[orrman]

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?

Not a fan of the Chord, haven't heard the Weiss or the Lina. But get some reading done on the following (they have multiple options to fit any budget with different signatures):

Rockna, Totaldac, Lampizator, Mojo Audio, Bricasti and Berkeley.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Anni is 10w @8ohms with Ultima circuitry. And you think it's sub par? Go check urself.

10W into 8 Ohms is a very low power supply.

I know Chord Electronics equipment very well having heard most of their equipment from their reference systems to the Chordette systems since 2012.

And I own two full Chord Choral Rack Systems with Blu CD Transporters, DAVE & QBD76 DACs, Prima Pre-Amps and Mezzo 140's mono blocked and single.

The Mezzo 140 is 120W into 8 Ohms and is not even close to my EF1000 with and without (direct from DAVE) the Prima Pre-Amp both using digital and analogue sources.

And the Mezzo 140 is far far superior to the Chord Anni....period !

You have to understand that Chord Electronics have designed their small units to a budget and hence performance criteria. They are definitely not good enough for the TOTL Susvara headphone !

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Not a fan of the Chord, haven't heard the Weiss or the Lina. But get some reading done on the following (they have multiple options to fit any budget with different signatures):

Rockna, Totaldac, Lampizator, Mojo Audio, Bricasti and Berkeley.

Totaldac and Lampizator DACs are very good DACs indeed.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

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

10W into 8 Ohms is not even close for the current hungry Susvara to sound as it was designed to sound !

 

[Spawn300Z]

10W into 8 Ohms is not even close for the current hungry Susvara to sound as it was designed to sound !

To be clear. The Manufacturer rates the Riviera AIC-10 a conservative 2 x 10 watts at 8 ohms. However, it’s know to produce a whopping 30 watts per channel through Speaker Taps.

 

[littlej0e]

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?

I can tell you from personal experience, this is a very difficult question. The real truth is: there is absolutely no substitute for your ears and your preferences. I spent a ton of money ignoring this and chasing other's recommendations before I finally broke down and did the work myself, as I should have done in the first place.

I auditioned and/or owned approx. 20 DACs until I finally found the one that sounded best to me in my price range. I would highly recommend finding a dealer(s) that will let you audition in your home. If you can't, try to find one that will let you haul your system into their building (this is what I did after agreeing to buy whatever I chose at full retail). If you can't do that, try to borrow/audition from other Head-Fi'ers in your area. If you can't do that, be as patient as possible and buy what you want to try as cheaply as possible to minimize your financial loss during the process.

FYI, I ended up following a similar process for amps and sources as well. I also discovered some of the best sounding gear to my ears didn't come from well known brands.

 

[Spawn300Z]

I can tell you from personal experience, this is a very difficult question. The real truth is: there is absolutely no substitute for your ears and your preferences. I spent a ton of money ignoring this and chasing other's recommendations before I finally broke down and did the work myself, as I should have done in the first place.

I auditioned and/or owned approx. 20 DACs until I finally found the one that sounded best to me in my price range. I would highly recommend finding a dealer(s) that will let you audition in your home. If you can't, try to find one that will let you haul your system into their building (this is what I did after agreeing to buy whatever I chose at full retail). If you can't do that, try to borrow/audition from other Head-Fi'ers in your area. If you can't do that, be as patient as possible and buy what you want to try as cheaply as possible to minimize your financial loss during the process.

FYI, I ended up following a similar process for amps and sources as well. I also discovered some of the best sounding gear to my ears didn't come from well known brands.

Thanks that is sound advice. I do like the Chord TT2/MScaler I have currently. I will still keep it and place in another setup. Just trying to get the most I can out my main rig. Which the TT2 would be the weakest link.

 

[littlej0e]

They may have been underwhelmed by the EF1000 with the Susvara due to poor source inputs like at some of the Canjam shows where it has appeared for demo !

This is absolutely spot on. The EF1000 scaled shockingly well. I was fairly underwhelmed until I put a high-end source through it, then KA-BOOM! Little pieces of brain matter were plastered throughout my listening room

Great that you have the Soluution 560 DAC 'littlej0e' A+

People and professional reviewers who have tried / own the new CH Precision C1.2 DAC say it is far superior to the original C1.0.

Same for the CH Precision D1.0 CD / SACD Transporter vs the new D1.5 in fact people say the D1.5 is a completely different CD / SACD Transporter.

