[Jomungur]

Thanks, I will try this if I have further questions.

OK, I just got the system and installed it! I felt wistful disconnecting my Susvara and amp- it's really such a sweet headphone.

The Hifiman amp is pretty big, bigger than I thought. So much for any hopes that my wife wouldn't notice it with all the other gear I have. I think I need to re-arrange my home office. I thought I had a big amp before. It also weighs about 36 pounds. I haven't listened to it yet (although they leak sound of course being open back) but am just running it for a few hours per suggestions.

 

[Jomungur]

I have tried these out now after letting them run for a few hours, and wanted to share my impressions.

Background: I wanted to list what headphones I have experience with, because I think that's always helpful for someone to see if they agree generally with someone's taste and impressions. One of the nice things about living in NYC is there's a great headphone store where, pre-COVID at least, you could actually try a lot of exotic headphones (Audio46).

In terms of reference quality headphones, started with the Sennheiser HD800. Great headphones, and I think it's always a good reference point since they are so established. But then I fell for the Focal sound, and got a Stellia and Utopia. (I was traveling a lot pre-COVID so need closed back headphones that were easy to drive, hence the Stellia.) I was very happy with those for awhile and played with different cables because the Utopias could be a little too bright for me sometimes. I settled on Danacable's Lazuli Nirvana, which I enjoyed very much (and use for the Susvara as well). In terms of amps, I used the Chord DAVE's native headphone amp at first, then Focal Arche. I was chatting with Vinh Vu who sells Danacable stuff (great guy), and he lent me this prototype amp they were working on. It really brought something and I bought it - I think they sell it now as the Danacable Headspace Amp.

I hadn't tried Hifiman before. I think it was lot of the negative crap on the forums and reddit. I've learned now that a lot of people on audio forums just like to throw hate around, and many opinions are thrown by people who don't have actually have the headphone. And the Susvara just seemed unreasonably expensive compared to the Utopia. But I was chatting with Vinh and he mentioned the Utopia was great, but the Susvara was even better. In fact, that's what Dana at Danacable uses and the Headspace Amp was built in part to drive that to its max potential. His comparison was the Utopia was like Sugar Ray Leonard, fast and quick, but the Susvara was like Muhammad Ali, great all-around with no weaknesses. So I tried the Susvara, and it was pretty much perfection for me with the amp combo. It had everything that I wanted and it was also really comfortable to boot. Then I bought other Hifiman headphones like the Ananda BT for bluetooth, and I liked the sound a lot better than the Sennheiser Momentum I was using. I also have a Sundara for low level use (like office calls into my mic). So I like the Hifiman sound a ton, please keep that bias in mind.

I have not tried any electrostatics before except the Koss. I did try the Abyss AB-1266 when deciding on the Susvara, and it is a terrific headphone, but I preferred the Susvara.

Shangri-La vs. Sennheiser HE-1: Anyone who is considering getting the Shangri-La Sr. is considering the HE-1, of course. This is a really tough one because it's not like you can really compare the two side by side in ideal conditions unless you're really lucky. I've been burned many times where I hear headphones/speakers in the audio store and it sounds great, but doesn't sound quite the same in my own home set-up, for better or worse. I did hear the HE-1 once, but it wasn't in ideal conditions and there was a fixed playlist (I couldn't hear the music I'm familiar with most) so I'm not going even try to compare the two. In the end, I went with my gut because I really loved the Susvara sound, and figured if Fang liked the Shangri-La even better then I should try it. I also didn't want to pay for the marble finish and the DAC for the HE-1, I very much like the DAVE DAC and wanted to use it. I'm sure the HE-1 is a terrific system.

Shangri-La vs. Susvara: OK, I stand corrected. The Shangri-La is better than the Susvara, even after just a few hours of break-in.

It's really quite a magnificent sound. As good as the Susvara is, the Shangri-La tops the sound on every measure: detail, resolution, imagine, sound stage, low fatigue. I can tell because I end up listening to whole albums when I wanted to just one song. It is very revealing, I wouldn't say harsh, but definitely you will have a new appreciation for music production.

Soundstage is more global than the Susvara.

You know, one purchase that I made that I'm still not sure is worth it is the Chord M Scaler. I'm still not sure, but I can say that finally I do hear something consistent in terms of the different upsampling modes with the Shangri-La.

Here are some of my references for picking out resolution.

