[336881]

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.

It is not the amp's fault. It's the source.

 

[Currawong]

Why do people buy expensive headphone amps for power hungry headphones when much cheaper speaker amps can do the trick? Really, I don't understand this. Thanks.

For the same reason one would speakers. The other day I was in the local hi-fi store checking ELAC speakers, and asked to listen with a pair, so the guy ran them through a ~2k Denon receiver. The sound was not what I was used to hearing from the speakers, but actually pretty average, so I asked him to run them through something better instead. Using an ML amp, the sound was far more what I was expecting, with fantastic detail and resolution.

If anything, someone who pays a few $thousand for a pair of headphones like the Susvaras is more likely to have, or buy, a good amp to go with them.

 

[czy6412]

Why do people buy expensive headphone amps for power hungry headphones when much cheaper speaker amps can do the trick? Really, I don't understand this. Thanks.

lol Why don't everyone just buy cheap $100 speaker amps for all headphones and throw away all more expensive headphone amps.

 

[up late]

^ most headphones don't require speaker amps to drive them

 

[up late]

Why do people buy expensive headphone amps for power hungry headphones when much cheaper speaker amps can do the trick? Really, I don't understand this. Thanks.

that's a perfectly reasonable question which is yet to receive a convincing answer

 

[mahesvara]

that's a perfectly reasonable question which is yet to receive a convincing answer

Because a cheap speaker amp may not sound good?

 

[FastAndClean]

Because a cheap speaker amp may not sound good?

what is cheap speaker amp for you?

 

[FastAndClean]

actually here in Norway there is a guy that makes full class A headphone amp(Atrox V2) 7.5w per chanel at 32ohm for 250 dollars

 

[mahesvara]

what is cheap speaker amp for you?

Just trying to rephrase what @Currawong said above with fewer words Might have misinterpreted him though.

Oftentimes you get what you pay for. A cheap speaker amp may provide all the power you need to drive the Susvara, but the sound quality may not compare to what you get if you're willing to pay more for a good but expensive speaker amps. So then you have the same issue: do I pay for an expensive headphones amp or an expensive speaker amp?

 

[FastAndClean]

there is amps second hand that are highly regarded as excellent sounding amps and they can be found for not a hole lot of money, a lot cheaper than the hifiman amp that is recommended for the susvara, that is for sure

 

[mahesvara]

a lot cheaper than the hifiman amp that is recommended for the susvara, that is for sure

This may be true. I can't tell you whether it is for sure though. I've only heard the Susvara through the Woo Audio WA33 ($8K) and the HiFiMan amp and all I can say is that the $15K amp sounds better. Whether anyone wants to buy it, well ...

 

[FastAndClean]

my point is that those headphone amps can be better for the susvara, but if you buy the headphones i am pretty sure that you can achieve very good results with high quality speaker amp considering the similarities in the specs with the older HE6 model, a lot of HE6 owners made a choice to go with vintage receivers instead of a dedicated headphone amp, with excellent results on top of that

 

[Jozurr]

There are multiple reasons for not using speaker amps:

1) You need a very good preamp for a power amp, which dont come cheap
2) Most headphones dont need that kind of power to drive headphones
3) Many speaker amps are not quiet enough like headphone amps, and they have hiss etc
4) You risk blowing up the drivers with a speaker amp if you are not careful with the volume control - Happens often with HE-6 but with them its a cheap fix - You can add resistors but that deteriorates the quality reasonably.
5) You need much longer cables and speaker taps etc since you cant keep a power amp on your desk and good quality long cables are expensive which add to the cost

However, I would definitely take a First Watt J2+ a preamp to drive the HE-6/Susvara rather than any headphone amp. However, headphone amps like the Taurus which can be easily had under a grand can drive the Susvara/HE-6 reasonably well.

 

[Currawong]

That's all basically what I was getting at. I am wondering if anyone has tried them with the new Schiit power amp(s).

 

[336881]

I would very much like to hear any reviews/impressions of the Susvara driven by "cheaper" speaker amps (where I define "cheap" to be $2000 or less). I know I'm driving mine off a RRP $4500 McIntosh MC275, and it drives it well.

I'm personally just not convinced that it has to be driven by amps of $7000 and above.

So 75wx2? There are allot of nice power amps $2k and below. My personal preference would be something like a Luxman m-06a or Accuphase p-102. With shipping $12-1500ish. I don't think anyone could knock running the Susvara off those 2 amps. I know I wouldn't. I think my own Technics se-a100 would be too much. I can't imagine there being much headroom and I kind of need that extra juice for the speakers.

Modern day I really liked my Inspire fire bottle HO allot when I had it.