[Ethereal Sound]

Through the DIY community, the world is your oyster.

Hard to argue that choice. I'm contemplating reaching out to Doug and inquiring about a custom Apsara build.

Never even heard of that amp. I definitely agree though, you tend to get a lot of great options through the DIY community without breaking the bank too hard.

 

[paradoxper]

Never even heard of that amp. I definitely agree though, you tend to get a lot of great options through the DIY community without breaking the bank too hard.

IIRC it's an L-2 based design. I believe departed with DHT flavor. I think similar design variety as the Copenhagen differential cascode.
Or in other words, bespoke to your demands.

 

[radnor]

I hope for the sake of my wallet it doesn't sound much better than the HPA4... And yeah sounds like you'd like the TC signature more if even the Bakoon doesn't drop your jaw w/ Susvara.

its really a beautiful piece and if you were driving a killer desktop set with both nearfield 2 chan and headfi... doubt there woudl be anythign better and more minimalist you can get today

 

[radnor]

delete

 

[mixman]

Yeah the 789 has plenty of power and will drive all but the hungriest cans.
Its not that the 789 is lacking in power, far from it, its just that the susvaras really do need a quite frankly silly amount of current availability to shine.

I did notice a quite surprising improvement in lowend control on the aryas when moving to the AHB2, but nowhere near the difference that was heard on the susvaras

At a meet, I heard the THX drive the Susvara just fine. I guess I don't listen that loud. Even on the THX, the Susvara was still the best sounding can in the room.

The only other thing here is that you are comparing a $300 amp with a $6K amp. I don't think you have to go to that extreme to beat the THX. An amp in the middle ground will surely do the job too???

 

[Slim1970]

At a meet, I heard the THX drive the Susvara just fine. I guess I don't listen that loud. Even on the THX, the Susvara was still the best sounding can in the room.

The only other thing here is that you are comparing a $300 amp with a $6K amp. I don't think you have to go to that extreme to beat the THX. An amp in the middle ground will surely do the job too???

I’m in the same boat. I don’t believe you have to pay $6k for an amp to get the Susvara’s to sound good.

 

[koven]

True, but is good ever good enough?

 

[Slim1970]

True, but is good ever good enough?

That’s the question every head-fier needs to ask themselves while in the pursuit of ultimate sound. At some point, we have to stop pursuing and start enjoying

 

[ThanatosVI]

Does anyone have experience with the Susvara on a dCS Bartok?

 

[Matez]

Susvara needs to be driven by speaker amps directly from speaker taps.

No headphone amps will come close to a good speaker amp to drive Susvara.

Just my 2 cents.

Unless you have a speaker amp with a headphone out based on the same circuit

. I'd suspect that the bakoon actually has plenty of current available, though I don't know what the design looks like for the headphone output. You may actually find that the susvara sounds significantly better driven by the speaker taps than it does by the headphone output.

Bakoon's hp out is the same thing as its regular speaker out. That's why it sounds so good with cans.

as the headphone out from what I can tell is still additional/different circuitry

Nope, it's the same thing. The only difference is in connections; speaker taps against regular hp socket. Marginal if someone asks me.

I’m in the same boat. I don’t believe you have to pay $6k for an amp to get the Susvara’s to sound good.

I'm with you on this. Susvara can sound quite spectacular on an amp below 2k. The EX-M1 does it, but from this one to the Bakoon is still a leap for me.

Bakoon won.... so yes something else going on other than just watts.

That's for sure. I've heard Susvaras with enough speaker amps to notice this. The EX-M1 drives these cans like crazy, but does it do this better than the less powerful Bakoon? Nope.

 

[Articnoise]

True, but is good ever good enough?

For many people the answer is probably yes, but for summit-fi audiophiles good is not good enough for very long.

 

[Articnoise]

Ah ok. Thought you were saying they were the same amp

From trying various headphones so far, stuff that doesn't require the extra current, so most dynamics etc, sound basically identical on the THX 789 and AHB2.
HD800 for example I would not be able to tell in a blind test I don't think.

But something that needs the extra current, so susvaras, or even aryas, there is a very notable difference between the two even if I set the volume quiet enough that the 789 should have plenty of headroom.

It hard to find a headphone that is picker about amp paring than the HD800. If the THX 789 and AHB2 would sound basically identical something else is not right, IME.

 

[Whitigir]

When is Susvara 2 coming ?

 

[protoss]

When is Susvara 2 coming ?

There has been secret silent revisions. I highly doubt the second one will be releasing.

 

[Whitigir]

There has been secret silent revisions. I highly doubt the second one will be releasing.

How would one tell if his is the newest versions ?