I hope in 2023 to listen to a full CH Precision system and individual CH Precision units as I will be interested how the Susvaras will sound connected to a CH A1.5 Power Amp & CH L1.0 Pre-Amp combo and a CH i1 Integrated Amp to see if the CH Precision amps beat my EF1000 with the Susvara !

I have ZERO doubt the 1.2 is fantastic. In truth, I liked the 1.0 ever-so-slightly more than the Soulution, but I got a killer deal on the later. I personally liked the Trinity SR more than both put together. Same goes for the MSB select, but both were way out of my price range.

I actually ended up selling my Soulution 560 (which ended up funding my EF1000). That was a hard day lol. More info here if you are interested: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/wad...nverter-and-other-pre-2007-wadia-dacs.962722/

The sound of that DAC paired with Susvara is by far the best I have heard on any system. Ever. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Not even a 100k MSB Select. To date, it is the only DAC that has ever forced me to immediately ditch "critical listening," get out of my chair, and dance my @ss off. Now that's preference for you! Furthermore, I recently got it back from a partial reengineering and full-blown upgrade/refurbishment by a very talented company in the UK. It now trades blows from a clarity and resolution perspective (thought still ever-so-slightly behind) my old 560. Not bad for a 20+ year old DAC.

It's not all rah-rah and roses though. There are significant trade-offs. Namely, no USB and it's limited to 96kHz. I pretty much had to go with a full Mutec clocking setup just so it will interface with modern components. In any case, I'd be very interested to see what a TOTL CD/SACD system could do on this setup. My ears are drooling just thinking about it lol.

 

[newtseverywhere]

I have found little mention of NAD products here -- how would a NAD C658 Dac + NAD C298 Amp deal with Susvara? Does anyone have a similar setup?

 

[homeros8000]

To my experience and ears (10 years with headphones & headphone hifi systems and 40+ years on hifi speaker systems), your analogy is not correct.

The Susvaras sound completely different using poor quality hifi components / system and a good to high quality synergy matched with good to high quality hifi components / systems. Same for other headphones including the Senn HD800's which I owned in the past.

All of the TOTL headphones I have tried and or owned scale up and change their character (some a lot more than others) when connected to better hifi equipment.

The Susvara definitely scales up massively and it's character changes too as you go higher up the hifi equipment chain. So far, they are the best headphones I have ever tried and owned.

Thanks for your explanation. To clarify, I don’t believe Susvara would improve significantly if you upgraded from Enleum 23R or Ferrum to EF1000 or other super expensive tube amps. Again, I listened to Susvara on multiple systems. They lack bass, and that’s a fact. If you happen to like that kind of sound, good for you

 

[Trance_Gott]

Is it true that Hifiman will release an update of Susvara in 2023?

 

[goldwerger]

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.

Not a fan of the Chord, haven't heard the Weiss or the Lina. But get some reading done on the following (they have multiple options to fit any budget with different signatures):

Rockna, Totaldac, Lampizator, Mojo Audio, Bricasti and Berkeley.

I recommend the Bircasti M3 wholeheartedly. Been using it for about a year and it's really great. Detailed, spacious, and very beautiful sounding ("organic"). There are also some expensive models up that line that, purportedly, scale performance even further (but have no theard them myself).

For context, I find the Chord DACs to be a bit too bright and lean. I also appreciated the technicalities of the DCS and Lina, but they didn't move me.

People who's opininon I trust (and tastes I share) have high recommended both the Weiss (ss) and Lampizator (tube) - if I were looking for something new today, I'd definitely add them to my personal shortlist.

I've heard the Susvara on the AFC-10 (great amp!), connected to my Bricasti - it sounded oustandingly good to my ears with the Susvara, I think the synergy is great. My listening partner preferred his Matrix DAC wtih the riviera though, so it is definitely highly subjective.

If you can get any of these as demo units to test in your system, needless to say that's idea...

 

[ThanatosVI]

Is it true that Hifiman will release an update of Susvara in 2023?

Nobody knows, rumors are all we got at this point

 

[kion]

Is it true that Hifiman will release an update of Susvara in 2023?

Nobody knows, rumors are all we got at this point

Any idea the origin of this rumour so we can decide how much to read into it?

 

[paradoxper]

Any idea the origin of this rumour so we can decide how much to read into it?

You mean every year since 2017.