Smashing Pumpkins '1979': there's that iconic part of the sound where Corgan is going "oooo....ah..." and it's compressed really fast with a ton of reverb, so it sounds like a guitar or something. Never heard his voice in that part so clearly.

Guns' N' Roses' Sweet Child of Mine: Whoever mixed this did a very mediocre job compared to other tracks on the album. I play guitar and have been trying to hear Izzy's rhythm guitar part (on the left side of the soundstage) in isolation, but it's mixed poorly and is very muted compared to Duff's bass and Slash's lead. I can hear the separation clearly with the Shangri-La Sr.

Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven: Ok, most of us have heard this song to death. But Plant's vocals are hard to clear with certain words, especially in the beginning where he's almost whispering. I can now more clearly his humming over JPJ's recorder in the first part. But also when he says quietly in the first two minutes "she can get what she came for", the "came for" is really hard to make out but here it's very clear.

But putting aside the detail, there is that magic quality for me that we all are chasing, I think. You know what makes you immersed in the music. With these headphones, it kind of sneaks up on you; if you're multi-tasking you may not notice it. But if you close your eyes on these and just listen to the music, it's pretty amazing and you will be transported.

It's more comfortable too, and the Susvara is already quite comfortable. I think people underestimate comfort with headphones, it makes a big difference in terms of how much you will actually use them; nothing breaks immersion like actually feeling the weight or clamping pressure on your head.

I haven't retired my Susvara, I have it set up at a different place. So over the next few weeks if I have anything more to add on this I will.

Is it worth buying? Impossible to answer, since it depends on your disposable income and how much you like audio. I wouldn't take a loan out for it, like I might for a house. I also think it's a bit wasted if you don't actually do much listening to music by itself (i.e., as opposed to having music playing in the background while you do something else). I mean you'll still get a difference but it really shines when you just let yourself get absorbed in the music with your eyes closed. It has a high ceiling. But if you are making a luxury purchase, like the sound of other Hifiman headphones and spend a lot of time listening to music, I think it's well worth considering.

Please note I did buy the whole package, so I am using their amp. I don't know how much of the sound is the amp, for all I know a different, cheaper amp might sound even better. I also don't know if the other electrostatics like Voce, Stax are better, just don't have enough experience with them. At least the amp can play two electrostatic headphones at the same time if you ever wanted to run a comparison.

Hope this helps anyone considering it. Pic attached, it's not a good one. But you can see the amp doesn't look as heavy it is.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I have tried these out now after letting them run for a few hours, and wanted to share my impressions.

Shangri-La vs. Susvara: OK, I stand corrected. The Shangri-La is better than the Susvara, even after just a few hours of break-in.

It's really quite a magnificent sound. As good as the Susvara is, the Shangri-La tops the sound on every measure: detail, resolution, imagine, sound stage, low fatigue. I can tell because I end up listening to whole albums when I wanted to just one song. It is very revealing, I wouldn't say harsh, but definitely you will have a new appreciation for music production.

Soundstage is more global than the Susvara.

You know, one purchase that I made that I'm still not sure is worth it is the Chord M Scaler. I'm still not sure, but I can say that finally I do hear something consistent in terms of the different upsampling modes with the Shangri-La.

Here are some of my references for picking out resolution.

Smashing Pumpkins '1979': there's that iconic part of the sound where Corgan is going "oooo....ah..." and it's compressed really fast with a ton of reverb, so it sounds like a guitar or something. Never heard his voice in that part so clearly.

Guns' N' Roses' Sweet Child of Mine: Whoever mixed this did a very mediocre job compared to other tracks on the album. I play guitar and have been trying to hear Izzy's rhythm guitar part (on the left side of the soundstage) in isolation, but it's mixed poorly and is very muted compared to Duff's bass and Slash's lead. I can hear the separation clearly with the Shangri-La Sr.

Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven: Ok, most of us have heard this song to death. But Plant's vocals are hard to clear with certain words, especially in the beginning where he's almost whispering. I can now more clearly his humming over JPJ's recorder in the first part. But also when he says quietly in the first two minutes "she can get what she came for", the "came for" is really hard to make out but here it's very clear.

But putting aside the detail, there is that magic quality for me that we all are chasing, I think. You know what makes you immersed in the music. With these headphones, it kind of sneaks up on you; if you're multi-tasking you may not notice it. But if you close your eyes on these and just listen to the music, it's pretty amazing and you will be transported.

