[saudio7]

Please stop it!

 

[thecrow]

Thanks for the comparison. How is the bass and slam of the HEKSE in comparison to the Susvara's?

i find it hard to confidently use the word "slam" when talking about bass for either headphone.
maybe i have a different idea what slam could mean

the susvaras have more texture and are like a full coloured painting with lots of texture and detail within, but a full canvas.
the hekse is more like more precise fine lines that compose a clean picture/drawing that is quite detailed.

maybe the susvara is like a full flavoured meal with full flavours and textures and spices where it envleops your mouth and tastes superb/delicious with every mouthful and swallow. and a real hearty meal too. Enjoy with a full flavoured shiraz or grenach shiraz blended red.
the hekse is a superb clean high quality grilled fish with a clean dressing, rather than a sauce - toped off with a clean riesling or semillon

my us4 and susvaras sound more like (what i would expect from) a speaker sound than the hekse
the hekse maybe have more pronounced bass character due to the cleaner "strike" and the susvaras have a fuller rounder impact

if any of that makes sense....

edit: now I am asking myself, do i really need the heske? i generally quite often lean to what the susvara presents.
when i want to listen to music at home away from my desktop then the hekse is unbeatable - soooo easy to drive

 

[Roasty]

My friend was kind enough to loan me his recently acquired INT-60. Thank goodness I brought the trolley over to collect it. I killed my back just getting it on and off the trolley and from the car. I don't think I'm going to get it off the trolley whilst I have it. It weighs 42kg and my back is still aching right now.

Anyways, did some quick a/b between rockna dac/pre to Apollon to Susvara vs rockna to INT-60 to Susvara.

The INT-60 is so good. Superb. Extremely lovely highs and so well balanced to the mids and bass. The mids are extremely sweet and lush and the low end has amazing weight/heft and hit. The sound is very relaxed but not slow, smooth but not veiled. Gentle up top with no lack of detail. It is like asking for everything you ever wanted in an amp, and getting it.

Comparatively, the Apollon sounds faster with an apparent immediacy to the music. The highs are brought more forward and if too zealous with volume will go to harshness sooner than the Pass amp. The low end does sound tighter and there is slightly more slam, but has a bit less weight/meat. Overall it is a slightly leaner sound with more treble energy.

I will be looking to add a pre to my own setup in hopes I can achieve a sound similar to the INT-60. I tried a tube pre (Atma-sphere mp-3) recently but there was a bit too much gain and audible background noise/hum. I'm going to trial a denafrips Hestia soon and possibly get the Athena if the Hestia is good. The wa33 is a decent pre, not the best. The wa33 alone driving the susvara cannot compare to the int-60. I think the Wells Audio Milo Reference is a closer fight.

Would i get the INT-60? I wish I could, but it is simply too massive and heavy and it does cost quite a bit. I would have to sell the WA33 but then I'd lose an amp for the Utopia. But it is indeed an eye opener to hear what it is capable of, and cliche alert, I've not heard the Susvara as good as this before.

This amp is so big it makes my Apollon look like a little kid. If the INT-60 is this good, I can only imagine what an xp12+xa25 will sound like.

 

[thecrow]

My friend was kind enough to loan me his recently acquired INT-60. Thank goodness I brought the trolley over to collect it. I killed my back just getting it on and off the trolley and from the car. I don't think I'm going to get it off the trolley whilst I have it. It weighs 42kg and my back is still aching right now.

Anyways, did some quick a/b between rockna dac/pre to Apollon to Susvara vs rockna to INT-60 to Susvara.

The INT-60 is so good. Superb. Extremely lovely highs and so well balanced to the mids and bass. The mids are extremely sweet and lush and the low end has amazing weight/heft and hit. The sound is very relaxed but not slow, smooth but not veiled. Gentle up top with no lack of detail. It is like asking for everything you ever wanted in an amp, and getting it.



