[jsilver]

I'm a new guy to this forum and I truly enjoy the passion you all have for headphones. I share your passion, so about 2 years ago I purchased one of the 300 Sennheiser Orpheus headphones and amps. Set me back about $13,000 but, I'm a headphone junky. I won't go into detail about the Orpheus, it's simply phenomenal in its ability to produce exquisite resolution across the entire spectrum of our range of hearing from ultra high to ultra low and it also beautifully delineates the various instruments and voices creating a lush and extremely wide soundstage. I have become totally addicted to it's sound, so addicted in fact, that I am not happy listening to anything else. However, I travel a lot and love to listen to good music on the go and when I treadmill walk. Good music helps relieve the pain and suffering of working out. The Orpheus is totally non-portable. I wrote Xin in early March and told him of my goal. I wanted to come as close to duplicating the sound of my Orpheus with a portable set up. So my logic was to purchase the best lightweight headphone that I could find that could be driven by my Sony Walkman. This turned out to be the Grado RS-1. I prefer the Grado's to the Shure E-5c. While the RS-1 delivers beautifully at the high and mid-ranges it suffers at the low end. So, I figured that a portable headphone amp with a high quality bass boost would be perfect and, after reading all of the discussion here on this forum, I choose to go with the SM-1 plus switches (which happily quickly became the SM-3). Xin suggested the Op-amp 627 so that is what I went with. I bought a high quality interconnect as well.
I must agree with the extremely positive statements made here that the SM-3 (with bass boost on) plus the Grado RS-1 has come as close to the sound of my Orpheus + Sony DSD 777es SACD player that I ever thought might be possible. I would estimate that the sound quality of my new portable set up, thanks to the SM-3, is about 90% as good as the Orpheus and at about 1/10 of the cost. I am completely happy and Xin was terrific since we corresponded several times before I made my final decision. It's nice to talk directly to the man behind the machine. He must be some kind of genious to fit an Orpheus into something about the size of a credit card!

 

[Sleestack]

Ok. After buying an SR-71, X-can V3 and MPX3 for myself in the past week, I though an SM v3 would be a nice gift for my wife. I'm a littel confused at the options.

If I want one fully loaded, do I order both the OPA627 and AD8610. Likewise withthe buffers, do I order both the 1x and 2x buffer.

If I want to get another less tweaked one for my best friend, what are the essential upgrades?

 

[grawk]

627, dual buffers (free), give your wife the SR71.

 

[Sleestack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk 627, dual buffers (free), give your wife the SR71.

Thanks. The reality is... my wife won't even put on a set of headphones.

I just ordered 2 of these puppies. One fully loaded and one with the 627, 4 way switch and free dual buffers. How long does it usually take?

 

[BillC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sleestack I just ordered 2 of these puppies. One fully loaded and one with the 627, 4 way switch and free dual buffers. How long does it usually take?

XIN got backed up because he froze deliveries for about a week when he made the transition to the V3. Then, the V3 design went to 4 layer boards from 2 layers and he's had some delays in getting boards. It seems like most of the people who had ordered a V2 and were caught in the freeze have received their amps. I ordered on 3/17 soon after V3 was announced and am still (anxiously) waiting to hear that my amp has shipped.

So anxious in fact that I ordered an SR71 to ease the pain - and it's working. Now I just want to compare

 

[Sleestack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillC XIN got backed up because he froze deliveries for about a week when he made the transition to the V3. Then, the V3 design went to 4 layer boards from 2 layers and he's had some delays in getting boards. It seems like most of the people who had ordered a V2 and were caught in the freeze have received their amps. I ordered on 3/17 soon after V3 was announced and am still (anxiously) waiting to hear that my amp has shipped. So anxious in fact that I ordered an SR71 to ease the pain - and it's working. Now I just want to compare

Thanks. I'm going to hang onto my SR-71 so I can compare as well. Thus far, I'm very impressed with the SR-71.

The delay might be good for me. I need to spend some time with my other amps anyway.

