[Spawn300Z]

Behind the Zhal. Part of God tier for me

Zhal HM-1 is a very good amp and overall piece of equipment. Which like a lot. But it’s not God’s Tier. The tier is listed correctly. The Riviera AIC-10, has a better grip on the Susvaras then the HM1.

 

[JTbbb]

I’m not sure if this is a long shot, but has anyone had the luxury of listening to both the Feliks Audio Envy and the Hifiman EF1000 with the Susvara?

I was originally set on the Envy after reading the nearly unanimous glowing reviews with upgraded tubes. However, now I’m pondering a bit about the EF1000. Thanks Head-Fi!

Envy performance walnut ($9000) + WE 300b ($1500) + Elrog 300b-Mo ($3000) + Hifiman Susvara open box ($4500) = $18000 USD

Hifiman EF1000 + Susvara combo = $18000 USD

I’d appreciate any input. Otherwise, I’ll probably end up “playing it safe” and getting the Envy given all the positive feedback on here.

You have some lovely tubes to roll with the Envy to suit music genres.

 

[AussieMick]

I’m not sure if this is a long shot, but has anyone had the luxury of listening to both the Feliks Audio Envy and the Hifiman EF1000 with the Susvara?

I was originally set on the Envy after reading the nearly unanimous glowing reviews with upgraded tubes. However, now I’m pondering a bit about the EF1000. Thanks Head-Fi!

Envy performance walnut ($9000) + WE 300b ($1500) + Elrog 300b-Mo ($3000) + Hifiman Susvara open box ($4500) = $18000 USD

Hifiman EF1000 + Susvara combo = $18000 USD

I’d appreciate any input. Otherwise, I’ll probably end up “playing it safe” and getting the Envy given all the positive feedback on here.

If you’re going to drop $18,000 on a system, why not make a weekend of it and take a friend/partner with you to a city you can hear both? Then you’ll know which you like better and you will have had a lovely experience, too.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

I’m not sure if this is a long shot, but has anyone had the luxury of listening to both the Feliks Audio Envy and the Hifiman EF1000 with the Susvara?

I was originally set on the Envy after reading the nearly unanimous glowing reviews with upgraded tubes. However, now I’m pondering a bit about the EF1000. Thanks Head-Fi!

Envy performance walnut ($9000) + WE 300b ($1500) + Elrog 300b-Mo ($3000) + Hifiman Susvara open box ($4500) = $18000 USD

Hifiman EF1000 + Susvara combo = $18000 USD

I’d appreciate any input. Otherwise, I’ll probably end up “playing it safe” and getting the Envy given all the positive feedback on here.

I have owned the EF1000 for over 2.5 years with the Susvara. I heard the Envy last September with the Susvara for just 10mins (it was a enough time for me) both connected to a Chord DAVE (that I also own). I believe the Envy was fitted with stock tubes. Both had the stock Susvara headphone cable.

To my ears, the EF1000 (with stock tubes) is far superior to the Envy (with stock tubes). The EF1000 is also a very good speaker amp too when connected to medium to high sensitivity speakers i.e. 90+ dB.
Note that the updated EF1000 was specifically re-designed and re-built for the Susvara to sound it's best by Hifiman !

If you decide to buy an EF1000, I'm sure you will be in audio nirvana with using it with the Susvara as long as you also have a very good to excellent source input to it.
The combination of the EF1000 and Susvara has an amazing scaling up ability as you go up the quality of the source input chain.

I have never tried my EF1000 with another headphone i.e. an Abyss 1266 TC for instance as never felt the need to as I am so very happy with the Susvara !

 

[Tubewin]

I have owned the EF1000 for over 2.5 years with the Susvara. I heard the Envy last September with the Susvara for just 10mins (it was a enough time for me) both connected to a Chord DAVE (that I also own). I believe the Envy was fitted with stock tubes. Both had the stock Susvara headphone cable.

To my ears, the EF1000 (with stock tubes) is far superior to the Envy (with stock tubes). The EF1000 is also a very good speaker amp too when connected to medium to high sensitivity speakers i.e. 90+ dB.
Note that the updated EF1000 was specifically re-designed and re-built for the Susvara to sound it's best by Hifiman !