Comparatively, the Apollon sounds faster with an apparent immediacy to the music. The highs are brought more forward and if too zealous with volume will go to harshness sooner than the Pass amp. The low end does sound tighter and there is slightly more slam, but has a bit less weight/meat. Overall it is a slightly leaner sound with more treble energy.

I will be looking to add a pre to my own setup in hopes I can achieve a sound similar to the INT-60. I tried a tube pre (Atma-sphere mp-3) recently but there was a bit too much gain and audible background noise/hum. I'm going to trial a denafrips Hestia soon and possibly get the Athena if the Hestia is good. The wa33 is a decent pre, not the best. The wa33 alone driving the susvara cannot compare to the int-60. I think the Wells Audio Milo Reference is a closer fight.

Would i get the INT-60? I wish I could, but it is simply too massive and heavy and it does cost quite a bit. I would have to sell the WA33 but then I'd lose an amp for the Utopia. But it is indeed an eye opener to hear what it is capable of, and cliche alert, I've not heard the Susvara as good as this before.




This amp is so big it makes my Apollon look like a little kid. If the INT-60 is this good, I can only imagine what an xp12+xa25 will sound like.

a bit overkill, maybe?

https://www.ariel.com.au/jokes/The_Inventor.html


and for those of us in our 40's or 50's:

 

[Roasty]

a bit overkill, maybe?

Oh it's not a maybe, but definitely! Lol..
The owner uses it to drive his HE6.
Overkill, but really, reeaaaaally nice to have.
Too bad it doesn't come in black...

 

[ThanatosVI]

Oh it's not a maybe, but definitely! Lol..
The owner uses it to drive his HE6.
Overkill, but really, reeaaaaally nice to have.
Too bad it doesn't come in black...

Would be a shame if you'd steer off the path of Black components

 

[thecrow]

Oh it's not a maybe, but definitely! Lol..
The owner uses it to drive his HE6.
Overkill, but really, reeaaaaally nice to have.
Too bad it doesn't come in black...

what would zeos make of it?

ps i love that it is on a trolley

 

[paradoxper]

My friend was kind enough to loan me his recently acquired INT-60. Thank goodness I brought the trolley over to collect it. I killed my back just getting it on and off the trolley and from the car. I don't think I'm going to get it off the trolley whilst I have it. It weighs 42kg and my back is still aching right now.

Anyways, did some quick a/b between rockna dac/pre to Apollon to Susvara vs rockna to INT-60 to Susvara.

The INT-60 is so good. Superb. Extremely lovely highs and so well balanced to the mids and bass. The mids are extremely sweet and lush and the low end has amazing weight/heft and hit. The sound is very relaxed but not slow, smooth but not veiled. Gentle up top with no lack of detail. It is like asking for everything you ever wanted in an amp, and getting it.



Comparatively, the Apollon sounds faster with an apparent immediacy to the music. The highs are brought more forward and if too zealous with volume will go to harshness sooner than the Pass amp. The low end does sound tighter and there is slightly more slam, but has a bit less weight/meat. Overall it is a slightly leaner sound with more treble energy.

I will be looking to add a pre to my own setup in hopes I can achieve a sound similar to the INT-60. I tried a tube pre (Atma-sphere mp-3) recently but there was a bit too much gain and audible background noise/hum. I'm going to trial a denafrips Hestia soon and possibly get the Athena if the Hestia is good. The wa33 is a decent pre, not the best. The wa33 alone driving the susvara cannot compare to the int-60. I think the Wells Audio Milo Reference is a closer fight.

Would i get the INT-60? I wish I could, but it is simply too massive and heavy and it does cost quite a bit. I would have to sell the WA33 but then I'd lose an amp for the Utopia. But it is indeed an eye opener to hear what it is capable of, and cliche alert, I've not heard the Susvara as good as this before.




This amp is so big it makes my Apollon look like a little kid. If the INT-60 is this good, I can only imagine what an xp12+xa25 will sound like.

