[UntilThen]

Got the Susvara in. First week will go to the V590 Pro, 2nd to the Niimbus.

This is very interesting. Eagerly awaiting your impressions. Something for me to consider when I get rid of all my gear and start from scratch again.

 

[Sound Eq]

can i ask what is the main difference between the 590 and 380, is just that bit of extra power and having xlr input

 

[Fegefeuer]

No Femto, no AES, no remote.

This is very interesting. Eagerly awaiting your impressions. Something for me to consider when I get rid of all my gear and start from scratch again.

You have great gear, why start from scratch?

I was too busy to write my Susvara review but I will do it sometime this month.

 

[UntilThen]

You have great gear, why start from scratch?

I was too busy to write my Susvara review but I will do it sometime this month.

Aww thanks. Yours is an opinion I could listen to and Project86 too.

I am indeed quite happy with what I've got right now. In the last 2 years of rapid changes in my system, it may have seem like going backwards with my choices now but my ears tells me otherwise. I realise it's not about buying the most expensive gear but rather in getting synergy of the gear together. I believe the best is still yet to come.

However the idea of a simple setup of Susvara and Violectric DHA V590 dac/amp appeals to me. Knowing the Hekse sound signature now, what you say about the v281 warm and powerful tones combining well with the Susvara makes sense. If V590 is slightly less warm and it appears to be so from what I read here, then the match might be spot on. What I wanted to know is whether the V590 will adequately drive Susvara and on paper it should.

 

[Fegefeuer]

V590 Pro was indeed really great with the Susvara, playing into its strengths and not leaving a lot of signature footprint on it but some important ones (treble, lower mids). Absolute extension, delicate, slightly sweet, treble, very "tactile" midrange, slight lower mids warmth and then bottomless. Only area where I wished it went a tiny bit further was the slam and overall (transient) tactility. My blu-tack, sorbothane modded 4-screw HE-6 with ZMF Auteur Lambskin does this better but that's not big news.

Oh yes, the staging and imaging. Really love the cohesive, rounded (Hey Sahmen!) stage with a stable and solid center image. Also big and lasersharp (like the HE-1000SE but more even in the middle/center image), not diffuse. Watched The Dark Knight + Dolby Atmos with it, what a joy.

I was pondering selling a few headphones to get it and threw a lot of "common sense" overboard. However somehow I managed to withhold as it's really a lot more expensive in Germany than in the US. MSRP is 6999€ here, that's 8500 Dollars. Nobody I knew would go below 5k €. That's still a whole lot of money and I need a few more things for my setups (second DAC, cables, monitors) before a 5k headphone and I bought a lot other stuff already (TV etc.).
Also couldn't let go those headphones either as I cherish them too much. 1st world problems.

Thus I tried to make most of the loaner (2 weeks max) time and used it for everything. Tons of music, watched movies with various VSTs, played a game. Just want to say that it proved (again and this time at home) that it's my favorite headphone I could somewhat afford if I tried very hard. It's so damn good and enjoyable. Never "maxed" a headphone so much in so little time and had a hard time to let go.

Haven't heard it on the V281 unfortunately but @Slim1970 is the man for impressions with it, also since he owns the HE-1000SE too as far as I remember.

 

[UntilThen]

I was pondering selling a few headphones to get it and threw a lot of "common sense" overboard. However somehow I managed to withhold as it's really a lot more expensive in Germany than in the US. MSRP is 6999€ here, that's 8500 Dollars. Nobody I knew would go below 5k €. That's still a whole lot of money and I need a few more things for my setups (second DAC, cables, monitors) before a 5k headphone and I bought a lot other stuff already (TV etc.).
Also couldn't let go those headphones either as I cherish them too much. 1st world problems.

Haha well expressed. Nail it with what you wrote especially this part that I'm quoting. 1st world problems indeed.

I have heard Susvara albeit once, driven by WA33. I have also heard v281. In fact I audition Ragnarok and V281 at my local Head-Fi store in 2017 three times and then bought Yggdrasil and Ragnarok. I think I was more influence by the fact that the Schiit stack look more imposing and nicer together. That and the fact that Ragnarok can also drive my small speakers. However, all through these years I keep getting reminded of how v281 sound and I miss it. Hence why I bought the v280 and it will arrive next week.

I just bought Hekse a few days ago. It's used, mint and already 'burn in' so it's good to go. Love it. Love it very much indeed. That's when I'm reminded of what I've heard of Susvara and WA33 at the Sydney HiFi show also in 2017. That was quite an impression.

