Both drives Susvara nicely but Kinki is having more headroom and driving it with more ease. What the Kinki shines for me is its smoothness tonality and the analogue sound, which make Susvara a real joy to listen for hours.
Is this the case even if you don't run your HPA4 as poweramp in your chain? I.e. with just the TRH-1. I am going to order the TRH-1 soon but I need to understand if it is a good choice for the Susvara, which is why I am asking. Next year I can look at adding a reference amp to my chain but for now it would be only the Soloist and the TRH-1 if I buy it.
With Susvara I only use either the Kinki and the Burson as poweramp. Despite HPA4 drives the Susvara nicely, it does not do it great so I never use it as poweramp. On the other hand, HPA4 is having one of the best line amplification stage so it is quite natural for my setup.
Thanks for this. Can I ask a few questions please to understand properly as I am making some purchase decisions with this information:
1. On standalone basis, THR-1 performs very well with Susvara with good dynamics, smooth and natural sound. Resolution is good (better with HPA4 as pre) and micro details is amazing.
What a killer setup you've got... I used Elise as preamp to Kinki and damn.... There's always ways to improve an already amazing sounding system
Pretty much my endgame here. Just got Woo WA22 and using it's as Preamp to Kinki THR-1 as Poweramp driving my Susvara.
Simply ticked all boxes on resolution, dynamics, imaging, power and tonality. I am at the music paradise.
Elise is an awesome one. How does the Kinki sound with it with you D8K Pro?
Forgive the noob sounding question here, but why would you use a preamp in front of your headphone amp which already has a volume knob?
Pretty much my endgame here. Just got Woo WA22 and using it's as Preamp to Kinki THR-1 as Poweramp driving my Susvara.
Simply ticked all boxes on resolution, dynamics, imaging, power and tonality. I am at the music paradise.
When adding the Elise's (upgraded tubes) to the Kinki it's like putting mayonnaise in a very good dish, I can't ask for more, I think the peak where I am not looking for anything else is right here, aka end game
Function of a preamp is way more than volume control. In some headphone amps the line amplification stage may not be at good quality so adding a separate preamp may vastly improve the overall sound quality. Sometimes you can achieve higher gain and lower noise with a preamp, but most important is that you can change the sound signature of a headphone amplifier as well. For example by using a tube amplifier as preamp to a solid state poweramp, you may get the sweet and warm sound signature of tube with output power and speed of solid state.
Congratulations and I also mainly listen to Classical, Acoustic Jazz and vocal. Will try some tube rolling when my newly ordered tubes arrives.
Ok, I assumed more or less what you mentioned in your answer, but thanks for clarifying. One con to consider is you're adding another component and cable to the chain. I do get the gain matching thing to an extent, though that would be more important if you were using a regular stereo amp vs a HP amp. Presumably a HP amp already has gain settings. No doubt adding any preamp will alter the sound, which is subjective. I thought the Kinki was already warm? But to each their own. Thanks for your feedback
This is a fantastic setup. Your news of the WA22 as pre is great news for me. I have the Little Dot MK VI+ with some excellent tubes. I will certainly test it as pre when I have my TRH-1. It looks like I will have my Susvara in early December. Exciting times.
Pretty much my endgame here. Just got Woo WA22 and using it's as Preamp to Kinki THR-1 as Poweramp driving my Susvara.
Simply ticked all boxes on resolution, dynamics, imaging, power and tonality. I am at the music paradise.
