[gken92]

Can these handle a decent amount of EQ in the sub bass region?
Bern

Only by a couple of dB before it gets muddy.

I will say, the Aiva's bass response is typical to that of a dynamic headphones in the sense that they give more midbass than subbass. So there's a satisfactory level of impact when you're listening to modern songs like rap. If you're okay with that sort of bass, you should be okay with Aiva. As an owner of Fostex TH900 myself (subbass monster), I personally find the bass on the Aiva to be pretty decent. Just not as extended as other planars ive heard or owned like the LCD2C, which is why I put that as a cons. YMMV

 

[hung031086]

Excellent build and comfortable. It sounds good to my ears, maybe cus i dont have golden ears .
Im thinking to get a schiit loki to add a little bass and tame the treble a tiny bit. Im sensitive with treble and I feel it’s harsh a little bit with some of my songs.
Only thing I don’t like about aiva is the soundstage. Its not wide like what i used to listen.
I saw musicteck has some upgraded cable for aiva. I may buy one to see that it will improve abit or not

 

[lichie]

I've been reading a lot of misinformation around the internet about these headphones regarding how difficult they are to drive. These are *very* sensitive headphones. For some reason some people have claimed they are difficult to drive, and a certain youtube reviewer claimed that they are even more difficult to drive than the HD800. That is completely false. They come with a 4.4mm cable for a reason... These are easily driven by a DAP.

 

[CoryGillmore]

I've been reading a lot of misinformation around the internet about these headphones regarding how difficult they are to drive. These are *very* sensitive headphones. For some reason some people have claimed they are difficult to drive, and a certain youtube reviewer claimed that they are even more difficult to drive than the HD800. That is completely false. They come with a 4.4mm cable for a reason... These are easily driven by a DAP.

I'm gonna have to disagree here. These sound like crap out of my ZX300 and 300R DAPs using balanced out. But they sing out of my Burson Audio Play. They aren't as hard to drive as my 250ohm DT880 but it still takes quite a few turns to get adequate volume for me even on the Burson. On my DAPs, I can max the volume on normal gain and live.

 

[lichie]

I'm gonna have to disagree here. These sound like crap out of my ZX300 and 300R DAPs using balanced out. But they sing out of my Burson Audio Play. They aren't as hard to drive as my 250ohm DT880 but it still takes quite a few turns to get adequate volume for me even on the Burson. On my DAPs, I can max the volume on normal gain and live.

Complete opposite of my experience. With my ZX300 the aiva can get louder than I am comfortable listening. That's relative of course, but there is no doubt that the aiva is significantly more sensitive than the HD800, HD6x0, etc. The spec sheets reflect this as well.

 

[gken92]

I've been reading a lot of misinformation around the internet about these headphones regarding how difficult they are to drive. These are *very* sensitive headphones. For some reason some people have claimed they are difficult to drive, and a certain youtube reviewer claimed that they are even more difficult to drive than the HD800. That is completely false. They come with a 4.4mm cable for a reason... These are easily driven by a DAP.

They can sound very loud with my Magni 3 and my handphone output but obviously not to their full potential. The difference between the Magni 3 with better amp that I have like the Gilmore Lite MK2 amp is pretty noticeable. Treble is less harsh, resolution goes up a notch, mids have a bit more body, bass is tighten up.

Aiva is such a transparent pair of headphones that they can detect the sound difference between sources/amps better than most headphones that Ive tried or owned.

 

[hung031086]

Aiva w/ Ori pads, it tamed the high a tiny bit and added a little bit bass to my ears.

Take a look at Aiva pads

 

[DrummerLeo]

Complete opposite of my experience. With my ZX300 the aiva can get louder than I am comfortable listening. That's relative of course, but there is no doubt that the aiva is significantly more sensitive than the HD800, HD6x0, etc. The spec sheets reflect this as well.

Planars work differently from dynamics. Sensitivity and impedance are kinda useless in measuring planars. Output wattage of your amp is the key here. For example, almost all amps can drive Susvara loud enough, but the current they provide is far less sufficient. That's why almost every Susvara owners have amps that have at least 8w more offen over 10w output. Same thing here I haven't found one amp cannot make Aiva loud enough, but only few can really show the full potential of Aiva. Also some amps that are good for dynamics might not be good for planars, some good examples are Eddie Current ZDS and Simaudio 430HA. Those 2 amps can make high impedance dynamics like hd800 and T1 sound perfect, but none of them are good amps for planars, especially ZDS, even he560 sounds weak and thin on ZDS but ZDS can make 1266 loud enough and I don't even need to turn the volume over 50%.

