[kaushama]

As several of us impatiently waiting for our XIN IV amps, other headfiers received some BETA versions of the amp. Even BETA versions seems to blow away the competition. XIN is supposed to have corrected the most problems with the amp and its 100% correct. May be XIN will thrive to make it 105%.... and so on with his never ending desire for perfection.
Shall we dedicate this thread for appreciation of new CHANNEL IV amps?

 

[kaushama]

Now more happy Xin users start to emerge. Agony of the waiting is over. What do you all think guys?

 

[nfusion770]

The micro is a little marvel. After about 60 hours, it (or my ears acclimation to it) seems to have a very big sound. Its actually like those old Bose ads- "you cant believe the concert hall sound coming out of this little thing." The sound is not the best I have heard, but I cant imagine there is anything better in this tiny of a package.

I dont have my updated macro yet, but I think the micro sounded better than the early july macro I bought. I hope the updated macro trounces the sr-71 I used to have, but as it stands, the sr-71 was better than both Xin amps and is still king in my mind. Of course I have yet to hear the final Xin, it is half the size, and it has a multitude of features that the sr-71 doesnt have, so there is that to consider.

I would love to hear some impressions and see some pictures of the mini. Is the mini the black sheep of the Xin lineup?

 

[GaryAR]

i just got a super micro iv. i'm absolutely loving it's sound.. it's big and full-bodied and warm and totally the opposite of what you'd expect from such a tiny amp. it's a substantial upgrade from the xmoy2 cmoy-style amp i upgraded from, and while it sounds great with my imod ipod what i can't get over is how good my nintendo ds now sounds. yes, you'll wait for one of these amps, but trust me it's worth it... to get this kind of sound from such a small package is an awesome thing. highly recommended.

gary

 

[mirumu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaushama Agony of the waiting is over.

I'm now waiting again but I'll certainly report back once my upgraded amp is back.

 

[aluren]

my supermacro has about 60 hours on it. i haven't had much time listening, but once it reaches 150, i'll post some impressions for sure! but as of right now, i'm completely impressed with the amp!

 

[jrosenth]

Probably shouldn't be posting here since it's a Super mini III that I just got

- but man o man am I utterly impressed.

Driving everything from full sized HD-580 to a CX 300 buds really, really well (funny my laptop makes the CX 300 hiss but the Xin handles them no problem).

This little guy even makes an ATH-ES5 sound like it has good body and soul (really nice combo surprisingly).

I was considering going up to the Supermini IV, with the better topology and impendence and bass switch, but honestly I don't know if I will. This mini III has plenty of bass with eveything I've thrown at it, a cross feed, and and extra battery (3 AAA as opposed to the IV's 2) that gives a great life. I'm sure it's lacking whatever the IV's has by way of sound improvements, but colored me satisfied - at least for now

 

[jdimitri]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrosenth This mini III has plenty of bass with eveything I've thrown at it, a cross feed, and and extra battery (3 AAA as opposed to the IV's 2) that gives a great life. I'm sure it's lacking whatever the IV's has by way of sound improvements, but colored me satisfied - at least for now

Wow, didn't know that any of the minis had 3 AAAs (at least mine didn't

)

BTW, compared to the supermini III that i had, the latest update before the one a couple of weeks ago.. i think the upgrade was worth it!
The most significant improvement for me was the soundstage and the L&R opamp slot, which you can use to change the sound slightly

Edit: i looked it up and found the page http://www.fixup.net/talk/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1405
Can you take a picture of the inside? I'm interested in how he could've possibly jammed it all those parts in!

 

[jrosenth]

It actually looks like the pictures of the bottom of this page with a digital volume

maybe it's an earlier version

the one thing that kills me about Xin is that it's tough to keep up with what he's doing - not a bad thing but a very interesting strategy in bringing out new products and versions - does seal his reputation in a very positive way though

 

[aluren]

yeah, i think xin's website needs to be organized... info is just everywhere and nowhere to be found at the same time... i guess that's the advantages/disadvantages of a forum based discussion...

 

[kaushama]

I have asked for OPA 275 in the 3rd and 4th channel for my SMIV. I am waiting till it arrives after the upgrade.

 

[kaushama]

Hmmm! No one received XIN IV amps recently??

 

[vorlon1]

Not so. I got my Mini IV back from being updated today and it is sounding excellent, no more treble problem.

 

[kiwirugby]

This is what I posted yesterday on the "waiting for Xin.." thread. Sorry, I should have posted here.

My fourth generation SMIII - IV arrived last week. (It's been in the shop four times for the latest mods over the past year or so.) I have been listening to it off and on this week and there are some interesting differences to me that have emerged. This is not a review, but just some cursory observations between what I remember from when I sent Xin my SM for the final tweak/upgrade/modification some time back in late September, 2006 (yes 2006 not 2005!!!). They are these.

1. Whereas before the volume to drive the K81DJs with a 4th gen. iModded 60gb iPod with no switches enabled was at about 1 o'clock, it's now at 10 o'clock. More power?

2. The noticeable veil on high frequencies, especially with solo piano, has gone completely.

3. The presentation is clearer and the frequency categories (highs, mids, lows) more coherent and continuous. I often thought the mids were a trifle muddy and hard to distinguish from top and bottom, but no more.

4. I really think the soundstage is even bigger, something I thought impossible! I will need to try my rig with my AKG501s and really hear sounstage at its fullest!

5. On good recordings, I am not hearing any fuzziness (sorry not very technical speak here!!) that I would occasionally, but maybe that's more related to 2 and 3 above. But beware of poor recordings, you'll hear every flaw. I was listening to an older recording of Brendel play Beethoven piano sonatas and the veil and roll-off on the original CD are really readily discernable. Still some great perfomances though!

Sorry to disappoint if anyone was expecting a review. Plus, please remember the contrasts I list above are based on memory not side-by-side comparisons. Caveat emptor!

I sum, I think that what I have is indeed a better product. I thought it was good before, but my ears say even better now.

By the way, I never had to pay for any of my mods other than postage to Oregon. The longest I had to wait was three weeks. Yes, there were long periods of silence, but the wait was worth it.

 

[kugino]

here's something i found on my supermini IV (with the latest and greatest updates

)...crossfeed works fine until you really pump up the volume. then it reverts to separating the L and R channels as though crossfeed were off...turn the volume down again and you can hear the crossfeed work again. i don't know if this is true with just my supermini or if others can replicate this problem.