It's more comfortable too, and the Susvara is already quite comfortable. I think people underestimate comfort with headphones, it makes a big difference in terms of how much you will actually use them; nothing breaks immersion like actually feeling the weight or clamping pressure on your head.

I haven't retired my Susvara, I have it set up at a different place. So over the next few weeks if I have anything more to add on this I will.

Good to see more impressions on these. Yea it has a certain level of magic that's really hard to describe. I knew after about 45 minutes of listening the first time and it definitely snuck up on me. I've had a really big grin on my face every time I've worn them since then.

Also agree on a lot of the points vs. the Susvara. It's a pretty sizable step above.. although what I do still really like about the susvara is just how smooth it is. The SGL's treble sparkles more, so the smoothness of the Susvara stands out--much like against the Sr1a/TC/009. But then again this comes at the cost of detail, and at times sounding too soft and polite. Still a strength of the Susvara overall though imo.

Is it worth buying? Impossible to answer, since it depends on your disposable income and how much you like audio. I wouldn't take a loan out for it, like I might for a house. I also think it's a bit wasted if you don't actually do much listening to music by itself (i.e., as opposed to having music playing in the background while you do something else). I mean you'll still get a difference but it really shines when you just let yourself get absorbed in the music with your eyes closed. It has a high ceiling. But if you are making a luxury purchase, like the sound of other Hifiman headphones and spend a lot of time listening to music, I think it's well worth considering.

Please note I did buy the whole package, so I am using their amp. I don't know how much of the sound is the amp, for all I know a different, cheaper amp might sound even better. I also don't know if the other electrostatics like Voce, Stax are better, just don't have enough experience with them. At least the amp can play two electrostatic headphones at the same time if you ever wanted to run a comparison.

Hope this helps anyone considering it. Pic attached, it's not a good one. But you can see the amp doesn't look as heavy it is.

Price is the one downside of the Shangri-La Sr. As ridiculously good as it is, and certainly the best headphone I've ever owned.. the price is just outrageous. Obviously that's the same for the HE-1 as well, and they're niche, luxury products.. get all of that. But anywhere from $8-12k list price would've been reasonable to me given its performance.

 

[DJJEZ]

I have tried these out now after letting them run for a few hours, and wanted to share my impressions.

Background: I wanted to list what headphones I have experience with, because I think that's always helpful for someone to see if they agree generally with someone's taste and impressions. One of the nice things about living in NYC is there's a great headphone store where, pre-COVID at least, you could actually try a lot of exotic headphones (Audio46).

In terms of reference quality headphones, started with the Sennheiser HD800. Great headphones, and I think it's always a good reference point since they are so established. But then I fell for the Focal sound, and got a Stellia and Utopia. (I was traveling a lot pre-COVID so need closed back headphones that were easy to drive, hence the Stellia.) I was very happy with those for awhile and played with different cables because the Utopias could be a little too bright for me sometimes. I settled on Danacable's Lazuli Nirvana, which I enjoyed very much (and use for the Susvara as well). In terms of amps, I used the Chord DAVE's native headphone amp at first, then Focal Arche. I was chatting with Vinh Vu who sells Danacable stuff (great guy), and he lent me this prototype amp they were working on. It really brought something and I bought it - I think they sell it now as the Danacable Headspace Amp.

I hadn't tried Hifiman before. I think it was lot of the negative crap on the forums and reddit. I've learned now that a lot of people on audio forums just like to throw hate around, and many opinions are thrown by people who don't have actually have the headphone. And the Susvara just seemed unreasonably expensive compared to the Utopia. But I was chatting with Vinh and he mentioned the Utopia was great, but the Susvara was even better. In fact, that's what Dana at Danacable uses and the Headspace Amp was built in part to drive that to its max potential. His comparison was the Utopia was like Sugar Ray Leonard, fast and quick, but the Susvara was like Muhammad Ali, great all-around with no weaknesses. So I tried the Susvara, and it was pretty much perfection for me with the amp combo. It had everything that I wanted and it was also really comfortable to boot. Then I bought other Hifiman headphones like the Ananda BT for bluetooth, and I liked the sound a lot better than the Sennheiser Momentum I was using. I also have a Sundara for low level use (like office calls into my mic). So I like the Hifiman sound a ton, please keep that bias in mind.

