[MikePio]

I think it might sound better out of the RME directly. The RME amp honestly sounds quite good, it just doesn't quite get all the way there.

It doesn't sound better to my ears. I find the amplifier section of the RME to be good, but the HDVA 600 sounds smoother and more refined. Have you heard any of the Sennheiser amps?

 

[plumpudding2]

It doesn't sound better to my ears. I find the amplifier section of the RME to be good, but the HDVA 600 sounds smoother and more refined. Have you heard any of the Sennheiser amps?

I own an RME but I have not heard the HDVA600, Sennheiser amps have a reputation for sounding poorly with any headphone other than the one they were designed for. If it sounds better to your ears then by all means use it!

 

[thecrow]

(I did also post this in the arya thread)

Just a passing thought: the release of the original utopias, he1000, susvaras, lcd4 was (arguably) the starting point of hp prices going up in general for higher end options

with the new and value pricing of all these hifiman options (hopefully they stay) could this be the start of pricing of new top end products coming back a bit, or at least not escalating further in the future?

should hifiman be applauded/ acknowledged for this business decision?

ps: Ignore the abyss guys in that thought)

 

[Exekuhtor]

Prices for (electronic) hobbies will never go down again, look at the GPU market. The last somewhat reasonable priced highend GPU was the GTX 1080ti, Nvidia went all out because they feared that AMD could beat them. It was expensive, but worth it. Since then prices went full bananas, and the problem is that unlike with headphones, you kinda want to buy a new model every 2-3 years. I'm sort of happy that the TOTL's in hi-fi will stay relevant for a very long time. A Susvara 2 won't be miles better than the current one, even if it comes out tomorrow. Of course manufacturers hype up new stuff, but it rarely really beats the old one 100% nowadays if it's in the TOTL realm. Look at the new Utopia, a sidegrade for 1k more. A fantastic TOTL amp or headphone now will still be fantastic in 10 years.

The Abyss guys did something extremely rare, they built a headphone from scratch without caring about the price and did not have any (cheaper) models to begin with. It's a miracle (of engineering) that the 1266 ended up on the same level next to the Susvara. They saw that it sold very well despite being 3k, and then they upped the price, twice. Of course like with the Utopia, making that price change with a new revision (Phi, CC, TC) made it a litle bit more palatable for the customers.

On the other hand, the tech is trickling down, so you will always get better stuff at better price points. Look at the Hifiman HEK or Arya models, you get (mostly) better sound for the same money than 2-5 years ago. But if you want to get the best available, it will cost you, for a reason. We seem to have reached somewhat of a ceiling, of course there are the ultra 3 expensive Estats, but that's another story (and i personally disliked the Aperio when i heard it).
The more TOTL something is, the longer it will stay relevant in this hobby, which i personally like. Of course, companies and reviewers want to create hype so they can show off their new shiny toy, but time will always tell (and told!) that some hypetrains will get swapped out for another one.

In the last few years, what were the true Susvara (2) contenders?
Audeze LCD-5 -> Divisive signature, also very resolving, still not quite Susvara level (personally i want the old Audeze sound back, like a modern LCD-4).
Abyss 1266 TC -> The polar opposite sound signature, a true competitor that's on the same level, it got that "king's place" next to the queen's throne. Different, not better.
Warwick Bravura -> Some say it's better, some disagree, so purely subjective (i prefer the Sus). Also a whole system, can't sidegrade / play around.
Utopia 2 -> Sidegrade (or minor improvement) to the OG one, every reasonable reviewer got that, probably the best DD we have in headphones.
DCA TOTL's -> Where are the dynamics my guys? Harman tuned with details is not everything. I was disappointed.
The newest Hifiman HEKSE model -> Gets closed, but doesn't fully reach the Susvara (let's be honest, Hifiman would be dumb if it was better).
Charybdis -> A mix between the Sus and the 1266 from what i've heard, i would love to test it more, but it's 740g(!) and has weird dangling connectors, also people state that it's not better sounding, just (again) different. I was very close to getting one, maybe some time in the future, maybe i'll wait for another revision. It's the latest competitor.
Stax, various TOTL models -> Some say more details, but you seem to have to spend insane amounts of cash on the amp for "okish" dynamics, otherwise they are well below standard planar level. I was shocked how bad the dynamics of the X9000 were when i heard it at Munich. Experts in the Stax thread said it wasn't amped properly.
Do i dare listing the Spirit Torino Valkyrie? -> Extremely divisive, i heard it very briefly, was not for me, i won't spend that much (even used) just to test it. Very few people prefer it over the Sus, but objectively better? Lol.
ZMF Caldera -> Fantastic headphone, but it's one notch below the Susvara.
What's on the horizon? Maybe Modhouse Tungston, we don't know. Zeos said that he has a review for patreons up while the last changes are being made. Almost on the same technical level as the Susvara while being cheaper? Maybe. Better? Very unlikely.

If there is something coming out that's truly better, let's just say, a Sennheiser HE-1000, than it will be priced at ~10-15k. We already had the Shangri-La Junior which didn't uniformly surpassed the Susvara.
Making a better sounding Estat (while fleshing out the typical Estat problems like bass and dynamics) seems to be extremely hard, often internal EQ is used.
All the listed planars do not clearly surpass the Susvara, so there's probably not much room left (if any).
It seems that dynamic drivers can't compete on the highest technical level.

Of course these are my thoughts, but you can use some logic and think about why things are (still) priced how they are (while on some things you can't argue with logic, hello Spirit Torino).

