[Leto Dal]

If i wouldnt spend a lot of money in a chain i will look to erzetich charybidis.

Heard those. My advice is to get Caldera instead, a much better headphone, that is very easy to drive too.

 

[walterboss]

Few people get Susvara on first listen. You will be back one day and you will realise your mistake

Yes! It's taken me a week to really get it. It's now at the very peak of my headphones-I'll-never-sell. It took a Feliks Envy to get me there.

Keep telling people about Sus with tubes, everyone. It helps people like me finally get the message.

 

[tamahome77]

Very curious which unknown planar you are talking about hahaa

It's the Roger's hs-90a. Bought it in Tokyo from the designer himself. He runs a store called "soundbase". The timbre and tone is TOTL. It's a hidden gem thats vastly unknown on head-fi. Can possibly find it online somewhere.

 

[jlemaster1957]

You're right ! I actually found an unknown planar to head-fi that has at least similar or better resolution/timbre than the Susvara for less than $2k but just with smaller soundstage. Also much more easier to drive and can be driven from a DAP. So for us average joes, there's hope !

What I suggest is that you at all costs never get the Susvaras on your head. Once you do, there is a better than even chance that you will be mesmerized, tantalized, energized that it has to be in your life and then you will be hooked like the rest of us by its ever increasing charms as you invest more and more into your increasingly expensive chain to drive it. Run away!


(Just kidding - they’ve been worth every dollar- I paid $4k- a transformative audio experience, should be on every audiophile’s bucket list)

 

[jlbrach]

what makes it obvious as to how truly great a HP the susvara is the fact that they are 7 yrs old and still at the top of the pecking order and havent been obviously bested by anything...the Raal series is different and special but in terms of planars after 7 yrs nothing is appreciably better

 

[Sand Dan Glokta]

It's the Roger's hs-90a. Bought it in Tokyo from the designer himself. He runs a store called "soundbase". The timbre and tone is TOTL. It's a hidden gem thats vastly unknown on head-fi. Can possibly find it online somewhere.

They don t look open back. But interesting. Its like mixing planars and dynamics.
Anyway a giant soundstage is a must for me.

 

[Ciggavelli]

I should have the Danacables Voila on loan in a couple of weeks. I’ll directly compare it to my Nirvanas. I’m curious as to what they bring to the table.

 

[jonchard]

Yes! It's taken me a week to really get it. It's now at the very peak of my headphones-I'll-never-sell. It took a Feliks Envy to get me there.

Keep telling people about Sus with tubes, everyone. It helps people like me finally get the message.

I'm utterly stunned by Susvara on tubes. I went both feet in and spanked tons lol! I wouldn't ordinarily get quite so sucked in and obsess quite so much, but songs i listened to for decades on speakers and disliked for being bright, harsh, flat sounding etc, just come ALIVE on tubes with sus. I don't think i have a bad song, even things from the 60's i can always find something to hugely admire, if not the positioning, the recording space, the echos and reflections, the odd sound truly out of the head even from relatively poor stuff. How can tubes polish such poor sounding music and make it lovable? The very best quality recordings tell me about their recording venues ... the poorest recordings become listenable. Bright and harsh becomes palatable. Sounds that used to blur into the mix stand out and come from an inky blackness.... that's another tube trait that becomes very hard to explain until you experience it! There's no left and right anymore ... it becomes a space for instruments to play with pin point precision with height, depth and palpability. And a tonality that never makes me question the instrument im hearing. Bloody love it! Its incredible.

 

[Sand Dan Glokta]

They don t look open back.

I'm utterly stunned by Susvara on tubes. I went both feet in and spanked tons lol! I wouldn't ordinarily get quite so sucked in and obsess quite so much, but songs i listened to for decades on speakers and disliked for being bright, harsh, flat sounding etc, just come ALIVE on tubes with sus. I don't think i have a bad song, even things from the 60's i can always find something to hugely admire, if not the positioning, the recording space, the echos and reflections, the odd sound truly out of the head even from relatively poor stuff. How can tubes polish such poor sounding music and make it lovable? The very best quality recordings tell me about their recording venues ... the poorest recordings become listenable. Bright and harsh becomes palatable. Sounds that used to blur into the mix stand out and come from an inky blackness.... that's another tube trait that becomes very hard to explain until you experience it! There's no left and right anymore ... it becomes a space for instruments to play with pin point precision with height, depth and palpability. And a tonality that never makes me question the instrument im hearing. Bloody love it! Its incredible.

