[GU1DO]

Bakoon AMP-13R is the best I've heard w/ Susvara. I ended up buying one after an extensive demo. If anyone is interested in buying one please feel free to PM me.

Now that was surprising , did you share any impressions before ?
what was the most impressive about it ,, thanks

 

[jlbrach]

I have owned numerous amps, I owned the 281 and thought it quite good FWIIW

 

[MacedonianHero]

I have owned numerous amps, I owned the 281 and thought it quite good FWIIW

"I owned"....

Just saying. I liked it with the HD800...took away some of the thinness and beefed up the presentation. Thankfully the Susvara doesn't require any "beefing up". But due to its nature, I couldn't enjoy that amplifier with a wide variety of headphones. No sweeping statements...just sharing my views like everyone else.

 

[koven]

Now that was surprising , did you share any impressions before ?
what was the most impressive about it ,, thanks

What initially piqued my curiosity was the 6Moons / Hifiknights review. I wasn't proactively looking to move away from HPA4 because it's great w/ Susvara but by happenstance found out Bakoon is local to me so I chatted w/ the owner and conveniently took a demo. Well the rest is history, I suppose. I posted some thoughts compared to HPA4 during my <10 hours. At that point I was undecided, even slightly underwhelmed, because it didn't immediately hit me as a significant difference. But then I brought myself back to reality with the realization that no SS should be expected to be night and day better than the top tier HPA4 so I continued listening to both for a good 2 weeks. I don't want to regurgitate some of the nuances I mentioned in my initial post but the bottom line is I started out with a mission to critically A/B each day but as time passed and towards the end, I reached a point where I didn't want to unplug the Bakoon and switch to HPA4 anymore. Ultimately I can't tell anyone if marginal improvements are worth exponential costs, that's subject to your own financial circumstances and discretion but what I would say is with Susvara, I personally think the Bakoon performs better than HPA4. And HPA4 is, well was, the best SS I've experienced to date.

 

[AudioDoctor]

Has anyone here ever tried HiFiMan's own Amplifier, the EF-1000 with the Susvara?

 

[MacedonianHero]

What initially piqued my curiosity was the 6Moons / Hifiknights review. I wasn't proactively looking to move away from HPA4 because it's great w/ Susvara but by happenstance found out Bakoon is local to me so I chatted w/ the owner and conveniently took a demo. Well the rest is history, I suppose. I posted some thoughts compared to HPA4 during my <10 hours. At that point I was undecided, even slightly underwhelmed, because it didn't immediately hit me as a significant difference. But then I brought myself back to reality with the realization that no SS should be expected to be night and day better than the top tier HPA4 so I continued listening to both for a good 2 weeks. I don't want to regurgitate some of the nuances I mentioned in my initial post but the bottom line is I started out with a mission to critically A/B each day but as time passed and towards the end, I reached a point where I didn't want to unplug the Bakoon and switch to HPA4 anymore. Ultimately I can't tell anyone if marginal improvements are worth exponential costs, that's subject to your own financial circumstances and discretion but what I would say is with Susvara, I personally think the Bakoon performs better than HPA4. And HPA4 is, well was, the best SS I've experienced to date.

I'm a bit leery of Bakoon...their previous offering didn't sound very good to me and the measurements showed excessive amounts of distortion (for a solid state amplifier that is). I'll have to source a newer one and give it an audition.

 

[koven]

I'm a bit leery of Bakoon...their previous offering didn't sound very good to me and the measurements showed excessive amounts of distortion (for a solid state amplifier that is). I'll have to source a newer one and give it an audition.

I never even heard of Bakoon until a couple months ago. Apparently they worked on re-engineering and enhancing the original circuitry for years which resulted in the new JET SATRI in AMP-13R. Sound aside, I actually appreciate and am impressed with the unique minimal design here. Worth giving it a listen at some point if you can. I did not expect to enjoy it more than the HPA4 but alas I now have one.

 

[Ethereal Sound]

I never even heard of Bakoon until a couple months ago. Apparently they worked on re-engineering and enhancing the original circuitry for years which resulted in the new JET SATRI in AMP-13R. Sound aside, I actually appreciate and am impressed with the unique minimal design here. Worth giving it a listen at some point if you can. I did not expect to enjoy it more than the HPA4 but alas I now have one.

The knob on the bakoon.... Solely based off the photos, it's a craftsmanship of it's own merits.

