz or aliexpress? Hmmm. It is to much options! Angled or not, bla bla bla! Hehehe.. life is hard!=)

Mostly differences will be subtle between various dac/amp, for me iphone is not sufficient for pm3 and with external dac/amp, sound is more clean and pleasant.

If you are on the budget you can get a battery powered portable amp for 15$ from ali, power wise it will be more than enough for pm3.

From my experience colouring doesn't mean it's bad, I had a chance to test pm3 with standalone hp tube dac/amp and trust me these pm3 can sing, their limitation is the size of the driver and small soundstage, but I can live with it because I love pm3 sound tuning a lot

 

[W1ll1eTheP1mp]

Got sick of that black dandruff so I peeled all of it off. Now I've got a grey headband that looks pretty good. Ned to rub a bit more along the seams but otherwise all clean.
It's a bummer the fabric is not black instead. The headphone would have looked much better that way... At least no more black dandruff, yay!

Two years ago I got lucky to find two pairs of Oppo genuine pads that I purchased for about $27 US with postage so the little planars will be good to go for another 5 years at least

Wow! Can u ex9lain what u did here?=)

 

[hakunamakaka]

Wow! Can u ex9lain what u did here?=)

Nothing was done he just removed remainings of that fake leather

 

[kotaku]

These were my first "real" headphones and I loved them so much...they lasted for a little over 2.5 years of heavy daily use. The pads were basically disintegrating/falling off at the end. I wish they were still around.

 

[megabigeye]

These were my first "real" headphones and I loved them so much...they lasted for a little over 2.5 years of heavy daily use. The pads were basically disintegrating/falling off at the end. I wish they were still around.

Do you still have them? Are they still functioning? Do you realize that Oppo is still able to replace pads? If you're in the US, it's $40 for the ear pads and $100 for ear and headband pads, but more elsewhere. A page or two back in the thread, somebody posted a link to another company that can replace all padding. Vesper Audio, maybe? Can't remember off the top of my head. Brainwavz has inexpensive ear pads that work, too, but no headband.
It'd be a shame to not use the headphones just because the padding is worn out.

EDIT: Vesper Audio, third image.

 

[kotaku]

Oh you're kidding! I looked into replacement ear pads a little bit but gave up since Oppo stopped making them, their warranty was expired, and the ear pads didn't even seem like they were meant to be replacable. I ended up giving them away.

 

[megabigeye]

Steal them back!

Oh, man! That sssuuuccckkksss!

 

[kotaku]

Ah, it's fine haha. I'm trying to move more away from headphones and into speakers anyway because of recent tinnitus. I will say I was shocked how hard it was to find a real replacement or upgrade for these. The Mr Speakers/Dan Clark stuff is so much harder to drive, the Campfire Cascade is seemingly permanently out of stock and has a weird headband design, the Audeze closed backs are so heavy, I didn't like the look of the 99 classics...Focal's closed backs come the closest but are a lot bigger/more expensive.