[chesebert]

You refer to the Hypsos panel right? This is the PSU output into Oor, not Oor into cans. So hopefully no ones head exploded just yet

What is the amp outputting? Also did you try to inverse polarity in case the cans are wired in reverse?

 

[801evan]

Got the Ferrum OOR + HYPSOS stack and the chain is Macbook Pro > AudioQuest Cinnamon USB Cable > Bifrost 2 Unison USB > XLR Interconnect > Ferrum OOR (powered by HYPSOS) > XLR out to Susvara

Although the sound is very transparent and clean, bass is still not that strong, and even on high gain mode (+dB) the volume knob is cranked to 3 o'clock position and Susvara is still not having enough power or sounding full or loud enough. HYPSOS display indicates output power to be around 15-17W and output current at 0.6-0.8A. What gives? Is Susvara still being underpowered, I thought this combo is already one of the best for driving it?

Your issue is ur transport, signal chain and power quality. This is why the Susvara seems to sound underpowered. Too much noise in your system. I can drive the Susvara with diablo on low gain because susvara only needs 141mw of power and I get lots of sub bass. Improve the stuff I mentioned and you can power the susvara on much smaller amps.

 

[prismstorm]

it feels like you're expecting the Susvara to be something it's not. rather than spend more money trying to fix it, you might want to cut your losses and look at other headphones. the Abyss and Solitaire P come to mind.

Having only invested in this combo for barely a week, I do want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly before ruling out technical mistakes and concluding it's the headphones that I don't like, and the rest of the chain is not to blame. The Susvara does sound good with jazz and classical, but lifeless and flat with most everything else.

Gotcha - I thought I might have misunderstood, and I did. So that's set correctly; perhaps you could try out a different DAC from the Bifrost 2, on a trial basis to see if that makes any difference?

At this point I am leaning towards the headphones just have too much of a neutral sound than blame the Bifrost 2, since the latter is a musical and warm R2R DAC that puts out just my kind of sound.

What is the actual output? Did anyone measure the amp? 15w if real into a planar diaphragm will fry it if your ears are not already fried.

In fully balanced mode, the amp is specified to put out 8W into 60Ohms, which also happens to be exactly the Susvara's impedance rating, so 8 Watts. However the HYPSOS panel is consistently indicating 'Output Power' to be at 15-17W, almost double of its specifications, and still Susvara sounds very tame and boring.

You refer to the Hypsos panel right? This is the PSU output into Oor, not Oor into cans. So hopefully no ones head exploded just yet

So HYPSOS is outputting 15W into OOR, but there's no telling what OOR is outputting to Susvara right?

 

[chesebert]

Does the amp double down to 16w at 30ohm and 32w at 15ohm? If not then the amp is current limited. I suspect the amp is current limited.

 

[prismstorm]

Does the amp double down to 16w at 30ohm and 32w at 15ohm? If not then the amp is current limited. I suspect the amp is current limited.

• Output Power Balanced: 1.600 mW into 300 Ω, 8 W into 60 Ω

Susvara has 60 Ω, I am running everything balanced, so I think I'm putting 8W into it and thus not limiting it in terms of current. I highly suspect it's just the tuning of the headphones.

 

[chesebert]

Lol. You are not putting 8w into that poor cans. More like 8mw

You would be deaf at 8w - 122dB SPL

 

[801evan]

For susvara at 8w

 

[LarsMan]

Does the amp double down to 16w at 30ohm and 32w at 15ohm? If not then the amp is current limited. I suspect the amp is current limited.

I'm running the same amp with the same headphones, and nothing sounds at all limited....

 

[chesebert]

Lifeless and flat is generally an amp problem more than a dac problem.

 

[kumar402]

Your issue is ur transport, signal chain and power quality. This is why the Susvara seems to sound underpowered. Too much noise in your system. I can drive the Susvara with diablo on low gain because susvara only needs 141mw of power and I get lots of sub bass. Improve the stuff I mentioned and you can power the susvara on much smaller amps.

What is wrong with Signal chain? BF2 has unison USB which uses precision local clock and is good enough with noise rejection?

 

[prismstorm]

I'm running the same amp with the same headphones, and nothing sounds at all limited....

Are you having to crank the volume knob to 3'o clock to get sufficient volume or else everything sounds so laid-back, backward, hard-to-hear, un-engaging and lifeless?

 

[LarsMan]

Hey all - maybe somebody can offer me some constructive advice.

When I put on my headphones and start up a song, it sounds great for about a second or two and then the volume drops a bit and it sounds very slightly muffled, though still an enjoyable listen after I add in some volume that was dropped - is this clipping? It happens every time.

I'm getting this with both my Ferrum Oor stack and my Enleum 23R.

I am using an MSB Analog DAC with DB set to -3, though the same thing happens when I raise it or lower it, and I've also experienced this using a Holo May DAC into some tube headphone amps - haven't tried the Oor or Enleum with the Holo May yet.

Does anybody know how to prevent this? Thanks!!

 

[krude]

Hey all - maybe somebody can offer me some constructive advice.

When I put on my headphones and start up a song, it sounds great for about a second or two and then the volume drops a bit and it sounds very slightly muffled, though still an enjoyable listen after I add in some volume that was dropped - is this clipping? It happens every time.

I'm getting this with both my Ferrum Oor stack and my Enleum 23R.

I am using an MSB Analog DAC with DB set to -3, though the same thing happens when I raise it or lower it, and I've also experienced this using a Holo May DAC into some tube headphone amps - haven't tried the Oor or Enleum with the Holo May yet.

Does anybody know how to prevent this? Thanks!!

Would it be your dac dropping volume? Clipping ... hmm ... dac clipping is usually very unpleasant harsh distortion. Can you monitor your digital out level? Do you run 24bit?

 

[LarsMan]

Would it be your dac dropping volume? Clipping ... hmm ... dac clipping is usually very unpleasant harsh distortion. Can you monitor your digital out level? Do you run 24bit?

I know - I was reading descriptions of what 'clipping' should sound like, and it's what you described, which is not what I'm experiencing. I wouldn't think it would be a DAC issue, as it never did that when I was using it for my 2-channel system, but I don't know. I am not a very techy fellow and don't know how to monitor levels and if you're asking about if the DAC is 24 bit, all I know is that it's a 'ladder DAC' (same as R2R) and ran about $8K or so new.... I suppose I should try them with the Holo May (these are the only 2 DAC's I have around) and see if I get the same issue... Oh, and I'm running balanced from the DAC to the Oor and SE from the DAC to the Enleum - both outputs on the DAC are active at the same time.

 

[krude]

I know - I was reading descriptions of what 'clipping' should sound like, and it's what you described, which is not what I'm experiencing. I wouldn't think it would be a DAC issue, as it never did that when I was using it for my 2-channel system, but I don't know. I am not a very techy fellow and don't know how to monitor levels and if you're asking about if the DAC is 24 bit, all I know is that it's a 'ladder DAC' (same as R2R) and ran about $8K or so new.... I suppose I should try them with the Holo May (these are the only 2 DAC's I have around) and see if I get the same issue... Oh, and I'm running balanced from the DAC to the Oor and SE from the DAC to the Enleum - both outputs on the DAC are active at the same time.

Check with May, if it will be the same then try changing source / transport, if not its a dac issue.