[BassicScience]

So far, the Susvara hasn't given me unequivocal reason to keep it.

It has something of a reference tuning with a bit of warmth, and won't be to everyone's taste. I'd recommend giving it a bit more time before selling it, but you may simply prefer a different sound. BTW, if you have access to a tube preamp, I'd strongly recommend giving that an audition in your chain.

 

[devilboy]

It has something of a reference tuning with a bit of warmth, and won't be to everyone's taste. I'd recommend giving it a bit more time before selling it, but you may simply prefer a different sound. BTW, if you have access to a tube preamp, I'd strongly recommend giving that an audition in your chain.

Thanks for the advice.
In the Susvara's defense, it only has about 40 hours on it.

 

[Slim1970]

Funny you say that because so far, on either amplifier, the Susvara haven't given me better, more emotionally engaging sound than my HE 1000se.
While I see the appeal of the Susvara's sound, I'm STONGLY considering selling the Susvara and keeping the 1000se.

I know it may not be a popular decision, but I sold my Susvara's and somehow I feel happier. It's a good feeling not to be worrying about if I'm getting the most out of my headphoness compared to just listening and enjoying the music.

 

[devilboy]

I know it may not be a popular decision, but I sold my Susvara's and somehow I feel happier. It's a good feeling not to be worrying about if I'm getting the most out of my headphoness compared to just listening and enjoying the music.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[EMINENT]

Good Lord...I don't know what the hell to believe anymore.
This guy says do not use an amp or drivers may fail. That guy says an amplifier is the only way to go.
For the love of God, I'm losing my mind.

I've driven my Susvara with both a Luxman p-750u headphone amp and a Hegel H120 integrated from the speaker taps and frankly every moment of listening has only made me nervous. Every time I increase the volume I'm wondering if this is the moment when my $6,000 headphone takes a crap. Or, if the material is too bass heavy, etc.

So is buying a $5,500 Bakoon or Enleum the only way I'm gonna sleep at night?

This headphone has given me more worry than pleasure so far.

Go ahead... Send the comments of me overreacting. I'm ready.

I don't envy your position and I am quite relieved to hear I don't have to deal with it on my mediocre setup.

Good luck.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Good Lord...I don't know what the hell to believe anymore.
This guy says do not use an amp or drivers may fail. That guy says an amplifier is the only way to go.
For the love of God, I'm losing my mind.

I've driven my Susvara with both a Luxman p-750u headphone amp and a Hegel H120 integrated from the speaker taps and frankly every moment of listening has only made me nervous. Every time I increase the volume I'm wondering if this is the moment when my $6,000 headphone takes a crap. Or, if the material is too bass heavy, etc.

So is buying a $5,500 Bakoon or Enleum the only way I'm gonna sleep at night?

This headphone has given me more worry than pleasure so far.

Go ahead... Send the comments of me overreacting. I'm ready.

Sell your Luxman p-750u and Hegel H120 and any headphones you don't need / listen to very often.

Then buy the EF1000 and listen to your Susvara's and be in music nirvana (assuming you have a good to excellent source) and any future upgrading (for an amp and headphone) is gone.

 

[BassicScience]

Sell your Luxman p-750u and Hegel H120 and any headphones you don't need / listen to very often.

Then buy the EF1000 and listen to your Susvara's and be in music nirvana (assuming you have a good to excellent source) and any future upgrading (for an amp and headphone) is gone.

I wouldn't recommend anyone spend $15k on amplification before they're quite certain they're committed to the headphone itself. There are far less expensive ways to hear most of what the Susvara can offer. Also, as much as you and I love the Susvara, it's clearly not everyone's ideal headphone.

 

[number1sixerfan]

This is just getting so ridiculously blown out of proportion and I definitely relate to the earlier post in this thread talking about how much of an amp thread this has become smh.

The Susvara sounds amazing out of a $1500 GSX Mini. When I experimented, speaker amps got the last 5-10% out of the Susvara.. particularly on the bass side of things out of a SS amp. That said there are PLENTY of amps that will get the most or nearly the most out of the Susvara. This thread is proof of that, if anything.

Thanks for the advice.
In the Susvara's defense, it only has about 40 hours on it.

I agree with this advice. The Susvara is notorious for not having a specific wow factor. I would give it a month at least, the actual wow factor is how well it does with nearly every aspect of the music. If that doesn't resonate by then, sell it. But plenty of people have had the same experience and eventually kept them.

 

[knorris908]

Okay, I've officially lost my Susvaras... While my wife has been "tolerant" of my getting them, she would sort of side-eye me whenever she saw them, probably thinking, "We could've done "X" with all that money!" Well last evening we watched a movie about Aretha Franklin (Her birthday month, we HAVE to blindly go along with the birthday person's requests for the month.) And afterwards she wanted to listen to one of Aretha's songs. So I fired-up the downstairs audio rig and placed the Susvaras on her head. She started BAWLING! A "few songs" turned into a 6-hour, until 2 into morning listening session of everything from Pink Floyd to The Doobie Brothers to Peter Gabriel. Her defining statements: "I can hear COLORS in this song!", "This has ruined music for me, I'm RUINED!!", "Oh my god, I've been listening to CRAP!!!". I had to downgrade her to the HE6 v2s, because she started listening to songs that made her want to dance, and couldn't grasp that THESE aren't headphones for THAT, HE6s fall off your head and break, I can have a new set by Wednesday. These aren't replaceable like that... Her exact words: "Oh, now these are GOOD, but these aren't as 3-dimensional as those. (Susvaras) Let's go back to THOSE!"

