[OCC7N]

Chord Anni with the Susvara.....lol ....... Oooo i think I will rush out and buy the Chord Anni and sell my EF1000 !

Why not or maybe get the Zahl HM1 that is a little more powerful, which everybody hypes in this thread?

10W/8Ohm against 4W/30Ω; 7W/15Ω

So when people hype Zahl its totally ok. But when Anni or any other headamp at HM1 power level. Its not powerful enough because it has the wrong name???

This is a general call out, not specific to you @Bonesy Jonesy

 

[801evan]

Why not or maybe get the Zahl HM1 that is a little more powerful, which everybody hypes in this thread?

10W/8Ohm against 4W/30Ω; 7W/15Ω

So when people hype Zahl its totally ok. But when Anni or any other headamp at HM1 power level. Its not powerful enough because it has the wrong name???

This is a general call out, not specific to you @Bonesy Jonesy

SMSL DP5 reaches up 101dB with 64mw. THX standard is 105dB that's reserved for loudddd explosions to not clip/distort. That's for a huge cinema size. For smaller home theatre rooms, it's 6dB less so only 99dB. So DP5 is THX level.

Go Blu with 245mw on balanced is 110dB so, it has more than enough headroom for THX level explosions.

 

[Spawn300Z]

Why not or maybe get the Zahl HM1 that is a little more powerful, which everybody hypes in this thread?

10W/8Ohm against 4W/30Ω; 7W/15Ω

So when people hype Zahl its totally ok. But when Anni or any other headamp at HM1 power level. Its not powerful enough because it has the wrong name???

This is a general call out, not specific to you @Bonesy Jonesy

The Anni is 10W/8ohms.

This is what was said in Headfonia in there review of the Anni with the Susvara.

Next up are two more difficult to drive, high end planar magnetic headphones. The first is the almighty Hifiman Susvara, which is a strong favorite of everyone here at HFN. Of course, the volume must go up quite a bit here, but in the end Anni does easily manage to drive the Susvara. Is it the best combo or best amp for the Susvara? No not for me. The Susvara hooked up to a super high-end amplifier such as the Feliks Audio 300B driven Envy or the Auris Audio 2A3 driven Headonia, performs at a much higher level. It’s not that this combo is bad, but I don’t feel Anni is getting the best out of the Susvara and it can’t make it shine like some other (more expensive and higher amps) can.

So I just goes to what Bonesy and others have said. Which has also been my personal experience with the Susvaras. Although an amp might be capable of playing the susvara. Doesn’t mean that it will take full advantage of what the susvaras have to offer. He and others aren’t putting the products down. Each amp have their own characteristics and have a place in the wonderful hobby of ours.

But let’s be honest with people thinking about dropping their hard earned money on the Susvara. That it’s source and amp dependent. Why send them down the same rabbit holes spending unnecessary funds on products that will never take full advantage of the Susvaras.

 

[OCC7N]

DAC is so important and neglected. All this amp talk put the priority of DAC in the shadow.

I noticed this when I got my R8HE mk2. I would prioritise DAC and recommend that more than amp now!

Zahl HM1 killed the discussion of amp anyway!
-weak amps is good enough

Lets talk about DACs. You can all stop the amp talk now

Merry Christmas

(no pun intended)

 

[Spawn300Z]

I agree Crap in equals crap out. So DAC is very important. We also know that it’s not all about power. It’s about current. Lumithium explained it very nicely below. My Riviera AIC-10 is advertised at 10W/8 Ohms. But it drives the susvara with authority. More so than any integrated or amp that I used prior that had 100W+/8 Ohms.

But to keep cost down a lot of people will suggest power amps to get as much as they can from the Susvara at a more reasonable cost.

No one buys power amps to drive Susvara so they can listen at 130dB. That is not the point.

Susvara needs current to drive, a lot of it. And a lot of headphones amplifier can theoretically push a lot of power, but pushing a lot of current while maintaining quality is difficult task. A big chunk of headphone amps can advertise multiple watts of power, but the output becomes unusable way before the advertised limit. There  ARE headphones amps that does a lot of current without compromising in quality, but the choices are not a lot and the price can be very expensive.

This is where power amplifiers come in. They are made to drive speakers, which requires a lot of current. Which makes it a perfect choice for driving Susvara on a lower budget. With a lot of choices on top.