You can never unknow it.

 

[425455]

My friend was kind enough to loan me his recently acquired INT-60. Thank goodness I brought the trolley over to collect it. I killed my back just getting it on and off the trolley and from the car. I don't think I'm going to get it off the trolley whilst I have it. It weighs 42kg and my back is still aching right now.

Anyways, did some quick a/b between rockna dac/pre to Apollon to Susvara vs rockna to INT-60 to Susvara.

The INT-60 is so good. Superb. Extremely lovely highs and so well balanced to the mids and bass. The mids are extremely sweet and lush and the low end has amazing weight/heft and hit. The sound is very relaxed but not slow, smooth but not veiled. Gentle up top with no lack of detail. It is like asking for everything you ever wanted in an amp, and getting it.



Comparatively, the Apollon sounds faster with an apparent immediacy to the music. The highs are brought more forward and if too zealous with volume will go to harshness sooner than the Pass amp. The low end does sound tighter and there is slightly more slam, but has a bit less weight/meat. Overall it is a slightly leaner sound with more treble energy.

I will be looking to add a pre to my own setup in hopes I can achieve a sound similar to the INT-60. I tried a tube pre (Atma-sphere mp-3) recently but there was a bit too much gain and audible background noise/hum. I'm going to trial a denafrips Hestia soon and possibly get the Athena if the Hestia is good. The wa33 is a decent pre, not the best. The wa33 alone driving the susvara cannot compare to the int-60. I think the Wells Audio Milo Reference is a closer fight.

Would i get the INT-60? I wish I could, but it is simply too massive and heavy and it does cost quite a bit. I would have to sell the WA33 but then I'd lose an amp for the Utopia. But it is indeed an eye opener to hear what it is capable of, and cliche alert, I've not heard the Susvara as good as this before.




This amp is so big it makes my Apollon look like a little kid. If the INT-60 is this good, I can only imagine what an xp12+xa25 will sound like.

Nice!

Portable rig..

 

[BassicScience]

My friend was kind enough to loan me his recently acquired INT-60. Thank goodness I brought the trolley over to collect it. I killed my back just getting it on and off the trolley and from the car. I don't think I'm going to get it off the trolley whilst I have it. It weighs 42kg and my back is still aching right now.

Anyways, did some quick a/b between rockna dac/pre to Apollon to Susvara vs rockna to INT-60 to Susvara.

The INT-60 is so good. Superb. Extremely lovely highs and so well balanced to the mids and bass. The mids are extremely sweet and lush and the low end has amazing weight/heft and hit. The sound is very relaxed but not slow, smooth but not veiled. Gentle up top with no lack of detail. It is like asking for everything you ever wanted in an amp, and getting it.



Comparatively, the Apollon sounds faster with an apparent immediacy to the music. The highs are brought more forward and if too zealous with volume will go to harshness sooner than the Pass amp. The low end does sound tighter and there is slightly more slam, but has a bit less weight/meat. Overall it is a slightly leaner sound with more treble energy.

I will be looking to add a pre to my own setup in hopes I can achieve a sound similar to the INT-60. I tried a tube pre (Atma-sphere mp-3) recently but there was a bit too much gain and audible background noise/hum. I'm going to trial a denafrips Hestia soon and possibly get the Athena if the Hestia is good. The wa33 is a decent pre, not the best. The wa33 alone driving the susvara cannot compare to the int-60. I think the Wells Audio Milo Reference is a closer fight.

Would i get the INT-60? I wish I could, but it is simply too massive and heavy and it does cost quite a bit. I would have to sell the WA33 but then I'd lose an amp for the Utopia. But it is indeed an eye opener to hear what it is capable of, and cliche alert, I've not heard the Susvara as good as this before.




This amp is so big it makes my Apollon look like a little kid. If the INT-60 is this good, I can only imagine what an xp12+xa25 will sound like.