Thanks for reading that wall of text, Cheers!

 

[devilboy]

Doing some comparisons.

Spring 3 KTE -Bliss KTE -Susvara
vs
Bravura system.

 

[MikePio]

Doing some comparisons.

Spring 3 KTE -Bliss KTE -Susvara
vs
Bravura system.

Really looking forward to your impressions.

 

[rwelles]

Any one have a chance to try the HFM Prelude that was just announced?

 

[linshu1992]

Sharing some new discovery. I'm stepping into stranger and stranger territory. I'm finally testing out Susvara with two bridged AHB2s with WA33 and EVO 400.

For the record, I'm rolling GE 12au7 and Raytheon 5ar4 on EVO 400; And on WA33, stock Electro-harmonix 2A3s, 6C45Pi Electro Harmonix gold-pins, TA-274B Takatsuki.

With WA33, AHB2 mono blocks feel just a tad too much. The floor noise becomes just slightly audible. (With a single AHB2, the floor is dead silent.) Energy in the music becomes a little too much. Maybe "shouty" is the word. If the sounds were strokes of a painting, the strokes are very full and saturated, and the edges are a little smeared. Whereas with just a single ahb2, there's no lack of power but there's so much finesse. Each stroke is vivid but remains delicate, silk smooth, and very defined. The whole presentation feels more composed. It sounded more enjoyable to me.

And this time I'm very impressed with EVO 400. Also on AHB2 mono blocks, zero floor noise. I gradually turned up the volume. The mids and treble immediately jump out. Details are crystal sharp. They stand out so much more, even with a background of bass, like fireworks against a dark sky. With a single AHB2, EVO 400 has a noticeably narrower soundstage than WA33. With a pair of AHB2s, the soundstage feels on par. I very much like this new combo - it kept the body and soundstage of my old fav pairing, but infused a new sense of excitement. Swapping back to WA33 + AHB2, the chain felt a little flat and dull, but this was already head and shoulders above WA33 alone.

Excuse my awkward positioning of the AHB2s. My speaker to xlr adapter turned out to be too short if I place them side by side.

 

[Tubewin]

Can anyone listen to the song Anette Askvik's Liberty. I'm worried that there is a channel imbalance on the Susvara. At 20 seconds into the song is when the vocals start, and I'm hearing her voice favor the right side slightly with the Susvara. I'm using qobuz for the track. Youtube sounded a little more centered for some reason. Just want to make sure it's the track and not the headphones or a channel imbalance somewhere. The strange thing is that the vocals on the track on the Utopia is centered.

 

[Exekuhtor]

Yes, it's (a bit) to the right. Way easier to detect that with the Susvara than with the Galileo i listened to with at first. With the Susvara you notice it right away. I'm hearing it on Youtube and still notice it.
Gorgeous song nevertheless.

 

[Tubewin]

Yes, it's (a bit) to the right. Way easier to detect that with the Susvara than with the Galileo i listened to it at first. With the Susvara you notice it right away. I'm hearing it on Youtube and still notice it.
Gorgeous song nevertheless.

Wow thank you so much, I can sleep now...

 

[Exekuhtor]

Yeah, that's the drawback of highend audio gear. I hear a switch clicking far behind me to the right in "Robbie Williams - Feel" in the first two seconds and will never hear that song again without that click. The microphone clips in "Shinedown - Adrenaline" in the first few seconds when the guitar jumps in. The same mic clipping happens in "Drowning in Darkness - Beyond the Black" with the piano. Even on well recorded orchestral music you hear stuff you would often prefer not to hear, but that's the hobby in nutshell, haha. Spending so much to surpass the owned gear and make it invisible only to be stopped by the actual recording.

 

[Tubewin]

Yeah, that's the drawback of highend audio gear. I hear a switch clicking far behind me to the right in "Robbie Williams - Feel" in the first two seconds and will never hear that song again without that click. The microphone clips in "Shinedown - Adrenaline" in the first few seconds when the guitar jumps in. The same mic clipping happens in "Drowning in Darkness - Beyond the Black" with the piano. Even on well recorded orchestral music you hear stuff you would often prefer not to hear, but that's the hobby in nutshell, haha. Spending so much to surpass the owned gear and make it invisible only to be stopped by the actual recording.

Yeah, it's weird. The Utopia's were more or less centered in that vocal part of "Liberty", which brought about a lot of anxiety.

 

[tameral]

There are a lot of standard mixing practices - with respect to bass guitar, vocals, etc (such as with rock music) - and in most cases it can help you recognize if you have things situated correctly on your head or it can confuse you when they've mixed things non-traditionally. Vocals are not always mixed in the middle. In many genres much of the time they are not - certain drum parts tend to be.

 

[Tubewin]

Yeah, that's the drawback of highend audio gear. I hear a switch clicking far behind me to the right in "Robbie Williams - Feel" in the first two seconds and will never hear that song again without that click. The microphone clips in "Shinedown - Adrenaline" in the first few seconds when the guitar jumps in. The same mic clipping happens in "Drowning in Darkness - Beyond the Black" with the piano. Even on well recorded orchestral music you hear stuff you would often prefer not to hear, but that's the hobby in nutshell, haha. Spending so much to surpass the owned gear and make it invisible only to be stopped by the actual recording.

In Billie Eilish's What Was I Made For, at the 1:40 mark to 1:50 you can hear her softly humming underneath the prominent hum.