dac/amp for Oppe PM-3?

mistersprinkles

mistersprinkles

mistersprinkles

Associate
Joined
21 Apr 2016
Posts
1,967
Location
Oh Canada!
I finally got Oppo Pm3's this morning after wanting them for 2 1/2 years. So that's sorted. What I need now is a good dac and amp for them. I've used them plugged directly into the iMac (meh) and plugged into an ARCAM rPAC (with an Audioquest jitterbug and a high quality USB cable). The rPAC is a borrowed item which I must return to my neighbour soon. The rPAC is a dac/"amp". I say "amp" because it puts about 130mW into 32Ohms... which is pretty bad. Still, the PM3s sound quite nice hooked up to it.

I was thinking of getting an Audioquest Dragonfly Red, which has like double the power (250ish mW>32Ohms) of this rPAC. It's also supposed to sound a smidge dark which I like because treble fatigues my ears when its even slightly bright.

Another option I have for more money obviously is to get the Schiit modi/magni (Schiit stack) which outputs a whopping 1000mW into 32Ohms. I have listened to the Aasgard which sounds similar. I'm concerned about the DAC in the modi being a bit crap compared to the one in the Dragonfly, which is a Sabre, which Pablo likes very much.

If I found the Dragonfly lacking in punch I could always line out from it to a magni at a later time, and I'd have a DAC that I preferred that way too. Also the DAC int he Dragonfly red does significantly higher sample and bitrates in PCM than the DAC in the Schiit, which is nice.

thoughts and opinions?
 
pay the extra and get the Modi Multibit and Magni 3, the difference against the Modi 2 is easily heard. It's smoother, has better bass, better imaging and more air around individual instruments, it's just better in every way.

If you don't want to spend as much then go for the Dragonfly Red, it's more than powerful enough to drive the PM3. I've not heard the Red but with a Sabre 9016 inside I'd be surprised if it was at all dark, they are normally quite bright.
 
rids57 said:
pay the extra and get the Modi Multibit and Magni 3, the difference against the Modi 2 is easily heard. It's smoother, has better bass, better imaging and more air around individual instruments, it's just better in every way.

If you don't want to spend as much then go for the Dragonfly Red, it's more than powerful enough to drive the PM3. I've not heard the Red but with a Sabre 9016 inside I'd be surprised if it was at all dark, they are normally quite bright.
Click to expand...

Thinking I might have previously read wrong after seeing your comment, and I looked into it, and reviewers call the treble on the dragonfly red "soft" or "dark". So idk what they're doing but bright it ain't... which is good because I hate bright sound.

I realize the Dragonfly red with its 200 something mW of power is enough for these. Heck, the 130mW in the rPAC I'm borrowing is enough, but moar power is good, no? At least it is in the PC world. I am an ignorant wanna be audiophile.
 
Oppo ha 2 se?

Or buy the Dragonfly on some place for about £120
 
Last edited:
mistersprinkles said:
I finally got Oppo Pm3's this morning after wanting them for 2 1/2 years. So that's sorted. What I need now is a good dac and amp for them. I've used them plugged directly into the iMac (meh) and plugged into an ARCAM rPAC (with an Audioquest jitterbug and a high quality USB cable). The rPAC is a borrowed item which I must return to my neighbour soon. The rPAC is a dac/"amp". I say "amp" because it puts about 130mW into 32Ohms... which is pretty bad. Still, the PM3s sound quite nice hooked up to it.

I was thinking of getting an Audioquest Dragonfly Red, which has like double the power (250ish mW>32Ohms) of this rPAC. It's also supposed to sound a smidge dark which I like because treble fatigues my ears when its even slightly bright.

Another option I have for more money obviously is to get the Schiit modi/magni (Schiit stack) which outputs a whopping 1000mW into 32Ohms. I have listened to the Aasgard which sounds similar. I'm concerned about the DAC in the modi being a bit crap compared to the one in the Dragonfly, which is a Sabre, which Pablo likes very much.

If I found the Dragonfly lacking in punch I could always line out from it to a magni at a later time, and I'd have a DAC that I preferred that way too. Also the DAC int he Dragonfly red does significantly higher sample and bitrates in PCM than the DAC in the Schiit, which is nice.

thoughts and opinions?
Click to expand...

