bobjew
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2002
- Posts
- 490
- Likes
- 10
About a month ago, I got an email from Xin Feng about the OPA 637 opamp. He thought it may sound good in the XP-7 I have because it uses the same buffers as the ones he was experimenting with for the SuperMono and he found the combination especially good.
A couple of days later, a package from Xin arrived in the mail with a pair of OPA637's mounted on Brown Dog adapters specially hand trimmed to fit into a future SuperMono. It looked like approx. 1-1.5 mm was shaved off of each side of the Brown Dogs very close to the legs.
I installed them that night into the XP-7 and the sound was totally underwhelming. The overall sound was very nice right out of the box, but lacking in detail, congested, and "small" sounding. I left it on without high hopes for these and went to bed.
After a night of play, the opamps the next morning sounded much better, they were actually loosening up and sounding bigger in the Bass and everwhere else.
After 3 days of play the OPA's were showing great promise. By 10 days. they were burned-in and fantastic. They are what I have been looking for. Finally, everything sounded "right", very accurate and really real.
I am an OPA man and never knew it! The XP-7 was sounding the best I've heard. Perfect sibilance rendering with any female voice to go through it. Never unaturally hissy or blown out. Greater Bass and high frquency control than any of the AD opamps tried.
The only problem is that the batteries in the XP only lasted for 4 good hours of play.
Now I'm thinking the SM will be something awesome because the opamps, buffers and battery life will be optimized and maxed out for it.
A couple of weeks ago, my buddy George and I took another trip to Davis and lo and behold, Beta versions of the SM on Xin's bench.
In what's becoming a running joke with us, I grab 'em off the bench and put them in my bag.
As is now also customary, we go to dinner and out come the amps. Xin proceeds to explain the three different versions. I give two back- the version with the (x3) stacked buffers, OPA 637 appealed to me the most.
After much experience with all the versions of Xin's amps, I find the Bass Boost, Impedance adjustment, etc., always turned off so I can live without those items. Now there's a choice- you can have the extras or not.
After having some experience with burn-in of the opamps, this amp got the same burn-in; about 10 days. I have been listening to the SM exclusively since then.
Can't believe my ears, as they say. Here is the list of the adjectives in Rohrsharch form:
warm. complex. sexy. round. detailed. refined. fun. powerful. realistic.
With piano such as the Steinway that Hiromi uses (Brain, Another Mind/Telarc) the SM gets it sounding very much like the Steinway she played here in Oakland a short time ago. On female vocals, it nails Diana Krall's or Bjork's voice without excessive sibilance or brightness. Cymbals are sweet and hyper detailed. Mile's trumpet is just the right brassiness.
Horizontal stereo separation is off the map and out to the limits of perception. Very good front/back separation but not spectacular. Bass is stellar due to the stacked buffers. This amp goes way down with great tightness, detail and slam, but only when appropriate- when its in the music.
The musicscape here is extremely complex, full of detail, macro and micro. You are presented with an overwhelming and involving amount of raw material and difficult to unravel in one listen sometimes. The other amp that I have heard that has this quality is the MPX3.
I tried several phones with the SM. Grado HP-1000's, Senn 580 w/Zu cable, and the trusty Ety 4s's.
The best synergy seems to be with the Senns and Etys. The Grados sounded a little flat and one dimensional with this setup. (Current porta system: 3G Ipod, SuperMono beta 3.5, Headphile Black Coral, Ety4s)
I agree with blessingx about the case and the exterior appointments of this amp. Not bad, but we've all seen Hammond cases and the front and rear panels are nowhere near the finish of the HeadRoom, LaRocca or Ray Samuels cases.
Another reason I picked the amp I did is that it didn't have any graphics on it. Amp designers should not attempt graphic design as most of their trys are pathetically bad. Just because you have a computer it doesn't mean you can be good at the art of graphic/logo design. Graphics designers spend many years learning their craft. The best graphics IMO is La Rocca and HeadRoom. There, I've said it!
