[LarsMan]

The Susvara will need a decent powered amp to give it the headroom it needs to perform at it's best. They sound so good through the EF1000

So true - I just got an Auris Nirvana and that's got plenty of juice and current to get the Susvara to flex its muscles.... Now I just have to wait for the amp and tubes to burn in for it to sound right!

 

[Spawn300Z]

The Susvara will need a decent powered amp to give it the headroom it needs to perform at it's best. They sound so good through the EF1000

So true - I just got an Auris Nirvana and that's got plenty of juice and current to get the Susvara to flex its muscles.... Now I just have to wait for the amp and tubes to burn in for it to sound right!

I know, I just picked up the Riviera AIC-10. Really enjoying the Susvaras off it.

 

[llamaluv]

Thinking of trading my Hekv2 for a Susvara, I have a great system for it so the question for me is, is Susvara at 80% better than a Hekv2 at 95%

I wanna share two anecdotal experiences, which some might interpret as being annoying.

Me and a buddy compared his HEK2 against my Susvara on my system a couple months ago, which at the time was a DAVE with the Bakoon AMP-R13. IMO, there was little between the HEK2 and Susvara; both sounded well balanced tonally, similarly dynamic, and similarly resolving (yea I said it). I'd go so far as to say that if I kept the HEK2 with this combination of DAC and amp, I would have been equally satisfied as with the Susvara, at least for a time, just because it was different from my day-to-day, if you see what I mean. And Joe (who should feel free to chime in if he sees this ) I think probably preferred the HEK2 over the Susvara.

After I swapped out the DAVE for the Bartok recently, we revisited the comparison. Still with the same amp. This time, the differences between the two headphones were more pronounced. IMO, the HEK2 sounded a little too "delicate" at times with this chain (depending on the material of course). The Susvara sounded warmer, more substantial, and "meatier", and overall, I liked the it quite a bit more (Also, I've mentioned earlier about how struck I've been with how well the Susvara+Bakoon jives with the Bartok compared to my previous DAVE setup). But this is no slight against the HEK2. For instance, the HEK2 rendered the booming drum in the intro of Hotel California in a more interesting way, with more texture and detail.

Long story short: Synergy, etc, etc. I wish that gaining more experiences with more combinations of gear would lead me to have more insightful and more "predictive" generalizations about such matters, but so far I've found more and more the opposite to be true.

 

[joseph69]

I wanna share two anecdotal experiences, which some might interpret as being annoying.

Me and a buddy compared his HEK2 against my Susvara on my system a couple months ago, which at the time was a DAVE with the Bakoon AMP-R13. IMO, there was little between the HEK2 and Susvara; both sounded well balanced tonally, similarly dynamic, and similarly resolving (yea I said it). I'd go so far as to say that if I kept the HEK2 with this combination of DAC and amp, I would have been equally satisfied as with the Susvara, at least for a time, just because it was different from my day-to-day, if you see what I mean. And Joe (who should feel free to chime in if he sees this ) I think probably preferred the HEK2 over the Susvara.

After I swapped out the DAVE for the Bartok recently, we revisited the comparison. Still with the same amp. This time, the differences between the two headphones were more pronounced. IMO, the HEK2 sounded a little too "delicate" at times with this chain (depending on the material of course). The Susvara sounded warmer, more substantial, and "meatier", and overall, I liked the it quite a bit more (Also, I've mentioned earlier about how struck I've been with how well the Susvara+Bakoon jives with the Bartok compared to my previous DAVE setup). But this is no slight against the HEK2. For instance, the HEK2 rendered the booming drum in the intro of Hotel California in a more interesting way, with more texture and detail.

Long story short: Synergy, etc, etc. I wish that gaining more experiences with more combinations of gear would lead me to have more insightful and more "predictive" generalizations about such matters, but so far I've found more and more the opposite to be true.

Your post is very well put in every way possible in what I experienced at your place (then & now) with the changes you've made by introducing the r13 & the Bartok DCS, which definitely put the icing on the cake. The v2 is spectacular in my chain, but as a previous owner of the Susvara & v2 at the same time, the Susvara wasn't what I expected in my chain leaving me to much preferred the v2 and sell off the Susvara. I've even revisited Susvara afterwards in my system a couple of times (thanks, Lee) and still preferred the v2. With Lee now having the r13 & Bartok in his chain, the Susvara has never impressed so much, at all. It's now so impressive that it leaves me wondering just how many people have really heard what the Susvara is actually capable of sounding like when you have the correct synergy.

 

[FiGuY1017]

Kinda leading me to believe that unless I'm willing to sink my teeth into a new amp I shouldn't mess with my magic lol

 

[joseph69]

You'll need to listen to both, the Susvara & v2 in your chain for yourself.

 

[FiGuY1017]

You'll need to listen to both, the Susvara & v2 in your chain for yourself.

Unfortunately not possible for me, so it'd be a blind buy gamble like my Hekv2 was. That turned out good so who knows. Mkii is 4.5watts Heron is 5 watts so may strike gold, but that's a guess as I've searched and haven't found anyone running either one of those with Susy

 

[Maxx134]

Mkii is 4.5watts Heron is 5 watts so may strike gold, but that's a guess as I've searched and haven't found anyone running either one of those with Susy

Sounds like enough to power susvara to good levels.

While the headphones would scale up differently according to the system, I can't see you going wrong with the susvara.
Susvara has different strengths and the potential to sound better in many aspects.

