[Bonesy Jonesy]

From what I've already heard speaker amps are not prepared for loads bigger than, say, 8 ohms. At the same time I never found a word in manuals about upper limits; if anything was mentioned it was only lower limits, say, 1 ohm, causing - for example - amps to shut off in such a case. My colleagues say I should install a load reducer, like the one offered by Hifiman (https://www.hifiman.com/products/detail/84), but frankly I hesitate since it's a new piece in the rig, requiring additional cables etc.

I found the Hifiman Speaker Taps to XLR Adapter reduces the sound quality quite significantly.

 

[gwos]

I found the Hifiman Speaker Taps to XLR Adapter reduces the sound quality quite significantly.

Well, this is what I was afraid of while putting "etc"...

 

[donato]

Yes my tube amps will blow a fuse if there is no load connected, they would have to be powered off to connect/disconnect).
But I'm also not sure how well they would behave into a ~60 Ohm Load anyway.
A lot of tube speaker amps are designed for a relative narrow range of impedance's, mine has separate outputs for 4 and 8 Ohm loads and most SE circuits depend on the impedance reflected from the speakers through the transformer.

From what I've already heard speaker amps are not prepared for loads bigger than, say, 8 ohms. At the same time I never found a word in manuals about upper limits; if anything was mentioned it was only lower limits, say, 1 ohm, causing - for example - amps to shut off in such a case. My colleagues say I should install a load reducer, like the one offered by Hifiman (https://www.hifiman.com/products/detail/84), but frankly I hesitate since it's a new piece in the rig, requiring additional cables etc.

If you are using an OTC tube amp I strongly recommend putting a parallel resistor so that the tube amp sees a load closer to what it expects (e.g. 8 ohm), otherwise a high impedance load looks like an open circuit to the amp. this is also discussed a lot in the speaker amp thread here on headfi which I also recommend reading. With most solid state amps, you will be fine (there are some rare edge cases where you would need to be careful).

Below is what I did when using with my Primaluna Dialogue amp.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

I'm eager to hear your opinion! As I already wrote here I liked the sound (and the look!) of EF-1000 but I think one can go further for less money.

Awesome qwos..

Did you write the SoundRebel review (it was written in Polish) on the EF1000 ?

I am guessing you are one of a very limited few to have a EF1000.

What do you think is better than the EF1000 for the Susvara for less money ? I was under the impression there isn't anything that can sound better than the EF1000 for the Susvara !

I will be linking mine to my Chord DAVE (which is linked to my M Scaler). What DAC are you using for the EF1000 ? Is it balanced ?

Your link to your review doesn't seem to work !

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Awesome qwos..

Did you write the SoundRebel review (it was written in Polish) on the EF1000 ?

I am guessing you are one of a very limited few to have a EF1000.

What do you think is better than the EF1000 for the Susvara for less money ? I was under the impression there isn't anything that can sound better than the EF1000 for the Susvara !

I will be linking mine to my Chord DAVE (which is linked to my M Scaler). What DAC are you using for the EF1000 ? Is it balanced ?

Your link to your review doesn't seem to work !

I am hoping and praying the EF1000 will sound far superior to my Chord Mezzo 140 Speaker Amp. Otherwise I have wasted £10k !

 

[gwos]

Awesome qwos..

Did you write the SoundRebel review (it was written in Polish) on the EF1000 ?

I am guessing you are one of a very limited few to have a EF1000.

What do you think is better than the EF1000 for the Susvara for less money ? I was under the impression there isn't anything that can sound better than the EF1000 for the Susvara !

I will be linking mine to my Chord DAVE (which is linked to my M Scaler). What DAC are you using for the EF1000 ? Is it balanced ?

Your link to your review doesn't seem to work !

No, it's not my review and I don't own EF-1000, the picture was made during my tests, I was already writing about my encounter with it before (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-susvara.853031/post-16106084). Still I'm actively looking for the amp, a week ago I was blown off by my own Luxman L-550 with the Susvara plugged directly to the speakers posts, before I was always using iFi iESL Pro adapter, now I use a decent copper cable and probably will think of the silver one. I bought the Lux deliberately for the Sus after a number of tests, see my history here (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-susvara.853031/post-16105902) but now I believe I can still go further with Pass Labs XP-12/XA25 (which thrilled me at the first try), also Octave V70 Class A was really great, and I'm going to listen to T+A PA 2000 R for sure.

At this moment I use iFi iDSD Pro connected via RCA.

 

[gwos]

If you are using an OTC tube amp I strongly recommend putting a parallel resistor so that the tube amp sees a load closer to what it expects (e.g. 8 ohm), otherwise a high impedance load looks like an open circuit to the amp. this is also discussed a lot in the speaker amp thread here on headfi which I also recommend reading. With most solid state amps, you will be fine (there are some rare edge cases where you would need to be careful).

Below is what I did when using with my Primaluna Dialogue amp.

This is cool and exactly in the direction my colleagues were suggesting. What I don't understand is what is going on on the second picture?

