[Sajid Amit]

Thanks. I am already loving the Sus, and it way too early to draw any conclusions, but I rather have realistic expectations.

At this moment, my Sus is only 2 days old and the A90 is nice, extremely impressive VFM, but mid focused and as a result quite dense in presentation with the Sus, especially in comparison to a extremely well broken-in Arya. I do miss the openness and speed of the Arya at this moment. No surprise here, I expected this to happen, others have reported this. (I bloody read almost everything in this thread )

Still, it is good to know what I am looking for when my journey with the Susvara progresses, I appreciate your feedback.

The A90 is indeed, extremely impressive, VFM.

 

[Thenewguy007]

So the Pass Labs combo is more expensive than buying the EF-1000 (combined with the Susvara).

The XA25 doesn't have XLR balanced inputs (and I am a big fan of fully balanced XLR hifi systems especially mono block amp ones !) and all my Chord Choral system gear is all XLR balanced inputs and outputs.

So based on the above I will be passing (pardon the pun lol) on the Pass Labs set up !

Try the Pass XA30.8 then

 

[smodtactical]

Try the Pass XA30.8 then

Ya when Sajit says the Pass combo was the best hes ever heard I believe him. I don't have Susvara but I put HD800S on my Pass x350.8 with agd he9 pre driving it and compared to he9 alone it was absolutely mind blowing. It was as if it became a new headphone in a totally different class altogether.

I wrote about it here: http://www.sonicvisions.org/index.php?threads/pass-labs-x350-8-with-headphones-hd800s.90/

I can only imagine what Pass + Susvara can do !

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Try the Pass XA30.8 then

No chance ! For the price of a Pass Labs Amp with import duties and VAT on top from the US to UK, I can buy a top quality and performing Chord Electronics Power Amp with the knowledge that Chord are a UK company (for any warranty issues etc.) and one of the top Speaker Power Amp manufacturers in the world and have been for some time now. Chord Amps also pair brilliantly with the Chord DAC's for complete system synergy and peace of mind.

 

[smodtactical]

No chance ! For the price of a Pass Labs Amp with import duties and VAT on top from the US to UK, I can buy a top quality and performing Chord Electronics Power Amp with the knowledge that Chord are a UK company (for any warranty issues etc.) and one of the top Speaker Power Amp manufacturers in the world and have been for some time now. Chord Amps also pair brilliantly with the Chord DAC's for complete system synergy and peace of mind.

I am sure Chord is awesome. Those guys are smart and they know what they are doing.

 

[gwos]

Speaking of UK brands: has anyone tried Naim amps with the Susvara? Sooner or later I will, but perhaps you already know.

 

[Sajid Amit]

Speaking of UK brands: has anyone tried Naim amps with the Susvara? Sooner or later I will, but perhaps you already know.

Someone I know has tried the Supernait 3, and loved the speed and slam, and preferred it to other amps with the Susvaras, including the PrimaLuna, as she likes metal, rock, etc.

 

[Flextreme]

Someone I know has tried the Supernait 3, and loved the speed and slam, and preferred it to other amps with the Susvaras, including the PrimaLuna, as she likes metal, rock, etc.

Ohhhhhhh... my Supernait 2 + hi-cap DR PSU is catching dust right now... Did not know folks had success with Naim. Adapter cable for speaker output is already incoming, will be able to test next week. Had no expectations, now I'm really curious.

 

[gwos]

Ohhhhhhh... my Supernait 2 + hi-cap DR PSU is catching dust right now... Did not know folks had success with Naim. Adapter cable for speaker output is already incoming, will be able to test next week. Had no expectations, now I'm really curious.

Ha! We kind of play blindly and you never know what you get from a particular amp -- not only watts is what's matter.

 

[Sajid Amit]

Ohhhhhhh... my Supernait 2 + hi-cap DR PSU is catching dust right now... Did not know folks had success with Naim. Adapter cable for speaker output is already incoming, will be able to test next week. Had no expectations, now I'm really curious.

