[gordec]

Doing detailed comparison between the V281 and P1. Will keep one of these for sure.

 

[Slim1970]

Doing detailed comparison between the V281 and P1. Will keep one of these for sure.

Nice setup. I can't wait to read your comparisons especially with the Pro iDSD as your DAC. I'm really considering it or M-Scaler to get next.

 

[gordec]

The V281 is pretty good. It's fairly on par with MHA100 with slight improvement in terms of separation and clarity. However, the P1 takes it to a new level. Everything sounds more natural, bigger soundstage, more holographic imaging. These 3 properties make huge difference in your listening experience. It doesn't have the sexy German body or the volume relay, but the sound is spectacular.

 

[lunarhjs]

I'm looking forward to someone being able to compare the P1 to TT2. TT2 makes sense as it can be an all in one as an amp, preamp and dac. And for about 4.5k would come close in price to a P1 and iFi DSD. I'd get the P1 if its sound is more captivating.

 

[JeffMann]

The V281 is pretty good. It's fairly on par with MHA100 with slight improvement in terms of separation and clarity. However, the P1 takes it to a new level. Everything sounds more natural, bigger soundstage, more holographic imaging. These 3 properties make huge difference in your listening experience. It doesn't have the sexy German body or the volume relay, but the sound is spectacular.

What do you mean when you state that the P1 sounds more "natural"? What type of music do you listen to and does it include classical music? How does the P1 produce the musical timbre of classical musical instruments like the violin, cello, clarinet, french horn, bassoon and oboe? Does it make those instruments sound closer those to the sound of those same "real life" musical instruments heard "live"?

Jeff.

 

[lunarhjs]

What do you mean when you state that the P1 sounds more "natural"? What type of music do you listen to and does it include classical music? How does the P1 produce the musical timbre of classical musical instruments like the violin, cello, clarinet, french horn, bassoon and oboe? Does it make those instruments sound closer those to the sound of those same "real life" musical instruments heard "live"?

Jeff.

I'm sure he'll explain but by natural, he means organic. More authentic in content. More native to what it should truly sound.

 

[gordec]

What do you mean when you state that the P1 sounds more "natural"? What type of music do you listen to and does it include classical music? How does the P1 produce the musical timbre of classical musical instruments like the violin, cello, clarinet, french horn, bassoon and oboe? Does it make those instruments sound closer those to the sound of those same "real life" musical instruments heard "live"?

Jeff.

Instruments and vocals all sound more live-like with P1. I don’t listen to classical, but I do listen to jazz. I’m sure this quality will translate into classical music. The vocals out of the P1/Susvara is probably as good as it gets in terms of a headphone setup. It sounds like you are listening in the recording studio next to the artist. To my ears, it’s a game changer. Almost feels like the first time I heard the HE1. Difficult to convey this feeling with words.

Currawang just published a Youtube review of the P1. He loves it also. He has the same setup as me Pro iDSD-> P1 -> Susvara even though he refers Hugo 2 as DAC. He used words like smooth and sweet to describe P1. Nevertheless, it’s awesome.

 

[JeffMann]

Instruments and vocals all sound more live-like with P1. I don’t listen to classical, but I do listen to jazz. I’m sure this quality will translate into classical music. The vocals out of the P1/Susvara is probably as good as it gets in terms of a headphone setup. It sounds like you are listening in the recording studio next to the artist. To my ears, it’s a game changer. Almost feels like the first time I heard the HE1. Difficult to convey this feeling with words.

Currawang just published a Youtube review of the P1. He loves it also. He has the same setup as me Pro iDSD-> P1 -> Susvara even though he refers Hugo 2 as DAC. He used words like smooth and sweet to describe P1. Nevertheless, it’s awesome.

I personally found Currawong's review of no value. He described the P1 as "sweet sounding". I don't want an amp that sweetens the sound and I want an amp that can best mimic the sound of "live" classical musical instruments by being "musically accurate". Also, Currawong stated that the PI sounded 'wooly' if it is not plugged into a power regenerator and he also complained of an intermittent loud whinning sound heard with IEMs. That doesn't make it sound like the P1 is reflective of a well-designed amp. I am contemplating buying a Niimbus US4+ to replace my V281 and it is much more expensive than a P1 and I am curious as to whether the P1 can really be a better choice for my Susvara. At the moment, I can only base it on two personal reviews - your personal review and Currawong's personal review.

Jeff.

 

[gordec]

I personally found Currawong's review of no value. He described the P1 as "sweet sounding". I don't want an amp that sweetens the sound and I want an amp that can best mimic the sound of "live" classical musical instruments by being "musically accurate". Also, Currawong stated that the PI sounded 'wooly' if it is not plugged into a power regenerator and he also complained of an intermittent loud whinning sound heard with IEMs. That doesn't make it sound like the P1 is reflective of a well-designed amp. I am contemplating buying a Niimbus US4+ to replace my V281 and it is much more expensive than a P1 and I am curious as to whether the P1 can really be a better choice for my Susvara. At the moment, I can only base it on two personal reviews - your personal review and Currawong's personal review.

