[nwavesailor]

you sure are an evangelist for this amp

The EF1000 may be the greatest amp ever for the Sus?!?!

Hard to say when only one member that owns this amp posts here.
The $18K cost may be an issue but the WA33 Elite is right there as well all in at $17K + the tubes you would not 'need' but would want in that amp.

 

[Spawn300Z]

The EF1000 may be the greatest amp ever for the Sus?!?!

Hard to say when only one member that owns this amp posts here.
The $18K cost may be an issue but the WA33 Elite is right there as well all in at $17K + the tubes you would not 'need' but would want in that amp.

Don’t forget the Riviera AIC-10. It’s a beast with the Susvara.

 

[ThanatosVI]

The EF1000 may be the greatest amp ever for the Sus?!?!

Hard to say when only one member that owns this amp posts here.
The $18K cost may be an issue but the WA33 Elite is right there as well all in at $17K + the tubes you would not 'need' but would want in that amp.

Well both sound surely amazing with the Susvara

 

[MacedonianHero]

I had the HPA4 for a few weeks. It does not drive the Susvara to its full potential in my opinion. There are a lot of reasons drivers can fail besides being fed too much power.

Most Susvara driver issues here are from speaker taps and being overloaded. I have the new Enleum AMP-23R and it has gobs of power and sounds great...but the HPA4 does hold its own...pretty close to my definition of full potential (whatever that means ).

 

[IZONE]

I use an Audis Nirvana tube headphone amp with my Susvara, and that combo sounds great; it should, as the main guy at Audis says he designed it to be able to power Susvaras very well. Bass and mids are PHAT and beefy and detailed as can be. I feel no need at all to investigate any more headphone amps for that purpose. I do have a Donald North Stratus coming sometime around summer of 2022, but I did not get that for the Susvara; I'll be using that with Utopia and LCD5; I've also got another great amp for those, an Eddie Current Studio B, but that will not drive Susvara sufficiently. But having both Donald and Eddie in my stable works for me, along with the Audis for Susvara!

That's awesome man. Being happy with what you have is what this game is all about. Investigating leads to a lot of waste of time and bad mental places. Sounds like you have your slice of Head-Fi heaven. I remember when Eddie Current and Donald North amps were the belles of the ball here at Head-Fi - I'm sure they're both amazing. Enjoy!

 

[FLTWS]

The EF1000 may be the greatest amp ever for the Sus?!?!

Hard to say when only one member that owns this amp posts here.
The $18K cost may be an issue but the WA33 Elite is right there as well all in at $17K + the tubes you would not 'need' but would want in that amp.

I won't play in that price range.

 

[FractalSound]

Over the years my thought process has evolved to something similar. I noticed that often I'm fooled by volume. It is often much easier to go louder using more powerful amps and listening much louder than when using regular headphone amps without noticing and indeed it will sound a lot better, things will 'open up' and details with jump out at you but it's just the volume. I think volume matching using an unbiased instrument is definitely important before running a comparison to say something can drive something well or not. I used to turn my speaker amp volume down to give it a clear 'disadvantage' and turn my headphone amps noticeably louder to make sure I wasn't fooling myself. What I noticed is that in 2021 headphone amps are a lot more powerful and headphones are a lot more efficient compared to 2011, even the Susvaras don't feel like the 1st generation HE-5 or HE-6s that really benefited from using an amp with 456 flux capacitors running in parallel biased to 1.21 gigawatts each with at least two dozen arc reactors from Stark Industries being used as power rails. Downside is that I could not use my Iron Man suit while listening to the HE-6 or travel back in time

*I am still open minded though (I'm always open-minded) so I will definitely test some speaker amps whenever I can find the time from my corporate overlords. We are all living in the Matrix anyway so what is reality? Keep calm and enjoy the gear you have Neo...

Do you know a headphone AMP that is nuclear powered? I feel that's what I need for my Susvara!

 

[thecrow]

you sure are an evangelist for this amp

And you for the bakoon

and there’s nothing wrong with that

ps the niimbus is great too
(just ask @ThanatosVI and a couple of others of us here)

 

[BassicScience]

Most Susvara driver issues here are from speaker taps and being overloaded. I have the new Enleum AMP-23R and it has gobs of power and sounds great...but the HPA4 does hold its own...pretty close to my definition of full potential (whatever that means ).

I heard the Enleum driving the Susvara at CanJam SoCal and was highly impressed by it. Sort of an ethereal sound, which was quite seductive. "Full potential", as I see it, is the best one has heard the Susvara sound. Now we can waste keystrokes over the meaning of "best", I suppose...

 

[MacedonianHero]

I heard the Enleum driving the Susvara at CanJam SoCal and was highly impressed by it. Sort of an ethereal sound, which was quite seductive. "Full potential", as I see it, is the best one has heard the Susvara sound. Now we can waste keystrokes over the meaning of "best", I suppose...

Sounds like we agree on the Enleum...brilliant amplifier! Quite ethereal and seductive!

 

[LarsMan]

That's awesome man. Being happy with what you have is what this game is all about. Investigating leads to a lot of waste of time and bad mental places. Sounds like you have your slice of Head-Fi heaven. I remember when Eddie Current and Donald North amps were the belles of the ball here at Head-Fi - I'm sure they're both amazing. Enjoy!

Thanks!! And believe me, I've still got plenty else to investigate - researching gear is one of my favorite things! Even if I'm not in the market for another new headphone amp, I still enjoy watching the reviews and seeing what's out there.

 

[Sajid Amit]

Sounds like we agree on the Enleum...brilliant amplifier! Quite ethereal and seductive!

Susvara was at its most ethereal on the Pass Labs XA25, for me, without having tried the Enleum of course.

I run the Susvaras these days off a copper cable and the H95, which gives it a bit more body and heft.

 

[Spawn300Z]

Susvara was at its most ethereal on the Pass Labs XA25, for me, without having tried the Enleum of course.

I run the Susvaras these days off a copper cable and the H95, which gives it a bit more body and heft.

Are you using speaker taps still? How’s the headphone jack output?

 

[Sajid Amit]

Are you using speaker taps still? How’s the headphone jack output?

Speaker taps only. The HP out is not bad at all. Even the built-in DAC punches above its price.

 

[Sound Eq]

Susvara was at its most ethereal on the Pass Labs XA25, for me, without having tried the Enleum of course.

I run the Susvaras these days off a copper cable and the H95, which gives it a bit more body and heft.

can I ask what wound determine how good the sus would sound out of speaker amps

I have an Avid Hifi - Integra would that be a suitable speaker amp for my susvara

https://www.avidhifi.com/amplifiers/integra-integrated-amplifier

I see the hegel h95 is not expensive compared to other totl amp, would you say that the best you heard the sus was with the h95, could you describe any difference compared to a totl headphone amp