Hey folks,
just got the Bravura today and wanted to share my initial impressions after listening the whole day with some thoughts about how it compares to the Susvara. Why the Susvara? In my oppinion they are very similar to each other in a general sense.
Please not that these are just initial impressions that can still easily change while brain burn-in happens and while I discover other songs and details.
Build / comfort
The Bravura is made out of aluminum and is very light. Leather is used for the earpads and the headband. The leather is of very good quality (haven't seen this quality in the headphone industry!). The headband is very soft, the earpads are a bit stiffer. The Bravura has some clamp force, more than usual. It will probably be an issue for people with wider heads. For me it is "ok", I can really listen to it for a longer time. But I feel some pressure next to my cheeks if I pay attention. It would maybe help if the pads were as soft as the headband. Keep in mind that it is a new unit, so it can get better. The cable is good, I like it. It is not the most flexible, but it is an electrostat and compared to Stax this cable is really good. It is sleeved as well.
Sound
Before going into details, the overall sound is quite similar to the Susvara with some small but significant differences. The Bravua has more upper mids and the treble is extended more. As a compensation it has a little bit more warmth than the Susvara. Overall I would call it a neutral to bright headphone (more bright than neutral).
The bass is very well textured and has good linear quantity. These slam! And not too little! I would compare them to the Susvara, while the Bravura has a tad less impact but is tighter. So it is a faster attack while the Susvara punch spreads wider. The added wamrth can sometimes give the overall sound a thicker character which is very nice and contrary to how you would expect an electrostat to sound.
Additionally it does not have planar bass issues like the Susvara. E.g. the beat in "Every Single Peace [LVNDSCAPE Remix]" - Redondo, Bolier, She Keeps Bees sounds so artificial on the Susvara and 1266, it's unlistenable for me. The Utopia with a DD does a much better job here and the Bravura as well!
The mids are very beautiful with lots of texture and details. But the Bravura still holds everything well together in a muscial manner so that it does not sound artificial or analytical. As mentioned, the upper mids are elevated. We are not talking about Odin territory here, definitely less than that! It makes the voices very clear but at the same time bad recordings are revealed quite a bit. And at times it can sound almost harsh and sibilant depending on the recording.
The treble is well extended. Especially airy frequencies. You will get lots of upper treble detail, but they do not move into the foreground and take your attention from the main music. They are nicely added and build a very complete and rich sound. Just like you would expect from an electorstatic headphone.
The soundstage is average in my oppinion. Vocals are intimate all the time due to the upper mid elevation. But it's not as intimate as the Utopia, no worries here. But I find the Susvara sounds wider. And the Solitaire P much wider.
Transient response is second to none on the Bravura. It's really crazy. If you think you can hear every instrument clearly separated from each other in busy passages with the Susvara / 1266 / Solitaire P then think again
I listened to some tracks with very fast sequences of instrument sounds that always sounded like one sound for me. The Bravura traced them all very finely, incredible.
The Bravura is also a very dynamic headphone. Not as dynamic as a Focal Utopia, but also not flat like a usual electrostat headphone. It competes easily with the Susvara in dynamics. I found myself playing with the volume knob quite often as it draws the dynamic range of songs very well and I need to adjust the volume accordingly
The timbre is very accurate. It was hard for me to determine if Susvara or the Bravura is ahead. On some songs the Bravura was better on other songs the Susvara. Both have very natural timbre and do a perfect job there.
My general thoughts so far:
I wasn't expecting this, but the Susvara shows again its qualities and why it is so good. The Susvara has just the right amount of detail retrieval to still sound smooth and musical. The Bravura steps a bit into territory, where it looses a tiny bit of musicality because of the upper mids elevation, treble extension and overall detail retrieval. Don't get this wrong, it still does a phenomenal job in holding all together, but the Susvara is better balanced in this aspect in my oppinion.
Further, it would have really helped the Bravura if the clampfore was less. The Susvara sounds so effortless AND feels effortless on your head while the Bravura can't compete here. And it could easily compete from a weight perspective. I don't know, but sometimes I have the impression that headphone makers do not understand how important good comfort is, for me it is nearly as important as the sound quality. But the headphone is brand new, so I expect it to soften a bit, but I don't expect it to get very comfortable like the Susvara for example.
Besides all the nitpicky criticism on this level and as a critical person I am:
The Bravura is an outstanding headphone, hands down. You get a very good tuning with TOTL technicalities. I can't imagine to get even better, curious to hear the Aperio one day. You can sink into the music, listen to whatever you want in the music, you will not loose a single detail. It works well with so many genres and makes a lot of songs shine. And you don't have to worry about dac/amp pairings. It's a fire and forget headphone. You buy it and don't need to care anymore about anything else and can be sure to have one of the best sounds in the head-fi realm for a very very long time.
I'm just looking for a simplified system
![DSC_0485[1].JPG](https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/12210005.jpg)