How nice for you. Do share impressions!

 

[ThanatosVI]

Ohhhhhhh... my Supernait 2 + hi-cap DR PSU is catching dust right now... Did not know folks had success with Naim. Adapter cable for speaker output is already incoming, will be able to test next week. Had no expectations, now I'm really curious.

I always thought Naim were much more expensive than it actually is. Just checked the prices here at my place

That puts it right into my hunting grounds so please share your impressions.

The Supernait has L/R adjustments but no eq for Bass/treble/Loudness right?

 

[bluecar]

I always thought Naim were much more expensive than it actually is. Just checked the prices here at my place

That puts it right into my hunting grounds so please share your impressions.

The Supernait has L/R adjustments but no eq for Bass/treble/Loudness right?

Re Price - Naim can *Absolutely* be much more expensive , but the SuperNait is very well-priced.

No EQ control on these amps, and (as a long time Naim owner), the PSU makes a big difference - there are plenty of non-NAIM suppliers for PSUs, like Custom Cables (excellent) and Teddy Pardo (also excellent), for a fiar bit less than Naim's own power units.

 

[Flextreme]

I always thought Naim were much more expensive than it actually is. Just checked the prices here at my place

That puts it right into my hunting grounds so please share your impressions.

The Supernait has L/R adjustments but no eq for Bass/treble/Loudness right?

I surely will, my reference for comparison to other amps is limited to the Topping A90 however. I will do my best.

Naim amps can be finicky: for instance they were designed with the capacitance of NACA 05 loudspeaker cable in mind. I expect some experimentation is required.

 

[Marco59]

Speaking of UK brands: has anyone tried Naim amps with the Susvara? Sooner or later I will, but perhaps you already know.

I have tried a Naim 5si with He1000 V1 and V2.
Hifiman headphones sound good with Naim. Lots of punch and rhythm.
I believe it will be the same with Susvara.

 

[donato]

So the Pass Labs combo is more expensive than buying the EF-1000 (combined with the Susvara).

The XA25 doesn't have XLR balanced inputs (and I am a big fan of fully balanced XLR hifi systems especially mono block amp ones !) and all my Chord Choral system gear is all XLR balanced inputs and outputs.

So based on the above I will be passing (pardon the pun lol) on the Pass Labs set up !

Try the Pass XA30.8 then

No chance ! For the price of a Pass Labs Amp with import duties and VAT on top from the US to UK, I can buy a top quality and performing Chord Electronics Power Amp with the knowledge that Chord are a UK company (for any warranty issues etc.) and one of the top Speaker Power Amp manufacturers in the world and have been for some time now. Chord Amps also pair brilliantly with the Chord DAC's for complete system synergy and peace of mind.

I was also a balanced-only person and felt like going single ended would be a downgrade. But it’s not that simple that balanced equipment will automatically be better and you potentially miss out on great components that don't have a balanced connection that may work very well (note, I am not saying that a balanced connection isn't technically superior, I'm talking about equipment in a specific application). In my case, this led me to a Pass HPA-1, Pass XA25, and a Primaluna Prologue.

I'd never say that one manufacturers product is the be all end all whether it's Holo Audio, Pass, Hifiman, Norne which is what I have in my system, but we all can only attest to our own experience with gear we've used. Obviously, both @Sajid Amit and I think the Pass XP12/XA25/Susvara combo is a brilliant one, but there are no doubt others that are as well. I'm sure the Chord gear is great and you make compelling reasons why it works for you which is awesome. At the end of the day, we all choose what we thinks works best for us and we come hear and talk about it.

Regarding the XA30.8, I would think those would work very well also with the Susvara. The XA25 is the quietest amp (less than 50uV) that Pass makes though. Many of the other pass amps are 200uv noise including the 150.5 I started with that had audible hum and noise in my system with other more sensitive HPs (not a problem with the Susvara though).