I have a bit of this even with my 70$ tube buffer between dac and amp. Definitely, im gonna buy the envy.

 

[jonchard]

They don t look open back. But interesting. Its like mixing planars and dynamics.
Anyway a giant soundstage is a must for me.

Im going to stick my head out here.... I wont buy another closed back headphone. Its a pointless exercise in sounding wrong. As much as my open Susvaras annoy everyone around me, there is NO sound like an open back. I have heard enough close backs claiming to sound open .. they just don't. Its clearly brought home by lifting your hands within 2ft of the susvaras .. the chance in sound kills it dead. Put your hands within 12" and they sounds like closed backs! Its uncanny and something i won't ever go back to.

Who else occaisionaly puts their hands into the sound path?

 

[chrisnyc75]

I would imagine the price will be stable until something, esp another Hifiman, can replace it.

Even then I think it will stay high. Excellence doesn't really age. Look at Utopia - OG was $4k msrp, ~$2.5K pre-owned before the Nutopia in '22, and now still ~$2K even though there's a newer revision out.

Similar to Utopia, I don't think there's much Hifiman can do to improve Susvara except maybe to make it more sensitive, but I think if that was possible without sacrificing Sus's particular magic they would have done it a long time ago.

2k?...I suggest you buy a different HP...

At $2K you've got Tungsten or a pre-owned Utopia, both excellent choices that are in that same "rare air" as Susvara. But yeah, I don't see Sus dropping that low ever.

the Raal series is different and special but in terms of planars after 7 yrs nothing is appreciably better

Based on my listen at CanJam, the new Raal Immanis may put even the best e-stats in the world to shame. But I would wager Susvara's low end & "weight" are still better. Just depends what you index for / value, and how deep your pockets are.

 

[szore]

Im going to stick my head out here.... I wont buy another closed back headphone. Its a pointless exercise in sounding wrong. As much as my open Susvaras annoy everyone around me, there is NO sound like an open back. I have heard enough close backs claiming to sound open .. they just don't. Its clearly brought home by lifting your hands within 2ft of the susvaras .. the chance in sound kills it dead. Put your hands within 12" and they sounds like closed backs! Its uncanny and something i won't ever go back to.

Who else occaisionaly puts their hands into the sound path?

Dan Clark's Stealth soundstage was rather decent...

 

[szore]

Just lurking in this thread reading about how rich people spend their hard earned money...

 

[jlbrach]

Even then I think it will stay high. Excellence doesn't really age. Look at Utopia - OG was $4k msrp, ~$2.5K pre-owned before the Nutopia in '22, and now still ~$2K even though there's a newer revision out.

Similar to Utopia, I don't think there's much Hifiman can do to improve Susvara except maybe to make it more sensitive, but I think if that was possible without sacrificing Sus's particular magic they would have done it a long time ago.


At $2K you've got Tungsten or a pre-owned Utopia, both excellent choices that are in that same "rare air" as Susvara. But yeah, I don't see Sus dropping that low ever.


Based on my listen at CanJam, the new Raal Immanis may put even the best e-stats in the world to shame. But I would wager Susvara's low end & "weight" are still better. Just depends what you index for / value, and how deep your pockets are.

I heard the immanis at canjam and it might just be better than the susvara but I cant make that judgment based on a noisy environment and songs I dont normally listen to...I love my susvara and am listening right now lol

 

[chrisnyc75]

I heard the immanis at canjam and it might just be better than the susvara but I cant make that judgment based on a noisy environment and songs I dont normally listen to...I love my susvara and am listening right now lol