Right. And Hifiman figured they could sell enough Susvaras at $6,000 to maximize their profit on it. Some will pay that and some won't. Above this price level, diminishing returns become vanishing returns.
If Hifiman is hitting their profit targets, then the Susvara is priced appropriately.
This is marketing. In a classic study, Williams-Sonoma had a $275 bread maker listed in their print catalog, and almost no one was buying it. When they introduced a similar bread maker for $429 and positioned it next to the $275 bread maker, sales of the $275 bread maker nearly doubled.
Hifiman doesn't need to sell many Susvaras. But having a 6k pair of Susvaras in the menu can influence unwilling buyers to instead fork out 3k for an HEKSE which approximates its performance up to 80-90% (depends who you ask) but has an advantage over the Susvara i.e. driveability. If that's too expensive, it will make it easier for people to fork out for an Arya. Having a 6k pair of headphones which are overpriced (I agree with this), but is one of the best-sounding headphones, is a good way to sell their other headphones which have become a variety of more accessible versions.
Okay, here is a simple question (it sounds simple to me, at least in theory) :
1. What is the best amplifier for driving the Susvara?
This should go together with this other question :
2. What are the best components that ought to be paired with the best amp named in question 1, in order to achieve the implied "best performing" results?
I could go on and on with the questions, but let's keep things relatively simple and answer the 2 questions listed above first
Do these appear to be tough questions? Well, this particular forum was opened in June of 2017, and any discussion which has been going on for nearly 4 years ought normally and/ reasonably, to come up with some consensual answers to question one, at least a few times, so if the question still appears to be too difficult to answer (after 4 years of endless discussions), even for those with the deepest pockets, apparently, then who must carry the blame?
And first of all, is one's inability to answer question 1 in unequivocal terms a good or bad thing, as things usually go in this hobby?
Pre-emptive strike: Please avoid all "mystical," "mysterious," and "metaphysical" answers involving the "subjectivity" or "objectivity" of audio experiences, since they have never helped to advance or illuminate any debate...
Okay, here is a simple question (it sounds simple to me, at least in theory) :
1. What is the best amplifier for driving the Susvara?
This should go together with this other question :
2. What are the best components that ought to be paired with the best amp named in question 1, in order to achieve the implied "best" results?
I could go on and on with the questions, but let's keep things relatively simple and answer the 2 questions listed above first
Do these appear to be tough questions? Well, this particular forum was opened in June of 2017, and for a discussion which has been going on for nearly 4 years, one has a right to demand some kind of answer for question one, so if still appears to be too difficult to answer (after 4 years of endless discussions), who must carry the blame?
And first of all, is one's inability to answer question 1 in unequivocal terms a good or bad thing, as things usually go in this hobby?
Pre-emptive strike: Please avoid all "mystical" and metaphysical answers involving the "subjectivity" or "objectivity" of audio experiences, since they have never helped to advance or illuminate any debate...
You don't want to hear it, but the "best" amp and gear is different depending on subjective preferences.
What's the best for one, isn't necessarily the best for someone else.
So the simple answer is: "There is no Single best amp for the Susvara "
the susvara has been out for several years so the street price is no longer 6k...that said if it is overpriced I assume others could produce the same or better sound and comfort for less money....
I am getting an opportunity to demo the Bakoon 13R next week. Super stoked to try it out. I may be too hyped that it will leave me underwhelmed! But so far everyone I know who has tried it loves it.
with anything in life if you have skyhigh expectations you might be disappointed but I wasnt...I think it is a tremendous amp for the susvara and all planars including the abyss tc
with anything in life if you have skyhigh expectations you might be disappointed but I wasnt...I think it is a tremendous amp for the susvara and all planars including the abyss tc
Not to be a pest, but if your expectations are not sky-high, would you feel inspired enough to blow so much dough on an amp? Personally, I consider myself a realist, but I won't "bite" if my expectations aren't sky-high enough. to make me feel wired and ready for some kind of "miracle." I am just saying that as a realist, I wouldn't feel "realistically" inspired to pay so much for an amp if I expected mediocre or "meh" results. You might say that it all depends on what one means by "sky high" and I wouldn't necessarily disagree.
I do know this though : If I were to ever consider going for a Bakoon 13R, I would go in fully expecting my mind to be blown to smithereens and the Bakoon better deliver or we might have a sticky problem to sort out
dont get me wrong, I too expect outstanding performance when I spend a ton of money...all I am saying is no matter how much money you spend and how much you expect commensurate performance you can still have expectations too high lol
Always better to temper your expectations and be blown away than have them be too high only to be let down. It's an amp, it's not going to significantly change your Susvara's sound.
(wink wink, trying to get you to lower them so you are happy).
Always better to temper your expectations and be blown away than have them be too high only to be let down. It's an amp, it's not going to significantly change your Susvara's sound.
(wink wink, trying to get you to lower them so you are happy).
I get that (the wink wink part...). The problem with me is that if my expectations are too low, I tend to get too lazy to want to give anything a shot at all. However, I think I might be just mis-communicating some of my expectations... I should say that I invest in some of my more expensive or "high-end" gear expecting them to be genuinely and noticeably "transformative" of my previous experience. Those are the type of expectations I brought from my HeKSE to the Susvara, and so far, I have not been disappointed at all, although I understand that the Susvara can still scale even higher than I have heard it sound so far with even better gear in the chain... Ditto for my move from my Metrum Acoustics Onyx to the Sonnet Morpheus, and so on.
So I do not think my expectations are really that unrealistic. I just hate to wind up hearing "more of the same," when I go out to invest in gear that are touted as more "high-end" than i am typically used to.
I get that (the wink wink part...). The problem with me is that if my expectations are too low, I tend to get too lazy to want to give anything a shot at all. However, I think I might be just mis-communicating some of my expectations... I should say that I invest in some of my more expensive or "high-end" gear expecting them to be genuinely and noticeably "transformative" of my previous experience. Those are the type of expectations I brought from my HeKSE to the Susvara, and so far, I have not been disappointed at all, although I understand that the Susvara can still scale even higher than I have heard it sound so far with even better gear in the chain... Ditto for my move from my Metrum Acoustics Onyx to the Sonnet Morpheus, and so on.
So I do not think my expectations are really that unrealistic. I just hate to wind up hearing "more of the same," when I go out to invest in gear that are touted as more "high-end" than i am typically used to.
If I were to ever consider going for a Bakoon 13R, I would go in fully expecting my mind to be blown to smithereens and the Bakoon better deliver or we might have a sticky problem to sort out
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