[rgs9200m]

Hmmmm. I thought Hifiman was moving away from the need for a serious speaker amp (like the HE6 needed) with the HE1000s and now the Susvara. But now it seems a Mac 275 is needed to get the best out of the Susvara (and the HE1000v2 also maybe?).

This is a 67 pound amp with 11 tubes and it doesn't have any headphone jacks for less demanding headphones, so it's quite a commitment to headphones that require a speaker amp.

And this is a power amp, so you need a preamp (or a level control on your DAC) in addition.

https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/amplifiers/MC275B

 

[gordec]

Hmmmm. I thought Hifiman was moving away from the need for a serious speaker amp (like the HE6 needed) with the HE1000s and now the Susvara. But now it seems a Mac 275 is needed to get the best out of the Susvara (and the HE1000v2 also maybe?).

This is a 67 pound amp with 11 tubes and it doesn't have any headphone jacks for less demanding headphones, so it's quite a commitment to headphones that require a speaker amp.

https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/amplifiers/MC275B

You just need a good small speaker amp. You can just get the MHA100 and have an one box solution for Susvara. I don't even need HE adapter just a banana plugs to XLR adapter does the trick. Anak is just giving an example of what might wrok.

 

[rgs9200m]

That's good to know. I am pretty happy with my Rudistor RP010B driving my HEKv2, so I was hoping if down the line I got the MHA100 or 150 I would get good results
(and be able to use if for my other headphones and maybe trade up from the HEK to the Susvara).

 

[Shini44]

Hmmmm. I thought Hifiman was moving away from the need for a serious speaker amp (like the HE6 needed) with the HE1000s and now the Susvara. But now it seems a Mac 275 is needed to get the best out of the Susvara (and the HE1000v2 also maybe?).

This is a 67 pound amp with 11 tubes and it doesn't have any headphone jacks for less demanding headphones, so it's quite a commitment to headphones that require a speaker amp.

And this is a power amp, so you need a preamp (or a level control on your DAC) in addition.

https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/amplifiers/MC275B

i tried Focal + best amps. cavali audio and even DAVE. and tried HD800. nothing was close to HE-6 + Speaker amp. i am not a speaker guy. i really love Headphones. so i am glad that the option is available and its doable. that headphones can get as far. and ofc if we want headphone to go further headphone limit. HQ Massive power is needed to reach there. and Speakers don't give me the presentation of a headphone , which i really love. speaking of presentation, i love CIEMs too. they are so good and different.


that being said i don't know what is Hifiman thinking with making headphones that legit need speaker amps to shine xD yet again for me its a win win, since i love headphone presentation over speakers.

seriously i don't know what Hifiman is thinking, i am really interested now. maybe they wanted the new HE-6 ?? since getting HE-6 is hard. and they maybe want their headphone to be in top 3 (regardless setup) ?? i guess? wouldn't that affect the sales though? since driving will need a lot of $$$

 

[rgs9200m]

Thanks for the insightful comments Shini! Best to you. (I had similar thoughts.)

 

[Rhamnetin]

Hmmmm. I thought Hifiman was moving away from the need for a serious speaker amp (like the HE6 needed) with the HE1000s and now the Susvara. But now it seems a Mac 275 is needed to get the best out of the Susvara (and the HE1000v2 also maybe?).

This is a 67 pound amp with 11 tubes and it doesn't have any headphone jacks for less demanding headphones, so it's quite a commitment to headphones that require a speaker amp.

And this is a power amp, so you need a preamp (or a level control on your DAC) in addition.

https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/amplifiers/MC275B

The HE1000 v2 needs nothing like that, it has moderate efficiency. The Susvara though is back down to 83 dB/mW like the HE-6.

It's still a headphone though. Running direct from speaker taps will have too much gain, I wonder how loud the noise floor is. A speaker amp can be adapted to headphones though, such as with the use of resistors for the headphone output. But I would just spring for a super powerful headphone amp like a Super Symmetry Dynahi.

