The Oppo PM-3 are well-made critical listening headphones with a good sound. They have a mobile-friendly, planar magnetic design and a stylish yet sturdy build quality. They're also very comfortable headphones. However, their closed-back ear cups and slightly sharp audio reproduction, may not be ideal for all critical listeners.
Our Verdict
The Oppo PM-3 are decent for mixed usage. They have a good, sturdy design and a comfortable fit you can wear for hours. That combined with their above average sound quality make them a good choice for critical listeners. Their closed-back design also makes them a bit more suitable for more casual uses like watching a movie at home or listening to music at the office but they won't be ideal for commuting or sports.
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Above-average audio reproduction.
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Comfortable
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Sturdy, well-built design.
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Poor noise isolation
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Slightly heavy and cumbersome.
The Oppo PM-3 are good headphones for neutral listening. They have planar magnetic drivers that deliver a balanced and clear audio reproduction. However, they tend to sound a bit too sharp on some tracks and the closed-back design limits a bit their soundstage.
The Oppo PM-3 are average for commuting. They're comfortable, but the passive isolation is a bit too weak for loud environments like being on a train.
These headphones are average for sports. They have a comfortable and moderately stable fit but are too bulky and heavy, for strenuous exercises and sports. The faux leather also traps a lot of heat which will make your ears sweat rather quickly during workouts.
These headphones are above-average for office use. They don't block that much noise which is not ideal for a busy office. However, they also don't leak much so you won't distract anyone in your vicinity at average volumes.
The Oppo PM-3 headphones are above-average for gaming. They have a low latency wired connection and a comfortable design you can wear for hours. However, they do not have an app or wireless capabilities which are typical for gaming headsets. They also do not have the best mic for multiplayer gaming.
- 6.7 Mixed Usage
- 7.7 Neutral Sound
- 6.5 Commute/Travel
- 6.3 Sports/Fitness
- 6.7 Office
- 5.7 Wireless Gaming
- 7.5 Wired Gaming
- 6.5 Phone Call
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.1.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
- Updated Feb 16, 2018: Converted to Test Bench 1.2.
- Updated Oct 02, 2017: The microphone has been tested with our new methodology, as explained here
- Updated Aug 10, 2017: Converted to Test Bench 1.1.
- Updated Mar 01, 2017: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Jul 11, 2016: Review published.
- Updated Jul 09, 2016: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Jun 27, 2016: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Compared To Other Headphones
The Oppo PM-3 is one of the few planar magnetic closed-back headphones. This makes them relatively different from the competition and somewhat pricey but their sound is on par if not better than the other headphones compared below. See our recommendations for the best over-ear headphones, the best wired headphones, and the best headphones for music.
The Oppo PM-3 are a better headset overall than the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0. The Oppos have a better build quality and a more comfortable over-ear fit that most will prefer over the Sennheiser. They also sound a bit better balanced in the bass mid and treble ranges, although the Oppos do tend to sound a bit sharp at times. This means that some people may prefer the darker sound of the Sennheiser. The Sennheiser also have a slightly more compact and portable design, thanks to the folding joints, and their iOS-specific audio cable has mic support with the PS4 controller, unlike the Oppos.
The Audeze LCD-1 are better headphones than the Oppo PM-3 for a neutral sound listening experience. They both have fairly well-balanced sound profiles, but the Audeze are much more accurate in the treble range. They also produce a much more consistent frequency response amongst users, so different people are more likely to hear them similarly. On the other hand, the closed-back design of the Oppo means they isolate a lot more background noise and leak much less audio.
Test Results
The Oppo PM-3 have a simple design that looks great and feels premium. They come in three color schemes: Black, white and the two-tone steel blue option of the unit reviewed. They feel more high-end than the Nad VISO HP50 and they stand out in a crowd, yet are not as flashy as some other over-ear headphones we've tested. They also make use of a lot of metal and premium materials in their build, which further adds to their high-end appeal.
The Oppo PM-3 are a little heavy but comfortable headphones. They don't apply too much pressure to your head. The headband is well padded, and the ear cups are sufficiently large for most listeners ears. That and the high-end feel of the faux-leather results in a design that you can wear for hours, similar to the Sony MDR-1A.
The Oppo PM-3 have an efficient control scheme that delivers call/music, track skipping, and volume controls. Sadly, the buttons of the inline controls lack a bit of tactile feedback and are too flat, which is slightly disappointing.
The Oppo PM-3s will make your ears a little warm after 1 hours of continuous listening. This is about average for most closed over-ear with a faux leather padding but this also means they won't be ideal for sports.
