[mungster]

Benchmark AHB2 amplifier.

 

[tunes]

I've not heard the AHB2 however I had the HPA4 here for a couple weeks and I felt it had less headroom, stage and dynamics w/ the Susvara compared to other amps like the Niimbus or Elekit 300B.

FYI For DIY people out there DIYaudiostore has the Elekit w/ Lundahl transformer upgrade. It is excellent w/ the Susvara (using the speaker taps).

https://diyaudiostore.com/products/elekit-tu-8600r?variant=16417698218018

The AHB2 is much more powerful. The HPA4 delivers 11.9 Vrms into 300 Ohms and 6 Watts into 16 Ohms. The AHB2 100 Wpc/8 Ohms, 130 Wpc/6 Ohms, 190 Wpc/4 Ohms, 240 Wpc/3 Ohms. I would expect the Susvara to fair much better driven from the speaker tabs of the AHB2.

 

[BassicScience]

What you ask to a preamp is gain/volume control and impedance adaptation.
Looking at modern DACs, their output stages are preamps (high level signal) and I have noticed that volume control can be superlative, eg EmmLabs DV2 or TotalDAC, while impedance adaptation comes not far away from a good preamp (150 ohms versus 50 ohms on RCA ).

If you go with speakers amps with tubes, a SS preamp is fine, more transparent. At least tonality could be only amp dependent. And so, good DAC preamps are very suitable. Integrated own also a preamp, so what’s better ? Connecting the DAC to the preamp input of the integrated or directly to the power section ? Mostly tastes choice imho.

Susvara takes a lot of profit from a tube speakers amp, at least on Classical. Hence interesting to explore good DAC/amps combos.

While I think you make some valid points, I would point out:

1) A preamp also allows for input selection. I still have a turntable and an SACD player, neither of which have adjustable gain by the way.
2) The DACs you cite as having superb volume control are very expensive and may not offer significantly better sound than much cheaper options without volume control. Having a preamp frees one up to purchase pretty much any DAC with fewer constraints.
3) Tubed power amps that can deliver high current with excellent frequency response tend to be expensive, large, hot, and costlier to maintain.

All that said, there are no "right" answers in this hobby. Everybody brings their own preferences, knowledge, and budget to the table. Cheers!

 

[cladane]

While I think you make some valid points, I would point out:

1) A preamp also allows for input selection. I still have a turntable and an SACD player, neither of which have adjustable gain by the way.
2) The DACs you cite as having superb volume control are very expensive and may not offer significantly better sound than much cheaper options without volume control. Having a preamp frees one up to purchase pretty much any DAC with fewer constraints.
3) Tubed power amps that can deliver high current with excellent frequency response tend to be expensive, large, hot, and costlier to maintain.

All that said, there are no "right" answers in this hobby. Everybody brings their own preferences, knowledge, and budget to the table. Cheers!

Yes, I agree with your arguments and they are showing wisdom.

Looking at an Integrated, you have input selection.
About DACs, it is possible that price doesn’t make SQ but a good preamp can be costly also.

It is not relative to this hobby, but passion, and even in a forum speaking of cars people will bring their own experience with Ferrari and find it interesting despite the price.

Those tubed Power amps have for sure all the defects you list but you should hear some with the Susvara to evaluate the pros/cons.
Somewhere at what level headphones manufacturers have reached systems converge on good speakers setups.

 

[iFi audio]

All that said, there are no "right" answers in this hobby.

Word.

 

[angpsi]

Dear all,

I wanted to appeal to your knowledge and experience of the Susvara in order to ask you for a piece of advice.

Here's my conundrum: I've got a rare chance to get a friend's Susvara set for a low low price, but I don't really have a setup to do justice to these wonderful cans (see my signature) nor will I be able to afford an upgrade until I pay my friend off – should take me about a year to do so. At the price I'm getting these it would be incredibly stupid not to buy, I promise; but at the same time it'll both make my current setup redundant and leave the Susvara underwhelmingly supported for at least a year or more.

In the past, I also found myself violently thrusted into summit-fi territory with the D8000; and I distinctly remember how sorry I was to see them go, exactly because I was unable to support them with decent gear. With my current setup, something like the HD800 or comparable would be the far more sensible choice – and indeed I can attest that they really do sing on the Auditor first hand. On the opposite side, I've witnessed my friend go crazy in his quest of finding a perfect match to amp his Susvara. And we're talking €€€ here as he eventually settled on a Trafomatic Primavera, having gone through Vivas, Air Tight, etc. (far from my spending ballpark atm)! The Susvaras are definitely a diva in this respect: I've listened to them singing beautifully when the Trafo settled in and I can't imagine anything coming even close to how they are able render the music that I care for – mostly classical and jazz (albeit my friend's Abyss also do their own thing in a most impressive fashion). But the Susvara definitely ask you to break your back in order to fit their requirements, and that makes them a very demanding partner to live with. Skimming through the posts of this forum more or less seems to confirm this impression of mine.

So here it is: go for the deal of a lifetime and make it a project to cater for the needs of a diva, or keep my cool and stick with a more gradual upgrade path? I'm pretty sure that lots of other cans would be pretty happy to sing off my Auditor, I'm just not sure they'll ever let me forget how close I once got to own this wonderful piece of art!

