Can the Susvara match the expansive sound stage of the HEKse when properly amped and what if the HEKse were to use a more powerful amp?
Vintage OG and Present Day TOTL Impressions
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The HEKSE doesn't scale like the Susvara. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, if one is not looking to get a stereo or an expensive headphone amp.
The Susvara is a deeper sound stage than the HEKSE. I can't remember if the HEKSE was wider, but not noticeably.
However, the Susvara soundstage needs a good speaker amp.
Overall, its tonality (and technicalities) where the Sus betters the HEKSE.
FR-wise, the HEKSE treble needs serious EQ and the midrange is not as well-tuned.
I have known friends who have upgraded from the HEKSE to the Susvara and be pleasantly surprised by how the obvious the upgrade is.
But of course, your mileage may certainly vary.
The Pass XA25 and XP12. It was my favorite until the Accuphase e380 burnt-in and its awesome dynamics were unleashed.
I love the TC + Accuphase combo as well.
Shahrose
Headphoneus Supremus
Owned both simultaneously. The answer's yes.
All good and clearly Susvara >>>HEKse if properly amped. My only problem is that I want to avoid an expensive speaker amp just for Susvara alone as I want to include several other HPs in my rotation not driven by speaker taps. This is why I am considering the Bakoon amp as it has both HP out for more efficient HPs and hi gain speaker out when using Susvara. I wonder how much better the Susvara scales with a speaker amp compared to the Bakoon and in what ways the speaker amp is noticeably that much better to justify owning two amps??
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Shahrose
Headphoneus Supremus
I use speaker amps for all of my headphones including the HD800 and Arya (and previously the HE1000SE). My favourite headphone amps (Dynahi, audio-gd HE9 etc) are bettered in almost all areas by the mid-tier speaker amps that I own now. Every HP will see benefits from the upgrade in quality. Just have to watch out for background noise on some speaker amps with highly-efficient cans like the Utopia.
To answer your question, the Susvara sounds so much better on speaker amps that I actually don't find most HP amps enjoyable for them. The Bakoon is a good amp reportedly, but I've heard from reliable ears that you can get better for cheaper.
What do you consider as the best mid-tier speaker amps for Susvara under $4k and how do you connect the SE 1/4 in plug to the speaker amp?
Shahrose
Headphoneus Supremus
I can't say what's best without having heard the wide range of amps available. I can tell you though that dollar for dollar, you'll get more SQ from a speaker amp than a HP amp most of the time. My personal recommendation is to go for something lightly used and stick to tried and tested names like Pass, Coda, Hegel, Simaudio, Arcam, Parasound etc. Alternatively, look at new Chinese offerings which IMO frequently offer excellent value.
Within your budget, the Kinki EX-M1+ would do nicely. I have upgraded discrete opamps in mine which makes it sound like an amp atleast $2k costlier, so there's some upgradeability built in.
To connect a headphone to a speaker amp you'll need a custom cable for your headphones that terminate to banana plugs, BFA plugs or spades. If you have a HP cable that is terminated with a male XLR, then you can buy an XLR to banana plug/BFA plug/spade adapter from Moon Audio or eBay or any number of vendors.
How do you upgrade the op amps? Who sells the best ones and can the end user do it themselves? What is the additional and total cost?
HEKse vs D8000 pro direct from DAVE + M-scaler vs Susvara with DAVE + M-scaler + Speaker Amp ???
Shahrose
Headphoneus Supremus
Good questions and you will find detailed answers to most of them if you search within Head-Fi and Google. I don't want to derail the thread
Has anyone compared the Susvara DAVE + Bakoon to the Final Audio D8000 pro direct from DAVE?
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