Jeff.

Haha, you mean “sweet” is not technical enough? I had to look up what woolly means. I think the P1 will give you a very good sense of “live” classical music and that’s a sweet feeling. Maybe that’s what Currawong is really trying to say.

Lets put it this way. P1 takes Susvara another step closer to reality more so than the other amps I have tried. This is the best I can put it. I would ask Soundaware if you can get the loaner to try at some point. The headfi community needs to come up with some standard terminology to describe sound.

 

[lunarhjs]

I personally found Currawong's review of no value. He described the P1 as "sweet sounding". I don't want an amp that sweetens the sound and I want an amp that can best mimic the sound of "live" classical musical instruments by being "musically accurate". Also, Currawong stated that the PI sounded 'wooly' if it is not plugged into a power regenerator and he also complained of an intermittent loud whinning sound heard with IEMs. That doesn't make it sound like the P1 is reflective of a well-designed amp. I am contemplating buying a Niimbus US4+ to replace my V281 and it is much more expensive than a P1 and I am curious as to whether the P1 can really be a better choice for my Susvara. At the moment, I can only base it on two personal reviews - your personal review and Currawong's personal review.

Jeff.

To obtain the right type of ecstasy in music reproduction, it can sometimes take just a little sugar, spice, and everything nice to get that powerpuff of sonics which I'm sure the Niimbus US 4+ will provide as it supersedes the V281.

 

[QueueCumber]

Lol, it did piss off a lot of customers and the Susvara's cost even more. I don't even want to imagine how the headphone community would react if Hifiman came out with a second version of the Susvara's so soon like they did with the HEK's. With that said, I think Hifiman got it right with the Susvara's. Hopefully we'll have a number of years to enjoy them without worry.

Yeah, I don’t really think I’d need an upgrade. I’ve been very happy with my second set I bought used (first set was great too but paid retail and don’t think it was worth $6k). Between the 009S and Susvara I really don’t have time enough to listen to anything else, except 820 when GF is asleep....

 

[QueueCumber]

The posts about amps reminds me of when I compared cost-effective Emotiva monoblocks to my pricey Ayre MX-R monoblocks. Sold the Ayres a week later and never bothered A/Bing solid state amps again. I bought the MHA150 and MCT80 purely because I cover all my media bases, have lots of overhead power, and they look damn cool with the lights off. Tubes are a different story, but as far as solid state is concerned, no matter how thin you slice it it’s still bologna to me.

 

[astrostar59]

The posts about amps reminds me of when I compared cost-effective Emotiva monoblocks to my pricey Ayre MX-R monoblocks. Sold the Ayres a week later and never bothered A/Bing solid state amps again. I bought the MHA150 and MCT80 purely because I cover all my media bases, have lots of overhead power, and they look damn cool with the lights off. Tubes are a different story, but as far as solid state is concerned, no matter how thin you slice it it’s still bologna to me.

I would add remember the DAC. I found a BIG difference moving to better DACs along the way. Headphones at this level really require a top source. For me that is an R2R DAC with tube output. But regardless, a DAVE would be the base requirement to get close to maxing out the performance of the Susvara, Abyss, 009 and LCD4 IMO. Probably as much as a decent amp. That is what I have found anyway. Compressed music off iPhones isn't going to work well, nor is the output from most portable DACs. They can sound good, but I am talking about getting to the upper limits of a HP.

 

[QueueCumber]

I would add remember the DAC. I found a BIG difference moving to better DACs along the way. Headphones at this level really require a top source. For me that is an R2R DAC with tube output. But regardless, a DAVE would be the base requirement to get close to maxing out the performance of the Susvara, Abyss, 009 and LCD4 IMO. Probably as much as a decent amp. That is what I have found anyway. Compressed music off iPhones isn't going to work well, nor is the output from most portable DACs. They can sound good, but I am talking about getting to the upper limits of a HP.

Been there and done that with high end speaker setups. I’ve never heard differences between well designed low priced source and amplifier equipment and extreme high priced equipment. It’s just a waste of money to me. Likewise with cables as well. I A/Bed a lot of gear 8-10 years ago and realized I wasn’t hearing differences other people were claiming to hear if I didn’t know what piece of equipment I was listening to at the time. It’s a good thing really. It makes it easy to put a system together as long as the gear is designed well enough to handle the speakers. I hear tremendous differences between speakers and headphones, so the saved money goes there instead.

 

[astrostar59]

Been there and done that with high end speaker setups. I’ve never heard differences between well designed low priced source and amplifier equipment and extreme high priced equipment. It’s just a waste of money to me. Likewise with cables as well. I A/Bed a lot of gear 8-10 years ago and realized I wasn’t hearing differences other people were claiming to hear if I didn’t know what piece of equipment I was listening to at the time. It’s a good thing really. It makes it easy to put a system together as long as the gear is designed well enough to handle the speakers. I hear tremendous differences between speakers and headphones, so the saved money goes there instead.

Pity, I think you are missing the high end. Get a demo on the DAVE, then come back.