[zychan1]

Hi guys,
 
First question is easy. A friend of mine (and a fellow head-fier too!) recently offered to sell me a  AMB M^3 Stereo Headphone Amp which he built himself for $400. Was wondering if this is a good deal and if people can offer their impressions of the amp.
 
The hard part starts here 

 
Being fairly new to the audiophile world, I got "in" through IEMs before turning my attention to full-size cans. As my main source for my IEM is my iPhone 4, I have never seen a need for an amp (mostly to maintain portability) until now so this is my first foray into amps. Will really appreciate it if people will take time to answer some of the questions here:
 
1. What is the main function of the amp? How does it actually work and where does it fit into a "rig"?
 
2. I've heard of solid state amps and tube amps. What are the differences between these two?
 
3. Scalability. How scalable is the M^3, and amps in general? I'm pretty sure this is not the be-all-and-end-all, so are there huge differences between amps at vastly different price points, and if so, in what way?
 
4. Finally, compatibility. How do you decide which cans to go with which amps, and which cans will go well with the M^3 if I decide to splurge on them? Are cans more scalable than amps, i.e. cheaper cans will improve more with a better amp, or do I have to move up the scale with my cans as well to get the most out of an amp?
 
5. What would you call a "full rig". As my music will come out of a laptop, I've heard of DACs, amps, pre-amps, interconnectors and it's making my head spin. What's a good road map for a rig? 
 
Thanks in advance for helping a newbie out
 
edit: He's willing to throw in an AKG K702 for $575. Really tempted now...

 

[zychan1]

Help?

 

[Handy Ray]

I like AMB's DIY stuff.  I absolutely love the Mini^3 and anything related to that.  If the M^3 sounds anything like a larger version Mini^3 then its a treat.  I'm eventually planning on building the M^3 myself.  BUT, I've heard nothing but good things people have to say around the net for the M^3.  If your friend built it properly, its a great piece of amplification gear. 
 
To make it a full "rig" as you were wording it, you need a good DAC (something to convert digital sources to analog signals).  One with USB might work well for you if you use computers or iThings.
 
Other than that, an amplifier is needed to drive good headphones because generally the output quality of standalone players, computers, CD players, etc are not great in quality in terms of total power, distortion, so on and so on, it gets technical quite quickly.
 
Either way, M^3 is a good amp.  I have only occasionally heard AKG's, so I don't have a say.  I heard they are pretty good for vocals, if you are into that type of music.

 

[jackmccabe]

Hi, just thought I would chip in and mention that $575 doesn't seem a particularly good deal for k702's which can be bought for a fair amount less than that new.
The M3 is a great amp that competes with many high end commercial amps and I also think it would pair nicely with almost any headphones.
 
It would help if you could give some idea of your music taste, I personally would recommend grado's if you are into rock or the hd600's which are great with most genre's of music.

 

[imademymark]

i think 575 includes the M3, which would make it quite a good deal
 
not a big fan of the k702 though, but that's probably a preference thing
 
Quote:

Hi, just thought I would chip in and mention that $575 doesn't seem a particularly good deal for k702's which can be bought for a fair amount less than that new.
The M3 is a great amp that competes with many high end commercial amps and I also think it would pair nicely with almost any headphones.
 
It would help if you could give some idea of your music taste, I personally would recommend grado's if you are into rock or the hd600's which are great with most genre's of music.

 

 

[Yoga Flame]

The M³ is totally awesome!

It drives every pair of headphones I own with authority.
 
Some questions you can ask your friend about his amp are:

1. What power supply does it include?
2. What opamps are used?
3. Does it have the optional bass boost feature?
4. Does it have the optional variable gain control feature?

 
You will probably want to also get a good DAC. This will take over the function of your laptop's onboard sound section. If your laptop is anything like mine, the improvement will be quite dramatic. There are DACs for pretty much any budget. A very nice example is the AMB gamma2 (γ2).
 