The Oppo PM-3 are mid-sized over-ear headphones. The ear cups lay flat to take less space, making the PM-3 somewhat portable. Unfortunately, they don't fold into a more compact format and will take a decent amount of space in a backpack. They're a little cumbersome to carry on your person and won't comfortably fit into smaller bags.
The Oppo PM3 come with a durable hard case covered in a denim fabric that will protect your headphones from minor falls and water damage. It adds a bit of bulk to the headphones but easily transports all the provided headphone accessories.
These headphones are well built. The frame and joints of the headband are made of metal and feel sturdy and durable. The ear cups are dense enough to handle a couple of drops without breaking. The cable is thick and rubberized and won't get damaged quickly by wear and tear. The swivel mechanism may eventually loosen over time but isn't something to be too worried about.
The Oppo PM-3 are not sports headphones. They're a little bulky and slightly heavy for their size. They're not very tight on the head which is good for comfort, but also makes them prone to slipping off your ears during exercise or while running. On the upside, they easily stay in place during casual listening sessions and also come with a detachable cable that will disconnect if hooked on something rather than yanking the headphones of your head.
- Oppo PM-3 Headphones
- Carrying case
- Cable pouch
- Audio cable (x2)
- 1/8" to 1/4" Adapter
- Manual
The frequency response consistency and bass delivery of the Oppo PM-3 is about average. In our bass measurements on five human subject, the PM3 showed about 5dB of variance at 20Hz. The biggest drop in bass was measured on the subject who wears glasses, since certain glasses' arms tend to break the seal on closed-back headphones. The treble range also shows about 5dB of variance depending on the positioning of the headphones on the user's head.
The Oppo PM3 has a very good bass response. It is extended down to 10Hz, meaning they are able to produced deep thumps and rumbles. Low-bass, which is the region responsible for thump and rumble is lacking 1.6dB. This won't be noticeable to most, but fans of excessive bass may not be fully satisfied by PM-3's low-end. The 1.7dB bump in high-bass also won't be very noticeable, as it adds only a tad clutter and muddiness to the bass.
The Oppo PM3's mid-range is excellent and nearly flawless. The entire mid-range response is within 0.6dB of our target, which is quite impressive. The results is a proper balance between the kick/bass instruments in the bass region, and vocals/leads in the mid region.
The Oppo PM-3 has a decent treble range response. It's only slightly over our target in low-treble, which brings a bit of excess presence and brightness to the cymbals and higher harmonics of vocals and other lead instruments. The 10dB bump in mid-treble however, will have a small but noticeable negative effect by making sibilances (S and T sounds) sharp and piercing on overly bright tracks.
The isolation provided by the Oppo Pm-3 is mediocre. They provide no isolation in the bass range, where the rumble of airplane engines and buses are. This is because the Oppos don't have ANC and isolate passively only using their ear cups. In the mid-range, where is important for blocking out speech, the PM3 achieves about 11dB of reduction, which is about average. However, they are good at blocking higher frequency sounds, such as the hiss of a fan or an air conditioning system, because they achieve 39dB of isolation in the treble range.
The Oppo PM-3 has a good leakage performance. The majority of leakage is in the 500Hz-2KHz frequency range, which is a relatively narrow band and occupied mostly by the upper harmonics of voice, cymbals, and lead instruments. Additionally, the overall level of the sound that escapes the headphones is relatively low and only at moderate to high volumes people around you may be able to hear what you are listening to.
The PM-3's inline microphone has a mediocre performance. Recorded speech will sound noticeably thin, and will lack a bit of presence and air, but it should be decently intelligible regardless. They also perform about average in noisy environments, and won't be able to effectively separate speech from ambient noise in environments as loud or louder than a busy street.
The microphone of the PM3 has a mediocre recording quality. The LFE of 500Hz means that speech recorded with the PM3 will sound very thin. However, low-frequency response is not a factor in speech intelligibility and should not affect the comprehension of recorded speech. The HFE of 4KHz, however, means that sound captured by this microphone will lack brightness and airiness. This will have a small negative effect on speech intelligibility. On the upside, the region between LFE and HFE is captured well.
The noise handling performance of the PM3's inline microphone is average. In our test, PM3's mic achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 17dB. This means that this headphone's mic may struggle to separate speech from background noise in moderate to loud environments, such as a busy street.
The PM3 has no active feature, therefore have no batteries.
These headphones do not have a compatible app or software. If you want a wired headphone with app support, try the Logitech G430.
The Oppo PM-3 do not have any Bluetooth capabilities. If you want Bluetooth compatible headphones, check out our best recommendations here.
These headphones have a wired connection with negligible latency.
The PM3 have a 1/8TRRS analog audio cable that does not have microphone compatibility with consoles.