I was thinking about writing the Susvara has better bass than any estat and most planars, my bad. Sorry, while I sit in the middle between the two poles in audio land, my experience dating back to 1978 with planar speakers and headphones more recently says all things being equal in quality...

My experience is with USA prices

Heh Ever hear an OTL amp? If the Susvara is 83 db @ 1w @ 1k, you are not getting anything like dynamics out of the .5 wpc amp. Nice for you I'd like to help you out, which way did you come in? Sound Science perhaps. Guess the amp you heard on the Susvara didn't have enough juice for the...

The 600's even more so lately going for low 300's.

Not sure about that. My time in retail high end - the cost to dealers of the most exclusive equipment was 60%, most 50%, contracted brands 40% or a tad lower of retail. Susvara have been and are available "open box" (but in reality unused) for a low of $3700 ranging recently around $4200. So...

Comparison is one way. ASR lists efficiency vs other phones in their reviews and the HE-6 and Susvara are right at or very near the top of such lists. While you can certainly get a signal out of a Susvara with an amp of .5 watts @ 50 ohms, you will not get bass dynamics to match something like...

no question that the profit margin is high, but you are are wrong about 10-20x profit margin. on list price Susvara - 40% or perhaps more goes to the retailers,. Then there are salaries, rent, transportation, post sales support, marketing, materials, sales force, future developments (including...

It's a great one - but when I go Stevie - it's: Superwomen Blame it on the Sun Lookin' for Another Pure Love I believe (when I fall in love it will be forever) Beck's Guitar on Lookin' is probably my single favorite electric guitar piece

I don't follow the DAC market that closely, but, I think the higher end of the market has lots of R2R DACs - and Schiits even lower priced including the ones included in the amps.

Durutti Column - Greetings Three EP, the 4 cuts also more easily available on the "Red Shoes" CD. Vini's playing in the 1980's is amongst my favorites.

Just someone in the midst of changing opinions/trying not to be divisive. I see that as a plus.

I did my testing on 4 pairs of speakers, and no headphones. Verity Parsifal Encore, Magnepan 3.6R, Triangle Celius 202 w/ Fountek ribbons, and ProAc Tablette. Maggie was on loan, the only one left is the ProAc with the Fountek ribbons replacing the domes and Scan Speak 12RC mid/woofs and a...

Here I am, I've mentioned at least 7-8 times since I joined in '16 that I listened to 1k cuts of audiophile type recordings on my vinyl rig vs Gumby A1 and Yggy A1. My vinyl rig was Pass Ono step up, Koetsu Rosewood Sig, Souther SLA-3 arm, VPI TNT Jr, and I picked the Gumby A1 over the Yggy and...

Actually I realize I pull out the SPL meter when I'm testing bass. Just now two hours of my typical music alone and 78 db was the peak but mostly in the high 50's-mid 60's. So about the same. I have no idea how anyone can listen regularly at over 100 db and still have ears capable of...

Ahhh the "everything sounds the same because we say so" crowd... that's what I get for looking at "new posts" w/o checking the sub forum. Ciao.

I like the CA-1a - more w/ filters. The time I heard w/ the filters was with a Pass Int-25, a DAVE, and DSD256 & 512 files. I've had an ear for ribbon tweeters for 40+ years, so there isn't much to get used to - besides ribbons vs quasi ribbons (I.E. planar magnetics) in the bass/mids. I've...

No you have it right.. My circle these days is pretty small - 6 - and one fellow is close, and he's an acoustic musician. I'm 67.5 yrs old, I need a bit more now than 20 yrs ago.

Peaks at 92 db for my test tracks means programme at high 60's-low 80's. I listen softer than anyone I know. what do you think of the CA-1a? I want one but I need a counter to it like an Auteur since its so detail forward.

Every HFM I've owned or handled changes with cupping or individual fingers at the back. The HEK's and HEX's and Susvara all do it. So then the "window shade" thing was more for protection/marketing than proper sonics. I ran my round cups for years naked at the back for sonics, and built 4...

43 mostly, 47 on some bass only tracks.

The HE SE and HEK Stealth both sound better in high gain, but the 6 SE at volume (92 db peak) seemed to get the amp pretty warm fast. But it was a short session w/ the SE (:25 min max) so not sure if longer would have caused issues. Sounded very nice with the Auteur as well. I know that my...

There is a difference between reaction to the leading part of the note and the sustain. Planars (good->better) have the initial reaction, timbre, and Q advantage over similar open back dynamics. Closed back dynamics have more of the sustain (and are often boosted compared to 1k because of...

In a perfect world. But since they are part of a chain, the input and output impedance (which is not standard) can change things. RFI, amps reaction to too much, not enough VAC, etc.. Also difficult speaker/headphone loads often fall outside of the testing the designer/engineering team exposed...

Larger Magnepans (3 and 20 Series are hybrid with real ribbon tweeters & planar magnetic mid/woof (aka quasi ribbon). Look also into Apogees of the 80s and 90's.

How far back do you want to go? HE-4, HE-6 (4 or 6 screw), HE-500 seem to have held value well. Newer models which have been made in greater numbers and HFM's tendency to drop prices over time has hurt early adopters. For instance the HE-1000 SE has been dropped to $1699, quite a drop from...