[ghart999]

Xin has offered to remove the opamp socket in ground channel and double the caps to 4000uF. This is a free upgrade. What would be the advantage, if any, of this when using Etys ER-4S canalphones. Would it just give more power that would not be needed in my situation?

 

[sant430]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghart999 Xin has offered to remove the opamp socket in ground channel and double the caps to 4000uF. This is a free upgrade. What would be the advantage, if any, of this when using Etys ER-4S canalphones. Would it just give more power that would not be needed in my situation?

I've wondered that myself. Would removing the opamp socket in ground channel affect the flexibility of using headphones with varying impedance and sensitivity? When would it be ideal to keep the opamp socket??

 

[ghart999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sant430 I've wondered that myself. Would removing the opamp socket in ground channel affect the flexibility of using headphones with varying impedance and sensitivity? When would it be ideal to keep the opamp socket??

It seems that Xin thinks the ground channel opamp does not affect much when using different opamps. If so, then I assume I can still roll opamps with the other 2 channels and get some decent sound changes. Plus I have 2 opamps of the 227, 627 and 637 opamps and would hate to have to go get one more of each. I'd rather just leave the 5534 in the ground channel for good.

 

[Big Al]

I'm still a little confused to the upgrade path from V1 to V3.

Say if I want to keep my current config; V1 with 4 switch, 2X buf634 soldered on, OP627 (basically keep my V1 unit "as is") and I want a 2nd SM but V3 and stay with NE5534 (instead of going with OP627) I need to purchase the following:

Upgrade to SuperMacro-3 with 4 feature switches $99.99
2x BUF634 buffers (instead of 1x) soldered on board $14.99
Black Enclosure for amps with 4 feature switches $19.99
Battery contacts (set of 4, the aluminum plate is not included) $4.99
Volume knob black $4.99 and assemble this myself; total =$144.95

Note: Xin also has an upgrade kit assembly for $39.99, not sure what's the deal with this option. Is this to assemble the above and with/or without parts???

and if I didn't want a 2nd unit but upgrade my V1 to V3; either order a V3 board and do it myself or send it in and Xin does it for free, either way $99.99.

Am I missing something here? And yes, I'm going to wait for the 4 layered board to come in before doing anything.

 

[ghart999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Al I'm still a little confused to the upgrade path from V1 to V3. Say if I want to keep my current config; V1 with 4 switch, 2X buf634 soldered on, OP627 (basically keep my V1 unit "as is") and I want a 2nd SM but V3 and stay with NE5534 (instead of going with OP627) I need to purchase the following: Upgrade to SuperMacro-3 with 4 feature switches $99.99 2x BUF634 buffers (instead of 1x) soldered on board $14.99 Black Enclosure for amps with 4 feature switches $19.99 Battery contacts (set of 4, the aluminum plate is not included) $4.99 Volume knob black $4.99 and assemble this myself; total =$144.95 Note: Xin also has an upgrade kit assembly for $39.99, not sure what's the deal with this option. Is this to assemble the above and with/or without parts??? and if I didn't want a 2nd unit but upgrade my V1 to V3; either order a V3 board and do it myself or send it in and Xin does it for free, either way $99.99. Am I missing something here? And yes, I'm going to wait for the 4 layered board to come in before doing anything.

You are exactly correct. So basically you are paying an additional $44.95 to have a complete V3.0 and V1.0. Otherwise you end up with a left over V1.0 board by itself for just the $99. I just ordered the complete upgrade for $144.95 and have already sold my V1.0 to another member for $160 which is a great deal for someone who only wants the V1.0 model. Hence I got the upgrade totally for free.

I would guess there will be many V1.0s for sale soon.

 

[goto2003]

I may assume that V3 uses the same four feature board as in V1. Sending in the V1 for V3 using the 4 features in V1 may save $50, which means you pay $49.99 if not going to 2XBUF634.

 

[ghart999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goto2003 I may assume that V3 uses the same four feature board as in V1. Sending in the V1 for V3 using the 4 features in V1 may save $50, which means you pay $49.99 if not going to 2XBUF634.

Hmm. That is possible, but I am not sure if Xin is offering that route.

 

[rab10]

Someone correct me if I am wrong with the following ...

If you have low impedence, easy to drive Canalphones/headphones,
then you can still obtain a decent sound amplification from a
SuperMacro configuration with minimum caps of 2000uF.

I have the SM v1.0, with the minimum caps of 2000uF and my
ETY ER4P's sound very filled in, even my ATH-A900's bass rumbles
and my SM v1.0 has enough power to rumble my A900's (but both
the ER4P's and A900s are low impedence. If I wanted to upgrade to
Senns 650's in the future those would be high impedence headphones
which would benefit from the higher caps of 4000uF correct?)

Can anybody post their impressions of driving High Impedence
headphones with low capacitance, low gain set headphone amp?
Or is that just a rediculous question?

