[PeteSTRADAMUS]

Agreed, it’s hard to explain until you hear it. The Susvara’s soundstage is so holographic and 3D. The music is around you and it throws spatial images every where. It sounds electrostat like but with so much body to the music, which is why I sold my Stax SR-007 MKII’s.

Totally agree!

 

[gordec]

I was at a friend's house listening to his Jade II powered by the ifi trifecta stack (pro idsd, pro ican, iESL). It's actually very, very good, approaching or equaling the level of Susvaras. I favor my Susvara a little more, and he favors his Jade II a little more. I feel the Jade has better imaging and holographic rendering. The Susvara sounds clearer and more refined. This may be a little owner's bias, and also I think you need to really audition in your own home for 2 weeks to really understand the headphone.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

I was at a friend's house listening to his Jade II powered by the ifi trifecta stack (pro idsd, pro ican, iESL). It's actually very, very good, approaching or equaling the level of Susvaras. I favor my Susvara a little more, and he favors his Jade II a little more. I feel the Jade has better imaging and holographic rendering. The Susvara sounds clearer and more refined. This may be a little owner's bias, and also I think you need to really audition in your own home for 2 weeks to really understand the headphone.

Why would you need the pro iCAN if you got the pro iESL?

 

[gordec]

Why would you need the pro iCAN if you got the pro iESL?

iESL require Pro iCan to work. It needs the HDMI input.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

Ohhh, okay.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

iESL require Pro iCan to work. It needs the HDMI input.

Very interesting in regards to the JadeII. I read some stuff on them a few weeks ago and people didn't seem to like them much. I never made it to the Hifiman booth to listen to them.

 

[Matez]

Totally agree!

+1

Godly headphones, but probably I've said this already in this thread. If so, sorry, I couldn't help myself.

 

[SuperDuke]

These chew toys comes in a rusty, yellow, rubbery string

Yes the stock cables remind me of the little green onions that will soon be growing in my yard.

Re the Empyrean and Susvara - The Empyrean scales up quite well w/ the Niimbus US4 amp and the holographic stage is there in spades. Two very different signatures and I can see why some prefer it and some don't. I am glad Meze released a Flagship with a warmer (and very resolving) sound.....and I'm not planning on letting go of the Susvara either.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

+1

Godly headphones, but probably I've said this already in this thread. If so, sorry, I couldn't help myself.

You aren't lying! and no need for apologies. I'm sure I'll say quite a few once I finally pull the trigger, won't be for another few months though. But, boy! I've been dreaming that sound since Saturday. I don't even consider them headphones.

 

[mixman]

Agreed, it’s hard to explain until you hear it. The Susvara’s soundstage is so holographic and 3D. The music is around you and it throws spatial images every where. It sounds electrostat like but with so much body to the music, which is why I sold my Stax SR-007 MKII’s.

Yes, it is holographic and it's hard to explain until you hear it for yourself. I know you would know because you have or had just about every HP out there! In the Can Jam impressions thread, I was getting attacked by the Stax fans because I said I preferred the Susvara to the Stax. Hell, a full tilt Stax with a Blue Hawaii setup actually makes a Susvara look like a bargain!

I was at a friend's house listening to his Jade II powered by the ifi trifecta stack (pro idsd, pro ican, iESL). It's actually very, very good, approaching or equaling the level of Susvaras. I favor my Susvara a little more, and he favors his Jade II a little more. I feel the Jade has better imaging and holographic rendering. The Susvara sounds clearer and more refined. This may be a little owner's bias, and also I think you need to really audition in your own home for 2 weeks to really understand the headphone.

I thought that the Susvara was easily better than the Jade. The Jade is really just a budget Electrostatic and pretty much sounds like it. I did like it, but it did not sound like a really expensive stat like the Shangi-La at all.

 

[Slim1970]

Yes, it is holographic and it's hard to explain until you hear it for yourself. I know you would know because you have or had just about every HP out there! In the Can Jam impressions thread, I was getting attacked by the Stax fans because I said I preferred the Susvara to the Stax. Hell, a full tilt Stax with a Blue Hawaii setup actually makes a Susvara look like a bargain!

Lol, I have. There's no hi-fi shops around me so the only way I could listen to them was to buy them. Then I either sold the ones I didn't like or used them as trade bait. After trying out so many headphones I finally settled on my preferred sound signature, which is open and dynamic, mids tilted slightly toward warm and lush but with excellent, extended treble clarity and details. The Susvara's encompasses everything I want in a headphone. I really enjoy the Hifiman sound in.

The other headphones in my collection do things I like with certain genres of music and are good in their own right. But most of them are mid-fi headphones except for the Utopia's, HE6se's and Z1R's. The PM2's and LCD-2CB's scale and compete very well with headphones costing double their price. But If I was really pressed to pick just one headphone the Susvara's would be the headphone I'd choose. The airy highs of the Ssvara's are just mystifying to me. I'm not sure how Fang pulled that one off.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

Lol, I have. There's no hi-fi shops around me so the only way I could listen to them was to buy them. Then I either sold the ones I didn't like or used them as trade bait. After trying out so many headphones I finally settled on my preferred sound signature, which is open and dynamic, mids tilted slightly toward warm and lush but with excellent, extended treble clarity and details. The Susvara's encompasses everything I want in a headphone. I really enjoy the Hifiman sound in.

