Before being aware of WarWick I had placed an order for the Susvaras the dealer had just picked up the WarWick line and had the Bravura system in the store I gave them a listen . For the price alone for the Susvaras the Bravura system made me rethink where I was going with my headphone investment that included the purchase of the Susvaras I was hitting just over the $25K mark with no guarantee I would be content and satisfied in the long term ,.
Yeah totally, its very easy to overspend without getting what you are looking for. Auditioning and comparing pricier stuff with cheaper solutions is the key.
I will say the Bravura has bass note weight just not as much as the Caldera, D8K Pro, and certainly not a TC.
if you are exploring e-stats AND are focused on bass and note weight, just realize that on that path “there be dragons”. Besides the Bravura, there are not a lot of “affordable” e-stat options which achieve good to great bass. A Stax paired with an Eksonic T2 or Aeras, Headamp BHSE, or higher tier Mjolnir builds etc. can do it but that is a high to very (very) high barrier to entry. And thus I personally stopped midway up that climb having seen (heard) the summit at shows, sold the Stax setup, and got a Bravura.
I didn't see a reason for this. Before I started using filters, I had Susvara, SolP and Abyss. Technically, the AB1266 is the most advanced headphones - the biggest soundstage, the most dynamic sound. The only problem was their tonal balance, which is perfect for rock and metal, but not so good for vocals and live music. I needed other headphones just for the sake of a different tuning, better suited for classical music.
I've heard all the recent Stax now, and L500 is my clear favorite. I heard it at AXPONA and thought L700 would be better, then I finally heard L700 at CanJam and felt it was a departure. I don't think Stax come close to the precision and accuracy that Warwicks can do, but I find the tuning and balance of L500 very enjoyable all-around, for a mere $830.
The Bravura is not as as good of an all-rounder as the Susvara is. It lacks some bass extension and is also a tad more energetic up top. Additionally the Bravura is also a bit more edgy than the Susvara which I personally did not like over time.
The one I personally would get, LTA Z10E, and Viva Egoista STX. For X9000/Corina, I heard on different versions of Grand Cayman, and of course BHSE. Never heard a Stax amp, besides the awful 252S with L300.
I for myself like the Bravura’s more then the Susvara. Both are great but Bravura s tonality is darker which I really love plus they are more forgiving in bad records.
Agree , I don’t mind the low end at all ,i can understand if you have a steady diet of heavy metal dance or Trance that beat demands low end thump though choose a dynamic headphone ,.
It sounds very powerful. It handles the harsh treble intensity of Rob Zombie like there is no intensity, and just listenable smoothness. It has vivid, very dimensional imaging that made instruments in tracks(Ozzy) pop out and make all my hairs stand up like no other headphone at AXPONA or CanJam did. Nothing else was even close.
Susvara sounds very clean, clear, correct and pretty boring, similar to HE-1 and just like HE1000SE. Not a lot of meat on the bones. Nothing beats the Warwicks in technical performance, but they don't offer as good of an overall listening experience as the RAAL, unless you're an electronic genre freak. RAAL also just sounds different than anything else, which is extremely refreshing in this stale, old headphone world.
![DSC_0485[1].JPG](https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/12210005.jpg)
