Congratulations on your ownership of XIN SuperMacro - the best and smallest headphone amp!

Batteries, AC adapter and Charging

When you insert batteries, put the case in level; do the bottom 4 first and then the upper 4. If you have difficulty insert the last one, shake the others out by half and then put all in together. Don't push in the batteries too hard, as you may damage the contacts. Don't use a wrench to over tighten the back screws; just use your fingers.

Any AAA batteries can be used, rechargeable or not. While using non-rechargeable batteries, don't plug in external DC power, because charging them is in risk of explosion. Full charging usually takes about 8 hours (or overnight). You can leave the amp plugged and no over-charging concerns. You can listen to the amp while charging, but you may hear slight hum in the first couple minutes of charging.

Play time will be about 30 hours for the standard version while using 850mAh Ni-MH batteries. Play time will vary with different configurations (number of buffers, type of OPAMP, etc.). In the most power-hungry configuration (4x buffers and OPA627), play time should still be about 20 hours. If Alkaline batteries are used, play time will usually be doubled (e.g. about 60 hours for the standard version).

The included AC adapter can be set to 110 or 220V (input) and 3-12V (output).  Make sure you set the input voltage correctly to your country!  As the adapter is not regulated, set it to 9V or 12V to make its actual output voltage to be about 15V. Use the smallest plug and set it to be center positive (slider down). Other AC adapters are not recommended, as they may cause ill function and/or damage. You may use just external DC to power the amp without internal batteries, but you still need to tighten up the back plate, or the circuit boards may move.

Power Switch and Auto-off Timer

The 3-position power switch offers another unique feature - auto off timer. From down, middle to up, it is off, auto and on, respectively. When the power switch is turned from "on" to "auto", the amp will shut off automatically. The timer is variable from 0 to 60 minutes, depending on how long you wait before you move the switch from "on" to "auto". If you turn the switch from "off" to "on" and wait for 2 seconds or longer before you turn it to "auto", the timer will be set to the longest - 60 minutes. If you wait for less than 2 seconds, then the timer will be shorter than 60 minutes; the less you wait, the shorter the timer will be, vise versa. If you leave it at "on" position, the amp will not shut itself off. Switch it to "off" position to manually shut the amp off.

Four Feature Switch

From left to right, the 4 switches are: "It's ABC" - Impedance, Amp gain, Bass boost and Crossfeed. Toggle up to set the impedance to high (75 ohm), the amp gain to high (10), the bass boost to on (5dB) and the crossfeed to on (enabled). Toggle down to bypass.

Full Protection

SuperMacro is designed to be "bullet-proof" with all necessary protection circuitry and mechanism. For example, if you insert batteries in the wrong way, the amp will not work, but no damage would happen; if you plug in external DC power in wrong polarity, no any damage neither.  However, never use voltage that's higher than 15V!  The anodized metal case not only looks great and rugged, it also shelters out any kinds of noise and interference.

Break-in

SuperMacro amps need at least one week of normal playing to reach its best sounding. Once fully burned in, the sound is even bassier, richer and smoother.

OP-AMP Rolling

1. Take off the 2 back screws, remove back plate and batteries.
2. Take off the 2 front screws with a 5/64" socket wrench and the volume knob with a 1/16". Remove the front panel.
3. Before you move the circuit boards out of the case, make a mark on the case bottom; so later you can put the boards back in the original direction. This is important for proper case grounding.
4. From the back, push the circuit boards out of the front (don't push on the battery contacts!). Lift the upper board so you can access the opamps and sockets.
5. Use a small flat screw driver to lift the old opamps. Remember its direction - the first pin is at the left bottom; you'll put in the new opamps the same way.
6. Before you put the new opamps in, push the pins (legs) against a desktop surface to make sure they become vertical. Fresh opamps have legs slightly stretched out making them too wide to be inserted into the sockets holes.
7. Align the legs to the sockets holes (first pin to the left bottom hole) and push the opamp down into the socket with a flat screw driver.

That's it. A tweezers or classic Swiss Army knife are handy tools for rolling opamps. Before you put the circuit boards back into the case, you may test the effect using the included AC adapter. This way, you can easily swap, test and compare more opamps.

Circuit Boards Upgrading

Obviously, it is the same as above, just you may not need to swap the opamps.

This manual is updated to the latest version of SuperMacro headphone amps; some portions may not apply to earlier versions. More info and support is always available on www.fixup.net.

Enjoy!

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Copyright © 2005  Xin Feng Company
Last modified: September 10, 2007