I have not tried any electrostatics before except the Koss. I did try the Abyss AB-1266 when deciding on the Susvara, and it is a terrific headphone, but I preferred the Susvara.

Shangri-La vs. Sennheiser HE-1: Anyone who is considering getting the Shangri-La Sr. is considering the HE-1, of course. This is a really tough one because it's not like you can really compare the two side by side in ideal conditions unless you're really lucky. I've been burned many times where I hear headphones/speakers in the audio store and it sounds great, but doesn't sound quite the same in my own home set-up, for better or worse. I did hear the HE-1 once, but it wasn't in ideal conditions and there was a fixed playlist (I couldn't hear the music I'm familiar with most) so I'm not going even try to compare the two. In the end, I went with my gut because I really loved the Susvara sound, and figured if Fang liked the Shangri-La even better then I should try it. I also didn't want to pay for the marble finish and the DAC for the HE-1, I very much like the DAVE DAC and wanted to use it. I'm sure the HE-1 is a terrific system.

Shangri-La vs. Susvara: OK, I stand corrected. The Shangri-La is better than the Susvara, even after just a few hours of break-in.

It's really quite a magnificent sound. As good as the Susvara is, the Shangri-La tops the sound on every measure: detail, resolution, imagine, sound stage, low fatigue. I can tell because I end up listening to whole albums when I wanted to just one song. It is very revealing, I wouldn't say harsh, but definitely you will have a new appreciation for music production.

Soundstage is more global than the Susvara.

You know, one purchase that I made that I'm still not sure is worth it is the Chord M Scaler. I'm still not sure, but I can say that finally I do hear something consistent in terms of the different upsampling modes with the Shangri-La.

Here are some of my references for picking out resolution.

Smashing Pumpkins '1979': there's that iconic part of the sound where Corgan is going "oooo....ah..." and it's compressed really fast with a ton of reverb, so it sounds like a guitar or something. Never heard his voice in that part so clearly.

Guns' N' Roses' Sweet Child of Mine: Whoever mixed this did a very mediocre job compared to other tracks on the album. I play guitar and have been trying to hear Izzy's rhythm guitar part (on the left side of the soundstage) in isolation, but it's mixed poorly and is very muted compared to Duff's bass and Slash's lead. I can hear the separation clearly with the Shangri-La Sr.

Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven: Ok, most of us have heard this song to death. But Plant's vocals are hard to clear with certain words, especially in the beginning where he's almost whispering. I can now more clearly his humming over JPJ's recorder in the first part. But also when he says quietly in the first two minutes "she can get what she came for", the "came for" is really hard to make out but here it's very clear.

But putting aside the detail, there is that magic quality for me that we all are chasing, I think. You know what makes you immersed in the music. With these headphones, it kind of sneaks up on you; if you're multi-tasking you may not notice it. But if you close your eyes on these and just listen to the music, it's pretty amazing and you will be transported.

It's more comfortable too, and the Susvara is already quite comfortable. I think people underestimate comfort with headphones, it makes a big difference in terms of how much you will actually use them; nothing breaks immersion like actually feeling the weight or clamping pressure on your head.

I haven't retired my Susvara, I have it set up at a different place. So over the next few weeks if I have anything more to add on this I will.

Is it worth buying? Impossible to answer, since it depends on your disposable income and how much you like audio. I wouldn't take a loan out for it, like I might for a house. I also think it's a bit wasted if you don't actually do much listening to music by itself (i.e., as opposed to having music playing in the background while you do something else). I mean you'll still get a difference but it really shines when you just let yourself get absorbed in the music with your eyes closed. It has a high ceiling. But if you are making a luxury purchase, like the sound of other Hifiman headphones and spend a lot of time listening to music, I think it's well worth considering.

Please note I did buy the whole package, so I am using their amp. I don't know how much of the sound is the amp, for all I know a different, cheaper amp might sound even better. I also don't know if the other electrostatics like Voce, Stax are better, just don't have enough experience with them. At least the amp can play two electrostatic headphones at the same time if you ever wanted to run a comparison.

Hope this helps anyone considering it. Pic attached, it's not a good one. But you can see the amp doesn't look as heavy it is.

First person on this forum I've seen with the hifiman amp as well. Just insane. Enjoy man

 

[MasonStorm]

I have tried these out now after letting them run for a few hours, and wanted to share my impressions.

