[Ultrainferno]

with most modern headphones they will hardly move. Plug in an old HE6 or the Susvara and the story is different
But it's not right if one moves and one doesn't, so yeah contact Auris.

Also, I scored a pair of KT77 Gold Lion to try on the Nirvana. Yay!

 

[Frank I]

with most modern headphones they will hardly move. Plug in an old HE6 or the Susvara and the story is different
But it's not right if one moves and one doesn't, so yeah contact Auris.

Also, I scored a pair of KT77 Gold Lion to try on the Nirvana. Yay!

kt 77

 

[Frank I]

kt 77

The KT 77 Genelex should be awesome. Let us know your results. The HE6 SE made them dance as did the Susvara.

 

[Ultrainferno]

Great tool for reviewing products. Let us know how it sounds with the RF.

I already did in the full review

 

[SteveM324]

My Auris Nirvana is coming ..... got a smoking great deal on a Nirvana show demo from Jason at Adirondack Audio & Video. Jason went the extra mile and I would highly recommend giving him a call if you're interested in an Auris product in the USA. I'm in no way affiliated with Adirondack Audio & Video, just a very satisfied customer.

 

[SteveM324]

My Auris Nirvana is in house.... and boy does it sound great! I replaced my SS Luxman P700u amp in my basement system with the Nirvana. I tried my Utopia's last night and I've never heard them present a soundstage like that with the 700u. After purchasing the 4z, HEK SE, and Verite, I wasn't using my Utopia much and I was contemplating selling them.... forget that. The Utopia driven by the Nirvana never sounded more full bodied, dynamic and with a much larger soundstage than I previously heard with my 700u. I listened to a hirez stream via Qobuz of Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty" and the dynamic attack and bass were to die for. The Nirvana isn't a soft tubey sounding amp at all. It's absolutely dead quiet, no buzzing or humming by the amp or through the headphones. I'm surprised how great this amp sounds with the supplied stock tubes. I've had many stereo tube preamps for the last 30 years so I have several ECC82 NOS tubes that I can roll but right now I'm more than happy with the stock tubes. I also like the fact that it uses very common tubes, one ECC82 (12AU7) and two EL34 tubes. I don't feel like I'll be spending hours upon hours, days upon days, and big bucks rolling tubes to make this amp sound great. I'm sure NOS tubes will improve the sound of this amp but I'm in no hurry to do that. I've had many headphone amps in the past, including some tube amps from Eddie Current and Cavalli but none of them put a grin on my face like the Nirvana. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that this amp looks great. The Nirvana has exceeded my expectations and then some.

 

[SteveM324]

My Auris Nirvana is in house.... and boy does it sound great! I replaced my SS Luxman P700u amp in my basement system with the Nirvana. I tried my Utopia's last night and I've never heard them present a soundstage like that with the 700u. After purchasing the 4z, HEK SE, and Verite, I wasn't using my Utopia much and I was contemplating selling them.... forget that. The Utopia driven by the Nirvana never sounded more full bodied, dynamic and with a much larger soundstage than I previously heard with my 700u. I listened to a hirez stream via Qobuz of Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty" and the dynamic attack and bass were to die for. The Nirvana isn't a soft tubey sounding amp at all. It's absolutely dead quiet, no buzzing or humming by the amp or through the headphones. I'm surprised how great this amp sounds with the supplied stock tubes. I've had many stereo tube preamps for the last 30 years so I have several ECC82 NOS tubes that I can roll but right now I'm more than happy with the stock tubes. I also like the fact that it uses very common tubes, one ECC82 (12AU7) and two EL34 tubes. I don't feel like I'll be spending hours upon hours, days upon days, and big bucks rolling tubes to make this amp sound great. I'm sure NOS tubes will improve the sound of this amp but I'm in no hurry to do that. I've had many headphone amps in the past, including some tube amps from Eddie Current and Cavalli but none of them put a grin on my face like the Nirvana. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that this amp looks great. The Nirvana has exceeded my expectations and then some.

Well it's been about a month since my last post shortly after getting the Nirvana. I had a small issue with the amp but Auris jumped on it quickly and sent me a brand new Nirvana at no cost to me. Auris customer service was fantastic so I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Auris product in the future. In the end, I got a brand new Nirvana for the price of a demo at a big discount. Moving on to the sound, in the last week I've been rolling some tubes.

