First off, I'm really enjoying the thread. Thanks for sharing your system and experiences in such detail, and with fantastic photos! Like you, I was surprised how much of an improvement a TOTL rack (HRS SXR, in my case) made... for speaker listening. I use the components in my rack for...

Congrats on the acquisition. It's a headphone that requires a bit of brain burn-in, IME. It also likes some tubes in the chain. Funnily enough, I've recently been contemplating selling my E3, as I really only require a closed-back when traveling. I prefer the airiness and overall tonality of...

Putzeys' philosophy is to deliver the best possible performance within the audible band, and not really care about performance at ultrasonic frequencies. Seems like a logical approach to me. And no, the energy in play at ultrasonic frequencies is negligible, and not remotely a threat to...

At a given volume, any amp driving a particular headphone delivers an identical amount of power. So a speaker amp isn't pumping extra power into Susvara, it's just got more in reserve for dynamic peaks and can play louder without approaching its operating limits (which is where distortion...

I have a lot of respect for both you and GoldenSound. You are both tremendous contributors to this forum, and elsewhere. That said, I just typed out a detailed response wherein I documented why I thought you misrepresented what he posted, and why I thought he exaggerated the dangers of using...

GoldenSound post on class D amps for reference Class D amplifiers are not load invariant. This means that with higher than expected load impedances, they will behave abnormally. Class D amps use an output filter, and the driver itself forms a part of that filter. If the impedance is different...

Sorry, but this is nonsense. GS pointed out that many/most cheap class D amps were specifically designed for speakers and don't have flat frequency response when driving typical headphone loads (anything higher than 4-8 ohms), although the latest class D amp(s) from Fosi appear to have addressed...

IMHO, estats and electronica usually play very well together, particularly on sub-genres where thumping 4/4 bass isn't the main attraction. Layering and micro-detail are typically estat strengths, and that really illuminates the studio craft and artist's intentions on a lot of IDM tracks. I...

Higher sensitivity (efficiency), and lighter weight primarily. I auditioned both headphones at Audio46 in NYC off the Questyle M15, and thought each sounded great. The Empy2 probably had a more spacious soundstage, but both were very neutral and highly musical to my ears. In a desktop scenario...

Lots of entertaining speculation from various corners. I think I'll conserve neuron firings and just chillax until the actual announcement...... :dt880smile:

Yep, estats are well-known to lack bass impact relative to planars, although the Warwick Acoustics offerings and Sennheiser HE-1 do bridge the gap to varying degrees. Enter the new Raal 1995 cans, which combine estat resolution with bass on par with the best planars... per early user reports...

Yeah, Susvara sounds like the last word in resolution... until you listen to a top-class estat or ribbon. Given that planar drivers will probably always have more mass, it's not clear to me that they will ever quite catch up in that department. OTOH, I don't need ultimate resolution to truly...

As a former Noire owner (who upgraded to the E3 at its release), I actually prefer the Noire's bass to Stealth's. I do agree that in all other areas of the frequency response, the Stealth is superior, but I still found the Noire a more fun and involving headphone overall. The E3 is the sweet...

This new HFM flagship rumor came out of nowhere, and my curiosity is definitely piqued. I was a bit ambivalent about attending CanJam SoCal this fall, but if the reviews are enthusiastic, I may have to head down and check it out. :relaxed:

I've never heard the MDR-R10 or ATH-L5000, but of modern closed-backs, the DCA E3 is the best I've heard if you're looking for a neutral-ish tuning, à la Susvara or Utopia. And similar to Susvara, E3 needs some power to get it fully on song, so it's not ideal for portable use. In terms of cans...

No, Groucho Marx. Woody Allen later "borrowed" it...

Yes, I meant the peak at 50 Hz. I no longer own my X9000, but I did usually apply a 2-3 dB bass shelf below 100 Hz, as I routinely do with any estat. Had I done some research into the X9000's actual bass response, I clearly could have tailored a much more effective EQ, but bass wasn't the only...

Given your love of bass, I'd recommend floor-standers over bookshelf speakers... else you'll probably want to add a subwoofer or two, which takes up even more space. Also, if you plan to move around the room a lot, prioritize speakers with wide dispersion. Unless you want horns or powered...

Thanks for generating and posting that. The resonance peak (and associated roll-offs) would seem to explain why *I* found the X9000 bass to sound much more realistic and satisfying on some tracks versus others. Overall, I find Susvara's bass more accurate, consistent, and subjectively superior...

Not to keep beating a dead horse, but your hum is quite possibly due to a grounding issue (loop). You should probably unplug everything from your amp except your headphones and see if it goes away. If not, maybe plug the amp into a different outlet (and by itself) to see if that fixes it. In any...

Noise is just a small AC voltage. How does a transformer distinguish that from signal voltage?

Probably the two you reach for most often...? :relaxed:

Well, I'll let you know within a few months. :relaxed: From my limited audition time with Immanis at CanJam NYC, I can say it clearly performs on a higher technical level than Susvara. To my ears, both cans offer a balanced, organic, and coherent sonic experience, and are genre-agnostic. The...

I did detect an intermittent hissing sound in your SGL on one of the channels, but that was clearly noise, and not a signal distortion. It was also below 16 kHz, as I can't hear that high anymore. FWIW, I heard a similar sound from one of the channels of my SGL Junior shortly after I purchased...

Yes. Fantastic, based on my brief audition at CanJam NYC, and other user reports. You can search this thread for "VM-1a" for further details...