The "take away", is that you will not have the same sound. Say goodbye to your HEKV2 sound. If you want to experience a touch more "susvara" in your HEKV2, then try my "HEKV2 port mod". Link is in my signature.

 

[FiGuY1017]

Sounds like enough to power susvara to good levels.

While the headphones would scale up differently according to the system, I can't see you going wrong with the susvara.
Susvara has different strengths and the potential to sound better in many aspects.

The "take away", is that you will not have the same sound. Say goodbye to your HEKV2 sound. If you want to experience a touch more "susvara" in your HEKV2, then try my "HEKV2 port mod". Link is in my signature.

I think to a extent I have, instead of doing the port mod ( I have five thumbs lol) I leave a few gaps between the pads and wow that bass! It's like a new headphone! Between that simple tweak and new pads It renewed my love for the Hek V2 had moved to the T1.3 which I still love btw ( note: I never thought old pads deteriorated the sound until I put new pads on the V2)

 

[NoTimeFor]

For those of you have multiple headphones, how much do you use Susvara and what is your go to headphone?

 

[jlbrach]

I wanna share two anecdotal experiences, which some might interpret as being annoying.

Me and a buddy compared his HEK2 against my Susvara on my system a couple months ago, which at the time was a DAVE with the Bakoon AMP-R13. IMO, there was little between the HEK2 and Susvara; both sounded well balanced tonally, similarly dynamic, and similarly resolving (yea I said it). I'd go so far as to say that if I kept the HEK2 with this combination of DAC and amp, I would have been equally satisfied as with the Susvara, at least for a time, just because it was different from my day-to-day, if you see what I mean. And Joe (who should feel free to chime in if he sees this ) I think probably preferred the HEK2 over the Susvara.

After I swapped out the DAVE for the Bartok recently, we revisited the comparison. Still with the same amp. This time, the differences between the two headphones were more pronounced. IMO, the HEK2 sounded a little too "delicate" at times with this chain (depending on the material of course). The Susvara sounded warmer, more substantial, and "meatier", and overall, I liked the it quite a bit more (Also, I've mentioned earlier about how struck I've been with how well the Susvara+Bakoon jives with the Bartok compared to my previous DAVE setup). But this is no slight against the HEK2. For instance, the HEK2 rendered the booming drum in the intro of Hotel California in a more interesting way, with more texture and detail.

Long story short: Synergy, etc, etc. I wish that gaining more experiences with more combinations of gear would lead me to have more insightful and more "predictive" generalizations about such matters, but so far I've found more and more the opposite to be true.

and yet my susvara out of my dave/blu 2 and 13r sounds magnificent and far better than the 1000se I used to own...thats what makes this such an interesting hobby

 

[hifixman]

The Susvara gets slagged a fair amount around here for relative "lack of punch", but I really don't hear it that way. I also use a very powerful Class D amp to drive them, which basically yields as much bass and slam out of them as one is likely to get. Some people seem to think that powerful, solid state power amps can sound too clinical. My recommendation: insert a tube preamp into the chain!

I did it but it is too much

 

[thecrow]

When I listen to my Hekv2 with the idea of upgrading I keep asking myself, what do you expect to get better and at least on my system I can't imagine what more I could get out of a upgrade, that's not to say with the right system that Susvara wouldn't be better just not sure if I want to gamble on a already optimized system. Lol afraid I'm about to jump down another worm hole, which will require new amps. Taurus Mkii --> Hekv2 and Heron 5 -->( Hd800 system. 2500.00 plus my Hekv2.. man it's a tough choice honestly

The susvara sounds pleasant with the taurus. And yes, it’s loud enough but ideally it needs more power driving to obtain a better, fuller, richer sound.

and with susvara impedance being 60 ohm, you’ll probably be getting about 2.5 watts out of the mk ii

that’s from my own experience having owned the taurus in the past

 

[thecrow]

When I listen to my Hekv2 with the idea of upgrading I keep asking myself, what do you expect to get better and at least on my system I can't imagine what more I could get out of a upgrade, that's not to say with the right system that Susvara wouldn't be better just not sure if I want to gamble on a already optimized system. Lol afraid I'm about to jump down another worm hole, which will require new amps. Taurus Mkii --> Hekv2 and Heron 5 -->( Hd800 system. 2500.00 plus my Hekv2.. man it's a tough choice honestly

I loved my hekse as you could drive it out of anything. I had no plans to sell it.

After buying the susvaras i sold the hekse.

When driven well the susvaras are extremely transparent.

If you look out for it you will also hear a lot of the little things eg breaths being taken that can so etines send chills (eg Sia) the sound of the bow going across the strings of a cello. They were two things i picked up instantly when first comparing the susvaras with the hekse

We are talking little bits of detail popping up but a real transparency like no other headphone that i have ever heard (i have not heard everything or any stax but i have heard quite a few)

but the hekv2 and the se are great headphones too

 

[Somatic]

I think to a extent I have, instead of doing the port mod ( I have five thumbs lol) I leave a few gaps between the pads and wow that bass! It's like a new headphone! Between that simple tweak and new pads It renewed my love for the Hek V2 had moved to the T1.3 which I still love btw ( note: I never thought old pads deteriorated the sound until I put new pads on the V2)

How do you leave a few gaps between the pads? Can this “mod” be used in the Susvaras?