[HC1205]

I'm sure this question would have been asked and answered before but I've not been able to find it in this thread - so apologies if that's the case!

I'm considering upgrading my HE1000se to the Susvara; however, I'm worried if my Burson Soloist 3XP will be enough for the Sus to make it sound clearly better than the HEKse. Power-wise it is surely enough, and I've read opinions before that it's one of the best reasonably-priced amps for the Sus. I'm just wondering if it's good enough to warrant my parting with the HEKse. I'm kind of ready to let the HEKse go, having experienced my Utopia scale fantastically with the new gear and HEKse not so much. I just wouldn't want to end up in a position where I have a theoretically better headphone but unable to spread its wings and therefore effectively sounding less engaging than the HEKse.

Any advice (especially from experience) would be greatly appreciated

I own soloist 3xp but i have holo bliss incoming. I upgraded to susvara from he1000se and it is an upgrade in my opinion even with soloist 3xp. Extra treble energy is gone with no fatigue at all while providing more nuances and details. Not to mention how the voices and instruments sound so natural and beautiful. I would definately go for susvara and if you like it then you can chase for an amp like bliss or 750u. This is just my opinion and experience tho.

 

[jlemaster1957]

I recently acquired the Susvara (open box, for a song of a price) and also own the Burson 3XP (which I had already). This is my first TOTL headphone. I own Arya and The Sus is an incomparable improvement over Arya in almost every way. Recognizing that there is a lot of room for growth and improvement in the future, I want to say here I am dizzily happy with the tonality and technicalities of the Sus, they are perfect. I use Roon and am happy to EQ, and doing so especially bass texture, detail retrieval, imaging and separation are all very enjoyable for me in all my music. Without doubt I will one day upgrade my amp (and it's great/entertaining to read about the amp pairings that people in this thread have tried and found good, there are many options to explore). But I am happy now, have no regrets, and am in no rush to upgrade. It may be true that "I don't know what I am missing", but I assert that the Sus is very very good with 3xP. I cannot speak to how much better or worse it is/would be than HEKse on 3xP, only that despite my very limited experience I am (and I assert that it is possible to be ) happy with where I am.

 

[rangerid]

@Mista Lova Lova I'd say send it and get the Susvara.

They're power hungry yea, but most modern amps have more than enough power, it's often a matter of quality of the power from the amplifier rather than quantity, which is what higher end amps provides. I've owned most headphones now and other than the TCs, the Susvaras will scale more than anything out there, including all estats due to how well balanced they are. What I can say is if you're coming directly from HE1K to Susvara on the Burson, you will likely find bass/dynamic to be lacking on the Susvara in comparison, but this is due to the quality of power rather than quantity and will quickly remedy itself after upgrading amp. However, the bottleneck then quickly becomes the front end source: DACS, streamers, etc... it really is a never ending cycle.

But yeah... I'd always say get the best headphones first, then worry about the chain - so go for the Susvaras!

 

[Mista Lova Lova]

I found things a little different - maybe because of our different gear. I mostly used the v280 and auralic taurus amp when had both hekse and utopia. liked them both because i found them both very detailed but they just did it differently

when i bought the susvara, only after buying the niimbus us4, i sold the hekse as i liked the fuller sound of the utopia v hekse.

i still enjoy the utopia as a compliment to the susvaras - which from my experience need a quality powerful amp to shine and justify the cost of them…..and then the cost of the amp, if you can justify all that cost (and related benefit) for yourself

Thanks for sharing that. It sounds like at one point you had both the Susvara and the HEKse at your disposal. Do you remember your impressions of the Sus when you were still used to the HEKse's sound? And a comparison to the Utopia would be very interesting too as I also find the Utopia sounding fuller (albeit less airy) than the HEKse.

 

[Mista Lova Lova]

@Mista Lova Lova I'd say send it and get the Susvara.

They're power hungry yea, but most modern amps have more than enough power, it's often a matter of quality of the power from the amplifier rather than quantity, which is what higher end amps provides. I've owned most headphones now and other than the TCs, the Susvaras will scale more than anything out there, including all estats due to how well balanced they are. What I can say is if you're coming directly from HE1K to Susvara on the Burson, you will likely find bass/dynamic to be lacking on the Susvara in comparison, but this is due to the quality of power rather than quantity and will quickly remedy itself after upgrading amp. However, the bottleneck then quickly becomes the front end source: DACS, streamers, etc... it really is a never ending cycle.

But yeah... I'd always say get the best headphones first, then worry about the chain - so go for the Susvaras!

Thanks for that, good to have an opinion different from most others too. What you're saying is what I'd be expecting - that the Sus on my system may not sound as dynamic as the HEKse. If this were to be my only headphone, I'd think it's not worth it. But because I also have the Utopia, I'm wondering if the Susvara would be the perfect complement to it.

