[trollbearpig]

Just found an interesting thread of Topping A90D vs the benchmark speaker amp AHB2 reportedly sounding identical

 

[draytonklammer]

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE'S VIEWS ON THIS HOBBY

Just found an interesting thread of Topping A90D vs the benchmark speaker amp AHB2 reportedly sounding identical

They absolutely do sound identical. I could own anything I wanted in the $xx,xxx range, yet I sold everything but my LA90D, AHB2, and A70 Pro.
To be fair, I do prefer to spend funds on my two-channel setups, though.
The transducer and driver enclosures/ear pads are what present tuned sound waves to your ear, not the other way around.

I'm not saying both amplifiers are the same, but both have a fair amount of current and power on tap.
Obviously, the speaker amp has more current and power, along with lower distortion figures, and greater stability, leading to its edge.
It sure as heck isn't night and day though. Your gear isn't going to turn a Susvara into a Utopia. It won't turn a Susvara into a Shang. Etc.

I do tend to prefer the LA90D over the A70 Pro/A90D, though.

Compared to my AHB2? I could take this or the LA90D. AHB2 is built better, which is a large plus.
To be fair, though, I would be offended if it weren't built better, given the price is many times higher.

 

[trollbearpig]

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE'S VIEWS ON THIS HOBBY

They absolutely do sound identical. I could own anything I want in the $xxx,xxx range, yet I sold everything but my LA90D, AHB2, and A70 Pro.
The transducer and driver enclosures/ear pads are what's presenting tuned sound waves to your ear, not the other way around.

I'm not saying both amplifiers are the same, but both have a fair amount of current and power on tap.
Obviously, the speaker amp has more current and power, along with lower distortion figures, and greater stability, leading to its edge.
It sure as heck isn't night and day though. Your gear isn't going to turn a Susvara into a Utopia. It won't turn a Susvara into a Shang. Etc.

I do tend to prefer the LA90D over the A70 Pro/A90D, though.

Compared to my AHB2? I could take this or the LA90D. AHB2 is built better, which is a large plus.
To be fair, though, I would be offended if it weren't built better, given the price is many times higher.

What makes you prefer the LA90 over the A90D? Im thinking to get the LA90 on demo to compare the two, really curious if ill see a difference or not

 

[draytonklammer]

What makes you prefer the LA90 over the A90D? Im thinking to get the LA90 on demo to compare the two, really curious if ill see a difference or not

Distortion, dynamic range, and power figures are fairly similar, albeit still improved on the LA90D.
The LA90D has a greater current capacity, as well.
I'm also a fan of the separated power supply of the LA90D.
Frankly, their pricing is so similar that I would find it silly not to run something like a Susvara from the LA90D instead.

This isn't to say the LA90D is perfect.
Again, reliability is of great concern to me, as compared to my AHB2.
I'm really hoping for an eventual AHB3 that takes it up a notch in every way.
The AHB2 amazes me because it launched approximately a decade ago and still competes at the highest end.

TLDR -- The LA90D is a higher-capacity power amplifier with better overall performance than the A90D.
Can I hear this? Eh, it's hard to say. Probably a little bit, maybe, but it's not life-changing.
I just feel better having an extreme level of performance headroom.
Being able to run my LA90D at low gain and still have plenty of volume to go is wonderful.

 

[theveterans]

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE'S VIEWS ON THIS HOBBY

They absolutely do sound identical. I could own anything I wanted in the $xx,xxx range, yet I sold everything but my LA90D, AHB2, and A70 Pro.
To be fair, I do prefer to spend funds on my two-channel setups, though.
The transducer and driver enclosures/ear pads are what present tuned sound waves to your ear, not the other way around.

I'm not saying both amplifiers are the same, but both have a fair amount of current and power on tap.
Obviously, the speaker amp has more current and power, along with lower distortion figures, and greater stability, leading to its edge.
It sure as heck isn't night and day though. Your gear isn't going to turn a Susvara into a Utopia. It won't turn a Susvara into a Shang. Etc.

I do tend to prefer the LA90D over the A70 Pro/A90D, though.

Compared to my AHB2? I could take this or the LA90D. AHB2 is built better, which is a large plus.
To be fair, though, I would be offended if it weren't built better, given the price is many times higher.

I wouldn't expect pure SS amps to differ that much when Susvara is properly powered. Tubes OTOH offers a different Susvara experience for sure

 

[draytonklammer]

I wouldn't expect pure SS amps to differ that much when Susvara is properly powered. Tubes OTOH offers a different Susvara experience for sure

I would agree with what you posted.
The few higher-end tube amps I have run Susvara on were nice, but I tend to prefer SS.

