[Somatic]

The Dekoni Susvara Elite Hybrid pads have arrived... and they are unexpectedly good!

Compared to the stock Harmony pads:

• A bit warmer in upper mids but otherwise alike tonally.
• The same style of soundstaging.
• Significantly improved timbre - less artificial and diffuse-sounding.

Compared to the ZMF Eikon Hybrid pads:

• Less hardhitting bass, still a bit too distant upper mids, more linear smoother treble.
• More "arena-like" soundstaging.
• Not quite as pure and clean timbre.

While ZMF Eikon Hybrids remain a much better choice for HE-6/Audeze-like sound, these Dekoni pads provide a great take on the "stock Susvara" sound. I've always hated the stock Harmony pads... but Dekoni Elite Hybrids I actually dig quite a bit. Wish Susvara would be shipped with these by default.

NOTE: I am using these with removed dust covers.

Curious did you take off the dust filter on the Harmony pads? Does it change anything? Thanks.

 

[Somatic]

with all the pads I have for susvara. the dekoni hybrid are the way to go. dekoni nailed it with that pad, I mentioned that way back. To me zmf eikon unfortunately took out everything i liked bout sus, second runner up are the fenestrated by dekoni.

How is the comfort of the Dekoni Hybrid vs the stock Harmony pads? Are they thicker or thinner? Also how do you compare them soundwise vs stock? Think I'm going to buy these as well. Thanks.

 

[Sound Eq]

How is the comfort of the Dekoni Hybrid vs the stock Harmony pads? Are they thicker or thinner? Also how do you compare them soundwise vs stock? Think I'm going to buy these as well. Thanks.

it adds a bit more body to the mids, you feel the vocals are fuller and it increases the soundstage compared to stock, and treble is a bit smoother, bass is close to stock pads if not better. Comfort for me with hybrid is great

zmf eikon hybrid, my honest advise avoid it totally, it just robbed out the grandness of the susvara totally, the soundstage shrunk, and such thing you will not see in measurements, simply those pads are not great for sus, and the mids especially vocals took things to a change i did not like at all

my assumption is whoever owns a 6k usd headphone will not find that difficult to order 3 or 4 pads to see where those pads will lead the path to. I own now 5 pads 4 dekoni and one zmf, and all dekoni pads range from good to great, the only flop was the zmf pads for me personally

 

[Delta9K]

On a side note my Susvaras are breaking in very nicely. I've been playing moderate to low level music through them 24/7 since I got them and they sounded wonderfully broken-in, "smooth", last night (IMHO - if you believe in such nonsense of course)

I do believe in such nonsense - I just today received a NIB Susvara for loan/audition. I'm curious to about how many hours did it ultimately work out to be before you felt the Susvara was well on its way to settling in? I am using a custom cable that's already broken in, and that I've been using on my HE1000v2 for the past 8mos. making it really just the Susvara that needs some break in.

 

[Sound Eq]

I do believe in such nonsense - I just today received a NIB Susvara for loan/audition. I'm curious to about how many hours did it ultimately work out to be before you felt the Susvara was well on its way to settling in? I am using a custom cable that's already broken in, and that I've been using on my HE1000v2 for the past 8mos. making it really just the Susvara that needs some break in.

don't worry too much bout burn in, mine was brand new and after 500 hours the change was very very minor, but I might be wrong. if u want to experiment buy pads that will have a way more significant effect than burn in, i see u have the vio 550 there is a tiny bit more gain if u push both +18 and +6 up although its not mentioned in the manual

 

[xtr4]

I remember reading something like that on the Pathos forum when trying to decide between that and the Auris Nirvana, and I was concerned about the same thing happening there. Maybe that was you?

Yes, it-is-a-me, xtr4

 

[IZONE]

I do believe in such nonsense - I just today received a NIB Susvara for loan/audition. I'm curious to about how many hours did it ultimately work out to be before you felt the Susvara was well on its way to settling in? I am using a custom cable that's already broken in, and that I've been using on my HE1000v2 for the past 8mos. making it really just the Susvara that needs some break in.

For me personally around a week? I just kept it on my headphone stand and played low volume music all through the night and day time as well. I usually "experience" burn-in with most headphones and IEMs (this is subjective of course) and I used to care whether it was "real" or not but now I don't care. If I experience it then I experience it which means I'm happier with the sound after burn-in. I also "experience" different cables and interconnects

Some headphones take longer and Susvara was one of them IME. It sounded great out of the box, terrible at about 50 hours (Day 2) and improved a lot from Day 3 and Day 4 was fantastic and only got better from there and I felt like it was done around 7 days or so (IME)

*I also "experience" power supply upgrades (I need help)

 

[FractalSound]

For me personally around a week? I just kept it on my headphone stand and played low volume music all through the night and day time as well. I usually "experience" burn-in with most headphones and IEMs (this is subjective of course) and I used to care whether it was "real" or not but now I don't care. If I experience it then I experience it which means I'm happier with the sound after burn-in. I also "experience" different cables and interconnects