 

[lichie]

Planars work differently from dynamics. Sensitivity and impedance are kinda useless in measuring planars. Output wattage of your amp is the key here. For example, almost all amps can drive Susvara loud enough, but the current they provide is far less sufficient. That's why almost every Susvara owners have amps that have at least 8w more offen over 10w output. Same thing here I haven't found one amp cannot make Aiva loud enough, but only few can really show the full potential of Aiva. Also some amps that are good for dynamics might not be good for planars, some good examples are Eddie Current ZDS and Simaudio 430HA. Those 2 amps can make high impedance dynamics like hd800 and T1 sound perfect, but none of them are good amps for planars, especially ZDS, even he560 sounds weak and thin on ZDS but ZDS can make 1266 loud enough and I don't even need to turn the volume over 50%.

Sensitivity and impedance are *not* useless to planars. Sensitivity is based on quantitative measurements. As a fellow (former) Susvara owner, I am plenty aware of how to power hard to drive planars. However, you are mistaken. The reason for using a speaker amp with the susvara/he6 is not necessarily for the increased wattage, but the increased voltage gain. There is a reason Hifiman publishes the sensitivity spec for those headphones in SPL/volt instead of SPL/watt. Those headphones need an incredible amount of current to be driven correctly, and to get enough current cleanly you need the increased voltage. Aiva is not one of those headphones. There is very little difference in the sound between running from my headphone amps and my 350 watt per channel speaker monoblock amplifiers. In fact, my lower powered headphone amps sound slightly better.

 

[Bonddam]

Planars work differently from dynamics. Sensitivity and impedance are kinda useless in measuring planars. Output wattage of your amp is the key here. For example, almost all amps can drive Susvara loud enough, but the current they provide is far less sufficient. That's why almost every Susvara owners have amps that have at least 8w more offen over 10w output. Same thing here I haven't found one amp cannot make Aiva loud enough, but only few can really show the full potential of Aiva. Also some amps that are good for dynamics might not be good for planars, some good examples are Eddie Current ZDS and Simaudio 430HA. Those 2 amps can make high impedance dynamics like hd800 and T1 sound perfect, but none of them are good amps for planars, especially ZDS, even he560 sounds weak and thin on ZDS but ZDS can make 1266 loud enough and I don't even need to turn the volume over 50%.

I hope my ifi Ican pro is enough power claims 14 Watts I could be wrong. Also I wouldnt like a different case this case is perfect.

 

[DrummerLeo]

Sensitivity and impedance are *not* useless to planars. Sensitivity is based on quantitative measurements. As a fellow (former) Susvara owner, I am plenty aware of how to power hard to drive planars. However, you are mistaken. The reason for using a speaker amp with the susvara/he6 is not necessarily for the increased wattage, but the increased voltage gain. There is a reason Hifiman publishes the sensitivity spec for those headphones in SPL/volt instead of SPL/watt. Those headphones need an incredible amount of current to be driven correctly, and to get enough current cleanly you need the increased voltage. Aiva is not one of those headphones. There is very little difference in the sound between running from my headphone amps and my 350 watt per channel speaker amp. In fact, my lower powered headphone amps sound slightly better.

P=V*I. It is a common concept that planars need higher current. So no matter what watt should be high, and the output wattage is usually easier to be found from amp’s manual.
Of course sensitivity and impedance are useful in some sense, I say they are kinda useless is because most of planars are low sensitivity and low impedance. So in practice it is hard to get a clear mind of how should you power those up based on those 2 factors, at least harder than dynamics.
Your case of poweramp vs headphone amp, it is simply because we need enough power, but that doesn’t mean we need the power to be as high as possible. Higher output wattage has no relationship with sound quality when it is already enough. I agree with Nelson from First Watt’s idea when adopt power amp for headphones. In fact, I also found that First Watt’s J2 which is a 25w power amp sounds a lot better than many higher ouput wattage power amps. But first of all, it has to be enough.

 

[Richtofen]

Aiva w/ Ori pads, it tamed the high a tiny bit and added a little bit bass to my ears.



Take a look at Aiva pads

Why aren't all aiva owners doing this??

 

[Richtofen]

Complete opposite of my experience. With my ZX300 the aiva can get louder than I am comfortable listening. That's relative of course, but there is no doubt that the aiva is significantly more sensitive than the HD800, HD6x0, etc. The spec sheets reflect this as well.

My experience is also of relatively high sensitivity

 

[CoveyCanuck]

Aiva w/ Ori pads, it tamed the high a tiny bit and added a little bit bass to my ears.

Nice tip! When my Aiva arrives I will try out the Ori pads from my Atticus and give impressions.

 

[FullBright1]

On the way, due to land about the 16th, of April, 2019.
MIni Review to follow, which im looking forward to writing as there seems to be some viral (members) disagreement regarding the treble and bass response.
On the web, Im reading that they are aggressively clear but natural, without any high end pain and nothing down low that ruins the mids.
But on the other hand, a few say exactly the opposite on this Forum.
When i find out, i'll let you know and i will be pushing them with an amp or 2......