Brian was your V3 and ACM mod?
I'm wondering how that stacks up to the standard V3 which I find to be a bit flat sounding.
I've used both. Some comments from a comp performed via PM, since the comp creator didn't want to make it public due to less than ideal recording environment (don't know if I ever heard back which sample was which, but I'm pretty certain ONE = stock, and TWO = ACM):
I found sample ONE exhibited the sound I've grown to love in the stock V3: good detail throughout the range, very natural and un-hyped, coherent soundstage, wholly un-fatiguing. I really struggle to understand and put into words what, exactly, makes V3 recordings so natural sounding and un-fatiguing to my ears. But I know it when I hear it.
And then I listened to sample TWO. I found it exhibited many of the same sonic characteristics as sample ONE, but added noticeably greater detail (especially in LF and MF) and maybe a bit wider, but definitely much deeper soundstage. Overall, my initial reaction finds it a bit hyped, the HF a bit more pronounced, and simply not quite as natural sounding to my ears as ONE. But I wonder if that's just the greater detail coming through and my ears are unaccustomed to it. For example, maybe the greater detail reveals a sharper attack masked by less detail in ONE, and revealing that sharper attack is what my ears hear as "hyped". Tough for me to explain.
At the moment, I'm torn as to which I prefer. I love the HUGE soundstage in TWO, but I also find ONE sounds overall more natural to my ears. I think only lots of further listening will reveal which I prefer. Best news of all: I think they both sound GREAT.
And some comments JasonSobel made about the stock V3 that really struck a chord with me, so to speak:
the V3's A/D (@ 24 bit) is very smooth and natural. at first, its a bit underwhelming. and then you realize why its underwhelming is because it's not adding anything (or taking anything away) from the signal. just a very accurate representation of the original signal.
I frequently struggle to put into words what I hear and like in the V3's ADC. I often get lost in trying to detail specific sonic characteristics, and at which I ultimately often fail. Thanks for putting into words what I've so often failed to do in my own head (and by extension into words on TS).