 

[Cirrus Socrates Particl]

..the Susvara sounds already with one much better then Bliss, I used it for a few month. I had the second amp for my speakers, but used them not anymore. So I decided to test the Susvara with this two - it sounds better

Thanks for your response!
I'm looking for an amp for Susvara. Tube, solid state, or speaker amp, I'm still thinking about which path I take. So thank you for all the feedback.

 

[theveterans]

Start with speaker amps first. Easiest path to Audio Nirvana

 

[trollbearpig]

Start with speaker amps first. Easiest path to Audio Nirvana

Will any speaker amp do? I have a NAD m10 I can test this with to compare with my Topping stack

 

[Spawn300Z]

That should be a good start. Should definitely see a difference from toppings.

 

[newToAudio100]

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE'S VIEWS ON THIS HOBBY

They absolutely do sound identical. I could own anything I wanted in the $xx,xxx range, yet I sold everything but my LA90D, AHB2, and A70 Pro.
To be fair, I do prefer to spend funds on my two-channel setups, though.
The transducer and driver enclosures/ear pads are what present tuned sound waves to your ear, not the other way around.

I'm not saying both amplifiers are the same, but both have a fair amount of current and power on tap.
Obviously, the speaker amp has more current and power, along with lower distortion figures, and greater stability, leading to its edge.
It sure as heck isn't night and day though. Your gear isn't going to turn a Susvara into a Utopia. It won't turn a Susvara into a Shang. Etc.

I do tend to prefer the LA90D over the A70 Pro/A90D, though.

Compared to my AHB2? I could take this or the LA90D. AHB2 is built better, which is a large plus.
To be fair, though, I would be offended if it weren't built better, given the price is many times higher.

Maybe the differences are close between those amps. The differences between amps are clearly audible for me with my experiences using different gear. Currently have Niimbus and MJ3. Niimbus is crystal clear, more detail and separation. Mj3 has slightly longer decay, and warmth. Bliss kte also sounded different than both of these.

 

[draytonklammer]

Maybe the differences are close between those amps. The differences between amps are clearly audible for me with my experiences using different gear. Currently have Niimbus and MJ3. Niimbus is crystal clear, more detail and separation. Mj3 has slightly longer decay, and warmth. Bliss kte also sounded different than both of these.

I'm not suggesting that a difference between amplifiers doesn't exist, nor am I suggesting that the difference is only close between these two amplifiers, either.
Merely, that in a double-blind test between competently designed amplifiers (meant to be amplifiers, not equalizers) I would reckon that it would be a partial guessing game.
Additionally, I am not saying that you can't enjoy other "flavors" of amplifiers, DACs, or other equipment.
Part of the fun in our hobby is being able to mix and match to create an experience that you enjoy.

That being said:
More money does not always equal mo better.
In fact, I am finding that in 2023, it usually means more jewelry, as opposed to better performance.
Competition has been very positive for this hobby and the market as a whole, though.
The gear to drive Susvara to a high level costs a mere fraction of what it did a few years ago. This should be seen as a good thing.

 

[Terco]

Thanks for your response!
I'm looking for an amp for Susvara. Tube, solid state, or speaker amp, I'm still thinking about which path I take. So thank you for all the feedback.

These two are the best I ever heard the Susvara, the Enleum 23R is an amazing combo and perfect synergy with the Susvara, I feel the Enleum HPA-23RM is 90% what the big brother can do with the Susvara, so I move the 23R to my living room to use it with my Klipsch Forte IV and I can't be more happy, sometimes I bring my Susvara to the living room for that extra 10% .

I've been seeing a lot of reviews about the amp, some people find a problem on the midrange but I personally can't complain anything about the sound, I love it, maybe sometimes I feel is overpowering my other headphones (Focal Clear MG Pro and Audeze MX4) and that is probably not a good pairing but for Susvara and Speakers this amp is so enjoyable and satisfying especially in bass, I'm in peace.

My 2 cents .

 

[theveterans]

I've been playing around with how weak of tube I can go with Susvara without causing the tube to go overdrive. I'm currently using roughly 1-2 watts triode strapped KT66 SET headphone amp with solid state rectification. I increased the gain with 6SL7 tube rather than the default 6SN7 tube. So far the amp is handling the Susvara at 90+ dB SPL without clipping or going overdrive. This power output is less than Schiit Mjolnir 3 but with benefit of that KT66 midrange magic tube presentation. So far so good, but if I crank up the volume close to max about ~100 dB SPL, I can get the amp to soft clip followed by hard clipping after a minute or two.

 

[Roybenz]

@ 12 and 18 minutes in