Actually that is where the
gain switch of the SuperMacro would come into play to drive the
higher impedence headphones, You would have to activate the
gain boost switch and turn up the volume pot on the SM higher
than usual (to drive the Higher Impedence headphones,) Right?

The issue is that you cannot have the BUFFER Sockets and Switches
features together installed in the SuperMacro v3.0 there is not enough
room to house them together.

The SuperMacro-3 with 4 feature switches: you can roll the opamps
(socketed opamps) and will probably have lower caps of 2000uF, and
the BUFFERS would have to be soldered in.)

I am currently using 2X BUFFERS soldered fixed in my SM v1.0 and
sounds plenty powerful (with my cans.)

So a SM v3.0 can be configured to have soldered 2X Buffers, 2000uF
Caps, Switches Features, Socketed Opamps for opamp rolling -> or
will the ground opamp need to be soldered or removed to have all of
these desired features?

Finally my easy question: How many opamps do you have to have to roll them in a new SuperMacro v3.0?

Thanks!

 

[goto2003]

IMHO, cans with high impedance drive less current and thus need less caps. A higher than normal cap (>2000uf) will be a benefit when using non-rechargable batteries that typically have higher impedance than rechargables. Higher caps can lower the impedance of power supply, which is good to amp. In general, 2000uf will be overkilled for most cans.

Three OPAMPs are required for a SM3 with three OP sockets; for a SM3 with 2 OP sockets and 1 OP (NE5534) soldered on board, two OPAMPs are required.

 

[ProleArtThreat]

Looks like Xin is also extending the free 2x BUF634 upgrade until 4/31/05. That gives people on the fence like myself more time to take advantage of all you early adopters who I'm sure will provide us with some good reviews in the coming weeks .

 

[jamato8]

To lower the impedence of a battery supply 10 to 15uF of high quality capacitance is optimal but in this case it is there as part of the reserve and since Xin also uses very low esr caps 2000uF would seem to be way more than enough. My home amp, though of totally different design, uses around 400uF's. Now solid state designs typically use quite a bit more capacitance than tube designs as tubes go on voltage and solid state on current. But the SM S1 and SM S2 drive my HD650's very well with the bass of the S2 edging out the S1 and SR71 when using the HD650's.

John

 

[rab10]

For upgraders of the SuperMacro, we don't need an additional aluminum
case to run the SM v1.0 board, but correct me if I am wrong.

Our original aluminum case (and other operational components) can be
used to house and operate the new SM v3.0 and our original SM v1.0
boards should be operable without the aluminum case, but would then
only be powered by the AC Adapter power source only. Right?

This would be ideal cause you can test out new opamps with the SM v1.0
board (uncased), and house your ideal setup in the finished build SM v3.0

It would be interesting if people would want to purchase the excellent
SM v1.0 boards only, and they could construct their own SM v1.0 amp
as most of the parts are available (minus the aluminum back plate, right?)
Or use it as an OPAMP testing board.

It would be lower in price, for someone to build their own SM v1.0 amp,
from the parts available (if you could just purchase the board) than what
the original SM v1.0 starting price was. So everybody would benefit, even
Xin! More Future customers, charge for maintenance labor, etc.

GOTO2003, thanks for your Help. But do you mean "4000uF will be overkill
for most cans" instead of "2000uf will be overkilled for most cans." Cause
2000uF is quite suffice for lower impedence headphones. I think.

2x BUF634 upgrade until 4/31/05 *YEAH!* Lets me decide if I want to wait
to see if Xin will release a Xin DAC or a Xin DAC/AMP combo. Goto2003
do you know of the XIN DAC or XIN SM/AMP/DAC developments?

 

[rab10]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 But the SM S1 and SM S2 drive my HD650's very well with the bass of the S2 edging out the S1 and SR71 when using the HD650's. John

*WOW!* This is what I wanted to hear! Thanks.

 

[goto2003]

I have the same question about how much caps are enough. Xin replied to me that 2000uf is "Overkilled", but we seem like more caps and so he offers more. In this sense, I would say Xin's very "customer-driven"

For the DAC, Xin mentioned it would be at least one month after the release of SuperMini-3. But I doubt he will continue to go with a SM/DAC, as he thought SM V1.0 needs a DAC to shine, but now he've found SM3 shines even without a DAC. It's more likely he will go with a seperated DAC. Let's see.

 

[jamato8]

He mentioned that he was going to go with the separate as well as integrated amp/dac, which for owners of an amp, whatever manufacture, makes sense. I use a portable dac that I made up and put in an Altoid tin, which amused the designer of the circuit board as he had never thought of using the dac as a portable, let alone building it into a mint tin. Having a portable quality dac really does give you more of what we are striving for in portable high quality sound as most onboard dacs leave much to be desired unless you have a disc playing Denon 150.

John