The FiiO E7, NuForce uDAC-2, and Audinst HUD-mx1 are also some well regarded entry level DACs around here. And they have built in headphone amps too. But once you have a reference class amp like the M³ you won't be plugging your headphones directly into those DACs anymore. (Just to be clear, you would instead be linking the DAC's line out into your amp instead.)

 

[zychan1]

Hi guys,
 
Didn't think this thread would be revitalised after 2 weeks or so I probably won't be getting the M^3 or the K 702 at the moment simply for the fact that they are so expensive I'd feel horribly guilty to spend my parents money on, particularly as they're funding my studies in university now as well. Maybe once I get around to earning my own moolah (in sufficient quantities!) I'll plonk for them but that will have to wait until September this year at least when I graduate. 
 
I have an Alessandro MS-1i at the moment to use with my laptop and a UE Triple.Fi 10 IEM which is plugged permanently into my iPhone 4. Without a similar grade of headphones, I doubt I'll be able to use the M^3 up to its fullest potential so I'm looking at lower-end options atm and possibly saving up to buying this combo later. I was wondering how much of a marked difference would it be running just a DAC/Amp, i.e. like a NuForce uDAC-2 compared to running a pure Amp like a Little Dot MK III? Assuming both are within budget and of similar cost, which would give the best bang for buck in terms of audio quality improvement? I use only 320kbps mp3s or lossless files.
 
If a DAC/Amp combo is better off, what would people recommend around the £ 100 pounds, i.e. USD$150~200 price range?
 
Thanks again for all of your advice

 

[dizzyraider]

For DAC/Amp combo, you could look into an iBasso D4 or AMB Gamma1 + Mini^3 (this is what I got my brother, a very nice sounding setup within your budget). For desktop setup, CK2III is something that is affordable if you can find one for sale or ask your friend to build you one. 

 

[Justin Uthadude]

I have used the AMB mini3 and AMB gamma1 with my laptop and have been very pleased. I bought them for about $100 each on the for sale forum.

 

[bcg27]

You can check out detailed information about AMB's M^3 at his web page. It is a very informative site, and there is an associated forum where AMB, as well as several other experienced builders regularly answer questions. The website also contains information about AMB's other projects, in case you ever become interested in DIY.
 
Edit: Here is the website: http://www.amb.org/audio/

 

[FallenAngel]

Quote:

The M³ is totally awesome!

It drives every pair of headphones I own with authority.
 
Some questions you can ask your friend about his amp are:

1. What power supply does it include?
2. What opamps are used?
3. Does it have the optional bass boost feature?
4. Does it have the optional variable gain control feature?

 
You will probably want to also get a good DAC. This will take over the function of your laptop's onboard sound section. If your laptop is anything like mine, the improvement will be quite dramatic. There are DACs for pretty much any budget. A very nice example is the AMB gamma2 (γ2).
 
The FiiO E7, NuForce uDAC-2, and Audinst HUD-mx1 are also some well regarded entry level DACs around here. And they have built in headphone amps too. But once you have a reference class amp like the M³ you won't be plugging your headphones directly into those DACs anymore. (Just to be clear, you would instead be linking the DAC's line out into your amp instead.)

Great advice on questions - I wouldn't recommend variable gain as it's generally not a good idea.
 
PSU is quite important, and opamps are certainly to be asked (I recommend AD825 generally).
 
A good DAC is definitely a great idea.  I generally skip all FADs / FOTMs so I've stayed away from that whole list there, but the Gamma2 is quite great.

 

[zychan1]

Was also looking at the Aune as well for a DAC/Amp combo. Frankly it will only be connected to my laptop (not looking to amp up my TF10) so I don't need one which is portable. Anybody has anymore suggestions?
 
Am probably looking for something which will complement the M^3 in the future. I'm quite good friends with the seller so he can probably hold on to them until I manage to save up enough, but we'll see..