The other headphones in my collection do things I like with certain genres of music and are good in their own right. But most of them are mid-fi headphones except for the Utopia's, HE6se's and Z1R's. The PM2's and LCD-2CB's scale and compete very well with headphones costing double their price. But If I was really pressed to pick just one headphone the Susvara's would be the headphone I'd choose. The airy highs of the Ssvara's are just mystifying to me. I'm not sure how Fang pulled that one off.

Maybe it's the gold in the drivers? Once I heard them I realized why he priced them so high.

 

[mixman]

Lol, I have. There's no hi-fi shops around me so the only way I could listen to them was to buy them. Then I either sold the ones I didn't like or used them as trade bait. After trying out so many headphones I finally settled on my preferred sound signature, which is open and dynamic, mids tilted slightly toward warm and lush but with excellent, extended treble clarity and details. The Susvara's encompasses everything I want in a headphone. I really enjoy the Hifiman sound in.

The other headphones in my collection do things I like with certain genres of music and are good in their own right. But most of them are mid-fi headphones except for the Utopia's, HE6se's and Z1R's. The PM2's and LCD-2CB's scale and compete very well with headphones costing double their price. But If I was really pressed to pick just one headphone the Susvara's would be the headphone I'd choose. The airy highs of the Ssvara's are just mystifying to me. I'm not sure how Fang pulled that one off.

Like I said before, I think when it comes to soundstage development the Dr is a sound space genius. I sat down and heard every Hifiman at the table for close to 2 hrs and I was amazed at what he has done for, as I call it, sound space. As good as the Susvara are, the Shangri La was even better as far as Sound Space. Wow. When I put them on the ear cups disappeared. To a lesser extent also the Shangri La Jr., but I consider them less practical on a daily basis than the Susvara.

 

[tunes]

I would imagine so. Just go from the outputs of the DAVE to the inputs of the Timekeeper to make some music. I choose to use my Pro iCan because I like the XBass+ feature. I can give the Susvara's that extra thump in the subbass region. Honestly, it's amazing how the Susvara's just eats up the extra bass. Instead of distorting they respond with even deeper bass and a slam that really pleases the senses. This is the main reason I was able to let my Abyss Phi's go. The Susvara's to my ears can do bass better than the Phi's. When I tried the same thing with my Phi's I heard distortion. It was like the drivers of the Phi's reached their excursion limit. The Susvara's just seemed like they had even more to give me. They have so much extension on both ends of the frequency spectrum.

One thing I can say about the Phi's is that they give you superior bass without the need to EQ. The reason I added the extra bass with my Pro iCan is that I wanted to see if the Susvara's could match the bass response of the Phi's. Not only did it match it, it exceeded it in my ears. It would be nice to hear the new TC driver's of the Phi's to see how they compare to the Susvara's. I can say the Phi's and the Susvara's are the two best headphones I owned. The Phi's are really awkward headphones to wear as well. Depending on how they were placed on your head the bass could be more or it could be less. I never have to worry about headphones placement with the Susvara's. So the Susvara's beat them handily when it came to comfort.

But the long answer to your question is yes, the Dave can go straight to any power amp and deliver music with the HE-Adapter. Also, you can find the Burson Timekeeper amp for much cheaper prices than retail. I paid $750 for mine off Audiogon. One other tidbit is that Burson no longer makes it. There is still some stock left at some stores but it's no longer on their website. So when I saw it and the price I jumped all over that deal. From everything I've read about the Timekeeper amp I knew it would be a great match for the Susvara's. It just adds a musical warmth to the Susvara's that's sublime.

I have been reading more about driving the Susvara from a speaker amp and there are always concerns about the risk of blowing a driver with the higher power and the need to turn volume down to zero for each use. Yet some folks even drive the headphone directly without a resistor box. When it comes to microdetail and transparency, Rob Watts has often mentioned that the DAVE sounds best driving headphones direct without an amp. I am now wondering how the additional resistors impact the transparency and what is lost by improved dynamics using a speaker amp and the trade offs. Some of the dedicated headphone amps have been praised for their straight wire transparency. For those who have compared speaker amps to the best headphone amps under $5K with DAVE and Susvara, what are the best choices? Or will an inexpensive speaker amp with intervening resistors still beat any headphone amp out there at any price and worth all the fuss using resistors and adapters??

 

[Articnoise]

I have connected my HE6 and LCD3 directly to my Marantz PM11 for years without any problem. No resistors or resistor box, those are mostly for tube amps. Resistor boxes do impact the transparency and dynamics negatively, so for SS amps up to say 150 Watt its better without. Like with all powerful amps it’s always important to turn volume down to zero before you turn on or off the amp. Not all speaker amps is a good match thou, and a good powerful headphone amp can sound better than a low/mid-fi speaker amp.