HiFiMan Susvara Over-Ear Planar Headphone - Official Thread

Fwiw, I had it paired at one point awhile back. I can’t really elaborate that much since it’s been long, but I didn’t find it to be a bad pairing. It generally added some warmth to the soloist which was welcomed. Also I don’t have a susvara so i can’t comment there. Probably not that helpful. Lol

The 4,5khz bump works very well for me. I think the Susvara is a bit harsh with some music sometimes and this helps a lot. For me it’s more laid back and also many instruments sound more natural. So thanks a lot for sharing!

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Anyone compare the Abyss and Susvara driven by the ENLEUM 23R??

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I had the Susvara, 1266 TC and Enleum.
What are you curious about? They are very different headphones to try and compare…

I have both the headphones and the 13R…does an excellent job with both although I think it is tuned more for the susvara IMHO

Tried the eq settings. After a short while I only used the 2000hz and 4470hz filters, since I prefer the stock lower midrange warmth (the distinct bass shelf is nice for some tracks though).
Although I think it sounds a bit more “normal” (especially percussion) with the 2000hz and 4470hz filters I think the stock tuning gives a bit more openness and clarity the sound that I prefer more. When I had the Arya previously I switch backed and forth a lot with the same 2000hz filter but always ended up liking it without the filter because of the more ethereal/relaxed character it had.

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After a couple years, I finally wrote my review of Susvara.

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Hi. I’m paranoid my Susvara isn’t driven to its full potential, and it’s very frustrating. Been trying several amps. Could someone help me see if this is enough to drive susvara to its optimal performance?

There really isn’t a good way to tell from a spec sheet, it has plenty of power, but that’s not all that matters.
But TBH a I wouldn’t worry about it, if you do where do you stop, there are lots of speaker amps people will recommend, and claim no headphone amp does them justice.
If you like how they sound, just don’t worry about it.

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I do like the sound, the spec sheet is for my Moon 430ha. I use a Moon 680D dac with internal streamer as source. But i cant stop thinking about if it’s to its fullest or not :see_no_evil: and I would like some more bass, but tried the ferrum stack and there was only a tiny bit more bass.

You have to define Fullest, if it’s marginally better on a $100K speaker amp, does that mean the $10K Headphone amp isn’t driving it to the fullest. There is a pretty wide spectrum of tonality in the amps I’ve heard that I’d consider do it justice.
It has plenty of Bass for me on my setup, I use a WA33, but I’m not listening to EDM, if your that worried about the Bass EQ it, or just buy something else.

It’s really not worth stressing over.

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I don’t operate in your price class, but I do know about performance envelopes. A WW2 P-51 Mustang will fly as fast as it’ll fly. A Boeing 747 will fly as fast as it’ll fly. A wooden biplane will fly as fast as it’ll fly.

The physical limits of a design dictate the lion’s share of its performance potential. I demoed the Susvara and didn’t find it bassy either – it’s just not going to do what it can’t do. Headphones always lack the visceral impact of speaker / subwoofer bass, as they don’t move that much air.

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Power is definitely not a constraint for you. It’s just tastes at that point. And like Generic said, you arent going to make the Susvara into a basshead headphone no matter what amp you put on it… well unless you add a bunch of EQ to it or one with a bass toggle. It does sound quite fun on one of those iFi Bass switched amps lol.

As I stated in my review above:

The Susvara is source dependent. I mentioned this with the HE6SE V2, and the same can really be said with this one. If you put a bright setup with it, it’ll be bright. If you put a warm source behind it, it’ll be warmer. But in all cases, it’s still fairly neutral in its overall tonal presentation.

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As others have said, you’re not going to get meaningfully more bass (much less better slam/impact) out of the Susvara by fiddling with amplifier choices.

I’ve run them with everything from $129 amps, through all the usual recommendations, and all the way up to a pair of $325K/per mono-blocks, and they’re just not going to give that bottom-end oomph.

Best to play with EQ, which can get you most of the way there … and potentially for free.

Power-wise, once you’re hitting 20 dB above your average listening levels at ~50% of the power your amplifier can deliver, more POWER won’t help.

You can use my various tools at: https://headphoneresource.com to see what’s what there.

Your Moon 430HA, other than being laid back (which with the Susvara probably isn’t ideal), a little “slow” sounding (vs. some other amps) and lacking a hair of transparency vs. the very best solid-state amps (Zähl HM-1, Holo Audio Bliss, HPA4), there aren’t many places to go that are worth bothering with (and still won’t give you dat-bass).

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I appreciate the help.

The susvara needs this for 110db:

V (rms) 5,484
mA (rms) 91,395
mW 501,187

To my understanding the moon 430ha does deliver much more than what is required of the susvara?

I’m afraid i don’t quite understand, been trying the calculations, and it seems like for example the holo bliss, which is supposed to drive them to the fullest gives just about the same numbers as the 430ha? Or am I using the wrong calculator?

And here is the bliss for comparison.

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The point is that you seem to be focused on driving the Susvara to the “fullest” being about “power”. That’s only a part of the equation, and once you have “enough” it becomes about how it is delivered not how much more is available.

No amplifier, unless it has a big bass-boost capability is going to do much to change the bottom end and/or slam/impact of the Susvara. Even then, it’s not going to make it competitive with the best in that regard. But pairing it with a laid back amplifier like the 430HA is going to exacerbate the laid-back, less-punchy delivery of the Susvara (especially where that headphone is already a bit limp bass-and-subbass-wise).

The HPA4, Bliss, HM-1 and Enleum 23-R are all much better pairings with the Susvara than the 430HA overall, even though not all of them are as powerful as the SimAudio unit. Even the Schiit Jotunhem 2 is a more engaging and exciting listen with the Susvara than the 430HA.

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Thanks for all the help. So does it mean I would get more bass in quantity with one of those amps? Or just a different presentation? I have all Nordost heimdall 2 cables (which makes it sound a bit faster and more resolution), and an isotek Aquarius v5 that changes the presentation of the moon 430ha and moon 680D.

Did try eq today (oratory) and it’s prettt awesome. It’s almost too much bass :see_no_evil: but does the eq degrade the overall sound quality ?

Nope, not really … excepting with the HM-1 if you used its bass-lift capability (but that’s just EQ … in this case in the analog domain).

Mostly this.

Those other amps are a bit “faster” sounding, and other than the Enleum mode, are all more resolving and transparent. But they’re neutral in their tonality so they are not going to make any meaningful different to your perception of bass quantity (quality is another matter).

You can always adjust it to suit what you’re seeking.

Depends on how it is achieved. A proper implementation, using sufficient mathematical precision, the right filtering approach and not going through the OS mixer should be entirely transparent (excepting the changes you’re making, of course).

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If you were to actually measure it with various amps, probably not.
Might you perceive more bass with a particular amp, possibly.
Speed is a factor (laid back amps tend to come across lazy, and the most notable impact is in the Bass. Conveying the texture of the Bass notes is also a factor.

To me the big loss of an under driven Susvara isn’t the bass, it’s the presentation of low volume dynamics, to me that’s the headphones real strength (it’s almost EStat like in some regards), and you lose it.

The Susvara doesn’t have a lot of Sub Bass presence, it’s never going to be a 1266 Phi TC, it has very good Bass texture, but what people think is adequate Bass varies a LOT.
If you want a Bass focused can buy the 1266, I personally have several problems with it’s presentation, lots of others don’t, but there isn’t much that can compete in terms of visceral bass.

EQ might impact “quality”, but why care, your not measuring against some abstract “perfect sound”, your catering to your own preferences, and there is nothing wrong with that.

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