 

[uncle b]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillC So anxious in fact that I ordered an SR71 to ease the pain - and it's working. Now I just want to compare

I swear, I ended up in that same boat. I feared being without a high-end amp when I sent my SM V 1.0 to upgraded, and had heard so much glowing praise for the SR-71, so I ordered an SR-71 from TTVJ. The SR-71 took the sting away from sending back, and being without, the SM...

 

[BillC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle b I swear, I ended up in that same boat. I feared being without a high-end amp when I sent my SM V 1.0 to upgraded, and had heard so much glowing praise for the SR-71, so I ordered an SR-71 from TTVJ. The SR-71 took the sting away from sending back, and being without, the SM...

...and Xin's delay came just after TTVJ announced that he had some SR71s in stock. I'm starting to believe that we've uncovered a conspiracy to sting my wallet...

 

[Big Al]

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle b I swear, I ended up in that same boat. I feared being without a high-end amp when I sent my SM V 1.0 to upgraded, and had heard so much glowing praise for the SR-71, so I ordered an SR-71 from TTVJ. The SR-71 took the sting away from sending back, and being without, the SM...

Same here, ordered a 71 from Todd on 3/15 got it 3/17; returned my V1 for refund on 3/17 and order a V3 same day, still waiting. The 71 has been burning in quite nicely the past 2 weeks.

 

[Simple]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillC ...and Xin's delay came just after TTVJ announced that he had some SR71s in stock. I'm starting to believe that we've uncovered a conspiracy to sting my wallet...

And with that I too have ordered my SR-71 from Todd!

I made my order about 2 hours ago and Todd emailed me that the order has shipped an hour ago - EXCELLENT Customer Service!

 

[recstar24]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boodi I think that much of jamato8 impressions is also due to the source he mainly used to couple the amp with. A beautiful amp ( and i don't have doubts that Xin SMv3 is a beautiful amp ) can't do it all alone and will forcely need a nice source - just keep this in mind when you get it

Exactamundo...I concur wholeheartingly

 

[bLue_oNioN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 In a final note this amp seems unconstrained by the physical presence of headphones. For me, this was eerie at first. The SR71 is a great sonic performer and as I have stated in the past has a sound field you can fall into. I do not hear any negatives in the 71’s ability to present music. What I do hear with the SuperMacro V3 is more of everything. I do not feel like I could fall into the sound field, but rather I feel like I am part of it. The claustrophobic feeling of the sound envelope when using headphones that has often been a barrier to my listening pleasure, crumbles as if a new dimension has opened around me.

I am not quite sure what you mean by the sentence I bolded. What exactly do you mean by "more of everything"? Are you trying to say that the SMv3 is more aggressive than the SR-71?

As stated in your review, you used the SR-71 as a baseline for comparison. It would be very helpful if you could provide more comparative comments -- after reading your review, I feel like the SMv3 is a very strong contender (something I never doubted before reading your review anyway), but still am unable to tell what the exact differences are. As an owner of both, you are in a very unique position to give advice to those choosing between the two. Could you please elaborate on this?

Thanks very much for your thoughts!

 

[goto2003]

Is there anyone who has tried out SM3 with AD8610's? Thanks.

 

[jamato8]

I have the Monica II 1545 DAC with Asynchronous Reclocking up and running and it sounds very, very promising. Both the SuperMacro V3 and the SR 71 are revealing more detail and better bass with the Monica II dac. This dac can fit in an Altoid tin but I would really like to get a very nice case for it. Too bad the excellent cases like Ray makes for his equipment like the SR 71 cannot be readily purchased.

John

 

[Sleestack]

My week with the SR-71 has been great, but unfortunately it is getting returned. It was bit bigger and heavier than I had hoped, making it inconvenient for my needs. I also found that at home, I preferred listening to my X-Can v3. With an SM3 and MPX3 on the way, I don't think I'll be using the SR-71 very much. Given that I use Ety ER4Ps, the impedance switch on the SM3 is definitely a feature I want. I also like the smaller size of the SM3... I just hope it sounds as good (or almost as good ) as the SR-71.