Having said that, it appears that the Susvara only really become a fully engaging headphone on something like Bakoon 13R. Apparently even the Ferrum stack doesn't get them quite there. And that's a $6,000 amp (Bakoon) if I'm not mistaken... Mamma mia

 

[Mista Lova Lova]

I own soloist 3xp but i have holo bliss incoming. I upgraded to susvara from he1000se and it is an upgrade in my opinion even with soloist 3xp. Extra treble energy is gone with no fatigue at all while providing more nuances and details. Not to mention how the voices and instruments sound so natural and beautiful. I would definately go for susvara and if you like it then you can chase for an amp like bliss or 750u. This is just my opinion and experience tho.

That's very interesting, especially since you have the same amp as me. Only having access to the Burson - is there anything about the Suvara that makes you wanna go back to the HEKse or are they a clear step-up everywhere?

 

[goldwerger]

You said exactly what I was thinking. I have a feeling I will greatly enjoy the combination of Susvara and Luxman but my enjoyment will always have an bit of concern wondering if I am getting the most out of my Susvara while I'm listening.

as long as you accept the nature of this journey (and avoid ever using the term end game), then just enjoy the ride, wherever you are on it...

 

[HC1205]

That's very interesting, especially since you have the same amp as me. Only having access to the Burson - is there anything about the Suvara that makes you wanna go back to the HEKse or are they a clear step-up everywhere?

Clear step up all round for me. Audio is subjective thing but that would be my opinion. Also i dont belive 13r is the ultimate amp for sus now. According to goldensound and CMA, holo bliss and hm1 is the amp for susvara currently

 

[zen87192]

How about a Feliks Envy?

 

[ThanatosVI]

How about a Feliks Envy?

Excellent pairing for the Susvara!

 

[zen87192]

Excellent pairing for the Susvara!

Looks like you'll be receiving an Envy soon.... get ready for Tube rolling! Great fun! Welcome to the Envy owners club!

 

[Spawn300Z]

Clear step up all round for me. Audio is subjective thing but that would be my opinion. Also i dont belive 13r is the ultimate amp for sus now. According to goldensound and CMA, holo bliss and hm1 is the amp for susvara currently

Don’t also forget the Riviera AIC-10 and also Hifimans EF-1000. These are the ultimate amps for the Susvara.

 

[BillinSF]

Loving Susvara.

Been running through Oppo HA-1 as Dac. Have a Woo WA22 (with TOTL tubes) which I've been using for Senn. HD 800S - out of the Sus chain. My Woo was Gen 1, which did not have the preamp outs. Just ordered a new WA22 which I am going to use in my chain as my preamp. AHB2 as amp.

I really am loving Sus. Got to feed the kitty the best input I can.

 

[solcsolc]

Joined the Susvara club recently with Accuphase E380

I noticed that there is a slight but audible hiss from Susvara when there is no music playing / playing with low volume, tried adjusting output level of DAC501 as well but no luck. Seems quite a few of us are driving the Susvara with E380 as well but there is no report that E380 is producing any audible hiss.

I am using a banana plug to XLR adapter to connect my Susvara to speaker taps directly. What could be the possibility of causing the hiss? And can a speaker to amp converter (e.g. HE adapter) eliminate the hiss issue without degrading sound quality?

 

[goldwerger]

let amp ma

Joined the Susvara club recently with Accuphase E380

I noticed that there is a slight but audible hiss from Susvara when there is no music playing / playing with low volume, tried adjusting output level of DAC501 as well but no luck. Seems quite a few of us are driving the Susvara with E380 as well but there is no report that E380 is producing any audible hiss.

I am using a banana plug to XLR adapter to connect my Susvara to speaker taps directly. What could be the possibility of causing the hiss? And can a speaker to amp converter (e.g. HE adapter) eliminate the hiss issue without degrading sound quality?

I don't have a specific knowledge of this amp, but yes in general a converter box may eliminate the hiss. So may a passive filter cable on the heapdphone side (can make custom for any terminations, e.g. https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/passive-filters/)

that said, it may be worth understanding the source of your noise and elimiante it, as the above may have mild trade offs for the signal path

I'd check the following:
(1) How clean is your power source -- try adding a great power conditioner (here, too, experimenting has different results in quality; but reduction in noise will let you know this is the issue and you can invest further)
(2) Are any of your cables subject to EMI or RR interfernce?
>> If you have any tube components try to distance them a bit, same for computer gear, cell phones, other electronics. And same for power sources of components
>> Check how well shielded your interconnects are. If you are using any RCAs, try to replace them with XLR if possible. If not, and either case, try to create distance between all your various cables, and if they have to cross each other's path, then ideally at right angles (rather than bundled in parallel and close to each other)

good luck!