[AnakChan]

I received a pair of Susvara along with an HE-adapter yesterday but haven't opened up the package yet. I'm told my current desktop (ZDSE)/transportable (WA8) aren't enough to drive it so for now it'll have to be off my McIntosh MC275 speaker amp via the HE-Adapter.

Pix & thoughts soon.

 

[Frank I]

I am driving them with the Chord Dave and the VPI 229D integrated speaker amp through the headphone jack easily. I am listening tonight with an Oppo UDP 205 Modwright edition. Spectacular with SACD abd CD disc.

 

[Oscar-HiFi]

The headphone is very balanced with all genres and the treble is exceptional as is the bass and midrange.. Perfect is hard to describe as there is no product I have ever listened to that is perfect. The sound is musical and the headphone gets out of the way,.

For my tastes at least, the Susvara is as close to perfect I have heard, it has a certain musicality to it but still remains evenly balanced across the range. It really does get out of the way of the music and just lets you enjoy.

 

[ToroFiestaSol]

Susvara + Audio GD Master 9: 8K

Magnepan 3.7i (6k) + Audio GD Master 10 (2k): 8K (for "ultimate planar bass", 2x Magnepan DWM Bass panels would add 1.6K to the price)

A couple of pictures to illustrate the difference:

Susvara:

Magnepan 3.7i:

I used to believe that headphones were a great alternative for someone who can't afford equally good sounding speakers...I hope this can illustrate the non sense pricing on Susvara.

 

[Thaudiophile]

Susvara + Audio GD Master 9: 8K

Magnepan 3.7i (6k) + Audio GD Master 10 (2k): 8K (for "ultimate planar bass", 2x Magnepan DWM Bass panels would add 1.6K to the price)

A couple of pictures to illustrate the difference:

Susvara:

Magnepan 3.7i:

I used to believe that headphones were a great alternative for someone who can't afford equally good sounding speakers...I hope this can illustrate the non sense pricing on Susvara.

Exactly, i have always thought that headfi was filled with shills and that rival website (which i can't name) was best for objectivity but now people on that rival website are kissing Susvara's a** and defending it's absurd price.
For accuracy,treble,transparency,speed and clarity i will always go with electrostats.
For bass, speakers are by far the best option.

 

[ToroFiestaSol]

Exactly, i have always thought that headfi was filled with shills and that rival website (which i can't name) was best for objectivity but now people on that rival website are kissing Susvara's a** and defending it's absurd price.
For accuracy,treble,transparency,speed and clarity i will always go with electrostats.
For bass, speakers are by far the best option.

Funny thing is that Susvara is not the most expensive headphone, Shangri-La costs 50k
50k means Soundlab Ultimate 545 speakers and Atma-sphere MA-1 MK3.3 OTL Ciclotron monoblock amplifiers or completely improved and new Apogee Full Range, 3 Accuphase class A amps (A-36), a DEQX and custom transformers to protect the ribbons...it's just insane hahahahaha

 

[Whitigir]

Exactly, i have always thought that headfi was filled with shills and that rival website (which i can't name) was best for objectivity but now people on that rival website are kissing Susvara's a** and defending it's absurd price.
For accuracy,treble,transparency,speed and clarity i will always go with electrostats.
For bass, speakers are by far the best option.

You put it correctly, almost.

Electrostatic headphones do not need to cover the whole large spaces between the ears and the diaphgrams, so it has more bass that can blow your brain out if you want. Basically, tuning the ES Headphones for correct bass and trebles is not an easy thing to do at all. Hence Stax has several models, and others are trying to get in but won't be competing anytime soon

FE, 70mm for 1cm for Headphones, so for loud speaker 500cm (5M) will need 35,000mm of surface diaphgrams or 3500cm or 35m diaphgrams....I don't quite see any 35m ES loudspeakers yet lol...or 2M space you will need 14M diaphgrams

 

[paradoxper]

Dang, it seems like everyone is a reviewer. Very enlightening.

 

[JimL11]

Susvara + Audio GD Master 9: 8K

Magnepan 3.7i (6k) + Audio GD Master 10 (2k): 8K (for "ultimate planar bass", 2x Magnepan DWM Bass panels would add 1.6K to the price)

A couple of pictures to illustrate the difference:

Susvara:
as th
Magnepan 3.7i:

I used to believe that headphones were a great alternative for someone who can't afford equally good sounding speakers...I hope this can illustrate the non sense pricing on Susvara.

Or, bi-amped, refurbished Quad ESLs and Hartley 24" dipole subwoofer, EQed flat down to about 23 Hz, cost me less than $6000.

