[dleblanc343]

Can’t wait for someone (with deep wallets) to compare the Dan Clark Stealth, Meze Elite and the Audeze CRBN!

I will hopefully have all 3 by October and compare to Susvara, LCD-R, HE60, LCD4, Utopia, D8000 Pro, ADX5000, HD800 & HE6 OG.

Expecting greatness from CRBN, but worried about E-stat timbre.


Cheers,

 

[ThanatosVI]

I will hopefully have all 3 by October and compare to Susvara, LCD-R, HE60, LCD4, Utopia, D8000 Pro, ADX5000, HD800 & HE6 OG.

Expecting greatness from CRBN, but worried about E-stat timbre.


Cheers,

I'm especially interested in Elite vs D8000 Pro and LCD-R vs CRBN

 

[betula]

I will hopefully have all 3 by October and compare to Susvara, LCD-R, HE60, LCD4, Utopia, D8000 Pro, ADX5000, HD800 & HE6 OG.

Expecting greatness from CRBN, but worried about E-stat timbre.


Cheers,

That sounds like headphone heaven there.

 

[Ichos]

Those of you who own the OG Empyrean, the new ELITE and Susvara, what's your opinion on the Elite in terms of strength of Susvara over the OG Empy? From my ~1 month experience with the Susvara, the dynamics, detail retrieval, clarity and bass quality (obviously not the quantity) seems better on it in many songs (not all). Is the Elite really close to an "underpowered" Susvara with sub 800$ Amp? One of the best characteristics of Empyrean was how amazing it sounded even on a Dap with 500-600 mW power.

Btw I own both the OG Empy and susvara. Currently I am running the Susvara with A90 only. i am kinda confused whether I should save up for pricey amp for the Hifiman or just get a budget amp like Cayin iha 6 (which sounds noticeably better than A90) and get thr elite next year.

As @driftingbunnies has correctly pointed the logical answer is that since you already own the Susvara to invest in a better amp for them.
Unless you need to simplify your chain and sell everything and be done with Elite and let's say a DX300 with AMP12.

Regarding the IHA6 , I have reviewed it and found it treble forward, a touch bright.

I would suggest to try something like the Flux Labs FA-10.

 

[JM45]

Unfortunately only you can really answer this question. It depends on what you're looking for. Are you planning to get something better in the future? Are you hoping to be finished with audio gear soon? Are you the type that is curious about what can be better?

If you want to build a long term chain, Susvara will be a good headphone to use if you will invest in your front end gear. If you'd rather be done, maybe Elite would be a good option with less expensive front end gear. However, it won't match the level of Susvara with a better source/amplifier. There's definitely a lot of amplifiers better than the A90 for the Susvara so there's still a good amount of potential left there. I'm also assuming there should be some potential left on the table with your DAC as well.

Personally, I would opt to sell OG Empyrean and invest that money in a better amplifier and/or DAC than go for Elite since you already have Susvara. I don't think the Elite brings anything better or different enough from the Susvara.

Well, the OG empyrean is still my most favorite HP. You know the soft corner lol. Specially in Metal Genre, it sounds too good imo without ANY FATIGUE with the Alcantara pad and the Meze upgraded silver plated copper cable. As I have spent quite a lot in both of the upgraded cables of Meze, I won't sell it but I also want to try out something new. It doesn't have to be necessarily better. And if it's not superior, it should offer something different than the OG Empyrean and susvara by keeping the extreme comfort of these cans.

I am just curious if I will be able to distinguish the difference in my underpowered susvara vs a susvara with 1500-1600$ Amp-Dac stack "instantly"? I was able to do so when I upgraded from Arya & Focal Clear to Empyrean last year. Also, how does R2R dacs perform with the Susvara? I have 4 purchase options for Dacs(Sorry extremely limited in my country due to availability only 1 Good Audio Store): Cayin iDac 6 MK2, Topping D70S, D90SE and Dena Frips Ares II

I think a better amp to pair with Susvara should bring more in your case. Indeed I found Susvara and OG Empy is very good complement to each other, while the former brings crazy details, soundstage, dynamics and micro-details and the latter give unparalleled musicality, smoothness and foot tapping sound.

Just got the D8000 as well and the quality and quantity of bass, details and dynamics are amazing. But as a whole, Susvara is still noticeable better, providing that it is properly driven.

By foot tapping sound, do you mean the sound of kick-drum and similar stuff? IMO the sound of kickdrums is so much better on the Empyrean (Alcantara pad and the upgraded meze silver plated copper cable). When I upgraded from Hifiman Arya and Focal Clear to the Meze, I was shocked to hear the improvement in the dynamics and extended bass + treble both but the susvara is even better. If I could include the smoothness and bass quantity of the OG Empyrean into the Susvara, it could have been perfect. But we all know that's not possible.

Also, that's a really nice setup. Unfortunately I can't spend more than 800$ behind the amp for susvara. Any suggestions besides the Topping, SingXer stuff?

I would second this, the IHA-6 was indistinguishable to an NCore 252mp speaker amp. At least for my ear, that is. But for the price it is certainly a good place to start.

There is a Kinky amp for sale in the classifieds, I hear that amp has a lot of power. Might want to read up on that and consider it as well.

