[OceanRanger]

Susvara arrived, a loaner unit (burned in), have it for a week or two to compare against AB-1266, Utopia and Valkyria. Today out of dCS Bartok - I know, underpowered for the task, but worry not - Viva Egoista 845 is en route.

I'm excited to hear your thoughts about how the Susvaras compare to the other headphones. Please keep us posted!

 

[lucasratmundo]

I think I found the pairing I was looking for. Some of you may remember my earlier post about Sennheiser HE-1, which I had a chance to audition for 4 hours last week. I compared it to my AB-1266 (out of dCS Bartok) and was very surprised that HE-1 had the amount of bass it did, but it still was not as good as AB-1266 for electronic music (that has no reference to real life). However, this was a dangerous outing, as I fell in love with HE-1's mids, and its intimate soundstage. Vocal heavy tracks (even synth-pop) just sounded so wonderful. That left me with a theory, that my AB-1266 is king for EDM, anything that is heavily altered or digital, but I need another pair of headphones for the rest that stems from real life sounds. I wanted something that is of the same level of quality in terms of resolution. So I contacted my dealer who lent me broken in Focal Utopia and Hifiman Susvara. I was expecting both to sound fantastic, but differ in their soundstage representation - Susvara wide and open; Utopia forward and intimate. I wanted something that would be closer to HE-1, so I expected to like Utopia more. Boy, I was wrong.



As you can see I am driving Susvara off Bartok, which puts out 2.8 W into 66 Ohm, which many of you will say it is underpowered. Do not worry, I have Viva Egoista 845 en route. But I wanted to share with you my first initial impressions anyway, I hope you don't mind. Susvara impressed me with its ability to render the stage intimately when asked for (as I liked in HE-1), but wide (less wide than AB-1266) on music that was recorded that way. Susvara's mids are forward and centre (compared to cold and recessed AB-1266, which puts the singer 15 meters away) so Susvara works very well for vocal heavy songs. I expected Susvara to sound more natural (closer to real life, on pianos and strings) and I can confirm it does. Now, what came to me as a surprise is how indie rock sounds to me - I used to listen to it in the past, but did not find it well recorded/mastered, so I went into EDM instead. Going back to this old genre, I love it on Susvara, it sounds "familiar".

So is Susvara a keeper? Let's see how its sound changes when I put it on more powerful amplifier. I am worried that the soundstage will expand too much and it will loose its intimacy on songs that ask for it (my main reason for searching for a second pair of headphones after all). Worth mentioning that Susvara to my ears is as detailed as AB-1266 or HE-1, which unfortunately I cannot say about the other headphone (Utopia, which mids work for me well, as they are dead centre, very forward and intimate). Please note, these are my first impressions after 2-3 hours non stop listening, not days, and I have them both until next week. I will be getting Valkyria for comparison, maybe it wows me even more, who knows.

Long story short: I have a theory now, AB-1266 being the king for anything EDM (or everything digital), and Susvara being queen for anything acoustic (sounds that have a real life counterpart). If I had to rate AB-1266, Susvara and HE-1 on aspects that are important to me, it would be

Bass quantity (quality all equal): AB-1266 > HE-1 > Susvara
Soundstage: (Expansive) AB-1266 > Susvara > HE-1 (intimate)
Mids: (luxurious and forward): HE-1 > Susvara > AB-1266 (cold and recessed)
Neutrality: (real life) Susvara > HE-1 > AB-1266 (coloured)
Resolution: (resolution) AB-1266 > Susvara > HE-1 (smoothness)

Obviously above-mentioned will change once Viva Egoista 845 is added to the equation, as I suspect Susvara to be underpowered (but still, sounds amazing out of Bartok). What makes me very happy is that dCS Bartok + Viva Egoista 845 + AB-1266 AND Susvara together cost around 42 000 Eur, which is 18 000 Eur less than HE-1, which only tops it in luxurious and intimate mids, just one specific genre. On other types, Susvara and AB-1266 trumps HE-1 to my ears. And that is still without actually listening to Viva Egoista 845, properly driving both AB-1266 and Susvara. Imagine how will that sound, haha.

Anyway, please take these words with a grain of salt. I am excited little kid, I mean no offense to others and most importantly, I do not want to dismiss anyone else's experiences. My ears are just that, my ears, there are flawed and biased. But I vote with my money, so at least rest assured, I put money where my mouth is. Thanks for reading.

I wonder if you (or anyone here) know how the Egoista sound compares with the WA33’s?

 

[mammal]

I wonder if you (or anyone here) know how the Egoista sound compares with the WA33’s?

I wish I could compare, as it is being recommended by Abyss. The sad truth is that importing it here is costly and shipping it back for (potential) repairs is cumbersome. Both Viva and Riviera on the other hand are from Italy, which is a neighbor country.

 

[lucasratmundo]

I wish I could compare, as it is being recommended by Abyss. The sad truth is that importing it here is costly and shipping it back for (potential) repairs is cumbersome. Both Viva and Riviera on the other hand are from Italy, which is a neighbor country.