I've had the PM-3's for a couple years now. I also have the Oppo HA-2 DAC (not the newer/different SE). I have one of those portable USB Stick style DAC's too and the difference is night and day for me. Definitely prefer the HA-2 over anything else I've put these on.
 
Harpss1ngh said:
I've had the PM-3's for a couple years now. I also have the Oppo HA-2 DAC (not the newer/different SE). I have one of those portable USB Stick style DAC's too and the difference is night and day for me. Definitely prefer the HA-2 over anything else I've put these on.
Click to expand...

HA2 is kind of expensive... :( Over $300 for the HA2 SE vs $200 for the schiit stack and about $200 for dragonfly red...

Is it really THAT good???
 
mistersprinkles said:
HA2 is kind of expensive... :( Over $300 for the HA2 SE vs $200 for the schiit stack and about $200 for dragonfly red...

Is it really THAT good???
Click to expand...

Well, the Dragonfly red looks like one of those USB thumbstick DACs, I have one of those but I don't like it. They don't have a good amp. The HA2 has it's own proper amp and with no distortion, its clean. With an analogue dial for the amp, I'm also pretty sure it's an analogue amp and not a digital one which is a win for me. It also allows gain for bigger cans and has some bass boost too. Not to mention it's got its own battery so it won't drain your phone or whatever you're listening on. The HA2 also has a much better ESS chip. Not everyone has the ear for it, so maybe you can't tell the difference, but it's there and I can hear it for sure
 
One problem I'm having with these headphones is a lack of bass and midrange, though the most powerful amp I've run them on is 130mW>32Ohms so not much power. It was an Arcam rPAC where the amp is an afterthought.

Will I gain bass and midrange going with a higher power amp like a magni? Or should I opt for the less powerful HA2 due to its bass boost feature? How much bass does the bass boost add? I heard it was a minor thing.

Harpss1ngh said:
Well, the Dragonfly red looks like one of those USB thumbstick DACs, I have one of those but I don't like it. They don't have a good amp. The HA2 has it's own proper amp and with no distortion, its clean. With an analogue dial for the amp, I'm also pretty sure it's an analogue amp and not a digital one which is a win for me. It also allows gain for bigger cans and has some bass boost too. Not to mention it's got its own battery so it won't drain your phone or whatever you're listening on. The HA2 also has a much better ESS chip. Not everyone has the ear for it, so maybe you can't tell the difference, but it's there and I can hear it for sure
Click to expand...
 
mistersprinkles said:
One problem I'm having with these headphones is a lack of bass and midrange, though the most powerful amp I've run them on is 130mW>32Ohms so not much power. It was an Arcam rPAC where the amp is an afterthought.
Click to expand...

No issue with lack of bass or midrange here, have you tried a tube amp ?

Running mine through a Little Dot MK2 with upgraded Russian tubes and it sounds spot-on.

DAC is an SMSL M8, using an ESS ES9018K2M chip, which gives a slightly brighter sound signature, but the tube amp gives no loss of bass or mids.
 
Brizzles said:
No issue with lack of bass or midrange here, have you tried a tube amp ?

Running mine through a Little Dot MK2 with upgraded Russian tubes and it sounds spot-on.

DAC is an SMSL M8, using an ESS ES9018K2M chip, which gives a slightly brighter sound signature, but the tube amp gives no loss of bass or mids.
Click to expand...

What kind of music are you listening to?
 
Brizzles said:
Mixed genre;

Bloc Party
Bowie
Foo Fighters
The Jam
Kate Bush
Manic Street Preachers
Pearl Jam
Radiohead
The Who
Marina and the Diamonds
PiL
2 Cellos
Faith No More

Basically anything apart from Rap, Jazz and Country.
Click to expand...

Looked into the little dot but am confused by the specs:

  • 300mW into 300 ohms
  • 200mW into 120 ohms
  • 100mW into 32 ohms
How is this possible? Shouldn't higher power output be occurring at lower impedance rather than the other way around??
If it actually puts 300mW into 32Ohms that's very tempting.

What kind of inputs does it have?
 
it's an output transformerless tube amp, so the outputs are correct, they go the opposite way to solid state amps, outputting lots of voltage but negligible current, making them good for high impedance headphones only
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom