In the last several months, I have invested my weekends and after-office hours auditioning amps from leading manufacturers, including Pass Labs, Mcintosh, Gryphon, Luxman, Accuphase, Musical Fidelity, Parasound, Anthem, PS Audio, etc.
I have also heard amps from leading headphone amp manufacturers, which, to my mind, paled in comparison to speaker amps. I am, of course, not the first to say this. Nor will I be the last.
Users of the Hifiman Susvara, and to a lesser degree, the Abyss 1266 HPs, have also noted the superior sound from speaker amps, even when driving other headphones, far less ravenous than the Susvaras or the 1266.
Herb Reichert has a poetic review of the Susvaras where he posits the same, referring to these explorations of driving headphones with speaker amps, rather amusingly, as “unauthorized experiments.”
In any case, my conclusions from my experiments are as follows:
1. The Pass Labs XA25 power amp and XP12 pre-amp combo is the best sound I have heard from any amplifier, be it speaker or headphone amp; Class A or Class A/B; Solid State or Tube. Its the most transparent sounding amp, with outstanding naturalness of timbre, an eerily large soundstage, surprising tactility to instrument sounds, and vocals that are just breathtaking. I am, of course, not the first to be impressed by this. Many revered audio critics have opined that the XA25 might be Nelson Pass’s best creation. I myself have also heard Pass’s Class A Monoblocks, if that helps to know, as a benchmark.
2. I have run the Susvaras off 8-10 different head amp and speaker amp combos, but nothing comes close to this rig. The marriage between the XP12, XA25, and the Susvaras, is divine. I was told by my (South Asian) parents growing up that marriages are made in heaven. This is probably what they had in mind? For reference, I am a happily married man.
3. The Hifiman Susvaras off the Pass XP12 and XA25 is the best sound I have heard, period. The sound is far superior to my ears, than speaker rigs worth multiple times more, to say nothing of other headphone + head amp rigs. I may have heard every other TOTL headphone and amp pairings. Your preferences may vary of course, as they should. As they must. But for me, this is endgame. The elusive crossing of the final frontier.
In case you would like impressions, as some of you sought, when I reported acquiring this rig:
Listening to the Susvaras off the Pass Labs accentuates the Susvara’s beguiling musicality.
The details. Oh, the details on this rig. Ubiquitous but never offensive. Blithely inhabiting the space and stage afforded by the marriage of the Sus and the Pass.
As the music’s details hang in this expanded spaciousness of stage, the listener is able to pin point the location and size of each instrument; the movement of the performer on stage, etc.
In terms of frequencies: the bass is deep, detailed, visceral, and subsonic. The bass is tight, controlled, fast, and where Susvaras shine is their low-end detail.
The treble sparkles but stays unerringly polite. In fact, the Susvara treble is a shameless exhibitionist. It's like it wants to see you walk the line on treble energy without ever, ever, giving you sibilance. It makes you laud the damn headphones even whilst listening to it. I kid you not.
The midrange is so true to life, that it can make a saint of a sinner, a truth teller of a lying man. Vocals glow and you may start believing the transparency is the handmaiden of musicality, which, for most gears, are compromises.
This is audio nirvana as far as I am concerned.
Full review of the Hifiman Susvara on various amps, forthcoming.
