I absolutely love the TT2 with the M-scaler...
In the last couple of years I have been on a quest to build the most “live music” sounding headphone system I could. That has led me down many paths ultimately ending with Chord audio gear and the ZMF Vérité closed. Rob Watts post on how to listen to audio gear changed everything for me.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/watts-up.800264/#post-12457933
I believe Rob is leading the industry in reproducing a realistic “live music” audio sound from a digital source. I have owned or tested 26 headphones in the last few years. I’ve had some great experiences but it wasn’t until the ZMF Vérité, Chord dacs and an OTL tube amp that I have come to understand that a headphone system can sound like a live musical event. My current system is nothing short of astounding in accomplishing that. About 40% to 50% of the time I can honestly say that it sounds like I am in a room with live musicians.
The TT2 has an exceptional headphone amp but it is solid-state with very low output Impedance. I don't like it with the VC. I find it to be overdamped with a reduced soundstage. As a matter of fact every headphone I have sounds better out of my Eddy Current but your Susvara will not be driven out of a tube amp. A lot of the people find that using an XLR adapter from the XLR outputs of the TT2 sound great driving headphones and at 18 watts will certainly drive your Susvara. I suspect what is happening is that the XLR outputs have a higher output impedance then the headphone amp and that’s one of the reasons some people prefer the sound.
In my system the benefit of the tube amp is huge in the area of soundstage, realism, holographic imaging and separation. If I were to go with something other than the Eddy Current it would be the new ZMF Pendant SE, that combined with the outputs on the TT2 would give you everything you need for the future. As far as future proofing, everything I’ve read from Rob states pretty clearly that he has maxed out what he can do with the M-scaler and the Dave. His current focus seems to be more on digital amps and the recording side of the industry so there may not be much else coming down the line regarding DACs.
A lot of my equipment is now battery powered to eliminate RFI. A lot of people confuse RFI with high frequency extension and air around instruments both of which are inaccurate representations of musical instruments. In switching to battery power everything smoothed out, warmed up and became substantially more realistic.
My entire system started with the vérité closed and everything has been built around that headphone. As I have upgraded my system the ZMF Vérité have scaled magnificently.
As far as driving my Martin Logan ethos speakers, I have just re-purchased the Red Dragon S-500 amp. That amp is one of the few unicorns I’ve ever found in this hobby and it is the only piece of audio gear that I have ever sold, regretted selling and re-purchased. I run the RCA out of the TT2 to the Eddy Current and the Vérité and the Balanced out to the Red Dragon and the Martin Logan‘s.
I don’t want to get too far off topic so if you do end up purchasing the M-scaler and the TT2 or if you have any other questions please feel free to DM me as I have learned quite a bit and can help you get the most out of them.
Arlan