[llamaluv]

I ran into the same issue trying to replace the headband of the HE1000v2 (its headband and assembly are almost completely identical to the Susvara), where I stripped the screws. After contacting Hifiman, I sent the headphone back to them (their U.S. operations are in New Jersey) and they replaced it for me for a little bit of extra money (out of warranty).

 

[FractalSound]

A90 is fine for the price, perhaps even a good value somewhat, but the biggest problem I hear is not a lack of power but lack of stage and brickwalling of dynamics. More expensive amps like the WA33 have this open airy soundstage, what people refer to as 'holographic'. Also, on A90 everything thing sounds equally loud while better amps have more nuance in dynamics where within the holographic stage certain instruments and voices will have different volumes to reflect more refined dynamic range. Somewhere within that you get some extra details that is hard to hear on A90; but if you listen to Pop, K-Pop, Hip-hop, etc. like me, a lot of these songs don't really take advantage of better amps soundstaging or detail capabilities. They brickwall the dynamics during mastering anyway and in general they're not mastered for the DAVE to WA33 chain.

I have audiophile quality 24-192 or DSD recordings, but these kind of music don't move me or get me emotionally involved to dance in my chair. Sometimes it's nice to have everything up front and flat like A90. It's great to have a vocalist located properly in a holographic stage a few steps away from you, but having her stand right in your face as she sings can also bring different kind of pleasure/experience. So, yeah if your listening to pretty garbage non-audiophile music, A90 can drive the Susvara to ear-pleasuring levels If you're the kind of person who can differentiate recording equipment, reflections from different venues and are using musical sources that reflect these things, yeah definitely A90 will be dumpter-fire garbage. If you mostly listen to Pop it's fine and it's fun. Amazing level of power and push. I think if I turned the knob all the way I would damage the Susvara drivers, blow them up and wake up the neighbors at the same time. A90 has that kind of drive from such a small box

My experience so far with smsl-su9+A90+Sus, although only a few days, is that for single instrument/a handful instruments, such as Spanish Guitar, Jazz, String Quartet, etc, the combo performs ok to satisfactory, for certain tracks I'd even consider as amazing. I can enjoy the music and live with the combo (with High Gain and Vol @ 3pm). Vocal is less ok/so-so... But once there is an orchestra involved, like musicals and classicals, etc, I'm telling myself, "man! I gotta join HeadFi and see if I can get something a little better"... and that's why I'm here.... I don't think I'm picky and even less of an audiophile in that regard...

 

[IZONE]

My experience so far with smsl-su9+A90+Sus, although only a few days, is that for single instrument/a handful instruments, such as Spanish Guitar, Jazz, String Quartet, etc, the combo performs ok to satisfactory, for certain tracks I'd even consider as amazing. I can enjoy the music and live with the combo (with High Gain and Vol @ 3pm). Vocal is less ok/so-so... But once there is an orchestra involved, like musicals and classicals, etc, I'm telling myself, "man! I gotta join HeadFi and see if I can get something a little better"... and that's why I'm here.... I don't think I'm picky and even less of an audiophile in that regard...

For sure my A90 brother haha We all come here to share our experiences and learn from others. It will be interesting to see how you and I progress as we get different gears to drive the Susvaras. What I can say is that I will leave my honest subjective opinions. Whether they are of value to anyone is up to them

 

[FractalSound]

For sure my A90 brother haha We all come here to share our experiences and learn from others. It will interesting to see how you and I progress as we get different gears to drive the Susvaras. What I can say is that I will leave my honest subjective opinions. Whether they are of value to anyone is up to them

We should definitely share our experiences. I'm getting iDSD/iCAN Signature next week. I know it's a combo that most on this thread will disapprove. We'll see....

 

[jlbrach]

the ican pro is a fine amp and it will drive the susvara nicely...there is better for sure but it is a good amp

 

[FractalSound]

the ican pro is a fine amp and it will drive the susvara nicely...there is better for sure but it is a good amp

thanks for the heads up! A few suggest the Ferrum stack... I'll need to find a local dealer so I can try it out. I was also thinking of trying SMSL VMV A1...