Background: I wanted to list what headphones I have experience with, because I think that's always helpful for someone to see if they agree generally with someone's taste and impressions. One of the nice things about living in NYC is there's a great headphone store where, pre-COVID at least, you could actually try a lot of exotic headphones (Audio46).

In terms of reference quality headphones, started with the Sennheiser HD800. Great headphones, and I think it's always a good reference point since they are so established. But then I fell for the Focal sound, and got a Stellia and Utopia. (I was traveling a lot pre-COVID so need closed back headphones that were easy to drive, hence the Stellia.) I was very happy with those for awhile and played with different cables because the Utopias could be a little too bright for me sometimes. I settled on Danacable's Lazuli Nirvana, which I enjoyed very much (and use for the Susvara as well). In terms of amps, I used the Chord DAVE's native headphone amp at first, then Focal Arche. I was chatting with Vinh Vu who sells Danacable stuff (great guy), and he lent me this prototype amp they were working on. It really brought something and I bought it - I think they sell it now as the Danacable Headspace Amp.

I hadn't tried Hifiman before. I think it was lot of the negative crap on the forums and reddit. I've learned now that a lot of people on audio forums just like to throw hate around, and many opinions are thrown by people who don't have actually have the headphone. And the Susvara just seemed unreasonably expensive compared to the Utopia. But I was chatting with Vinh and he mentioned the Utopia was great, but the Susvara was even better. In fact, that's what Dana at Danacable uses and the Headspace Amp was built in part to drive that to its max potential. His comparison was the Utopia was like Sugar Ray Leonard, fast and quick, but the Susvara was like Muhammad Ali, great all-around with no weaknesses. So I tried the Susvara, and it was pretty much perfection for me with the amp combo. It had everything that I wanted and it was also really comfortable to boot. Then I bought other Hifiman headphones like the Ananda BT for bluetooth, and I liked the sound a lot better than the Sennheiser Momentum I was using. I also have a Sundara for low level use (like office calls into my mic). So I like the Hifiman sound a ton, please keep that bias in mind.

I have not tried any electrostatics before except the Koss. I did try the Abyss AB-1266 when deciding on the Susvara, and it is a terrific headphone, but I preferred the Susvara.

Shangri-La vs. Sennheiser HE-1: Anyone who is considering getting the Shangri-La Sr. is considering the HE-1, of course. This is a really tough one because it's not like you can really compare the two side by side in ideal conditions unless you're really lucky. I've been burned many times where I hear headphones/speakers in the audio store and it sounds great, but doesn't sound quite the same in my own home set-up, for better or worse. I did hear the HE-1 once, but it wasn't in ideal conditions and there was a fixed playlist (I couldn't hear the music I'm familiar with most) so I'm not going even try to compare the two. In the end, I went with my gut because I really loved the Susvara sound, and figured if Fang liked the Shangri-La even better then I should try it. I also didn't want to pay for the marble finish and the DAC for the HE-1, I very much like the DAVE DAC and wanted to use it. I'm sure the HE-1 is a terrific system.

Shangri-La vs. Susvara: OK, I stand corrected. The Shangri-La is better than the Susvara, even after just a few hours of break-in.

It's really quite a magnificent sound. As good as the Susvara is, the Shangri-La tops the sound on every measure: detail, resolution, imagine, sound stage, low fatigue. I can tell because I end up listening to whole albums when I wanted to just one song. It is very revealing, I wouldn't say harsh, but definitely you will have a new appreciation for music production.

Soundstage is more global than the Susvara.

You know, one purchase that I made that I'm still not sure is worth it is the Chord M Scaler. I'm still not sure, but I can say that finally I do hear something consistent in terms of the different upsampling modes with the Shangri-La.

Here are some of my references for picking out resolution.

Smashing Pumpkins '1979': there's that iconic part of the sound where Corgan is going "oooo....ah..." and it's compressed really fast with a ton of reverb, so it sounds like a guitar or something. Never heard his voice in that part so clearly.

Guns' N' Roses' Sweet Child of Mine: Whoever mixed this did a very mediocre job compared to other tracks on the album. I play guitar and have been trying to hear Izzy's rhythm guitar part (on the left side of the soundstage) in isolation, but it's mixed poorly and is very muted compared to Duff's bass and Slash's lead. I can hear the separation clearly with the Shangri-La Sr.

Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven: Ok, most of us have heard this song to death. But Plant's vocals are hard to clear with certain words, especially in the beginning where he's almost whispering. I can now more clearly his humming over JPJ's recorder in the first part. But also when he says quietly in the first two minutes "she can get what she came for", the "came for" is really hard to make out but here it's very clear.

But putting aside the detail, there is that magic quality for me that we all are chasing, I think. You know what makes you immersed in the music. With these headphones, it kind of sneaks up on you; if you're multi-tasking you may not notice it. But if you close your eyes on these and just listen to the music, it's pretty amazing and you will be transported.

It's more comfortable too, and the Susvara is already quite comfortable. I think people underestimate comfort with headphones, it makes a big difference in terms of how much you will actually use them; nothing breaks immersion like actually feeling the weight or clamping pressure on your head.

I haven't retired my Susvara, I have it set up at a different place. So over the next few weeks if I have anything more to add on this I will.

Is it worth buying? Impossible to answer, since it depends on your disposable income and how much you like audio. I wouldn't take a loan out for it, like I might for a house. I also think it's a bit wasted if you don't actually do much listening to music by itself (i.e., as opposed to having music playing in the background while you do something else). I mean you'll still get a difference but it really shines when you just let yourself get absorbed in the music with your eyes closed. It has a high ceiling. But if you are making a luxury purchase, like the sound of other Hifiman headphones and spend a lot of time listening to music, I think it's well worth considering.

Please note I did buy the whole package, so I am using their amp. I don't know how much of the sound is the amp, for all I know a different, cheaper amp might sound even better. I also don't know if the other electrostatics like Voce, Stax are better, just don't have enough experience with them. At least the amp can play two electrostatic headphones at the same time if you ever wanted to run a comparison.

Hope this helps anyone considering it. Pic attached, it's not a good one. But you can see the amp doesn't look as heavy it is.

Can you elaborate on the setup process? I read somewhere that you have to do some tube biasing (using a multimeter) after a while. Or does HiFiMan send a technician to your home to do that for you?

 

[Jomungur]

Can you elaborate on the setup process? I read somewhere that you have to do some tube biasing (using a multimeter) after a while. Or does HiFiMan send a technician to your home to do that for you?

Well, the dealer I got it from came to set it up but it was actually really easy. Took about 20 minutes. Not exactly plug and play because you have to insert the tubes in, but it was close and very user friendly. The hard part is the anticipation and fear of breaking something when you do it the first time!

You don't have to bias the tubes for the initial set-up. That is done by Hifiman right before it ships. You have to re-bias when you change tubes, but I'm betting that whoever you buy the new/replacement tubes from will do it for you. And if you roll tubes a lot you probably know how to do it yourself.

The packaging was incredible actually. Like weapons grade packaging or something. I dropped one of them but the tubes inside were just fine. The plastic shipping containers have handles and wheels and weigh more than the amp itself.

 

[MasonStorm]

Well, the dealer I got it from came to set it up but it was actually really easy. Took about 20 minutes. Not exactly plug and play because you have to insert the tubes in, but it was close and very user friendly. The hard part is the anticipation and fear of breaking something when you do it the first time!

You don't have to bias the tubes for the initial set-up. That is done by Hifiman right before it ships. You have to re-bias when you change tubes, but I'm betting that whoever you buy the new/replacement tubes from will do it for you. And if you roll tubes a lot you probably know how to do it yourself.

The packaging was incredible actually. Like weapons grade packaging or something. I dropped one of them but the tubes inside were just fine. The plastic shipping containers have handles and wheels and weigh more than the amp itself.

How do you feel about the bass? It seems that most reviewers feel that the Sennheiser HE-1 has more impressive slam, but that the Shangri-La still has the extension.

 

[Jomungur]

How do you feel about the bass? It seems that most reviewers feel that the Sennheiser HE-1 has more impressive slam, but that the Shangri-La still has the extension.

Hey, I tried listening to some bass heavy tracks tonight. It's hard to answer this question. A lot depends on the recording, and whether the bass is being played or is being sampled. With a lot of sampled bass and beats in older rap songs, the Shangrila can be too revealing. It's not bad per se but the shallowness of the samples come out. If it's a great recording, then this doesn't happen; seems like modern rap and hip-hop is recorded better by far than the old stuff.

With stuff like New Order/Depeche Mode, the samples and sequencers are recorded well, so the bass comes out strong. In "Your Silent Face", the electronic bass is pretty powerful. Definitely a lot of crunch at the low end with Depeche Mode as well.

