[ThanatosVI]

FWIW, I briefly played with (Roon) EQ on my Susvara and quickly abandoned it. Adding a bass shelf, in particular, muddied the sound noticeably. My understanding is that Audeze cans are more accepting of EQ for whatever reason.

So yeah, for my money the Susvara still has the best voicing overall of any headphone I've yet heard. I love my new Shangri-la Junior and feel its voicing is similar to Susvara's, but the bass rolls off earlier, which makes it less of a generalist than Susvara. The midrange resolution and soundstaging of the Shangri-la Jr is something truly special though. Will try to do a more thorough review as time permits for anyone interested.

I'd love to read that

 

[Somatic]

FWIW, I briefly played with (Roon) EQ on my Susvara and quickly abandoned it. Adding a bass shelf, in particular, muddied the sound noticeably. My understanding is that Audeze cans are more accepting of EQ for whatever reason.

So yeah, for my money the Susvara still has the best voicing overall of any headphone I've yet heard. I love my new Shangri-la Junior and feel its voicing is similar to Susvara's, but the bass rolls off earlier, which makes it less of a generalist than Susvara. The midrange resolution and soundstaging of the Shangri-la Jr is something truly special though. Will try to do a more thorough review as time permits for anyone interested.

I agree. Once I added a bass shelf it sounded horrible. All the treble sparkle was gone.

 

[FractalSound]

I agree. Once I added a bass shelf it sounded horrible. All the treble sparkle was gone.

I have a bass shelf using RME ADI-2 and it sounds decent. My setting is: Freq, 100, Gain 3.5, Q 1.0

BTW, to compensate for Harman curve, RATORY1990's setting is Freq 105, Gain 5.5 Q 0.71 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/77xp4wrohjgwqzq/Hifiman Susvara.pdf?dl=0)

... So my bass shelf is (much) less aggressive.

 

[Tachyon88]

I like it stock, but the difference between EQ on or off is not dramatic to me because its already close to the Harman curve. When I tried it with my lcd2c I was like What, since that difference was dramatic! lol, I made the mistake of not listening to it with it on for a few weeks to acclimate. Because if you are constantly toggle it on or off it doesn't really give you a chance to acclimate. Sorta like if you had two different headphones and you just kept switching between the two instead of spending tons of time with just one.

One thing I have noticed for me, is that any headphone that has a treble spike in stock form is mitigated simply by bringing the treble down to Harman levels. So Harman treble is the most treble I can handle without hurting me, with some exceptions...that being arya and susvara. HD800s is painful for speech, but ok for most music stock, until I listened to storm rider by iced earth and that spiked my ears ! So did the TH900. Its nice to know that I don't have to give up a potentially great HP for me because I simply can't rid of that one problem frequency. Cause I lovezzz my HD800s.

I wonder if the sound stage would be greater if they put this driver in the EGG housing ?

 

[FractalSound]

I like it stock, but the difference between EQ on or off is not dramatic to me because its already close to the Harman curve. When I tried it with my lcd2c I was like What, since that difference was dramatic! lol, I made the mistake of not listening to it with it on for a few weeks to acclimate. Because if you are constantly toggle it on or off it doesn't really give you a chance to acclimate. Sorta like if you had two different headphones and you just kept switching between the two instead of spending tons of time with just one.

One thing I have noticed for me, is that any headphone that has a treble spike in stock form is mitigated simply by bringing the treble down to Harman levels. So Harman treble is the most treble I can handle without hurting me, with some exceptions...that being arya and susvara. HD800s is painful for speech, but ok for most music stock, until I listened to storm rider by iced earth and that spiked my ears ! So did the TH900. Its nice to know that I don't have to give up a potentially great HP for me because I simply can't rid of that one problem frequency. Cause I lovezzz my HD800s.

I wonder if the sound stage would be greater if they put this driver in the EGG housing ?

I'm with you in terms of EQ. Two observations I'd like to share here

1. when talking about EQ, many think the EQ is for the headphones, that maybe true in many cases. But with Susvara, my primary intent of EQing if for my sources, and not the headphones. With good headphones like Susvara, I think we all realize some deficiencies of our sources.
2. I think we all have our own Harman curves and listening habits. If we were to print out my own Harman Curve, it may look rather dumb, but that's still mine own so my second intent for EQing is to get close to my own "Harman curve" so to speak.

