Oof. I’m in a similar situation with my HE6se.
I’ve already completed the mods (ear pads and grills), but rather than adapter cables I went with the ampsandsounds Black Box (hopefully it will arrive within 2-weeks), and waiting on my Krell KST-100 power amplifier (currently being repaired).
Looking forward to your impressions with the Benchmark.
Will a bottlehead crack drive this headphone or is it too less power?
The Crack is definitely not capable of driving the Susvara.
This might seem strange to mention, because normally people would rave about guitars or violins or something important, but dang do these head phones make spoons sound really good 
The spoon solo in Spoonman by Soundgarden sounds exactly like spoons getting played on concrete and metal. I’ve heard this song a billion times and it’s never been more clear to me than now. Wow. I never really heard the spoons before. I just got the impression they were being played. But with these headphones I hear every little clink of the spoon. Haha
I have to ask this, as I am sure others are probably wondering too. How did you come up with this combo?
The reason behind my question is your inquiry around TOTL tube amps recently, and this particular headphone combo does not do the Susvara justice. BHC is better suited for high ohm headphones (300 Ohm give or take) like the ZMF line, or Senn HD6xx.
I am genuinely curious what would lead you to this pairing?
Thanks, probably could use the crack with the VO in that case. I thought it was going to be cool to build an amp myself, besides getting a good one 
I got the Susvara as well, haven’t received it though, so going through this thread to see what people were pairing it with. It was silly of me to ask if the crack was going to work with this, given how people seem to be using the speaker tap with this headphone because it loves power.
Check out relevant discussion here: General purchase advice: Ask your questions/for advice here! - #640 by ProfFalkin.
I know a few people that use the Benchmark AHB2 (what I plan to get). I’ve seen others use the Cayin HA-6A, Jot2, Schiit Vidar and HK770. There’s a lot of options. You don’t need to spend a ton of money to get a powerful enough amp.
The AHB2 seems to be a combo a lot of people find success with.
I can believe people use the HA-6A (or any number of amps), but it’s probably not something I think would have enough power to drive the Susvara well. I have an HA-300 which on paper seems to have more power than the HA-6A even in ultralinear mode. I didn’t find the HA-300 could drive the Susvara to top performance; it can certainly drive it loudly, but still not the same as driving well.
That’s a good point. Most amp can get the Susvara to a high spl, but that doesn’t mean that they’re powering them well.
Susvara is an unusual beast that requires both quantity and quality power (HE6se is similarly in this regard).
It’s probably been stated here before, but is worth repeating…with enough power, the soundstage opens up/becomes larger and the bass significantly firms up and is better extended. I don’t think it’s subtle improvement and really worthwhile to get the most of a Susvara.
I do agree, until I got my Bakoon 13r I didnt realize just how good the susvara really was
What do you use for DACs for the susvara? Any special requirements? I’ve got a Bifrost 2 at the moment.
You undoubtedly will find a wide variety of responses to this. There aren’t any “special” requirements and will depend on your needs and preferences, but I can say the Susvara will certainly be able to take advantage of any higher resolving DACs you may use in the future.
For myself, my chain is:
Roon (local files, Tidal, Qobuz) → HQ Player (PCM - Sinc M, LNS15) → Sonore Ultrarendu → Holo May KTE (NOS) → (Viva Egoista 845 | Pass XP12, Pass XA25)
Your probably going to see a lot of DAC’s on this list that are more expensive than your likely to be comfortable with. I run.
Roon → Pi2AES → Aqua LaVoce S3 → (WA33 | OG Cavalli Liquid Gold)
Ended up getting the Bakoon to drive the Susvara!
sounds like a fantastic choice. Many have reported that’s a great combo. How do you like it so far?
I haven’t gotten it yet, it’s about to come on Saturday and the Sus arrives tomorrow. I will share my impressions when I get them, although this is my first open back headphone so I don’t have any other reference besides a Sony 1000mx4, it will be interesting.
oh wow. you are in for a huge treat! What are you using for a source?
I already had bought the RME so going to use it as the DAC for now. I read the SPL Phonitor thread here and saw @Resolve’s review, and the idea was to use RME + Phonitor XE + Utopia but along the way kept changing some of the plans as I kept reading various threads.