* a "+1" vote would do fine, although I'd appreciate any informed feedback.

 

[QueueCumber]

Dear all,

I wanted to appeal to your knowledge and experience of the Susvara in order to ask you for a piece of advice.

Here's my conundrum: I've got a rare chance to get a friend's Susvara set for a low low price, but I don't really have a setup to do justice to these wonderful cans (see my signature) nor will I be able to afford an upgrade until I pay my friend off – should take me about a year to do so. At the price I'm getting these it would be incredibly stupid not to buy, I promise; but at the same time it'll both make my current setup redundant and leave the Susvara underwhelmingly supported for at least a year or more.

In the past, I also found myself violently thrusted into summit-fi territory with the D8000; and I distinctly remember how sorry I was to see them go, exactly because I was unable to support them with decent gear. With my current setup, something like the HD800 or comparable would be the far more sensible choice – and indeed I can attest that they really do sing on the Auditor first hand. On the opposite side, I've witnessed my friend go crazy in his quest of finding a perfect match to amp his Susvara. And we're talking €€€ here as he eventually settled on a Trafomatic Primavera, having gone through Vivas, Air Tight, etc. (far from my spending ballpark atm)! The Susvaras are definitely a diva in this respect: I've listened to them singing beautifully when the Trafo settled in and I can't imagine anything coming even close to how they are able render the music that I care for – mostly classical and jazz (albeit my friend's Abyss do their own thing in a most impressive fashion). But they definitely also ask you to break your back in order to fit their requirements, and that makes them a very demanding partner to live with.

So here it is: go for the deal of a lifetime and make it a project to cater for the needs of a diva, or keep my cool and stick with a more gradual upgrade path? I'm pretty sure that lots of other cans would be pretty happy to sing off my Auditor, I'm just not sure they'll ever let me forget how close I once got to own this wonderful piece of art!

* a "+1" vote would do fine, although I'd appreciate any informed feedback.

You don’t have something that meets the power requirements in that long list of gear?

Don’t believe the hype on needing more than the specs warrant, even an old cheap well-engineered solid state amp will do the trick if you pick up the HE-Adapter. The audible effects from anything else solid state is marginal, if not imaginary, even at exponential value differences, unless the engineers intentionally flubbed the design.

The Susvara is definitely worth it at a steep discount. I bought mine at a steep discount after returning the set I bought at full price. I didn’t feel the build quality warranted a $6k price tag, and I still don’t believe the build quality warrants the full asking price, but after hearing them I knew I’d pick another pair up at the right price...

 

[angpsi]

Stated output on the Auditor manual is 1,7 W (+32,2 dBm) @ 1 kHz/600 Ω and 360 mW (+25,6 dBm) @ 1 kHz/30 Ω connection. So I'm guessing somewhat under 1W at 60Ω (see p.17), definitely far from the 5W everyone's been talking about in here. After that, there's only my ATC integrated speakers amp at 150 W /channel class AB. And yes, HE-adapter is included in the package!

I'd definitely see myself going for the Elekit TU-8600 in some imaginable future though...

 

[jlbrach]

buy a cheap ifi ican pro....you can grab one around 1000 dollars...plenty of power and a surprisingly good amp

 

[Slim1970]

buy a cheap ifi ican pro....you can grab one around 1000 dollars...plenty of power and a surprisingly good amp

+1 on that. I use to listen to the Susvara’s on it all the time before I sold mine. It’s a very versatile amp.

 

[jlbrach]

are there better amps?...yes, but few better for the money...i used to use one with my susvara...i am currently using the formula s/ powerman and yes it is better but the pro can holds it own and is versatile...and very small

 

[Slim1970]

are there better amps?...yes, but few better for the money...i used to use one with my susvara...i am currently using the formula s/ powerman and yes it is better but the pro can holds it own and is versatile...and very small

How's the bass response of the Susvara’s with the Formula S/Powerman combo? Does it add body or fullness to them or it is a fairly neutral amp? What are the strengths of that amp with the Susvara’s if you don’t mind me asking?

 

[jlbrach]

it is a well balanced amp...dark background....big soundstage and detailed...the bass on the susvara is quite good...not as powerful as the lcd-4 or abyss but very accurate...

 

[Johnny1982xyz]

Stated output on the Auditor manual is 1,7 W (+32,2 dBm) @ 1 kHz/600 Ω and 360 mW (+25,6 dBm) @ 1 kHz/30 Ω connection. So I'm guessing somewhat under 1W at 60Ω (see p.17), definitely far from the 5W everyone's been talking about in here. After that, there's only my ATC integrated speakers amp at 150 W /channel class AB. And yes, HE-adapter is included in the package!

I'd definitely see myself going for the Elekit TU-8600 in some imaginable future though...

I got audio gd he9 that should have 6W channel but susvy sounds better in my estro Armonico tube otl that should have less than 1W so power is not so relevant.

 

[SuperDuke]

I have the Auris Headonia 2A3 in for review

Any update on the Headonia review?