We all come here for the sound though, and the SuperMono is an incredible and clever piece of work in that respect.
A couple of days later, a package from Xin arrived in the mail with a pair of OPA637's mounted on Brown Dog adapters specially hand trimmed to fit into a future SuperMono. It looked like approx. 1-1.5 mm was shaved off of each side of the Brown Dogs very close to the legs.
I installed them that night into the XP-7 and the sound was totally underwhelming. The overall sound was very nice right out of the box, but lacking in detail, congested, and "small" sounding. I left it on without high hopes for these and went to bed.
After a night of play, the opamps the next morning sounded much better, they were actually loosening up and sounding bigger in the Bass and everwhere else.
After 3 days of play the OPA's were showing great promise. By 10 days. they were burned-in and fantastic. They are what I have been looking for. Finally, everything sounded "right", very accurate and really real.
I am an OPA man and never knew it! The XP-7 was sounding the best I've heard. Perfect sibilance rendering with any female voice to go through it. Never unaturally hissy or blown out. Greater Bass and high frquency control than any of the AD opamps tried.
The only problem is that the batteries in the XP only lasted for 4 good hours of play.
Now I'm thinking the SM will be something awesome because the opamps, buffers and battery life will be optimized and maxed out for it.
A couple of weeks ago, my buddy George and I took another trip to Davis and lo and behold, Beta versions of the SM on Xin's bench.
In what's becoming a running joke with us, I grab 'em off the bench and put them in my bag.
As is now also customary, we go to dinner and out come the amps. Xin proceeds to explain the three different versions. I give two back- the version with the (x3) stacked buffers, OPA 637 appealed to me the most.
After much experience with all the versions of Xin's amps, I find the Bass Boost, Impedance adjustment, etc., always turned off so I can live without those items. Now there's a choice- you can have the extras or not.
After having some experience with burn-in of the opamps, this amp got the same burn-in; about 10 days. I have been listening to the SM exclusively since then.
Can't believe my ears, as they say. Here is the list of the adjectives in Rohrsharch form:
warm. complex. sexy. round. detailed. refined. fun. powerful. realistic.
With piano such as the Steinway that Hiromi uses (Brain, Another Mind/Telarc) the SM gets it sounding very much like the Steinway she played here in Oakland a short time ago. On female vocals, it nails Diana Krall's or Bjork's voice without excessive sibilance or brightness. Cymbals are sweet and hyper detailed. Mile's trumpet is just the right brassiness.
Horizontal stereo separation is off the map and out to the limits of perception. Very good front/back separation but not spectacular. Bass is stellar due to the stacked buffers. This amp goes way down with great tightness, detail and slam, but only when appropriate- when its in the music.
The musicscape here is extremely complex, full of detail, macro and micro. You are presented with an overwhelming and involving amount of raw material and difficult to unravel in one listen sometimes. The other amp that I have heard that has this quality is the MPX3.
I tried several phones with the SM. Grado HP-1000's, Senn 580 w/Zu cable, and the trusty Ety 4s's.
The best synergy seems to be with the Senns and Etys. The Grados sounded a little flat and one dimensional with this setup. (Current porta system: 3G Ipod, SuperMono beta 3.5, Headphile Black Coral, Ety4s)
I agree with blessingx about the case and the exterior appointments of this amp. Not bad, but we've all seen Hammond cases and the front and rear panels are nowhere near the finish of the HeadRoom, LaRocca or Ray Samuels cases.
Another reason I picked the amp I did is that it didn't have any graphics on it. Amp designers should not attempt graphic design as most of their trys are pathetically bad. Just because you have a computer it doesn't mean you can be good at the art of graphic/logo design. Graphics designers spend many years learning their craft. The best graphics IMO is La Rocca and HeadRoom. There, I've said it!
We all come here for the sound though, and the SuperMono is an incredible and clever piece of work in that respect.
