I was looking into it and yes their distortion is close to zero at audible frequencies but it gets crazy bad at ultrasonic levels. I recalled one of the frequency testing from audioscience forum showed that from 130khz + it gets crazy high dB distortion? I don’t know if these ultrasonic...

...just got more in reserve for dynamic peaks and can play louder without approaching its operating limits (which is where distortion rises). Class D amps are absurdly efficient compared to other topologies (in particular, class A), so they consume far less electricity overall. Consequently...

Just wondering, because I see you are using a class D amp for your Susvara, how does the Susvara handle all that power? The amp you have gives out 800W of power. How much electricity do you use for headphone listening?

...said, I just typed out a detailed response wherein I documented why I thought you misrepresented what he posted, and why I thought he exaggerated the dangers of using class D amps with (high impedance) headphones. If that offends you in some way, I respectfully submit that that's on you. Cheers.

GoldenSound post on class D amps for reference Class D amplifiers are not load invariant. This means that with higher than expected load impedances, they will behave abnormally. Class D amps use an output filter, and the driver itself forms a part of that filter. If the impedance is different...

Fair enough. I'm not an electrical engineer, so I won't pretend to fully understand either side of the argument, but I have a hard time imagining any reason Goldensound would lie about this - and based on all available evidence he is most certainly smart enough to understand the science...

Sorry, but this is nonsense. GS pointed out that many/most cheap class D amps were specifically designed for speakers and don't have flat frequency response when driving typical headphone loads (anything higher than 4-8 ohms), although the latest class D amp(s) from Fosi appear to have addressed...

I have used the Bel Canto REF S300 and the Chord TToby with excellent results.

...while wearing their dinner jacket, and tbh that image does it a disservice. Goldensound has gone into great detail about why you should not use Class D amplifiers with headphones. The moral of the story is it is very likely to blow up your headphone, and possibly your ears. Proceed with...

Looking forward to your detailed impressions between the MK 465 and HM1. :o2smile:

Yes. There's 2 modes Class A Class A + servo

At or near that price point, you'd probably be best off looking for a used speaker amp to insert between the TT2 and Susvara. I'm partial to class D amps using Hypex nCore modules, as they are compact, efficient (cool-running), powerful, and offer SOTA performance. Amps using the newer Purifi...

Bass knob 1 to the right is fantastic, but for me Class A makes the HM1 lose the tight grip on the Susvara that really sets it apart from other solid state amps

This is what I want to hear! It makes me eager for mine to arrive, if not a little bit impatient. “Late summer…” seems so far away.

No longer even thinking about other Susvara amps since I got my HM1 :D And yeah class A is magical with Utopia or HD800 but planars want servo.

Opening up the soundstage IMHO does NOT correlate with the price. Even a far cheaper Class D amp can open up Susvara's soundstage better than some of these if the upstream components have poor synergy. It's component synergy that matters. You can pick the most technical amp for Susvara or pick...

The AVM product appears to be an integrated amp, so not really apples-to-apples with the speaker amps I mentioned. If one already owns a preamp, or a headphone amp with a good preamp section (with XLR outputs), then buying a powerful integrated amp seems a bit redundant. Regarding "similar level...

...by far, everything is MUCH better I hope this is more useful than the presumptuous blanket statements I made earlier! Would a Purifi/Hypex class D amp have more bass power than the ifi pro ican signature? Would love to try if that's the case! I'd also love to hear your comparison of both...

I have no idea where you're coming up with these figures (especially the first one!), but I guarantee that simply inserting a Purifi/Hypex class D amp into one's current Susvara chain will make it surpass the HEKSE in bass (and overall) performance. These amps can be had for as little as ~$1k...

Fantastic and unique post, particularly in its layout - very friendly. Well done. fwiw having owned the utopia, auteur, hekse and susvara, and having tried them with different level gear, not too much I disagree with and how i perceive the lcd5 from my own demoing and what i have read here is...

It's cool to know your insight man. Totally useless for me but I think it's enough "said" from my side. You have your own beliefs and I have no intention to change it. Hope you enjoy your stay here in headfi, and hopefully not feel too bored (because all solid state amps sound similar to you)...

...belief that it was the sheer current drive of speaker amps, typically 25 -> 45amps (keces s300) that brought the Susvara alive. May of the small form factor class D amp have rather lame current delivery specs especially those running off wall warts. I see many of those specced at max 5a-10a...

There might be an misunderstanding. A lot of recent amps have dual mono, which means, to them, they have two amps per mono channel. So two mono amps for left and two mono amps for right. So to prevent misunderstanding, i was sure that dual mono meant this. That you have one mono amp per...

...to those. I guess a good and ready example is the Feliks Envy which is also a 300b with quite the consensus. I would be doubtful with those power output numbers if the amp is a solid state (especially class D or even AB) but I am more confident with those numbers if coming from a SET class...

...Whereas AB has to drop oiut of power saving to deliver those transients. This is why no two topologies will ever sound the same. Class D from my limited understanding is the more likelty powerful with silly claims of power. Its also one driven by the eco-gods and by early days quality...