For rock, the bass comes out great. With something like Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side, which has a double bass on the bottom with an electric bass above it, it's pretty amazing. Never heard the double bass so realistic like that, and the separation between the two since they're playing in synch. Really good in Van Morrison's Astral Weeks as well, which has a double bass.

Sense of swing is really strong because of the musicality; you will move/sway with the bass lines despite yourself most likely.

Not sure if this helps- any genre/track you like?

I can't compare it to the HE-1 unfortunately. I would be a little wary if you can only listen to preset music recordings though.

 

[MasonStorm]

Hey, I tried listening to some bass heavy tracks tonight. It's hard to answer this question. A lot depends on the recording, and whether the bass is being played or is being sampled. With a lot of sampled bass and beats in older rap songs, the Shangrila can be too revealing. It's not bad per se but the shallowness of the samples come out. If it's a great recording, then this doesn't happen; seems like modern rap and hip-hop is recorded better by far than the old stuff.

With stuff like New Order/Depeche Mode, the samples and sequencers are recorded well, so the bass comes out strong. In "Your Silent Face", the electronic bass is pretty powerful. Definitely a lot of crunch at the low end with Depeche Mode as well.

For rock, the bass comes out great. With something like Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side, which has a double bass on the bottom with an electric bass above it, it's pretty amazing. Never heard the double bass so realistic like that, and the separation between the two since they're playing in synch. Really good in Van Morrison's Astral Weeks as well, which has a double bass.

Sense of swing is really strong because of the musicality; you will move/sway with the bass lines despite yourself most likely.

Not sure if this helps- any genre/track you like?

I can't compare it to the HE-1 unfortunately. I would be a little wary if you can only listen to preset music recordings though.

It does help…thanks!

A few of our favorites for feeling it while still enjoying the music itself:
Sara K. “Running Away from You”
Sara K. “Blind-Hearted”
Jacintha “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams”

And one that’s more of a tech demo to see if a headphone can slam like an Abyss Phi TC:
Yosi Horikawa “Wandering”

 

[Jomungur]

Just wanted to post an update here after having the Shangri-la Sr. for almost a couple of months now. It's really quite special. I have done a number of side by side comparisons to the Susvara. As awesome as the Susvara is - and I'm running it on an amp that was designed for the Susvara- the Shangri-La Sr. is in a different class. If you've sat in on a professional recording in a studio, you know that the sound in the studio is not the sound you'd get in a concert. It's marvelous but it's not like there's a stage and the musicians are playing in front of you. The setup is different. With the Shangrilas I feel like I'm in the recording studio with the musicians; this is the first headphone system I have that has done that for me. At first I was paranoid about damaging it or burning out the tubes by leaving the amp on too long, but eventually I just relaxed and enjoyed the experience.

I think a great system makes even music you don't like sound interesting. This definitely does that. I find myself not switching the radio at all. I'm also amazed at how much detail a lot of film directors put in the sounds of their films.

I find the bass really good. Still not sure exactly what people are looking for when they mean "slam", but if you mean something like swing, a bass that makes you want to move, it has that. It also has plenty of punch. The bass detail is incredible as well, to the point where bass samples sound plastic if they're not done well as I noted earlier. In classical music, though, that's where the bass really shines with the detail of the instruments in the lower registers.

I think the amp has a lot to do with the sound. In the new year I want to get a back-up set of electrostatic headphones, so I will do a proper compare. Can't decide between the Audeze CRBN, Voce or the new Stax phone; plethora of choices for sure.

 

[Jomungur]

[IGNORE- double post]

 

[ThanatosVI]

Just wanted to post an update here after having the Shangri-la Sr. for almost a couple of months now. It's really quite special. I have done a number of side by side comparisons to the Susvara. As awesome as the Susvara is - and I'm running it on an amp that was designed for the Susvara- the Shangri-La Sr. is in a different class. If you've sat in on a professional recording in a studio, you know that the sound in the studio is not the sound you'd get in a concert. It's marvelous but it's not like there's a stage and the musicians are playing in front of you. The setup is different. With the Shangrilas I feel like I'm in the recording studio with the musicians; this is the first headphone system I have that has done that for me. At first I was paranoid about damaging it or burning out the tubes by leaving the amp on too long, but eventually I just relaxed and enjoyed the experience.