Second clincher: She heard the difference between well-mastered audio and poorly, and didn't know why "This sounds WRONG!"

Third clincher: The HK sounded BIGGER to her, but not as clear and precise as the Burson Soloist 3XP directly.

So now I've lost my exclusive listening rig. (The horror!). I have a new audiophile neophyte to experience things with all over again!

 

[devilboy]

Okay, I've officially lost my Susvaras... While my wife has been "tolerant" of my getting them, she would sort of side-eye me whenever she saw them, probably thinking, "We could've done "X" with all that money!" Well last evening we watched a movie about Aretha Franklin (Her birthday month, we HAVE to blindly go along with the birthday person's requests for the month.) And afterwards she wanted to listen to one of Aretha's songs. So I fired-up the downstairs audio rig and placed the Susvaras on her head. She started BAWLING! A "few songs" turned into a 6-hour, until 2 into morning listening session of everything from Pink Floyd to The Doobie Brothers to Peter Gabriel. Her defining statements: "I can hear COLORS in this song!", "This has ruined music for me, I'm RUINED!!", "Oh my god, I've been listening to CRAP!!!". I had to downgrade her to the HE6 v2s, because she started listening to songs that made her want to dance, and couldn't grasp that THESE aren't headphones for THAT, HE6s fall off your head and break, I can have a new set by Wednesday. These aren't replaceable like that... Her exact words: "Oh, now these are GOOD, but these aren't as 3-dimensional as those. (Susvaras) Let's go back to THOSE!"

Second clincher: She heard the difference between well-mastered audio and poorly, and didn't know why "This sounds WRONG!"

Third clincher: The HK sounded BIGGER to her, but not as clear and precise as the Burson Soloist 3XP directly.

So now I've lost my exclusive listening rig. (The horror!). I have a new audiophile neophyte to experience things with all over again!

My HE 1000se are vastly more three-dimensional than my Susvara. The Susvara sound TWO dimensional in comparison. Everything is immediate right and immediate left. The spaciousness, the air, the ambiance, everything is inferior to what I'm hearing on the 1000se. It's to the point where I'm wondering what the hell all the hype is about in relation to the many hours of reviews I've read and videos I've watched.

And with that, I'm sure I have become the least favorite Susvara owner on this thread.

 

[BassicScience]

My HE 1000se are vastly more three-dimensional than my Susvara. The Susvara sound TWO dimensional in comparison. Everything is immediate right and immediate left. The spaciousness, the air, the ambiance, everything is inferior to what I'm hearing on the 1000se. It's to the point where I'm wondering what the hell all the hype is about in relation to the many hours of reviews I've read and videos I've watched.

And with that, I'm sure I have become the least favorite Susvara owner on this thread.

Honestly, it sounds like something is amiss, although I have no idea what that might be. The Susvara should not sound two-dimensional.

 

[silversurfer616]

Susvara has a mind of it’s own and doesn’t embrace everyone. You have to show loyalty before it rewards you. In my case, it took 5 weeks and then I didn’t listen to any other headphone.
Have both the HEKse and Susvara and the latter is just a different league.

 

[thecrow]

@devilboy you may have noticed some people here regularly vouching for the enleum or the ef1000.

i’m confident they are solid options but i have never heard them myself

personally after reading project86’s review of the niimbus us4 i decided to buy that amp blind and soon after i bought the susvaras. I haven’t looked back since. All i’ve done is look at upgrading my dac.

i (for) now have no reason to worry about another solid state amp

In a nutshell the niimbus drives the susvara with no issue. I would describe it as pretty much a reference amp, great detail and nuance, with a touch of texture to the sound right across the spectrum

definitely not bright and not warm as such.

and goes well with utopia and hekse which i ended up selling due to the susvaras


IMHO with a solid amp that drives the susvaras well, and fits your preferences well, the susvaras will sit between very good to magical depending on what i am listening to

all the best

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/rev...ge-high-end-amp-roundup.886668/#post-14426259

 

[Tachyon88]

Funny you say that because so far, on either amplifier, the Susvara haven't given me better, more emotionally engaging sound than my HE 1000se.
While I see the appeal of the Susvara's sound, I'm STONGLY considering selling the Susvara and keeping the 1000se.

This is how I feel about my arya and I know for sure those are getting driven just fine and on my same peasant amp. I don't feel like I am being starved in any frequency and have plenty of room for volume even with my EQ. It can do 1.4amps of current, HPA4 does 1.5amp. In fact I spend a lot of time in medium gain. So going by ear with headphones that are far more efficient, whether it be a planar or DD, that is what I'm comparing the susvara to. I think the bass is comparable to other normal headphone that produce good bass. I really don't understand the price spread between the two, other than why not ? An inefficient headphone with an absurd price tag has created lore around it, in which takes time to appreciate even from people with their "Ferrari" speaker amps.

 

[801evan]

My HE 1000se are vastly more three-dimensional than my Susvara. The Susvara sound TWO dimensional in comparison. Everything is immediate right and immediate left. The spaciousness, the air, the ambiance, everything is inferior to what I'm hearing on the 1000se. It's to the point where I'm wondering what the hell all the hype is about in relation to the many hours of reviews I've read and videos I've watched.

And with that, I'm sure I have become the least favorite Susvara owner on this thread.

Simply because it's not an amp factor. It's a transport, signal chain and ac mains factor. Improve those, and you can afford to get a smaller amp and make it sound much better.