[Currawong]

This afternoon, I've been auditioning a Susvara in a quiet room here in SF.

More info about the system you're using would be good. I've seen a few people settle on the HD800 for classical, after which other headphones can sound too congested. Back when the Audeze LCD-2 was released, people were going crazy selling off all their cheaper headphones to buy the LCD-2 instead. In the midst of that, I recall one person who found that he could make out the number of violins in the orchestra more precisely with the HD800 than the LCD-2. Your comments remind of that. I think the Susvara, having a slightly lower treble, are better with a wider variety of genres. The slightly brighter HE1000 I felt were better for classical.

 

[ubs28]

Meet conditions are always weird with high end headphones, which is what struck me out in our conversation. The upstream components matter a lot and with a good DAC+Amp the headphones sound very different. I'm glad you heard them in more suitable conditions and agree at least in part with the impressions here now. The general differences between an HD800/dynamic phones and planars will always be a matter of preferences.

Yep. The chain is critical. The Focal Utopia for example pretty much outperformed the Susvara on my prefered setup despite the big price difference.

However on other equipment the Utopia sounded too bright and the Susvara sounded much nicer.

So these types of headphones cannot be judged in isolation of the source. There is no headphone A sounds always better than headphone B regardless of equipment based my tests with Hifiman, Stax, Audeze and Focal headphones.

According to my ears is to take your equipment and see which headphone sounds best.

 

[fortitude]

Hifiman did no justice to their setups at RMAF, they sounded like rubbish running low quality files off those portable players

 

[Whazzzup]

Jazz and blues that’s what I like the sus for

 

[mulder01]

If they are their flagship player they can't be too bad, surely. Could you just plug in your own player?

 

[AnakChan]

I've been spending quite a bit of time listening back 'n forth between the Susvara & the SR-009 and I have to say it's a hard pick. For the most part, up front I'd probably reach out the Susvara more than the SR-009 however the SR-009 has its own quality traits that's not easily trampled by the Susvara. A lot really seems to depend on what kind of music I'm listening to and what kinda mood I'm in (or want to be).

One easily noticeable factor though that can be easily be put out of the way, the Susvara sounds more expansive and more "out of head" than the SR-009. The soundstage and depth is just simply larger. Where the Susvara sounds like listening to a live presentation sitting a few rows back, the SR-009 is more like listening to mastered recording. With that though each has their own traits - the SR-009 is impeccably detailed as the proximity of the instruments and vocals are just (virtually) closer. The Susvara on the other hand feels more musical with all the moving parts moving together in a single coherent piece. The details are noticeable in a different way...through the precision and placement of instruments in the virtual stage the Susvara has presented. Instrument separation and distinctive placement on the stage is extremely precise.

Where the preference of genre and "mood" setting seems to be in the tonal differences of each headphone. The SR-009 seems to have a fuller mids (and as discussed with another member) possibly even a slight hump around the 1kHz whereas the Susvara is the opposite where the mids is a tad dipped. It's not an outright U-shaped but vocal presentations do feel a little less "personal" than the SR-009. Where I'd describe the Susvara to sound rich across the FR board, the SR-009 on the other hand sounds more vocal midrange full. Listening to something like say my 80's pop (Tears for Fears Song from the Big Chair) the Susvara sounds more "pop" and would be my preferred headphones. On the other hand listening to Tony Bennett (The Ultimate Tony Bennett), the vocals sound feels more engaging on the SR-009. And with classical (Vivaldi's Four Seasons Storm At Sea), I could go with either depending on my mood. The SR-009 seems to have a somewhat underground chamber-like with reflections back off the walls of a smaller virtual room, which sets a "darker" more "moody" feel in me. The Susvara on the same album on the other hand, seems to set a more "morning air freshness" crisp presentation.

At this point, each headphone has its place and it's not as simple as one besting the other. I'm probably ready to let my Utopia go though at this stage.

 

[Whitigir]

I've been spending quite a bit of time listening back 'n forth between the Susvara & the SR-009 and I have to say it's a hard pick. For the most part, up front I'd probably reach out the Susvara more than the SR-009 however the SR-009 has its own quality traits that's not easily trampled by the Susvara. A lot really seems to depend on what kind of music I'm listening to and what kinda mood I'm in (or want to be).

One easily noticeable factor though that can be easily be put out of the way, the Susvara sounds more expansive and more "out of head" than the SR-009. The soundstage and depth is just simply larger. Where the Susvara sounds like listening to a live presentation sitting a few rows back, the SR-009 is more like listening to mastered recording. With that though each has their own traits - the SR-009 is impeccably detailed as the proximity of the instruments and vocals are just (virtually) closer. The Susvara on the other hand feels more musical with all the moving parts moving together in a single coherent piece. The details are noticeable in a different way...through the precision and placement of instruments in the virtual stage the Susvara has presented. Instrument separation and distinctive placement on the stage is extremely precise.

Where the preference of genre and "mood" setting seems to be in the tonal differences of each headphone. The SR-009 seems to have a fuller mids (and as discussed with another member) possibly even a slight hump around the 1kHz whereas the Susvara is the opposite where the mids is a tad dipped. It's not an outright U-shaped but vocal presentations do feel a little less "personal" than the SR-009. Where I'd describe the Susvara to sound rich across the FR board, the SR-009 on the other hand sounds more vocal midrange full. Listening to something like say my 80's pop (Tears for Fears Song from the Big Chair) the Susvara sounds more "pop" and would be my preferred headphones. On the other hand listening to Tony Bennett (The Ultimate Tony Bennett), the vocals sound feels more engaging on the SR-009. And with classical (Vivaldi's Four Seasons Storm At Sea), I could go with either depending on my mood. The SR-009 seems to have a somewhat underground chamber-like with reflections back off the walls of a smaller virtual room, which sets a "darker" more "moody" feel in me. The Susvara on the same album on the other hand, seems to set a more "morning air freshness" crisp presentation.