Since the INT-60 has preamp outputs, I might suggest running those into the Apollon to try and get a better feel for the relative sonic contributions of the INT-60's preamp and power amp sections. I've never heard your Rockna DAC/pre or the INT-60, but some of the leaner character you report going from Rockna to Apollon may be due to having an additional preamp in the chain when running Rockna to INT-60. Or not, but it's relatively easy to test.

Regarding adding a tube preamp, I can heartily vouch for the ARC Reference 6SE, although it's $17k and I probably wouldn't have bought it solely for use with headphones (it's also the heart of my speaker rig). Smaller (and possibly previous generation) ARC preamps might fit the bill, but maybe not if you're looking for a lusher sound, as they tend to the analytical. Note that I use that term relative to many other tube preamps, not to solid state. I've personally never heard a solid state preamp that can reveal the harmonic textures of music like a great tube preamp can. I recently auditioned the Boulder 1110 hoping it might be the holy grail, but not even close to the ARC to my ears. Anyway, best of luck in your quest. Looking forward to further reports.

 

[Articnoise]

Since the INT-60 has preamp outputs, I might suggest running those into the Apollon to try and get a better feel for the relative sonic contributions of the INT-60's preamp and power amp sections. I've never heard your Rockna DAC/pre or the INT-60, but some of the leaner character you report going from Rockna to Apollon may be due to having an additional preamp in the chain when running Rockna to INT-60. Or not, but it's relatively easy to test.

Regarding adding a tube preamp, I can heartily vouch for the ARC Reference 6SE, although it's $17k and I probably wouldn't have bought it solely for use with headphones (it's also the heart of my speaker rig). Smaller (and possibly previous generation) ARC preamps might fit the bill, but maybe not if you're looking for a lusher sound, as they tend to the analytical. Note that I use that term relative to many other tube preamps, not to solid state. I've personally never heard a solid state preamp that can reveal the harmonic textures of music like a great tube preamp can. I recently auditioned the Boulder 1110 hoping it might be the holy grail, but not even close to the ARC to my ears. Anyway, best of luck in your quest. Looking forward to further reports.

Excellent idea to use the INT-60 preamp to see/hear what difference it will make compare to the DAC's preamp.

 

[llamaluv]

Thank goodness I brought the trolley over to collect it. I killed my back just getting it on and off the trolley and from the car. I don't think I'm going to get it off the trolley whilst I have it. It weighs 42kg and my back is still aching right now.

The INT-60 is so good. Superb. Extremely lovely highs and so well balanced to the mids and bass. The mids are extremely sweet and lush and the low end has amazing weight/heft and hit. The sound is very relaxed but not slow, smooth but not veiled. Gentle up top with no lack of detail. It is like asking for everything you ever wanted in an amp, and getting it.

I will be looking to add a pre to my own setup in hopes I can achieve a sound similar to the INT-60. I tried a tube pre (Atma-sphere mp-3) recently but there was a bit too much gain and audible background noise/hum. I'm going to trial a denafrips Hestia soon and possibly get the Athena if the Hestia is good. The wa33 is a decent pre, not the best. The wa33 alone driving the susvara cannot compare to the int-60. I think the Wells Audio Milo Reference is a closer fight.

Would i get the INT-60? I wish I could, but it is simply too massive and heavy and it does cost quite a bit. I would have to sell the WA33 but then I'd lose an amp for the Utopia. But it is indeed an eye opener to hear what it is capable of, and cliche alert, I've not heard the Susvara as good as this before.

This amp is so big it makes my Apollon look like a little kid. If the INT-60 is this good, I can only imagine what an xp12+xa25 will sound like.

So cool that you got a chance to try the INT-60 w/ the Susvara. I've always wanted to try it. Your characterization of it is quite in line with my impressions of the X150.8, which has been my primary amp for the Susvara for a while now.