Some headphones take longer and Susvara was one of them IME. It sounded great out of the box, terrible at about 50 hours (Day 2) and improved a lot from Day 3 and Day 4 was fantastic and only got better from there and I felt like it was done around 7 days or so (IME)

*I also "experience" power supply upgrades (I need help)

Like you have noted before, whatever makes us happy

 

[Somatic]

This was useful, thanks. These are the ZMF Auteur Hybrid pads (perforated, sheepskin + velour):



It's fun how fat they are. Smoother treble than the Dekoni FSS, which is good for my current objectives. Big drop-off going into the lowest couple of octaves, unfortunately. Not completely unviable, depending on genre, but probably not worth keeping on for any real length of time.

The other ZMF pads I have are the stock Auteur pads (fenestrated sheepskin), which I may not bother trying out.

Wish I read this earlier. I just ordered these pads. I will see how bad they are in the bass. I assume you are not rocking these anymore are you back to stock pads?

 

[bigbeans]

If anyone is interested, I have a Bakoon AMP 13R for sale, downsizing my collection and moving to iems

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/bakoon-amp-13r.16378/

 

[FractalSound]

That's great to hear! Do you have any specific bits that set them apart?

I actually think iCAN Signature and oor+h are very close... so much so that I can't really tell much difference. I have been comparing oor+h with iCAN signature in Tube mode. That shows oor+h is on the warm side which is also a tribute to a SS only stack.

At the end of the day, I will be keeping my iCAN Signature. As a side note, I tried iCAN signature with Gustard X26 Pro and had an immediate jump in SQ (as compared to RME ADI-2 DAC FS, SMSL SU9). Very noticeable.

Below is one of my posts from the OOR thread

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ferrum-oor-headphone-amplifier-with-a-soul.958541/post-16706954

 

[dk604]

So.. I've never thought of my ears as big but after trying on the Susvaras on the stock earpads my ears feel like they're getting squished. I'm wondering if you guys could recommend something similar to the Hifiman Arya stock pads in terms of size that would be a good replacement? Also, I was wondering if replacing the earpads would make a big change in sound quality?

 

[hammondfan]

Hello ,

I am a happy owner of a HEKSE and I am seriously thinking of upgrading to Susvara.

Now that they have the 3.5mm connectors my investment in cables will be preserved.
What I am a little bit afraid is that my investment in Dacs, Daps and amplifiers wont or at least not fully.
The HEKSE has been a friendly partner, adapting easyly to my different gear.
I know that the Susvara is a pretty hungry beast that needs a lot of juice to deliver.
=======================================================
How will it be able to drive the Susvara with the following gear:

- Shanling M6 PRO (1st model with AK4497)
provides 600mW 32Ω

-> YES (100%) - NO (degraded quality) - LIMITED (limited quality)

- CHORD HUGO 2
provides 94mW 300Ω; 740mW 32Ω ; 1050mW 8Ω

-> YES (100%) - NO (degraded quality) - LIMITED (limited quality)
- Questyle CMA 12 MASTER
provides 825mW 300Ω; 2W 32Ω

-> YES (100%) - NO (degraded quality) - LIMITED (limited quality)
=======================================================

Thank you so much if someone can give me a sense, a guidance, his experience ?

 

[xtr4]

Hello ,

I am a happy owner of a HEKSE and I am seriously thinking of upgrading to Susvara.

Now that they have the 3.5mm connectors my investment in cables will be preserved.
What I am a little bit afraid is that my investment in Dacs, Daps and amplifiers wont or at least not fully.
The HEKSE has been a friendly partner, adapting easyly to my different gear.
I know that the Susvara is a pretty hungry beast that needs a lot of juice to deliver.
=======================================================
How will it be able to drive the Susvara with the following gear:

- Shanling M6 PRO (1st model with AK4497)
provides 600mW 32Ω

-> YES (100%) - NO (degraded quality) - LIMITED (limited quality)

- CHORD HUGO 2
provides 94mW 300Ω; 740mW 32Ω ; 1050mW 8Ω

-> YES (100%) - NO (degraded quality) - LIMITED (limited quality)
- Questyle CMA 12 MASTER
provides 825mW 300Ω; 2W 32Ω

-> YES (100%) - NO (degraded quality) - LIMITED (limited quality)
=======================================================

Thank you so much if someone can give me a sense, a guidance, his experience ?

I can only reply on the CMA with a YES. Can't vouch for the rest

 

[hammondfan]

I can only reply on the CMA with a YES. Can't vouch for the rest

Thank you, Yes I already thought the Questyle would make it thru !
I have more doubts for the 2 others in particular for the Shanling.
That would make my rig globally more enjoyable but less adaptable to a usage in mobility ...
Maybe be for that I should have an extra investment in something like the new Fiio M17 which seems to deliver a lot of power