 

[GU1DO]

What initially piqued my curiosity was the 6Moons / Hifiknights review. I wasn't proactively looking to move away from HPA4 because it's great w/ Susvara but by happenstance found out Bakoon is local to me so I chatted w/ the owner and conveniently took a demo. Well the rest is history, I suppose. I posted some thoughts compared to HPA4 during my <10 hours. At that point I was undecided, even slightly underwhelmed, because it didn't immediately hit me as a significant difference. But then I brought myself back to reality with the realization that no SS should be expected to be night and day better than the top tier HPA4 so I continued listening to both for a good 2 weeks. I don't want to regurgitate some of the nuances I mentioned in my initial post but the bottom line is I started out with a mission to critically A/B each day but as time passed and towards the end, I reached a point where I didn't want to unplug the Bakoon and switch to HPA4 anymore. Ultimately I can't tell anyone if marginal improvements are worth exponential costs, that's subject to your own financial circumstances and discretion but what I would say is with Susvara, I personally think the Bakoon performs better than HPA4. And HPA4 is, well was, the best SS I've experienced to date.

Thank you, i didnt see your thoughts earlier, i enjoyed reading it , it was enough to have an idea ,
At least the AMP-13R look way more nicer than the HPA4
I hope one day i got a chance to give it a try, Thanks again.

 

[tonereef]

I'm a bit leery of Bakoon...their previous offering didn't sound very good to me and the measurements showed excessive amounts of distortion (for a solid state amplifier that is). I'll have to source a newer one and give it an audition.

There are no distortion figures listed in the specs of the 13R. And there's another issue if you'd want to use it with headphones much more sensitive than the Susvara. To quote Torq from the Bakooon thread in the headphones.com forum on May 7:

It’s really an integrated speaker amp, that happens to have a headphone tap on it. Which is great if you’re going to use it to drive speakers, but less so as a dedicated headphone amp.

1000x the noise level of something like a THX AAA 789 (1mV at 0 dB, with nothing playing, would yield a 45 dB/SPL background noise with the HD650 or pushing 60 dB/SPL into Focal’s Stellia), while offering no balanced drive (unless you use the speaker taps) and only a shade more power into realistic headphone loads (667mw vs. 640mw into HD650 or ZMFs, and about 4,255mw vs. 4,085 into the Abyss).

I'm also looking for something less expensive, whether headphone amp or speaker amp. If hearing is believing, that's another problem for us in Canada as we'd have to pay duty and taxes for a demo (if Bakoon would agree to shipping outside the US on a demo) and it can be complicated, or maybe impossible, to get those refunded on export if not keeping the unit.

 

[koven]

There are no distortion figures listed in the specs of the 13R. And there's another issue if you'd want to use it with headphones much more sensitive than the Susvara. To quote Torq from the Bakooon thread in the headphones.com forum on May 7:

It’s really an integrated speaker amp, that happens to have a headphone tap on it. Which is great if you’re going to use it to drive speakers, but less so as a dedicated headphone amp.

1000x the noise level of something like a THX AAA 789 (1mV at 0 dB, with nothing playing, would yield a 45 dB/SPL background noise with the HD650 or pushing 60 dB/SPL into Focal’s Stellia), while offering no balanced drive (unless you use the speaker taps) and only a shade more power into realistic headphone loads (667mw vs. 640mw into HD650 or ZMFs, and about 4,255mw vs. 4,085 into the Abyss).

I'm also looking for something less expensive, whether headphone amp or speaker amp. If hearing is believing, that's another problem for us in Canada as we'd have to pay duty and taxes for a demo (if Bakoon would agree to shipping outside the US on a demo) and it can be complicated, or maybe impossible, to get those refunded on export if not keeping the unit.

It's a good point. Would not recommend unless you know your Susvara is a keeper, it is way overkill for general headphone use compared to something like HPA4, or even the 789. I've tried other headphones w/ the Bakoon so far like Verite C, Utopia, D8000 Pro, MDR-Z1R.. it all sounds great but I purely got it as a special Susvara pairing -- and also importantly to branch into some suitable speakers in the future.

 

[koven]

I don't browse headphones.com often but I just looked up that thread out of curiosity. It's mentioned that iCAN puts out enough power for Susvara, that is true and technically so does many other headphone amps, but while something like V281 has higher power rating into 50ohm than HPA4, the HPA4 handily sounds better to me with Susvara. On paper power can translate to reaching sufficient dB SPL but it doesn't reliably tell the whole story w/ respect to sound quality. Aspects such as power supply and analog stage have a marked influence. Watts from a valve amp, class A, class D all sound different, and if the first watt or milliwatt is no good, you don't necessarily want 50 or 100 more of them. Kind of like quality over quantity to a certain extent.

 

[AudioDoctor]

So, other than the Bakoon and HPA4, what are people using to amp their Susvara?

 

[koven]

I've seen the range as 'sounds fine w/ THX 789' all the way through ~$10K amps like Rivieria AIC-10, Viva Egoista. I think on one hand the general power requirement for Susvara is indeed overstated in terms of reaching sufficient volume however Susvara does seem scale well w/ better quality and delivery of power.

 

[AudioDoctor]

Anyone tried one of the lower powered Pass amps like the XA30.8?