[Pashmeister]

I went out for a nice Saturday stroll and listen to a few amplifiers which include Wa33, DCS Lina stack, LTA Z10e and Cayin HA-300b Mk2.

DCS Lina stack is brilliant. But for me, not for that price. Price: Performance makes it my least favorite from today.

Everyone knows WA33 is very good. But I didn’t know about the LTA Z10e and it’s the first time I got introduced to the brand. The LTA’s overall sound is my favorite from today and it’s
so versatile too. It’s quite chunky, and is a bit ugly, but the sound is one of the best I heard the Susvara.

The HA300b Mk2 is also something I really liked especially considering it’s the least expensive of the bunch (and I think we have the advantage in Asia in being able to get it cheaper than someone from EU or US). Price: Performance, it’s my 2nd favorite today.

Now I’m just waiting to finally hear the CFA-3

 

[Articnoise]

Loudness = quality / more watts = better. It's more involved than these surface generalizations that Head-Fi'ers simply don't understand.

No no it's the opposite that loudness is used by people as a proof of that their amp can drive Susvara at its best. I am pretty sure that most Head-fi'ers that have top headphones like the Susvara know that power is only one basic factor for selecting a good amp for driving very hard to drive headphones like HE6 and Susvara.

I have bean promotion "it's more to a good amp than power" many many times.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audio-gd-master-9.692232/page-94#post-13582220

 

[Articnoise]

Speaking of transparency like the AHB2, I have also moved from a warmer SS rig Ferrum OOR to SoulNote A2 integrated amp with discrete ladder relay volume control, instead of a typical volume pot or digital volume. This speaker amp is extremely transparent and fast. Perfect volume matching due to discrete relay components.

Yes, when everything falls into place, no extra (fill in the blanks) is needed IMO.

 

[TDHEAD]

I have been listening to both the AB 1266 and Susvara and your review is spot on. I find IMO Its almost impossible to definitely choose between these two if I had to choose one.......whichever I would choose I would be looking to hear the other after a while. I have the DCS Lina which drives both wonderfully. However I had a Bartok with the HP amp and the Susvara sounded flat. So for sure the Susvara is one of the toughest out there to drive so make sure you hear them with your set up or you may be disappointed to find you need more AMP. Interestingly on paper the Lina AMP great in its own for sure is no power monster. I guess its the entire LINA 3 piece package that makes it work. I can get Susvara up to 1 o'clock before its too loud with all that headroom left. Im just not a fan of the Susvara built quality at their price point. It may be ok overall but IMO it should be way better than just ok. The AB 1266 build gives me the impression that somewhere in the far distant Sci-Fi future someone will find a pair of AB 1266 on the bottom of a rubble pile still in tact and ready to go......its that good a build

 

[Somatic]

Ferrum Hypsos OOR stack, not much amp out there can give such a slam on Susvara. Without missing any detail

I felt I was able to get more slam, definition with the AHB2. Bass sounded a bit less detailed on the Oor.

 

[Somatic]

The ahb2 has a bigger soundstage both width and depth but I find the OOR more musical and prefer the overall tone of it for every heapdhone I've tried.

Oor is more musical but did you find some of the Susvara air/sparkle to have been lost in the darker presentation? It’s sounds nice but less technical or clinical could be another word.

 

[DJJEZ]

Oor is more musical but did you find some of the Susvara air/sparkle to have been lost in the darker presentation? It’s sounds nice but less technical or clinical could be another word.

Yes some people are definitely not gonna like the additional warmth the oor and hypsos has over something like AHB2. Its very headphone dependant as well. Just shows you how important synergy is and boils down to personal preference.

 

[iFi audio]

For a second there I really thought that I was looking at some oddly shaped two-box amp, but no

 

[sahmen]

An FYI for those who think it needs "mo powa," (in the non-discriminating sense). This is one you might want to read about since the Susvara and the He6SE v1 & 2 share the same specs of inefficiency.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-he6-se.886229/page-216#post-17103701

Full disclosure: I personally won't do or even think it, since I would automatically and instinctively file such experiments under the "don't-try-this-at-home Mad scientist tinkering" category. But I've got to salute and give much props to the intrepid casualness with which the poster approaches this particular experimentation...if only for the contribution he has made to the hobby via his efforts, knowingly or unknowingly

 

[Somatic]

An FYI for those who think it needs "mo powa," (in the non-discriminating sense). This is one you might want to read about since the Susvara and the He6SE v1 & 2 share the same specs of inefficiency.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-he6-se.886229/page-216#post-17103701

Full disclosure: I personally won't do or even think it, since I would automatically and instinctively file such experiments under the "Mad scientist don't-do-this-at-home tinkering" category. But I've got to salute and give much props to the intrepid casualness with which the poster approaches this particular experimentation...if only for the contribution he has made to the hobby via his efforts

You mean the guy that is adding massive EQ in the sub bass frequencies. I fried my left driver on my old pair of Susvaras because of this. Won’t do that again. Speaker amp and ridiculous low bass shelf will fry the drivers. Learned from experience

 

[goldwerger]

An FYI for those who think it needs "mo powa," (in the non-discriminating sense). This is one you might want to read about since the Susvara and the He6SE v1 & 2 share the same specs of inefficiency.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-he6-se.886229/page-216#post-17103701

Full disclosure: I personally won't do or even think it, since I would automatically and instinctively file such experiments under the "Mad scientist don't-do-this-at-home tinkering" category. But I've got to salute and give much props to the intrepid casualness with which the poster approaches this particular experimentation...if only for the contribution he has made to the hobby via his efforts, knowingly or unknowingly

+27dB at the inaudible 10Hz range... I hope he's not runnnig similar experiments with his doig at 40kHz...

 

[OCC7N]

You mean the guy that is adding massive EQ in the sub bass frequencies. I fried my left driver on my old pair of Susvaras because of this. Won’t do that again. Speaker amp and ridiculous low bass shelf will fry the drivers. Learned from experience

You fried them while using a poweramp or just normal headphone amp?

 

[superjohny]

You fried them while using a poweramp or just normal headphone amp?

i am double amping dap hp out to 150w mono at 8ohms, interestingly, i even have to turn knob to 70/100 on dap to get normal listening level. which at 70 is defintely louder than lineout level on the dap. which made me delieve dap lineout to this mono straight to susvara would be fine. so i dunno what on earth ppl r doing to fry the susy driver?

 

[chargedcapacitor]

+27dB at the inaudible 10Hz range... I hope he's not runnnig similar experiments with his doig at 40kHz...

Might be inaudible, but some audio does have energy around 15hz. So depending on his Q factor, the amplitude at 15hz might be + 15-20db. To a transducer, that might as well be DC. That kind of DC power would easily melt the trace, killing the driver (assuming that he's using a speaker amp, and his general volume is set at 85db, making the sub bass an insane~105db).

There's hardly any audio at 40khz for multiple reasons, but besides that the frequency vs power curve makes the energy deposited into the planar trace miniscule. So no issue or outcome with raising the amplitude at that frequency.

 

[goldwerger]

+27 dB is like cracking up to massive volume, but at 10 Hz it's below hearing threshold. but the physics are the same. it's like cracking up your volume to max on speakers. it's irresponsible

people also stick their fingers into outlets because they're curious. you could die form electric shock, but that doesn't make outlets dangerous. but there's not cure for racklessness...