I think a great system makes even music you don't like sound interesting. This definitely does that. I find myself not switching the radio at all. I'm also amazed at how much detail a lot of film directors put in the sounds of their films.

I find the bass really good. Still not sure exactly what people are looking for when they mean "slam", but if you mean something like swing, a bass that makes you want to move, it has that. It also has plenty of punch. The bass detail is incredible as well, to the point where bass samples sound plastic if they're not done well as I noted earlier. In classical music, though, that's where the bass really shines with the detail of the instruments in the lower registers.

I think the amp has a lot to do with the sound. In the new year I want to get a back-up set of electrostatic headphones, so I will do a proper compare. Can't decide between the Audeze CRBN, Voce or the new Stax phone; plethora of choices for sure.

Please get a CRBN and share the comparison

 

[mammal]

How do you feel about the bass? It seems that most reviewers feel that the Sennheiser HE-1 has more impressive slam, but that the Shangri-La still has the extension.

As someone who considered and listened to both, I gotta say that HE-1 feels much more intimate (and less detailed), but has better slam (not as much as AB-1266 though). Be careful with HE-1, after speaking to their sales rep, they said they no longer do black marble, warranty is only 2 years (which for this price is ridiculous) and they just sold their consumer part of the brand to some other company. None of this gave me confidence that they will continue supporting their customers long term (compared to how long they supported HE90). Also, from speaking to someone who owns one, the first thing he did was to add a different DAC to the chain, which for me would mean "no longer one all in box solution", but that may not be a priority for you.

 

[DJJEZ]

As someone who considered and listened to both, I gotta say that HE-1 feels much more intimate (and less detailed), but has better slam (not as much as AB-1266 though). Be careful with HE-1, after speaking to their sales rep, they said they no longer do black marble, warranty is only 2 years (which for this price is ridiculous) and they just sold their consumer part of the brand to some other company. None of this gave me confidence that they will continue supporting their customers long term (compared to how long they supported HE90). Also, from speaking to someone who owns one, the first thing he did was to add a different DAC to the chain, which for me would mean "no longer one all in box solution", but that may not be a priority for you.

Nice to see you back on here

 

[onlychild]

As someone who considered and listened to both, I gotta say that HE-1 feels much more intimate (and less detailed), but has better slam (not as much as AB-1266 though). Be careful with HE-1, after speaking to their sales rep, they said they no longer do black marble, warranty is only 2 years (which for this price is ridiculous) and they just sold their consumer part of the brand to some other company. None of this gave me confidence that they will continue supporting their customers long term (compared to how long they supported HE90). Also, from speaking to someone who owns one, the first thing he did was to add a different DAC to the chain, which for me would mean "no longer one all in box solution", but that may not be a priority for you.

When I first got the HE-1, I still had my Chord DAVE DAC with Sean Jacobs DC4 power supply and a Schrodered set (double pair) of High Fidelity Cables pro RCA’s so the very top of the line DAC and cable setup. For many months, I went back and forth between internal HE-1 DAC and the external DAC setup with DAVE/DC4/HFC focusing on certain aspects of the sound individually (timing, speed, coherence, detail retrieval, etc) and finally settled on the internal dac. Yes, the DAVE did some things better and the HE-1 dac did other things better but when combining everything as a whole, the internal HE-1 dac was the clear winner.

Before getting the HE-1, I was on a mission to create the best headphone setup I could and that path was leading me to a DAVE going to a Riviera Pre Amp going to dual mono Riviera amps then to the Susvara. The HE-1 is basically that, a dac, going to a balanced preamp to dual mono amps (in the ear cups).

In my opinion, what sets the HE-1 system apart from anything else I have heard is having the amps in the ear cups. Instead of sending an amp signal of many watts that fluctuates, depending on the dynamics of the music, though a 10 foot headphone cable, with the HE-1, you are sending a constant 5v line signal from the preamp through the headphone cable then to the amps in the ear cups which are connected to the drivers with wire only millimeters long. So the main music signal is traveling millimeters vs feet. That setup creates this effortless flow to the music that I have not heard on any other headphone system (though I have not listened to the Shangri-la).

Also, on a side note, before getting the HE-1, the Hifiman headphones (He1, HE1se, Susvara, etc) were always my top pics and the only headphones I kept so I have no doubt the Shangri-La sounds fantastic.