 

[erik701]

I don't think that problem is in price of Susvara headphones, I think that problem is what we are getting for this amount of money from HiFiMan. Slightly updated HE1000? HE1000 v3? They didn't changed design so much, they didn't bring any new exciting solution and they are asking customer to pay $6.000 for this headphones, even when they had issues with HE1000 v1 and released v2 of this flagship just few months later. That's the main problem of Susvara imho.

People are paying more than $5k for Abyss headphones for years already, but they are one of it's kind, one of the best sounding headphones. Nobody is arguing about their price, because they worth it.

 

[Oscar-HiFi]

I don't think that problem is in price of Susvara headphones, I think that problem is what we are getting for this amount of money from HiFiMan. Slightly updated HE1000? HE1000 v3? They didn't changed design so much, they didn't bring any new exciting solution and they are asking customer to pay $6.000 for this headphones, even when they had issues with HE1000 v1 and released v2 of this flagship just few months later. That's the main problem of Susvara imho.

People are paying more than $5k for Abyss headphones for years already, but they are one of it's kind, one of the best sounding headphones. Nobody is arguing about their price, because they worth it.

How long did it take to update the HE-6? oh yeah, years....

These do not use the same technology as the HE1000, so are in a different category.

Yes they may not be the best value for money, but saying they are in the same category as the HE1000 isn't quite right. They use very different diaphragms, magnets and shape.

 

[purk]

No disrespect to the reviewers, but I rather read impressions of the Susvara from someone who is paying the full price for it. I kindda know how HF is working the market.

 

[Whitigir]

No disrespect to the reviewers, but I rather read impressions of the Susvara from someone who is paying the full price for it. I kindda know how HF is working the market.

Lol!!! Common, I am trying to keep a straight face here, my friend

 

[marhol]

Exactly, i have always thought that headfi was filled with shills and that rival website (which i can't name) was best for objectivity but now people on that rival website are kissing Susvara's a** and defending it's absurd price.
For accuracy,treble,transparency,speed and clarity i will always go with electrostats.
For bass, speakers are by far the best option.

I´ve read comments on that website and it did not seem to me people were defending price of this headphone at all. In fact a couple of them were even rather critical of Susvara sound quality wise. We all know that this pricing is absurd and has little to do with pure sound quality of the headphone. Orpheus HE-1, Shangrila or Susvara surely cant be light years ahead of something like HD800, HE-6 or LCD-X. Its pure marketing stuff. Hifiman can charge as much as people will handle. And I´m sure a lot of people (relatively) will buy Susvara at MSRP. As well as a lot of people bought Stax 009, Abyss or Utopia. I´ve read different impressions on various websites regarding its sound quality so far. Some people said its comparable or even equal to Sennheiser HE-1 (at least with EF 1000).See https://www.open-end-music.de/vb3/showthread.php?t=12422 for reference.
On the other hand some people said that " it couldn´t handle demanding tracks ". What do you know...
In my opinion if someone is really interested in Susvara one should find an opportunity to hear it by himself. Doesn´t make much sense to drop 6000 $ if its only marginally better than HE-6 or HEK (v1/v2). But if its clearly the better headphone and you have money to burn why not ? In a better world HEK v2 would cost 1800$ and Susvara 2500 $ but we are living in this world. So deal with it... or invent some giant killer and set the price under 2000 $ !

 

[mulder01]

Susvara + Audio GD Master 9: 8K

Magnepan 3.7i (6k) + Audio GD Master 10 (2k): 8K (for "ultimate planar bass", 2x Magnepan DWM Bass panels would add 1.6K to the price)

A couple of pictures to illustrate the difference:

Susvara:

Magnepan 3.7i:

I used to believe that headphones were a great alternative for someone who can't afford equally good sounding speakers...I hope this can illustrate the non sense pricing on Susvara.

So for the people that live close to the city in an apartment, how much does it cost to get an extra room that size completely soundproofed so you can actually use the things without your neighbours having you evicted? $100k? Probably more?

I am yet to hear the Susvara, but the times I had directly compared the Abyss (on a modest setup) to high end 2 channel speaker setups, I found their "$100,000 speaker system in a can" claim to be true. I went from speakers to headphones not only for the fact that you get better sound quality for your money, but also you don't need a dedicated room, don't piss off the other people that live with and around you.

If I were to build an extension on my house with the ideal listening room and deck it out with all the right gear how much would that cost me? I can have an Abyss running off a DAP (second hand if value for money is a concern) that I can stick in a draw - takes up no room and I can use it anywhere in the house at any time, always being in the sweet spot, and not have everyone around me hate me, well, I hope you can see why some people don't go for speakers.