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

No, it's not my review and I don't own EF-1000, the picture was made during my tests, I was already writing about my encounter with it before (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-susvara.853031/post-16106084). Still I'm actively looking for the amp, a week ago I was blown off by my own Luxman L-550 with the Susvara plugged directly to the speakers posts, before I was always using iFi iESL Pro adapter, now I use a decent copper cable and probably will think of the silver one. I bought the Lux deliberately for the Sus after a number of tests, see my history here (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-susvara.853031/post-16105902) but now I believe I can still go further with Pass Labs XP-12/XA25 (which thrilled me at the first try), also Octave V70 Class A was really great, and I'm going to listen to T+A PA 2000 R for sure.

At this moment I use iFi iDSD Pro connected via RCA.

Thank you gwos. Much appreciated.

 

[ThanatosVI]

No, it's not my review and I don't own EF-1000, the picture was made during my tests, I was already writing about my encounter with it before (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-susvara.853031/post-16106084). Still I'm actively looking for the amp, a week ago I was blown off by my own Luxman L-550 with the Susvara plugged directly to the speakers posts, before I was always using iFi iESL Pro adapter, now I use a decent copper cable and probably will think of the silver one. I bought the Lux deliberately for the Sus after a number of tests, see my history here (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-susvara.853031/post-16105902) but now I believe I can still go further with Pass Labs XP-12/XA25 (which thrilled me at the first try), also Octave V70 Class A was really great, and I'm going to listen to T+A PA 2000 R for sure.

At this moment I use iFi iDSD Pro connected via RCA.

Since I have that amp on order I couldn't be more interested in your impressions. Afaik it also has excellent noise ratio which makes it a good fit for even more sensitive cans.

Also curious about the Octave, since I received the V16 just yesterday.

 

[donato]

This is cool and exactly in the direction my colleagues were suggesting. What I don't understand is what is going on on the second picture?

Instead of hanging the resistor leads off the binding posts directly, I just attached them to banana connectors. Makes it easier/cleaner to connect than just having bare wires. I use different resistor values depending on the impedance of the headphones I'm connecting (really just have 2 sets - 10ohm and 8.2ohm depending on whether high or low impedance HP). In either case, the goal was to get parallel resistor across the binding posts.

My speaker tap cable uses spades (not shown in the picture, so picture the speaker taps also connected at the same time on the binding posts) so was easy to use the open banana on the binding post.

 

[gwos]

I love this solution, as simple as possible! Since high and low is relative, let me know, which value 10 or 8 you are using with the Susvara? What would be your recommendation for AKG K1000 which is 120 ohms? And one more question: is there any difference in the Susvara sound with and without the extra resistors?

 

[gwos]

Since I have that amp on order I couldn't be more interested in your impressions. Afaik it also has excellent noise ratio which makes it a good fit for even more sensitive cans.

Also curious about the Octave, since I received the V16 just yesterday.

I haven't heard T+A PA 2000 R yet, I hope I will later in February, but I have heard T+A's headphone amp, HA 200, which IMO is just amazing with the Susvara, perhaps a little bit less energetic than Accuphase E-380/E-480 via iFi iESL Pro, but by a small margin (*). I love T+A transparency which is what the Sus likes a lot.

(*) However I must say, that the Susvara connected directly to the Accuphases hasn't made an impression on me - compared to my Luxman L-550 and Octave V70 Class A - also connected directly. I can see no return to the adapters like iFi iESL now...

As for Octave V16, I'd also love to hear soon, let us know if it's speaker's output gives the Sus enough power? What are your impressions?

 

[gwos]

I agree with everything @ThanatosVI had to say. I'm using a Norne Vykari speaker tap cable and headphone cable (Picture below. I wanted them to match. Didn't see the point of upgrading HP cable if the speaker tap cable wasn't the same or better). Vykari is a copper silver hybrid, which you can better see in the closeup.

@Flextreme there are a lot of Norne fans here on headfi, so check out the Norne thread too if you haven't already.

Does it mean you have tried and came to the conclusion that the hybrid cable works better with the Susvara (and your ears!) than the clean copper or silver ones?

 

[donato]

I love this solution, as simple as possible! Since high and low is relative, let me know, which value 10 or 8 you are using with the Susvara? What would be your recommendation for AKG K1000 which is 120 ohms? And one more question: is there any difference in the Susvara sound with and without the extra resistors?

I use 10ohm with the Susvara since that gives a net 8.6ohm. With 120, you'd probably want to go with 8.2 since that nets you out to 7.7.

I didn't try it all w/o any resistor. Didn't want to risk it. But since the resistors are in parallel, the resistors aren't in the signal path going to the Susvara so shouldn't degrade quality (so my use of Mundorf resistors is probably overkill). This is unlike the Hifiman HE box which puts resistors in series (i.e. in the signal path) and as others have said, they have found it introduces a veil.

 

[ThanatosVI]

I use 10ohm with the Susvara since that gives a net 8.6ohm. With 120, you'd probably want to go with 8.2 since that nets you out to 7.7.

I didn't try it all w/o any resistor. Didn't want to risk it. But since the resistors are in parallel, the resistors aren't in the signal path going to the Susvara so shouldn't degrade quality (so my use of Mundorf resistors is probably overkill). This is unlike the Hifiman HE box which puts resistors in series (i.e. in the signal path) and as others have said, they have found it introduces a veil.

Do you use resistors only on tube amps or also on solid State?