[jlbrach]

I predict 10 yrs from now susvara will still be at the top of the heap of TOTL HP's

 

[Spawn300Z]

I predict 10 yrs from now susvara will still be at the top of the heap of TOTL HP's

I agree with you. It’s been holding strong.

 

[thecrow]

hello susvara owners. if you had to list the biggest strengths and weaknesses of the headphones, what would they be? what other types of open headphones are closest to the tuning and technicality of the susvara?

Strength - WHEN DRIVEN WELL - Transparency

and i agree with what this guy says re strengths and potential weakness

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-susvara.853031/page-1498#post-17784281

 

[dpeterfy32]

It was written on the local forums that you can barely hear the difference between a well-maintained he 1000 se and a susvara, what can someone who has heard both add?

 

[Spawn300Z]

I have both the HEKSE is not going anywhere. On your average system that can be true. But on a system built for the Susvara you definitely can tell the difference. The Susvara’s just take it to another level. I would say on your average system the HEKSE will get you about 85% to 90% there. Especially if you pair them with some Hybrid cables.

Anyone would be smiling ear to ear with a system built for HEKSE. They are that good and the best bang for the buck in Ear-speakers today especially, since that price drop. They don’t require much power but scale beautifuly.

 

[donato]

It was written on the local forums that you can barely hear the difference between a well-maintained he 1000 se and a susvara, what can someone who has heard both add?

This will be dependent by person and the upstream gear in use. Some will say there is minimal difference and if that's you, then you can save a lot of money. When I first obtained my Susvara and used it on my existing setup (V281 and Spring KTE) I was very impressed (I wanted to write "blown away", but I didn't want to hyperbolize although that is in fact what I felt). I strongly preferred the tonality of the Susvara (HEK SE was a bit bright for me after I had upgraded from HEK V2), as well as the soundstaging, and detail. This with what I would consider it being underpowered with the V281. This sent me, like so many others, down the rabbit hole of building a system around my Susvara. For me, today my setup is a May KTE DAC and Viva Egoista (with all tubes upgraded ) or Dukei CFA3 amp.

 

[briantrinh86]

Most natural headphone that exists (maybe short of HE-1 and Shangri-La Sr), detail monster that isn't forcing anything, lush, musical, always enjoyable. | Extremely hard to get the most out of it (esp. in terms of bass and dynamics), you might prefer other more aggressive sound signatures for certain genres.

HEKSE, HEKv2 (Stealth variants?) probably.

agreed . Best short susvara summary. That’s why i get the abyss ab1266 for complement of it.

 

[jlbrach]

It was written on the local forums that you can barely hear the difference between a well-maintained he 1000 se and a susvara, what can someone who has heard both add?

I had the 1000se and have the susvara...the susvara if driven properly is an obvious step in performance...on the other hand if you cannot properly amp the susvara get the SE

 

[thecrow]

I have both the HEKSE is not going anywhere. On your average system that can be true. But on a system built for the Susvara you definitely can tell the difference. The Susvara’s just take it to another level. I would say on your average system the HEKSE will get you about 85% to 90% there. Especially if you pair them with some Hybrid cables.

Anyone would be smiling ear to ear with a system built for HEKSE. They are that good and the best bang for the buck in Ear-speakers today especially, since that price drop. They don’t require much power but scale beautifuly.

+1

 

[thecrow]

It was written on the local forums that you can barely hear the difference between a well-maintained he 1000 se and a susvara, what can someone who has heard both add?

From my own experiences:

depending on preferences the hekse are very good - excellent. They can shine straight out of an iphone/ipad

with a complete and suitable set up (that will cost a few bucks) the susvara can be magical. They became not just one option, but a benchmark. Don’t think you can do that on a small budget. There’s proof of that on this thread from all others that have tried

nothing new here it’s been said many many many many many many many many many times in this thread by many of us - feel free to have a read

 

[squashi]

It was written on the local forums that you can barely hear the difference between a well-maintained he 1000 se and a susvara, what can someone who has heard both add?

I own both Susvara and HEKSE (AKA HE1000se), and go into detailed comparison on my post here not too long ago

Simply put it depends on:
- are you ok with EQ for HEKSE? If not, vocal tone is a bit worse and it's very treble bright. For most, Susvara is better if you don't want to EQ, but comes down to preferences
- Susvara suffers in bass compared to HEKSE unless u go for at minimum a ~$6k+ amp.
- Straight up, Susvara needs at least a ~$1.5k amp just to catch up with HEKSE overall. Not to mention, HEKSE sounds just as good off of pretty much anything.
- EQ'd HEKSE is slightly behind in technicalities & tone, but Susvara may be worth it if that improvement is worth the price to you, after all this is summit fi
- HEKSE has a bigger stage, but susvara images (places intruments) a bit better


Again please go thru that post, I have written down everything about both headphones in a way that you can easily compare them. But please feel free to ask any additional question!

 

[Ciggavelli]

I predict 10 yrs from now susvara will still be at the top of the heap of TOTL HP's

I think you might be right. These past few years, I'm starting to be convinced that we have reached a plateau with headphone technology. The Raals were the last new advent in technology, but that was several years ago. I really don't know how they can make headphones better, but I keep thinking it has to do with multiple drivers. Though somebody told me that is nearly impossible with full size cans. Apparently it's not as easy as with IEMs.

 

[TheAbyss2022]

I think you might be right. These past few years, I'm starting to be convinced that we have reached a plateau with headphone technology. The Raals were the last new advent in technology, but that was several years ago. I really don't know how they can make headphones better, but I keep thinking it has to do with multiple drivers. Though somebody told me that is nearly impossible with full size cans. Apparently it's not as easy as with IEMs.

Well if you the panicle it would be the HE1.

I have never heard such natural sounding instrumentation timbre with that headphone and that was actually far better than the Susvara in that regard. Acoustic/electric guitars on the HE1 was like literally being in the room with the artist and and hearing them play those guitars right in front of you with no perceived hint it may be a reproduction unlike the Susvara.

We have a long way to go when it comes down to more cost friendly open back headphones compared to the capabilities of headphones like the HE1.

 

[BassicScience]

- Susvara suffers in bass compared to HEKSE unless u go for at minimum a ~$6k+ amp.
- Straight up, Susvara needs at least a ~$1.5k amp just to catch up with HEKSE overall. Not to mention, HEKSE sounds just as good off of pretty much anything.

I have no idea where you're coming up with these figures (especially the first one!), but I guarantee that simply inserting a Purifi/Hypex class D amp into one's current Susvara chain will make it surpass the HEKSE in bass (and overall) performance. These amps can be had for as little as ~$1k nowadays in basic form.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Well if you the panicle it would be the HE1.

I have never heard such natural sounding instrumentation timbre with that headphone and that was actually far better than the Susvara in that regard. Acoustic/electric guitars on the HE1 was like literally being in the room with the artist and and hearing them play those guitars right in front of you with no perceived hint it may be a reproduction unlike the Susvara.

We have a long way to go when it comes down to more cost friendly open back headphones compared to the capabilities of headphones like the HE1.

I really liked the HE-1 when I heard it. I'm not sure it's necessarily better than my TC setup, but I have strongly considered buying the HE-1 recently. There's just something about it that keeps me coming back to it in my mind.