I've tried Mullard CV4003, Genelex ECC82 and Brimar CV4003 driver tubes and the Genelex KT 77 output tubes. For the driver tubes, I felt the Mullard was a bit too warm and rolled off in the highs, the Genelex ECC82 was better than stock and the Mullard. The ECC82 tube provided a bit more body and seemed more dynamic, and threw a larger soundstage. The ECC82 had a lot of good traits but it didn't quite seem as natural and musical in the midrange as I would like. The Brimar CV4003 sounded best to me. It has a magical midrange while having more sparkle on top than the Mullard without being bright. The Genelex KT 77 is a no brainer and relatively low cost ($100 a pair) improvement over the stock Electro Harmonix EL34. The KT 77 is smoother, throws a larger and more transparent soundstage, and the midrange is absolutely fantastic in combination with the Brimar CV4003. The Brimars can be had for $40-80 depending on where you get them. I've tried all of my headphones on this amp, ZMF Verite, Audeze LCD4z, HEK SE and the Utopia, and they all sound the best I've ever heard in my system. I've had a lot of excellent SS and tube amps in the past but the Nirvana is by far my favorite. Every headphone that I have tried with this amp whether it's planar or dynamic sounds musical, dynamic, resolving and engaging. I also have to say again how beautiful this amp looks, the workmanship is impeccable.

Before I purchased the Nirvana, I considered 2 other tube amps the Woo WA33 and the Cayin HA300 both of which I heard at shows. I think all 3 of them are fine sounding amps with stock tubes but I've owned enough tube equipment to know that the sound can be improved by rolling tubes. The drawback for me of the WA33 is not the upfront cost but the tube rolling cost. The Cayin also can have significant tube rolling cost. My 3 favorite tubes that I rolled into my Nirvana cost me a total of $180. One premium 300B tube cost more than that. The power output of the Cayin is significantly less than the Nirvana so hard to drive headphones such as the Susvara could be an issue with it. Based on sound quality alone, I'm very happy with my choice of the Nirvana although I can't say I compared it to the others I considered head to head. In my opinion if you're in the market for a TOTL headphone amp, go with tubes and you owe it to yourself to consider the Auris Nirvana. For me, this amp checks all the boxes and it's my endgame amp.

 

[lagadu]

Can you offer some more details on how it compares to an Eddie Current, and which? I'm considering taking a trip to a store where I can test the Nirvana one of these days.

 

[Frank I]

The Eddie Current amps are fantastic amos especially if your using speakers. However tubes cost is much mor expensive and they need to be carefully selected.

 

[SteveM324]

I owned the Eddie Current Zana Deux SE for several years. I sold it quite a few years ago so I can't give you a direct comparison. The Nirvana cost quite a bit more and it's a lot more powerful. If I don't consider the cost, I like the Nirvana a lot more than the ZD SE. The ZD SE had a light and airy sound where as the Nirvana is full bodied and it provides great bass and beautiful midrange. The fit and finish on the Nirvana is absolutely beautiful. I don't have experience with Eddie Current's more expensive models.

 

[SteveM324]

I did some more tube rolling …. so far I like the Brimar CV4003 and the stock Electro Harmonix EL34. The Brimar CV4003 and the Gold Lion KT77 ended up being a bit to warm and rounded off to me so I put the stock EL34 back in. I think the Brimar's midrange is noticeably better than the stock EH. I'm very pleased with this combination. I think it has excellent midrange smoothness, but not rounded off in the highs. The bass and dynamics are excellent. Once I start listening to music through the Nirvana, I don't want to stop.

 

[Sound Eq]

can i ask how the nirvana or headonia compare to eutrepe just in the amp section

 

[Frank I]

The Nirvana is in a different league in that it drives every headphone, The world-class reference amp is liquid a transparent has different tubes and preamp section and the Euterpe is about 70 percent but nic enough for most headphone an excellent buy if you want an all in one system.

 

[Relaxasaurus]

The Euterpe is fun and the included DAC is a nice touch. I spent an extensive amount of time with it at Canjam, but I can't imagine it holds a candle to a top tier amp like the Nirvana.

 

[Frank I]

The same manufacturer and for the money and space-saving features a terrific snap for a desktop. I use mine in my office upstairs and it is excellent and nice looking on my desk connected to a MacBook pro. Convenient and sounds terrific. Check them out at Moon Audio he arranges demos.