[Currawong]

Forum permissions are fixed for anyone who wants to continue in here now. If you can't post, please PM me.

 

[drbobbybones]

Forum permissions are fixed for anyone who wants to continue in here now. If you can't post, please PM me.

Let's see if this works!

And one day I'll have to actually review my cans, but with worse diction and worse ears than yours

 

[Currawong]

Let's see if this works!

And one day I'll have to actually review my cans, but with worse diction and worse ears than yours

The trick is to read books by famous authors who were good at describing things. Personally I don't consider myself that great, but more so it has been that I had various jobs where I had to explain technology succinctly so I became quite decent at it.

 

[Currawong]

Reboot time.

 

[LarryMagoo]

I got to listen to the Susvara at the SF meet last month....$6K???? Are you kidding me...they sounded like they have to work waaaay too hard to perform...like the sound had to pushed out of the HP....I like my HD 800S a lot better driven with my Class A HP amp...where the notes seem to just float to my ears effortlessly....Even the Utopia's can't sell at $4K!!!

 

[conquerator2]

Part of the problem is the extremely low sensitivity. Just ask the HE6 guys, me included

 

[AnakChan]

The Susvara (and yes, like the HE6) does need a pretty hefty amp. I've got mine driven by my McIntosh MC275 via the HE Adapter and with speaker amps, they drive the Susvara much more effortlessly.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised and like the Susvara. It gets more head time than the Utopia and SR-009 - however I feel my Utopia and SR-009 aren't pushed to their limits by their amp either.

 

[Currawong]

Out of the Master 9 the Susvara does quite well too. So far, they don't have the absolute precision of the Utopias, but they are a bit more even-sounding and enjoyable instead.

 

[Currawong]

 

[Sp12er3]

Nice review, it really is a bit of a shame with the current price...

 

[HoloSpice]

Nice review, it really is a bit of a shame with the current price...

No, paying 6k for a pair of headphone is no problem because it sounds good. Trust Hifiman they know what's best for the consumers

 

[myap2328]

After about 3-4 years of hiatus from the chase of portable audio, there certainly has been a lot of changes around here. I somehow managed to stumble upon this thread and I am actually quite surprised that this thread does not have that much of a traction, there is simply a lot of useful information here kudos to all the contributors and also Currawong.

I am curious why there has not been much comparisons of the aforementioned TOTL headphones in the title to the likes of the Stax flagships/Fostex Th-900/LCD/ZMF/Beyer T1/AKG K812/Final Audio/Ultrasone. I see some mentions of them but not any detailed comparisons of them. (perhaps I have missed it out but I did go through the entire thread post by post).

Could it be because that the Focal Utopia has become the new reference similar to the HD800 of like 4-5 years ago and any form of release is compared to it for reference/comparison sake. I have never seen a headphone praised so much and correct me if I'm wrong but the Utopia/Clear/Elear has become the new HD800/600/650 (with the sound signature to mimic it even). They both of them even each have a Massdrop collaboration hahaha.

I was in the home audio market within 1-2 years of leaving portable audio but left the entire audio scene thereafter for another 2 years. Hopping back on now and huge thanks to everyone here for making this thread a good read and giving me good insight into what is going on now.

With that, how or where does the TH-900 stand nowadays? They were my grail back then and I think the Z-1R might be suited for me also... cheers!

 

[pietcux]

After about 3-4 years of hiatus from the chase of portable audio, there certainly has been a lot of changes around here. I somehow managed to stumble upon this thread and I am actually quite surprised that this thread does not have that much of a traction, there is simply a lot of useful information here kudos to all the contributors and also Currawong.

I am curious why there has not been much comparisons of the aforementioned TOTL headphones in the title to the likes of the Stax flagships/Fostex Th-900/LCD/ZMF/Beyer T1/AKG K812/Final Audio/Ultrasone. I see some mentions of them but not any detailed comparisons of them. (perhaps I have missed it out but I did go through the entire thread post by post).

Could it be because that the Focal Utopia has become the new reference similar to the HD800 of like 4-5 years ago and any form of release is compared to it for reference/comparison sake. I have never seen a headphone praised so much and correct me if I'm wrong but the Utopia/Clear/Elear has become the new HD800/600/650 (with the sound signature to mimic it even). They both of them even each have a Massdrop collaboration hahaha.

I was in the home audio market within 1-2 years of leaving portable audio but left the entire audio scene thereafter for another 2 years. Hopping back on now and huge thanks to everyone here for making this thread a good read and giving me good insight into what is going on now.

With that, how or where does the TH-900 stand nowadays? They were my grail back then and I think the Z-1R might be suited for me also... cheers!

Omg you missed so much in your off headphone period, it is hard to sum it up in a single post. Most of the cans that you mentioned besides some fcoals have been torn apart publicly by a guy who retired only some days ago, because his ears got too bad to perform reviews. Now let's see what the future brings..... all cans that I own and like did not pleasure this guy. Some never got a review.

 

[myap2328]

Omg you missed so much in your off headphone period, it is hard to sum it up in a single post. Most of the cans that you mentioned besides some fcoals have been torn apart publicly by a guy who retired only some days ago, because his ears got too bad to perform reviews. Now let's see what the future brings..... all cans that I own and like did not pleasure this guy. Some never got a review.

Let me guess, the man you speak of is Tyll Hertsens, I was a fan or rather am still a fan of his and his methods. Such a shame to hear of his retirement, but I hope his retirement journey brings him fulfillment that the audio journey could not. Do you have any points/indicators as to where I can see such comparisons or tear downs of the cans that I have mentioned. I don't have any shame in saying that I hold them in great regard but I am also a very open minded person so I am very keen to hear what others have said about them and how they have lost out over the years.

 

[pietcux]

Let me guess, the man you speak of is Tyll Hertsens, I was a fan or rather am still a fan of his and his methods. Such a shame to hear of his retirement, but I hope his retirement journey brings him fulfillment that the audio journey could not. Do you have any points/indicators as to where I can see such comparisons or tear downs of the cans that I have mentioned. I don't have any shame in saying that I hold them in great regard but I am also a very open minded person so I am very keen to hear what others have said about them and how they have lost out over the years.

Look at my list of cans and read the reviews. I don't want to engage in anything regarding any person. I did not mention a name, didn't I?