 

[F Bizzle]

Yeah the V590 can adequately power the Susvara and I do think it does enough to tame its treble while still maintaining superior control of the driver. I did like it with the stock DAC but I have a single ended LampizatOr Amber 3. I found that combination to offer a bit more bass slam and some delicacy in the treble with the Susvara. Overall the V590 does pretty well with the Susvara.

If starting with Susvara and building a system around it, I might consider other amp options. But if you have many headphones and looking for an all-rounder amp, I've been happy with what I've thrown at the V590.

Also, not sure the availability of the V590/380 is internationally, in the US its currently not available new, but the V550 is.

 

[Diego Dee]

Also, not sure the availability of the V590/380 is internationally, in the US its currently not available new, but the V550 is.

After a fire at AKM, the delivery of the new V380 and V590 (pro) devices is by autumn / winter 2021. At minute 41:45 Fried Reim says it himself on the following video:

Interview with Fried Reim

 

[Fegefeuer]

Yep, V590 and V380 will sell until all is gone and then return when AKM can deliver again.

 

[sahmen]

V590 Pro was indeed really great with the Susvara, playing into its strengths and not leaving a lot of signature footprint on it but some important ones (treble, lower mids). Absolute extension, delicate, slightly sweet, treble, very "tactile" midrange, slight lower mids warmth and then bottomless. Only area where I wished it went a tiny bit further was the slam and overall (transient) tactility. My blu-tack, sorbothane modded 4-screw HE-6 with ZMF Auteur Lambskin does this better but that's not big news.

Oh yes, the staging and imaging. Really love the cohesive, rounded (Hey Sahmen!) stage with a stable and solid center image. Also big and lasersharp (like the HE-1000SE but more even in the middle/center image), not diffuse. Watched The Dark Knight + Dolby Atmos with it, what a joy.

I was pondering selling a few headphones to get it and threw a lot of "common sense" overboard. However somehow I managed to withhold as it's really a lot more expensive in Germany than in the US. MSRP is 6999€ here, that's 8500 Dollars. Nobody I knew would go below 5k €. That's still a whole lot of money and I need a few more things for my setups (second DAC, cables, monitors) before a 5k headphone and I bought a lot other stuff already (TV etc.).
Also couldn't let go those headphones either as I cherish them too much. 1st world problems.

Thus I tried to make most of the loaner (2 weeks max) time and used it for everything. Tons of music, watched movies with various VSTs, played a game. Just want to say that it proved (again and this time at home) that it's my favorite headphone I could somewhat afford if I tried very hard. It's so damn good and enjoyable. Never "maxed" a headphone so much in so little time and had a hard time to let go.

Haven't heard it on the V281 unfortunately but @Slim1970 is the man for impressions with it, also since he owns the HE-1000SE too as far as I remember.

Very interesting remarks for someone like me... i am used to listening to the Susvara on my v281/YggyA2 rig, and it's a mostly nice and agreeable experience, although not quite straightforward one, as I seem to be learning new things everyday, from one track to the next, about how the Susvara interprets a sound-field. It is amazing to appreciate what subtle but noticeable and interesting differences are emerging that set the Susvara apart from the HeKSE, with which it still manages to maintain an unmistakeable sonic kinship, in a very tantalizing "now you see it, now you don't" dynamic (referring to the ghostly presence of the HekSE in the Susvara's sound-field).

Speaking of "sonic kinships," I have always been intrigued, as a v281 owner, by the prospect of nailing down how much (kinship or divergence) it shares with the amp on the v590 (or the V550, in other words) or for that matter, the Niimbus US4(+), which is never too far away in my thoughts whenever the v281 or v590/550 are invoked. Accordingly, I do appreciate your brief remarks regarding how the susvara responds to the v590, but I hope you would not think I am being too greedy for one day if I ask you to consider sharing what impressions you have formed so far (if any) regarding any delta in sonic performance that might separate the v590/v550 from the Niimbus US4 (=) series?

 

[bouscadie]

Are enough of us sticking out our tongues while we wait for revelations?

 

[vkenz]

is it not that the v590 is the less of the good thing that makes the v281 great? if the v281 is the reference point of that good thing to most people then that good thing is less on the v590 and almost not existing in the nimbus us4. yeah?

 

[Fegefeuer]

 

[UntilThen]

Haha, that's my first laugh today and it's only 6 am.

 

[bouscadie]

I understand that it's like Trump: 281 would have won against 590 ?