If you decide to buy an EF1000, I'm sure you will be in audio nirvana with using it with the Susvara as long as you also have a very good to excellent source input to it.
The combination of the EF1000 and Susvara has an amazing scaling up ability as you go up the quality of the source input chain.

I have never tried my EF1000 with another headphone i.e. an Abyss 1266 TC for instance as never felt the need to as I am so very happy with the Susvara !

Updated EF1000? They came out with a new one?

 

[leylandi]

https://www.audiomagic.eu/en/headphone-amplifiers/wzmacniacze/hifiman-ef1000-dac

 

[Tubewin]

https://www.audiomagic.eu/en/headphone-amplifiers/wzmacniacze/hifiman-ef1000-dac

Isn't that the new dac?

 

[leylandi]

This is the new ef1000

 

[Tubewin]

This is the new ef1000

It doesn't have a dedicated psu though... and the other ef1000 is a amplifier only.

 

[ufospls2]

Updated EF1000? They came out with a new one?

I think he means the original EF1000 (which IIRC was never officially released) which was created for the HE1000. There is now the EF1000DAC, which is still powerful, but not as powerful an amp as the EF1000 amp, but also features the Hifiman Hymalaya DAC modules. Couple photos of the pre revision EF1000 are below, it was then changed and updated to be the Hifiman solution for the susvara.

Below is the EF1000DAC (which does 13.7w at 32ohms, vs the EF1000 amp which does 20w at 32ohms.)

 

[paradoxper]

And Holo Bliss to "pretty good" at least.

And DNA Stellaris to "decently good". FIGHT ME.

Stellaris is currently the second best 2A3 to the Studio T. Neither are ideal with planars.

 

[Frankie D]

Zhal HM-1 is a very good amp and overall piece of equipment. Which like a lot. But it’s not God’s Tier. The tier is listed correctly. The Riviera AIC-10, has a better grip on the Susvaras then the HM1.

I might disagree. I was still impressed with the Zahl-HM1 after CanJam where I had it competing with these other amps ( certainly not an ideal environment for comparison, but the best I could do ). Even if I dropped it below the Riviera ( which I am not sure as the Zahl had the tighter bass, but is a more neutral sound ) my order might be:

1 & 2: Mass-Kobo 465 / Viva Egoista
3: Riviera AIC-10
4.- Zahl-HM1

In the above list I would still consider all of them the Top Tier, and not 100% sure the Zahl would be 4th. In any event I had the Zahl on order and after my CanJam auditioning I decided to keep it on order.

I did also prefer it to the WA-33 Standard Edition, EF1000 and the CFA-3 from last year. I was impressed with the latest update to the CFA-3 by Headamp which is not available yet. If priced low enough, I might check it out to see just how good it turns out.

 

[DJJEZ]

Zhal HM-1 is a very good amp and overall piece of equipment. Which like a lot. But it’s not God’s Tier. The tier is listed correctly. The Riviera AIC-10, has a better grip on the Susvaras then the HM1.

Yeh I agree with this. The hm1 doesn't do anything spectacular outside of have serious grip of susvaras drivers and bass. It's very much a reference sound and It stages extremely average but it it is one of the best amps still just not god tier.

Aic-10 is a big step up over HM1. I'm borrowing one at the moment and it's mind blowing how good it is.

 

[Polygonhell]

Aic-10 is a big step up over HM1. I'm borrowing one at the moment and it's mind blowing how good it is.

What are you comparing it to, and what tube is in it?

I have one on loan this week (Tele G73 in it) as well and while I think it's a stellar amp, I'd put it in the top 2 or 3 headphone amps I've heard.
It certainly has excellent control over the Susvara drivers, possibly the most articulate mid bass I've heard from an amp.
It's just a bit too laid back, smooth and relaxed for my preferences, that could just be the tube and I do need to try it with my other DAC.
But right now I'd pretty easily take the Egoista 845 with Elrogs over it for the Susvara.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Updated EF1000? They came out with a new one?

Not very recently a new one. The current EF1000 as you see advertised today I think was launched by Hifiman back in 2017/2018 (but not 100% sure).

Recently Hifiman have also launched an EF1000DAC. However the EF1000DAC has a different pre and power amp to the EF1000 !