I’m in the UK and have the similar reservations but things aren’t looking great for European imports in the UK after Brexit anyway :-/

 

[ThanatosVI]

I wish I could compare, as it is being recommended by Abyss. The sad truth is that importing it here is costly and shipping it back for (potential) repairs is cumbersome. Both Viva and Riviera on the other hand are from Italy, which is a neighbor country.

Potentially the new 300B amp from Feliks could play in that class and also comes from EU.

I know that I am waiting for it.
There are no specs yet, so we do not know if it has similar power output, but as a high end amp from europe it is certainly worth a consideration

 

[iFi audio]

I’ve never experienced Susvara to be thin or have too much treble. Detailed yes, but far from excessive treble energy. The source can definitely play a part in shaping the sound.

Same here. Thin glassy sound might be the result of a mismatched amp also.

 

[Sajid Amit]

Potentially the new 300B amp from Feliks could play in that class and also comes from EU.

I know that I am waiting for it.
There are no specs yet, so we do not know if it has similar power output, but as a high end amp from europe it is certainly worth a consideration

Wow. 300B from Feliks.

I was eyeing the Primavera Trafomatic.

Encouraged by none other than @paradoxper.

Has anyone else heard the Primavera?

 

[mammal]

I’m in the UK and have the similar reservations but things aren’t looking great for European imports in the UK after Brexit anyway :-/

The only reasonable option with WA33 I see is buying used from other head-fiers. As for me in particular, Switzerland is not in the EU either (Europe yes, EU no), which means I need to pay Swiss VAT (plus import tax). Luckily for me, Swiss VAT is around 7%, where as EU VAT is much higher (was it 21 or 23%?). Some dealers who have the proper exporting licence and know how to export without VAT, can deduct the VAT from the purchase price. This way, I don't have to pay EU+Swiss VAT and I actually get the same item from EU for cheaper than EU residents (crazy, isn't it). Unfortunately for me, Woo Audio did not agree to reduce VAT for me, meaning that I would have to pay the VAT twice. I even tried pulling strings through other dealers, trying to get it without VAT from US to EU to Switzerland, but again, Woo Audio did not agree. So you see, it is difficult to get an amp from them where I live, unless I am happy to throw money at our collective governments.

 

[tunes]

I rest my headphones on my stand on the metal

so maybe less strain on leather - no idea if there is an effect on the leather but i would guess no effect for using the metal part

Has anyone compared the Susvara DAVE + Bakoon to the Final Audio D8000 pro direct from DAVE?

 

[jonh1]

Guys, has anyone heard of Endorphin? Thick enough cable.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Guys, has anyone heard of Endorphin? Thick enough cable.

Personally it doesn't seem like good value to me.
The whole Text is pure marketing speech without any facts. It's not mentioned which material is used, nor how thick the conductors are. If it were high purity silver or anything, Marketing wouldn't Refrain from bragging about it

Sure it doesn't look Bad, certainly has that going for it, but there are cables that cost a fraction of the price that don't look bad either.

When looking for am upgrade cable I'd look at material used, purity, thickness, connectors used etc.

For that price you can get flagships cables of well known Boutique manufacturers like Norne Audio, Arctic cables etc.

To answer your question directly, no I did not hear of it before and obviously never heard one of these cables.

 

[iFi audio]

Guys, has anyone heard of Endorphin? Thick enough cable.

SAA has been around for years, but didn't get much following here on HF, on the contrary to Moon Audio, Norne or FAW.

 

[paradoxper]

Personally it doesn't seem like good value to me.
The whole Text is pure marketing speech without any facts. It's not mentioned which material is used, nor how thick the conductors are. If it were high purity silver or anything, Marketing wouldn't Refrain from bragging about it

Sure it doesn't look Bad, certainly has that going for it, but there are cables that cost a fraction of the price that don't look bad either.

When looking for am upgrade cable I'd look at material used, purity, thickness, connectors used etc.

For that price you can get flagships cables of well known Boutique manufacturers like Norne Audio, Arctic cables etc.

To answer your question directly, no I did not hear of it before and obviously never heard one of these cables.

LOL. Stefan AudioArt has been around as long as anyone. And at one time, he was the boutique manufacturer.

Don't forget your history.

 

[jonh1]

It's not mentioned which material is used, nor how thick the conductors are.

As I understand it, this is a copper litz

 

[ThanatosVI]

LOL. Stefan AudioArt has been around as long as anyone. And at one time, he was the boutique manufacturer.

Don't forget your history.

I'm open for education
Just saying that I didn't hear if it before since it doesn't have much of a presence here on head-fi and my own cable game just started in the most recent years.

The Marketing Text has no Real Information about the product unlike most other manufacturers. Which to me seems less professional than the competition.
At that price I'd easily expect something like 4x19awg 7N purity silver and yet I don't even know if it isn't just a copper cable, without contacting them.
So without any information about the products it doesn't come unexpected that next to nobody mentions them around here.

If you know more about the cable quality, Brand Reputation etc. Please share I'm eager to learn