 

[Pashmeister]

thanks for the heads up! A few suggest the Ferrum stack... I'll need to find a local dealer so I can try it out. I was also thinking of trying SMSL VMV A1...

I tried SMSL VMV A1 for a couple of days before selling them off. They sounded good for many tracks. But when I went for bass-demanding tracks, the music went in and out.

 

[Pashmeister]

the ican pro is a fine amp and it will drive the susvara nicely...there is better for sure but it is a good amp

Susvara plays very very nicely with iFi’s XBass

 

[FractalSound]

I tried SMSL VMV A1 for a couple of days before selling them off. They sounded good for many tracks. But when I went for bass-demanding tracks, the music went in and out.

Thanks so much for the info. Saves me some back/forth. I'm also keeping an eye on SMSL VMV D2. Overall, I think I'm going to stay with the chip based DAC (Sabre/AKM) as opposed to custom-build FPGA based or R2R... DAC chip is good enough for me and I feel the key is the isolation of different type of noises. I think noise isolation is much more important any DAC technology (Delta-Sigma/R2R). With noise, it's just garbage in garbage out.

 

[FooFighter]

Susvara plays very very nicely with iFi’s XBass

As I was interested myself in the Xbass feature I ve checked alot of threads.
One remark stayed in my memory.
Ifi Pro Ican is shutting down with high loads and activated xbass.
Cannot prove that but that was a no go for me

 

[ufospls2]

As I was interested myself in the Xbass feature I ve checked alot of threads.
One remark stayed in my memory.
Ifi Pro Ican is shutting down with high loads and activated xbass.
Cannot prove that but that was a no go for me

That was me, and it is true. Even in high gain mode, if you use the XBASS with the Susvara at medium loud to loud volumes, you may run into the protection circuit. This is even more true if you are also using the crossfeed.

 

[IZONE]

We should definitely share our experiences. I'm getting iDSD/iCAN Signature next week. I know it's a combo that most on this thread will disapprove. We'll see....

There is a famous reviewer in Korea named "Producer DK" He's actually an active professional mastering engineer and his co-partner reviewer is a mixing engineer - both with decades of experience. In their Susvara review they mention that the iCAN can drive the Suvara well. Not sure if auto-subtitles work but here is the duo I enjoy watching below:

 

[Pashmeister]

As I was interested myself in the Xbass feature I ve checked alot of threads.
One remark stayed in my memory.
Ifi Pro Ican is shutting down with high loads and activated xbass.
Cannot prove that but that was a no go for me

Xbass on Preamp mode is I think where it shines best for Susvara

 

[LarsMan]

Thanks so much for the info. Saves me some back/forth. I'm also keeping an eye on SMSL VMV D2. Overall, I think I'm going to stay with the chip based DAC (Sabre/AKM) as opposed to custom-build FPGA based or R2R... DAC chip is good enough for me and I feel the key is the isolation of different type of noises. I think noise isolation is much more important any DAC technology (Delta-Sigma/R2R). With noise, it's just garbage in garbage out.

Interesting. You've had a very different experience than I've had. I've had a lot of amps in and out of my apartment; I recently had to send one back because it could not deal with the electrical system in my apartment and the ground floor noise was so bad as to make it unlistenable, even with several thousand dollars worth of power conditioning gear added in. None of the other many amps I've had, had anything remotely like this happen, and that was with them plugged into a cheap plastic power strip. But I sure can tell the difference between D-S, Chord's FPGA, and R2R, never mind the power - immense difference!! I'd never heard R2R before, but that Holo May - I heard its sound, now I'm a believer, to paraphrase Neil Diamond and the Monkees....

 

[Somatic]

Anyone able To compare the Oor vs AHB2 in powering the Susvaras?