The size, weight, heat, and power draw of the highly class-A-biased Pass Labs amps make them a kind-of absurd mismatch for headphone-only applications, in terms of their general usability, lol. When first going down the dark road of speaker amps for headphones, I was forced to invest in a sturdy handtruck, which a certain member likes to rib me about periodically (pings @joseph69 ).

Interesting to hear your take on the WA33+Susvara in this context as well. As much as I wanted to, I never loved the WA33 with the Susvara (and was also unimpressed at how it fared as a pre-amp going into power amps).

 

[iFi audio]

My Viva draws 300w all the time and helps keep my room warm

Nothing keeps us more warm than a pure class A amp

Nice!

Portable rig..

Was going to say the same thing

Speaking Pass, it would be super cool to see say a DAP made by them

 

[number1sixerfan]

My friend was kind enough to loan me his recently acquired INT-60. Thank goodness I brought the trolley over to collect it. I killed my back just getting it on and off the trolley and from the car. I don't think I'm going to get it off the trolley whilst I have it. It weighs 42kg and my back is still aching right now.

Anyways, did some quick a/b between rockna dac/pre to Apollon to Susvara vs rockna to INT-60 to Susvara.

The INT-60 is so good. Superb. Extremely lovely highs and so well balanced to the mids and bass. The mids are extremely sweet and lush and the low end has amazing weight/heft and hit. The sound is very relaxed but not slow, smooth but not veiled. Gentle up top with no lack of detail. It is like asking for everything you ever wanted in an amp, and getting it.



Comparatively, the Apollon sounds faster with an apparent immediacy to the music. The highs are brought more forward and if too zealous with volume will go to harshness sooner than the Pass amp. The low end does sound tighter and there is slightly more slam, but has a bit less weight/meat. Overall it is a slightly leaner sound with more treble energy.

I will be looking to add a pre to my own setup in hopes I can achieve a sound similar to the INT-60. I tried a tube pre (Atma-sphere mp-3) recently but there was a bit too much gain and audible background noise/hum. I'm going to trial a denafrips Hestia soon and possibly get the Athena if the Hestia is good. The wa33 is a decent pre, not the best. The wa33 alone driving the susvara cannot compare to the int-60. I think the Wells Audio Milo Reference is a closer fight.

Would i get the INT-60? I wish I could, but it is simply too massive and heavy and it does cost quite a bit. I would have to sell the WA33 but then I'd lose an amp for the Utopia. But it is indeed an eye opener to hear what it is capable of, and cliche alert, I've not heard the Susvara as good as this before.




This amp is so big it makes my Apollon look like a little kid. If the INT-60 is this good, I can only imagine what an xp12+xa25 will sound like.

Just an absolutely gorgeous amp. And great impressions. What you mentioned about the Utopia is a similar issue/problem I have with speaker amps right now but am thinking through. I simply refuse to add an additional speaker amp on top of the Woo given how good the Susvara is with it.. on top of how good the TC/others are as well. If the Susvara were my only headphone it would be no problem, but I need a single amp that can be used for the Susvara/Raal/TC altogether.

Question for anyone. Has anyone tried a switch box that would allow for multiple headphones without downgrading the sound quality?

 

[Shahrose]

Just an absolutely gorgeous amp. And great impressions. What you mentioned about the Utopia is a similar issue/problem I have with speaker amps right now but am thinking through. I simply refuse to add an additional speaker amp on top of the Woo given how good the Susvara is with it.. on top of how good the TC/others are as well. If the Susvara were my only headphone it would be no problem, but I need a single amp that can be used for the Susvara/Raal/TC altogether.

Question for anyone. Has anyone tried a switch box that would allow for multiple headphones without downgrading the sound quality?

Haven't tried a switch box, but I have my speaker amps connected to my circumaurals and SR1a simultaneously. One with bananas and the other with spades on the same binding posts. It doesn't affect SQ at all.