The <100mW amp narrative only works in following few cases:

1. It's clipping but you don't notice it
2. Your "music" choice has no transient peaks, that's why extra power is not needed
3. You are listening at much lower volume than others, thus the extra power is not needed.
4. You are making stuff up

Please stop posting these low powered amplifier nonsense. Power is simple, if you don't have enough power, you don't have enough power. No amount of grounding, transport quality can change this. End of discussion.

 

[ThanatosVI]

DAC is so important and neglected. All this amp talk put the priority of DAC in the shadow.

I noticed this when I got my R8HE mk2. I would prioritise DAC and recommend that more than amp now!

Zahl HM1 killed the discussion of amp anyway!
-weak amps is good enough

Lets talk about DACs. You can all stop the amp talk now

Merry Christmas

We're just going in circles.

Amp -> DAC -> source and back to amp.
Few pages ago we were talking about souce components...

All are important and merry christmas to you too

 

[801evan]

Simple is AIO smsl dp5 with mod + ifi elite and line conditioner. Lol. Done.

 

[Spawn300Z]

Since DACs have been brought up.

What are the thoughts with DACs being used to run the Susvaras.

I’ve been thinking to upgrade next year from the TT2/MScaler sometime next year.

Some of the DACs I’m considering are

1. Chord Dave
2. Weiss Engineering DAC502
3. DCS Lina DAC/Clock combo

I will be using the Riviera AIC-10 as my Tube Amp and the Zahl HM-1 as my solid state amp.

What are your thoughts?

 

[ThanatosVI]

Since DACs have been brought up.

What are the thoughts with DACs being used to run the Susvaras.

I’ve been thinking to upgrade next year from the TT2/MScaler sometime next year.

Some of the DACs I’m considering are

1. Chord Dave
2. Weiss Engineering DAC502
3. DCS Lina DAC/Clock combo

I will be using the Riviera AIC-10 as my Tube Amp and the Zahl HM-1 as my solid state amp.

What are your thoughts?

You should include the Rockna Wavelight/Dream and the Holo May in your considerations.
If you want a Streamer/DAC combo I can certainly recommend the T+A MP2000R / 2500R and T+A MP 3000 HV

 

[Lumithium]

T+A components are the dream.

 

[iFi audio]

Yes, current production. I need to let them burn in but planning to get the Elrog MO instead.

Thanks again! By the looks of it, Elrogs MO are focused more on energy, impact etc. At least that's what I gather after reading some feedback about them. Would you agree?

 

[paradoxper]

Thanks again! By the looks of it, Elrogs MO are focused more on energy, impact etc. At least that's what I gather after reading some feedback about them. Would you agree?

Under the context WE300B are warm and bloated because the Elrog Mo are more expressive, extended but also more natural sounding.
Although Elrogs share more of the same cloth than the extended TM300B which you might think should be the same although understanding different plates, material, etc.

 

[iFi audio]

Under the context WE300B are warm and bloated because the Elrog Mo are more expressive, extended but also more natural sounding.

Although I wouldn't consider WE300Bs I've heard (two pairs from the 70s) as bloated, I think that I understand what you mean. It all depends on a context. Thanks!

 

[newtseverywhere]

I'm comparing chord anni vs hypsos OOR side by side with the Susvara and Anni sounds better and is only on 12:30 on the pot on unity gain while OOR is close to max volume. Anni is better on all fronts. Blacker, deeper better imaging. Hypsos OOR on silver occ xlr and silver plated xlr plugs, Anni on silver occ rca.

Thanks for the info.
With all of the conflicting info, it's a bit hard to see what a good ~3k€ upgrade path would be for my susvaras (currently RME ADI2 > Roksan K3). Would Qutest + Anni be a step up? I wasn't really planning on remplacing my ADI2 though, but more focusing on getting a better amp. Current thread favorites seem way more expensive though, is no one using speaker amps anymore?

 

[801evan]

Thanks for the info.
With all of the conflicting info, it's a bit hard to see what a good ~3k€ upgrade path would be for my susvaras (currently RME ADI2 > Roksan K3). Would Qutest + Anni be a step up? I wasn't really planning on remplacing my ADI2 though, but more focusing on getting a better amp. Current thread favorites seem way more expensive though, is no one using speaker amps anymore?

Yea. I fed the rme adi 2 with a 5k usd psu and the soundstage was still closed in. I just tried the HP out. If that's the sound I wouldn't even bother with line out to an amp. Dp5 mod is way more transparent. And to think the rme was using a CDT + ocxo as transport.

Qutest + anni is really good. I prefer it over May + OOR on Susvara.