At this point, each headphone has its place and it's not as simple as one besting the other. I'm probably ready to let my Utopia go though at this stage.

You need your Carbon to make 009 sing . Both the carbon and Grounded Grid are equally awesome to run 009.

 

[mulder01]

How come every time anyone says anything about the 009 that ISN'T "It's the best thing in the world at everything", it must be the amp's fault. People have different tastes, is is possible that some people think that other headphones are equal to, or better than it, overall, or at least in some aspects. It is possible.

 

[paradoxper]

Yes, possible. It's also far more common that people gimp the 009.

 

[mahesvara]

How come every time anyone says anything about the 009 that ISN'T "It's the best thing in the world at everything", it must be the amp's fault

I heard the 009 with the Woo Audio WES amp in a relatively quiet room at RMAF. It sounds good to my ears, but not any better than what I heard from the MrSpeakers Ether E out of the BHSE amp at the SF HeadFi meet.

 

[weasel1979]

I've been spending quite a bit of time listening back 'n forth between the Susvara & the SR-009 and I have to say it's a hard pick. For the most part, up front I'd probably reach out the Susvara more than the SR-009 however the SR-009 has its own quality traits that's not easily trampled by the Susvara. A lot really seems to depend on what kind of music I'm listening to and what kinda mood I'm in (or want to be).

One easily noticeable factor though that can be easily be put out of the way, the Susvara sounds more expansive and more "out of head" than the SR-009. The soundstage and depth is just simply larger. Where the Susvara sounds like listening to a live presentation sitting a few rows back, the SR-009 is more like listening to mastered recording. With that though each has their own traits - the SR-009 is impeccably detailed as the proximity of the instruments and vocals are just (virtually) closer. The Susvara on the other hand feels more musical with all the moving parts moving together in a single coherent piece. The details are noticeable in a different way...through the precision and placement of instruments in the virtual stage the Susvara has presented. Instrument separation and distinctive placement on the stage is extremely precise.

Where the preference of genre and "mood" setting seems to be in the tonal differences of each headphone. The SR-009 seems to have a fuller mids (and as discussed with another member) possibly even a slight hump around the 1kHz whereas the Susvara is the opposite where the mids is a tad dipped. It's not an outright U-shaped but vocal presentations do feel a little less "personal" than the SR-009. Where I'd describe the Susvara to sound rich across the FR board, the SR-009 on the other hand sounds more vocal midrange full. Listening to something like say my 80's pop (Tears for Fears Song from the Big Chair) the Susvara sounds more "pop" and would be my preferred headphones. On the other hand listening to Tony Bennett (The Ultimate Tony Bennett), the vocals sound feels more engaging on the SR-009. And with classical (Vivaldi's Four Seasons Storm At Sea), I could go with either depending on my mood. The SR-009 seems to have a somewhat underground chamber-like with reflections back off the walls of a smaller virtual room, which sets a "darker" more "moody" feel in me. The Susvara on the same album on the other hand, seems to set a more "morning air freshness" crisp presentation.

At this point, each headphone has its place and it's not as simple as one besting the other. I'm probably ready to let my Utopia go though at this stage.

Thanks AnakChan, I have been waiting for this comparison. Looking back on this thread, the Susvara seems hard to review. Maybe the pricing is confuzing reviewers? Can't wait for the Currawong youtube review now..

 

[Currawong]

My next video will be about my broken foot probably. I'd actually shot an entire video, but I don't think I talked about the amps enough so I want to re-shoot part of it. I think Anakchan did such a good job with his write-ups that you could just about substitute the Utopias for the 009s in his last one (on my system anyway) and it'd be close to my feelings.

How come every time anyone says anything about the 009 that ISN'T "It's the best thing in the world at everything", it must be the amp's fault. People have different tastes, is is possible that some people think that other headphones are equal to, or better than it, overall, or at least in some aspects. It is possible.

I still see a few hangovers from years past, one that Stax is always superior to everything else, and the other making a big deal of "going balanced".

 

[Dobrescu George]

My next video will be about my broken foot probably. I'd actually shot an entire video, but I don't think I talked about the amps enough so I want to re-shoot part of it. I think Anakchan did such a good job with his write-ups that you could just about substitute the Utopias for the 009s in his last one (on my system anyway) and it'd be close to my feelings.

I still see a few hangovers from years past, one that Stax is always superior to everything else, and the other making a big deal of "going balanced".

Then Stax is like a normal headphone that just appealed to a lot of people, no?

Sounds like it was pretty nice, but not the magical solution to life in the end

 

[JimL11]

I still see a few hangovers from years past, one that Stax is always superior to everything else,....

The reason that it has hung around is that it was true. Remember the original Stax Omega came out in 1993, as did the original Stax SRM-T2, the 007 (Omega II) came out in 1998, Kevin GIlmore's Blue Hawaii article is from 2004. Not a lot of competition for best headphone and amp back then. The Koss ESP950 has been around since 1992, the Sennheiser HD600 came out in 1998, and the HD650 around 2004. HE Audio/HiFiMan started in the mid-2000s, the Audeze LCD2 came out in 2010, Focal didn't start making headphones until a year or two ago.

 

[Ike1985]

How does LCD4 and the new LCD fit into this 009/Susvara deal?