 

[gordec]

HeK v2 still benefited from a powerful amp. I was driving it with the speaker taps when I owned one. However, the Susvara is just a different animal from the speaker taps. When I auditions HE1, I had HeK v2 for a while, and I loved the HeK v2. After hearing HE1, I was like HeK is pretty far behind. Now Susvara sounds more like the little sister of HE1 rather than the older sister of HeK. I looked it up. Susvara is a Hindu girl’s name.

 

[Sonic Defender]

The HE1000 v2 needs nothing like that, it has moderate efficiency. The Susvara though is back down to 83 dB/mW like the HE-6.

It's still a headphone though. Running direct from speaker taps will have too much gain, I wonder how loud the noise floor is. A speaker amp can be adapted to headphones though, such as with the use of resistors for the headphone output. But I would just spring for a super powerful headphone amp like a Super Symmetry Dynahi.

Depends, I have used my stable into 4ohms NAD M3 with 400watts via speaker tap cables with quite a few headphones and never detected any noise floor issues, nor had problems with gain. It will depend on the amp's implementation to an extent, but I go right from speaker tap, no resistor box required and have not looked back for about 4 years now.

 

[AnakChan]

dw i will ^^ so no need to worry about volume? lets say somehow i increased it. then the sound will just stop right? as the fuse/resistors goes fried right? just like when you plug 120v gear into 220 volt house xD

or?

Per rgs9200m & gordec, the MC275 is a power amp, ensure you have a pre-amp of some sort, or just go for an integrated amp instead.

 

[gordec]

Had an interesting conversation today with Tomlinson Holman, who is a patient of mine. He was a long time audio engineer for Lucasfilm and has won Academy Award for Technical Achievement. This is not directly related to Susvara, but I asked him what he thinks makes the biggest difference in the audio system. He owns a pair of HD800s but is more of a speaker guy. He feels that the transducer (headphone or speaker) -> amp -> DAC. He believes Delta Sigma is superior to R2R DAC and laughed at the idea of R2R NOS DACs making a comeback. He also feels like cables make very little difference if any but the implementation of the source output (USB, coaxial) is very important. It’s fascinateing to hear from someone who basically invented THX.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Had an interesting conversation today with Tomlinson Holman, who is a patient of mine. He was a long time audio engineer for Lucasfilm and has won Academy Award for Technical Achievement. This is not directly related to Susvara, but I asked him what he thinks makes the biggest difference in the audio system. He owns a pair of HD800s but is more of a speaker guy. He feels that the transducer (headphone or speaker) -> amp -> DAC. He believes Delta Sigma is superior to R2R DAC and laughed at the idea of R2R NOS DACs making a comeback. He also feels like cables make very little difference if any but the implementation of the source output (USB, coaxial) is very important. It’s fascinateing to hear from someone who basically invented THX.

I agree for the most part, about the transducer > DAC > AMP for most of times. For cables, I'm still in the unsure area, need more experimenting to say for sure.

I don't get most of the point of what is an R2R, is there any clear source of what it is?

It reads and can decide flac?

 

[rgs9200m]

Tom Holman? Wow. I had his Apt-Holman preamp (and the Apt 1 power amp) for many years. That's great that you are in contact with him. I haven't thought about him in a long time. He was ahead of his time. I loved the sweet solid sound of that pair.
I wish him well and thank him for all the good music I heard from his creations.

 

[gordec]

Tom Holman? Wow. I had his Apt-Holman preamp (and the Apt 1 power amp) for many years. That's great that you are in contact with him. I haven't thought about him in a long time. He was ahead of his time. I loved the sweet solid sound of that pair.
I wish him well and thank him for all the good music I heard from his creations.

Really nice guy and very unassuming. He's settled down in the Bay Area. I'm surprised all he has is HD800s. I told him about Hifiman and Susvara, but he has never even heard of Hifiman.

 

[rgs9200m]

Thanks for the update. He was semi-famous in the 1980s.

 

[gordec]

Anyone has a pelican case for Susvara? I'm trying to buy a generic one and cut the foam myself.