[kenshone]

Let's get the opinions of people who have heard, and ideally own or have owned, *both* of these headphones. To make it fair for the Susvara, let's limit ourselves to experience with them with adequate amplification -- e.g. near TOTL headphone amps or hifi power amps.

 

[msing539]

I heard the Susvara on the dCS Bartok along with the Ether, Utopia, 1266, and HD800. Sadly, I found the Susvara lacking "fun," particularly in the low end.

The Elite was one of my favorites at CanJam NY, and I stuck around and bought the demo. It sounded great even on Fireflies. The only other headphone I liked as much was the D8000 Pro.

The Elite has a relaxed, fun signature, something I didn't get from the Susvara, which I found to be much more analytical. Personal preference, they're both excellent headphones.

Of the Hifiman lineup, I enjoyed the HE1000 SE the most.

 

[lockjaw]

I'm staring at both my Susvara and Meze Elite with tears in my eyes as one of them must go. Why?? because I need some free money to spent on some other audio device I absolutely don't need. I know I'm spoiled owning these guys, both have been a ton of fun and a pleasure. The Meze Elite are gorgeous, build quality is the best of any headphone I've seen and comfort to match. Their superpower is they can be powered by just about anything!!!! A Benchmark DAC2 HGC is a perfect match. Susvara on the other hand is a different animal, need a speaker amp, end of story $$$. Build quality is meh on the Susvara but sound is so well balanced. Direct comparison is really tough. Meze sound darker, creamy and smooth, very chill, nice and open, easy to listen to, edges are smooth. Switching back to Susvara, much brighter and faster, more detail. This really is personal preference, one isn't better. For me, the Susvara match my sound better as I like speed, detail, accuracy. If the decision was only SQ, Susvara win. If you figure in the ease of use and build, the Meze are tremendous and you can move that expense speaker amp to another system (or sell it). So I don't know!

Maybe sell them both and go back to an Abyss 1266TC ! Then I'm stuck with neck pain and a company I find difficult to work with who will rape you on the cost of pads, headbands, stands...etc... Crap, IDK what to do. Good problem!

but..... the REAL right answer. buy a used HE100SE and never look back. Just a hair below the Susvara, slight grain in comparison, but they can run off anything. Fast, great bass, comfort... overall best value of any headphone I've ever owned.

hope this was useless
have a terrible day!

Steve

 

[Contrails]

Owned the Elite and heard the Susvara off a WA33 and Holo May. The Elite are not in the same league as the Susvara. The only headphones that compete with the Susvara are the 2022 Utopias and Stax. Haven't heard the other TOTL from DCA or others so won't comment.

The Elites are beautifully built. The build quality puts the Susvara and a lot of headphones to shame. But the Elite sound is on the level of LCD3 and Verite. Susvara has more resolution and speed. The soundstage is larger too on the Sus. Elites have a slight midbass hump and a little laid back (Universe pads). Even LCD3 Pre fazor bass is faster and deeper than the Elite. Elite has good tonality but Susvara has great tonality and vocals on Susvara are truly special. I prefer the 2022 Utopias to the Susvara as they are more dynamic and the build quality of the Sus was a big let down (typical Hifiman build). The Utopias subbass doesn't hit as deep and the soundstage is a little narrower but vocals and tonality were spot on. Resolution and speed are up there with the Susvara. Instruments sound like instruments. If a headphone or a speaker nails the sound of a grand piano, IMO it's gonna be a good headphone. For this very reason, I did briefly listen to the He1000 V2 stealth and the upper mid/lower treble emphasis was very unnatural to my ears.

Do bear in mind that the Susvara require a quality amp with lots of quantity in power. Otherwise you not hearing what that headphone is truly capable of.

 

[lockjaw]

Buckeye amp (purifi) 1100 bucks
DAC3 1000ish used
cable (banana on amp end, 4 pin xlr female on headphone end) easy to make this cable, can find online 150 ish

you can add a preamp, like the topping, for better volume control, just be careful not to accidentally crank the volume too high.

absolutely can't beat this combination with any planar

when playing off this rig, I honestly think the Susvara and Meze are stunning, possibly the best two headphones I've ever heard. Both are close in quality

I sold my 1266 TCs because of the weight and dealing with Abyss, but I would be curious how much better they would sound on this rig.

 

[OnlySoMany]

It's really hard to beat Susvara, as it's just such a great set of headphones. To my ears, it's only weakness is the fun factor of it's sound. Yes you hear more of everything, and it sounds glorious. But that much information can also be tiring when listening for hours on end. This is the biggest benefit that the Meze have, is the sound is still excellent, but it's not as exhausting for long periods of time.

Susvara is like having a hot girlfriend or wife who is all business, or driving a race car on the street.

 

[maynardewm]

The Elite are not in the same league as the Susvara.

I'll have to respectfully disagree <3. I own both the Meze Elite and the Susvara and I think they sound relatively similar. I know this is a bit of an old thread but none of the other replies I felt lined up with my experience so I hope this helps someone! I am using both of the headphones through a Feliks Envy with WE300B and PSVane CV181s. I think this is important to mention because the Elites sound very different through this amp than they do through others. I've seen some reviews that say the Elites sound the same on every amp, but at least for the Feliks Envy I'll have to disagree, it really takes them up a notch. And this amp drives the Susvaras effortlessly. They were kind of made for each other. In high gain, my volume knob maxes out at 25% for the Susvaras, and in Low Gain it's also at 25% for the Elites.

Overall: The differences are actually pretty small. They are similar in tuning in my opinion, at least compared to something like a ZMF or an Audeze. It feels like they live in the same sphere of influence, if that makes sense. It's as if Meze was trying to create their own version of the Susvara when they designed the Elites. And I think they got really close. The following differences are overall small but not unnoticeable:

• Treble: The Susvara is more relaxed in the treble region compared to the Elites. This was one of my complaints with the Elites: a bit bright and sibilant in the upper treble region. They are a warm headphone, but they have a bump in the 10k-20k range, which creates a bit of a conflict because you're expecting warmth but you're also getting bite at the same time. If you're sensitive to high frequencies, you'll definitely notice and it might bother you like it does for me sometimes. The Susvara is interesting in that it is both highly resolving and detailed but also relaxed. It's neutral, not warm, but relaxed. It is not fatiguing in the way the Elite can be on certain recordings.
• Bass: Both are very good for bass when powered by the right amp. The Susvara on my setup has a little more low, extended bass, and the Meze has more mid bass. When listening to electronic music the Susvaras are like, ooohhhh, nice, low extended bass. Whereas when listening to Jazz, I'm like hmm, bass is a bit weaker, because acoustic upright bass has more mids. Compared to IEMs or closed backs they don't have as much bass, I just mean for open backs the bass is pretty good; balanced.
• Mids:The Elite and Susvara are so similar in the mids. I can't really tell a difference if I'm honest, other than that the Susvara are just more resolving as mentioned before.
• Soundstage: I personally think the Meze Elites have a bit more soundstage. They are spooky. When I listen to them I sometimes have to check that the sound isn't coming from my speakers. The Susvaras have a large sound stage, but it's unmistakably a headphone sized soundstage.

My preference? I don't know if I can really decide. I'm a big fan of the Meze's overall tuning other than the high frequencies which in a warm setup is not so bad, and its massive sound stage is to die for. But I really like and appreciate the Susvara's even tuning and detail. When I listen to the Susvaras, I kind of get lost in the music. The more relaxed tuning makes me feel comfy. The Elites command a bit more attention. They wake you up with that upper frequency bump. It's really a matter of personal preference. I think it's undeniable that the Susvara is the winner technically, but the Elites are something special too.