[Dixter]

outside diameter (measure from the outside) is just shy of 4.5"

I thought you meant the magnet size on the inside, the specs of whcih I'll let the maker of the headphones provide proper spec info

Thank you for the measurement... thats what I was looking for.. so the compare to a LCD-5 the Tungsten is bigger.. the LCD-5 being 90mm and the LCD-4 being 106mm and the Tungsten being closer to the LCD-4 size than the LCD-5 size..
I can't wait to get a pair...

 

[Cecala]

@Cecala that is a really nice DAC/Amp. From the specs it should work well with the headphones. Zeos has a carbon that he’s getting close to releasing a review. The amp he was using is the Topping A70pro. It’s got lots of power and features that he pointed out. You could also search for a review of the DX9 on YouTube. Both are nice

I'm waiting for some further reviews on this combo. So far there are two reviews on YouTube, both very positive. I would prefer someone here reviewing the unit as confirmation.

 

[Menkau-ra]

If someone is looking for an amp check out Soncoz SGP1. With Tungsten it's better than Hypsoor at 1/3 of the price.

 

[Tulon]

@vcoheda The issue with Kaspersky I believe is from about 4 years ago. I stupidly didn't have 2FA enabled on my Godaddy account and someone got into my account and redirected our DNS to a malicious site. Several services immediately flagged and blacklisted our site [as they should to protect folks], and thankfully I was able to regain control of my account, enable 2FA, and fix the DNS settings within a few hours. Some services automatically un-flagged / un-blocked us while some did not. Kaspersky I believe still has us blacklisted because of this. Sorry for any fear or confusion this may have caused.

 

[mfgillia]

Are you able to compare Tungsten to LCD-X out of a solid state amp and share your review?

I'm not the best one to ask as I never really enjoyed my LCD-X and find them less engaging in general compared to my ZMFs likely more due to personal tastes generally preferring dynamic drivers over planars.

But... for science and instead of just going off memory, I just got them out and hooked them up to the Bliss. Then... I forgot to change the volume and pre-amp settings set up last night for the Tungstens and almost blew my ears off. So we can definitely conclude they are far more sensitive and easier to drive if that was ever in doubt. The fit and comfort is also similar except my ears would occasionally hit the driver inside the cup causing some discomfort. Overall, the Tungstens seem lighter and noticeably more comfortable for my head.

Quick impression after listening to a few tracks: the LCD-Xs are better than I recall. The Tungstens though for my preferences are just in a different league entirely. Stealing liberally from @crazyhank review, I also find the Tungstens a flagship level headphone with incredible resolution, impact, speed and musicality / whichever word conveys the idea that they're just far more engaging and fun. There's also a greater sense of space and sound stage especially when using the Cayin HA-300 MKII versus the LCD-X, which appear more flat and one dimensional in comparison.

So again, I'm probably not the best person to ask versus someone who really enjoys Audeze planars but IMHO with the Tungstens ss being around the same price and very similar to my ds, I would go with the Tungstens every time. The one huge caveat remains that the Tungstens require more voltage than typical and don't pair well with some higher end amplifiers. Unlike some Tungsten owners, I am finding they do work great with Bliss and have plenty of headroom but I'm feeding it 11.6 volts with the pre-amp in my Spring 3 kte set to max. Otherwise, I can definitely understand some other impressions that were more negative about this pairing.

 

[goldwerger]

they do work great with Bliss and have plenty of headroom but I'm feeding it 11.6 volts with the pre-amp

That’s a great way to overcome an amp’s gain limit by amplifying a much higher voltage to start with. Provided your amp can take it, and the noise floor remains inaudible (possible for very insensitive headphones), that’s a very good workaround..

 

[mfgillia]

That’s a great way to overcome an amp’s gain limit by amplifying a much higher voltage to start with. Provided your amp can take it, and the noise floor remains inaudible (possible for very headphones), that’s a very good workaround..

Luckily the Bliss is rated to take in 16.8 volts through the XLRs so fits well with the Spring 3 kte with no audible noise - one advantage of buying both components from the same manufacturer it seems...

However, with the Cayin tube amp I've been more cautious and haven't really experimented with higher voltages yet. On a few telegram channels the current rage is to use two speaker amps in bridge mode to power their Tungstens. For the time being, I'll likely just stick with the Bliss and Cayin.

 

[goldwerger]

Luckily the Bliss is rated to take in 16.8 volts through the XLRs so fits well with the Spring 3 kte with no audible noise - one advantage of buying both components from the same manufacturer it seems...

However, with the Cayin tube amp I've been more cautious and haven't really experimented with higher voltages yet. On a few telegram channels the current rage is to use two speaker amps in bridge mode to power their Tungstens. For the time being, I'll likely just stick with the Bliss and Cayin.

Lots of lore from the Susvara on using speaker amps.. (which I do). So far, haven’t found those to be the best options as they are typically built for very low impedance (I suspect over damping is the issue but didn’t test enough). I’m sure some will find good ways to do that here too.