I was planning to get a much more expensive DAC but I think I'm getting used to the RME ADI-2 because the EQ capability

 

[Somatic]

I'm with you in terms of EQ. Two observations I'd like to share here

1. when talking about EQ, many think the EQ is for the headphones, that maybe true in many cases. But with Susvara, my primary intent of EQing if for my sources, and not the headphones. With good headphones like Susvara, I think we all realize some deficiencies of our sources.
2. I think we all have our own Harman curves and listening habits. If we were to print out my own Harman Curve, it may look rather dumb, but that's still mine own so my second intent for EQing is to get close to my own "Harman curve" so to speak.

I was planning to get a much more expensive DAC but I think I'm getting used to the RME ADI-2 because the EQ capability

Clean sounding DAC

 

[FractalSound]

Clean sounding DAC

Actually there is little trick I'm using that makes me keeping the RME. Since I have the iFi Pro iCAN Signature, it comes with a $300 iPower Elite PSU... I actually power my RME through the ICAN Signature "DC-Loop out" port. So my RME gets the same clean power as my iCAN Signature....

 

[normie610]

After applying some PEQ adjustments in Roon a while back, I've since preferred the sound of EQ'd Susvara (not that the Susvara needs EQ to sound excellent, but to me I like it better with my EQ settings). I did have my eye on Loki Max but decided it's better to apply digital EQ since I can target more precise frequency range digitally.

 

[Somatic]

I just did this at Geo's suggestion. It made a significant difference is overall soundstage, clarity and sound separation (instruments)......seriously. It wasn't slight like I anticipated. The dust cover in the Eikon pads is thicker/less transparent than the stock Susvara set I have here so that is likely the cause. Now to see if these are too transparent in the highs !

As an anecdotal side note, I had to lower the volume on the HSA-1b that I am borrowing by 2 clicks once I removed the liners........so maybe the trick to driving the Susvara is just removing the dust covers !

How do you find the treble in This setup vs stock?

 

[BTD1]

I have a new appreciation for the Susvara and how all around "just right" they are. I received the Audeze CRBNs today and after some initial listening, and some back and forth with the Susvaras, I must say that I don't hear anything from the CRBNs that the Susvara doesn't do better. It's fascinating how well tuned and balanced the Susvaras are.

 

[LarsMan]

I have a new appreciation for the Susvara and how all around "just right" they are. I received the Audeze CRBNs today and after some initial listening, and some back and forth with the Susvaras, I must say that I don't hear anything from the CRBNs that the Susvara doesn't do better. It's fascinating how well tuned and balanced the Susvaras are.

If you just got them today, you might want to give them at least a few days break-in time before reaching a conclusion...

 

[BTD1]

If you just got them today, you might want to give them at least a few days break-in time before reaching a conclusion...

This was just a first impression. I somehow thought that e-stats sounded completely different from planners and dynamics. I'm sure my opinion will evolve over time, but my initial gut is that this CRBN is not magically different from a TOTL planar just because it's an e-stat.

 

[iFi audio]

I did exactly what you described when doing a recent amp comparison (Bakoon R13 vs CFA3).

just to clarify, is the other amp Crayon? Or something entirely different?

 

[OneEyedHito]

How do you find the treble in This setup vs stock?

Loses a bit of the top end air to my ears but overall it’s enjoyable. I’ll switch back to stock pads tonight to listen for a while. I can say this, I’m demoing a set of Solitaire P right now and they are much better than the Susvara with the Eikon pads for EDM. The S-P just have a much larger soundstage and sound separation.

I think for my tastes so far the Solitaire P are the best EDM headphone I’ve heard. Better than 1266-TC which is great but the S-P to my hearing w/EDM are how the Susvara are to acoustic and vocals, just incredibly well rounded and so far have set the bar for me.

 

[BassicScience]

Loses a bit of the top end air to my ears but overall it’s enjoyable. I’ll switch back to stock pads tonight to listen for a while. I can say this, I’m demoing a set of Solitaire P right now and they are much better than the Susvara with the Eikon pads for EDM. The S-P just have a much larger soundstage and sound separation.

I think for my tastes so far the Solitaire P are the best EDM headphone I’ve heard. Better than 1266-TC which is great but the S-P to my hearing w/EDM are how the Susvara are to acoustic and vocals, just incredibly well rounded and so far have set the bar for me.

Color me intrigued (about the Soli P)!