Like several others, I have had a long and varied relationship with my Susvara headphones over the years that I have owned them. They were good, but there was always the nagging impression that they could do more. Then, four years ago, I bought a Headtrip II Level II and that changed. I couldn’t get an amp anywhere in the UK to try out but, having told Jeff what I was after, he said he was so confident that his amp would meet my requirements that he would sell me one and, if I wasn’t impressed, I could send it back for a full refund. That confidence inspired me to take a chance and he was right. The amp ended up being permanently connected to my Susvara as nothing less - with Susvara - would do for me anymore.
Recently, I asked Jeff to upgrade my amp to current spec which includes the external power supply and I have had the amp back with me for about a month now. Jeff reckons it needs 200 hours to fully run in and sound its best and I reckon I’m maybe approaching halfway there. The improvement is actually greater than I was expecting to be honest and it is sounding superb. Susvara sound epic - the scale and imaging is so grand, it is almost like sitting with desktop monitors rather than headphones. It has all the punch and drive you need for Susvara to really perform but, at the same time, has great delicacy and subtlety in delivery. It is very powerful and yet so refined, it’s quite amazing how it can combine seemingly conflicting qualities of outcome. I have never heard such clarity and detail and yet the sound is not cold and clinical. It has great speed but also a warmth to it, no hard edges or fatiguing high end. It is very hard to describe really but the word that keeps coming to my mind is ’pure’.
The upgrade has also given the amp greater synergy with other phones somehow, not least due I suspect to the lower noise floor. I used to use it exclusively with Susvara but it is now getting more varied use. It has taken my SolP up to a level that I didn’t realise they had which has given me a greater respect for them. I am not a prolific poster on here and am definitely not the type to give gushing praise, though I feel that is what I am doing here and it kind of goes against the grain a bit for me! Anyway, here is a snap of the amp with a few decent cans.