Actually I have listened to the Susvara on the said cayin Amp and Topping D70S (AKM 4497 based) in the audio store from where I purchased it. It was definitely better than my current setup. Dx7 pro (Dac) + A90. I can't find any amp under 800$ that offers more power than the Cayin without being overly analytical/transparent/clean like the Topping A90. For some reason, I hated how meh the A90 makes even my old Empyrean sound at anything over Low gain. Even the IFI idsd Signature makes the Empyrean OG sound soo much better. On Susvara, the case is quite different with the A90 but still the Cayin sounded better.

As @driftingbunnies has correctly pointed the logical answer is that since you already own the Susvara to invest in a better amp for them.
Unless you need to simplify your chain and sell everything and be done with Elite and let's say a DX300 with AMP12.

Regarding the IHA6 , I have reviewed it and found it treble forward, a touch bright.

I would suggest to try something like the Flux Labs FA-10.

Well, I have demoed the Cayin as I mentioned in my previous comment but the DAC was D70s from topping. It was certainly warmer sounding than my current topping A90 chain. The topping sounds decent with Susvara but meh with Empyrean OG. So I want to get rid of it with a equally powerful and slightly warm amp. I will also look into the Flux Labs FA-10 later. Thanks

 

[ThanatosVI]

Well, I have demoed the Cayin as I mentioned in my previous comment but the DAC was D70s from topping. It was certainly warmer sounding than my current topping A90 chain. The topping sounds decent with Susvara but meh with Empyrean OG. So I want to get rid of it with a equally powerful and slightly warm amp. I will also look into the Flux Labs FA-10 later. Thanks

The Flux Labs and Jotunheim 2 should be equally powerfull but warmer.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

The Elite we have on demo is clearly not opened up yet after just 30 hours but they are showing signs of being an amazing set of headphones. I look forward to them getting to full voice.

Young man. How many hours do you think these need to play at their best? Because the tonality of the overall signature is meh. Everything else except bass is good so far.

 

[incredulousity]

Young man. How many hours do you think these need to play at their best? Because the tonality of the overall signature is meh. Everything else except bass is good so far.

I know you were not addressing me, but here is a data point.

I am not comparing to Sus or Abyss, but mine have 30+ hours, and the bass is beginning to open up and sound very good. I do a pretty agressive burn in, though. YMMV. I liked them out of the box, but at 15 hours, I had noticed very little change. My Empys took about 100 hours, IIRC.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

I know you were not addressing me, but here is a data point.

I am not comparing to Sus or Abyss, but mine have 30+ hours, and the bass is beginning to open up and sound very good. I do a pretty agressive burn in, though. YMMV. I liked them out of the box, but at 15 hours, I had noticed very little change. My Empys took about 100 hours, IIRC.

Okay, we'll see how much changes. I'm definitely way over 60 I think. It's a constant day/night burn in.

 

[FYFL]

Give it a shot. “Burn” them in for 72hrs straight without listening and “start” fresh. But, if you are not a fan now, there’s a fat chance that your opinion will change much after. Perhaps you have access to a different gear to try it out with your elites? Small issues like that can be remedy with more synergistic pairing (sometimes). It just depends how much of an issue it is for you personally.

 

[SoundJedi]

Young man. How many hours do you think these need to play at their best? Because the tonality of the overall signature is meh. Everything else except bass is good so far.

Could you kindly say more about bass? What's missing for you?

I am not a basshead at all and I hate bass bloat but I can't live without substantial and meaty bass that rumbles deep. I love the Empy's bass.

 

[BTD1]

I don't know if this is accurate, but my perception so far is that the lower these are on your head, the greater the perception of bass. Since the "switch-back" coil that produces the bass frequencies is in the upper part of the cup, moving your ear up closer (sitting lower on your head) to that part of the cup seems to enhance bass perception. It seems that way to me. I could be way off on this.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

Give it a shot. “Burn” them in for 72hrs straight without listening and “start” fresh. But, if you are not a fan now, there’s a fat chance that your opinion will change much after. Perhaps you have access to a different gear to try it out with your stealth? Small issues like that can be remedy with more synergistic pairing (sometimes). It just depends how much of an issue it is for you personally.

I'll give it a whirl. But I honestly just think it's the way the sounds sound. I don't like the vocals, the sounds are dull to me. All of it. It just sounds weird to my ears.

Could you kindly say more about bass? What's missing for you?

I am not a basshead at all and I hate bass bloat but I can't live without substantial and meaty bass that rumbles deep. I love the Empy's bass.

On songs I'm aware of the subbass is almost nonexistent. I heard a lot more out of the he1000se and Clear MG. No power in bass, highly rolled off.

 

[FYFL]

I'll give it a whirl. But I honestly just think it's the way the sounds sound. I don't like the vocals, the sounds are dull to me. All of it. It just sounds weird to my ears.

Well then, it seems like a little more than a small issue.

 

[JM45]

I'll give it a whirl. But I honestly just think it's the way the sounds sound. I don't like the vocals, the sounds are dull to me. All of it. It just sounds weird to my ears.

On songs I'm aware of the subbass is almost nonexistent. I heard a lot more out of the he1000se and Clear MG. No power in bass, highly rolled off.

Maybe there's some synergy issues or your unit is faulty? Pretty sure the OG Empyrean was significantly better than the Focal Clear OG in both bass and treble region. The Focal had a slight metallic tone to its treble. I haven't heard he1000se but even compared to the Susvara, the Empyrean's subbass is huge, so is the bass slam. There's no way Meze would release such an inferior model to something like Focal Clear OG/MG.
I still haven't sold my Clear and the Arya. But I hardly touch them. Empyrean sounds so much fuller overall and the bass slam is totally non existent on the Hifiman Arya.