 

[staticosaur]

I'm not the best one to ask as I never really enjoyed my LCD-X and find them less engaging in general compared to my ZMFs likely more due to personal tastes generally preferring dynamic drivers over planars.

But... for science and instead of just going off memory, I just got them out and hooked them up to the Bliss. Then... I forgot to change the volume and pre-amp settings set up last night for the Tungstens and almost blew my ears off. So we can definitely conclude they are far more sensitive and easier to drive if that was ever in doubt. The fit and comfort is also similar except my ears would occasionally hit the driver inside the cup causing some discomfort. Overall, the Tungstens seem lighter and noticeably more comfortable for my head.

Quick impression after listening to a few tracks: the LCD-Xs are better than I recall. The Tungstens though for my preferences are just in a different league entirely. Stealing liberally from @crazyhank review, I also find the Tungstens a flagship level headphone with incredible resolution, impact, speed and musicality / whichever word conveys the idea that they're just far more engaging and fun. There's also a greater sense of space and sound stage especially when using the Cayin HA-300 MKII versus the LCD-X, which appear more flat and one dimensional in comparison.

So again, I'm probably not the best person to ask versus someone who really enjoys Audeze planars but IMHO with the Tungstens ss being around the same price and very similar to my ds, I would go with the Tungstens every time. The one huge caveat remains that the Tungstens require more voltage than typical and don't pair well with some higher end amplifiers. Unlike some Tungsten owners, I am finding they do work great with Bliss and have plenty of headroom but I'm feeding it 11.6 volts with the pre-amp in my Spring 3 kte set to max. Otherwise, I can definitely understand some other impressions that were more negative about this pairing.

Thanks for sharing. Still provides insight. I have found that price does not match pleasure, so it is important to hear different perspectives. Personal preferences are key.I, for example and compared to LCD-X, liked more LCD-3, but found LCD-5, Utopia and Meze Elite to not provide anything better that I can hear.

 

[betula]

... LCD-5, Utopia and Meze Elite to not provide anything better that I can hear.

Lucky man. Your ears have saved you a lot of money.

 

[Dixter]

At canjam Dallas Bloom Audio was demoing the Burson Soloist Voyager with the Susvara. So I borrowed the Tungsten from Mimic Audio and took it to the Burson amp. Both headphones were driven to a volume of 60 to 65 with plenty of room left and plenty of volume. The Burson amp in high gain was being driven by a RME DAC So that is an option for the tungsten

 

[Blejzeros]

At canjam Dallas Bloom Audio was demoing the Burson Soloist Voyager with the Susvara. So I borrowed the Tungsten from Mimic Audio and took it to the Burson amp. Both headphones were driven to a volume of 60 to 65 with plenty of room left and plenty of volume. The Burson amp in high gain was being driven by a RME DAC So that is an option for the tungsten

This is the same result I have with my Burson Soloist 3x.
60-65 on high gain sounds really good.
Also if anyone is on the budget I think Emotiva BasX A-100 (with the jumpers installed) puts out a ton of power 50 Watts in to 8 ohms.
33 Ohms: 12 watts / channel
47 Ohms: 8.5 watts / channel
150 Ohms: 2.6 watts / channel
300 Ohms: 1.3 watts / channel
600 Ohms: 0.6 watts / channel
My is slightly moded, I changed opamp which elevated the sound quality substantially and replaced volume pot for much better (alps) that helped with channel imbalance.
I also tried it with First Watt F7 speaker amp and I think it was very nice also. Tungsten is not as forward.

 

[Dixter]

for other options on amp/dac the forum here on Head-fi for the Susvara should apply to the Tungsten ... so there are proven amp/dac options there too.... I'd like to know just how close the Tungsten is to the Susvara as I haven't done any critical listening on the Susvara.. only at the Dallas show...

 

[goldwerger]

for other options on amp/dac the forum here on Head-fi for the Susvara should apply to the Tungsten ... so there are proven amp/dac options there too.... I'd like to know just how close the Tungsten is to the Susvara as I haven't done any critical listening on the Susvara.. only at the Dallas show...

There is definitely a big overlap between amps that will work well for Susvara and Tungsten, and I think that's a good place to find more ideas!

Note though that, in some cases, some amps that work for Susvara won't work well for the Tungsten (example: Zahl HM1) and some that work for Tungsten won't work well for Susvara (example: GOTL). The Tungsten's higher impedance means it needs lots of voltage but also can work wtih higher output impedances in terms of damping (I explained this in more detaili in my review)

 

[perry4761]

If someone is looking for an amp check out Soncoz SGP1. With Tungsten it's better than Hypsoor at 1/3 of the price.

If this is true to most people’s ears, then is it possible to find a better value out there than SGD1 + SGP1 + Tungsten at that price? For 3k USD total it doesn’t look like there is a way to build a better sounding headphone+dac+amp combo!