Nice! Definitely leaning towards picking one up. Just making sure there’s some solid impressions with the Susvara.
will we get output voltage curve too? how high is the high gain?
Which curve are you referring to?
The Bliss doesn’t have a high/low gain setting, you just adjust volume and the amp will adjust the actual gain to the optimal level for the desired output.
It goes from -72dB to +12dB in 1dB steps
The ‘Hi-Z’ / ‘Lo-Z’ setting is referencing the output impedance.
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well, the data you gave, 12w into 32 ohm, output voltage about 20v, that’s almost beyond crazy
we check the data of ahb2, if both driving planars, well, it can output 26-28 vrms under speaker loads, it will likely can do at least 20v with heaphones too
https://benchmarkmedia.com/products/benchmark-ahb2-power-amplifier
so, the conclusion is this headphone amp very powerful innit
It is, but the main thing here is that AHB2 is a speaker amp and is designed to be stable down to very low impedance loads. As well as scale according to ohms law upto 200W @ 4Ohm etc.
Bliss is not, and would not be able to deliver anywhere near the same power into a say 8 ohm load as the AHB2 would
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@GoldenSound any thoughts on what DACs synergize well with the Bliss? Things to look for or avoid with the rest of the chain around it?
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Personally I’m not usually much of a believer in DAC/Amp synergy unless there’s something pretty drastic. Pairing a very warm or dark amp such as a Rebel Amp with a very warm or dark dac like an Ares 2 is probably gonna be a bit much for example.
But other than that, so long as both components aren’t drastically far from neutral, it’s mostly about just getting the best component for your tastes in each category.
The only other issue that sometimes crops up is an amp not handling higher voltage DAC outputs well, but Bliss is fine there so not a concern.
To be honest, the main thing to think about when pairing with Bliss is size. It’s big, and puts out a fair bit of heat, so it’s not really stack friendly. You’ll probably want to make sure you’re getting something you can fit next to the bliss rather than ontop of it
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I bet the Spring 3 pairs well with the Bliss, but then again it’s hard to imagine the Spring 3 KTE not pair well regardless.
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@GoldenSound do you have a review of the Bliss forthcoming? Specifically I’m interested in Bliss vs Oor/Hypsos. I really dig how in-depth your reviews go, so I’m anxious to hear your thoughts. 
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I do yep!
Actually running the measurements on it now. Been listening to it for a couple weeks and it’s phenomenal, LOTS to like about it and for the money I genuinely don’t think you can get better.
Measured performance seems to be terrific too, without the caveats found in some objective performance focused designs
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What about the Red?
I won’t have a video on the RED. I don’t usually do videos on DDCs cause there’s not really much to talk about. I’ll have a measurements post though
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Hi @GoldenSound Saw your measurements and look forward to your review! Do you think Hugo 2 would work well with RCA line out to Bliss? Would love your input, and if you can try it even better. Thank you!!
and a Holo Bliss competitor emerges… The Silver and Black Foxes built to push the Sus to the limit.
Per Slim’s post:
9i-906 “Silver Fox” Headphone Amplifier
The nickname of 9i-906 headphone amplifier is “silver fox”. Purpose is to drive “monster” headphones. Its circuit architecture originates from a large power amplifier. When many redesigns for electrical characteristics and adjustments of sound style were completed, “silver fox” became a wonderful headphone Amp. High analytical, high density and neutral without tendency, especially power driving force, make it leader in similar products. Whether high sensitivity or low, high resistance or low, dynamic earphone or flat panel headset, “silver fox” can adapts to them by it’s super driving ability and quality. It can show the characteristics of headphone more than normal headphone amp.
1. Introduction:
9i-906 “silver fox” is a headphone power amplifier with high performance, strong power supply and high current output. It’s circuit design is complex and perfect, 4 pairs of high-power British FET are used in output part, the output power is 30Ω/20W. Ultra low sensitivity headphones can also be driven with excellent audio performance.
It has four output modes: Normal, Balanced(BTL), Virtual Ground(Active G) and Parallel, as well as three low resistance modes and one high resistance mode. A variety of headphones can be matched.
It has two balanced and two unbalanced inputs. Even if you input an unbalanced signal, the internal circuit will convert it into balanced signal. Therefore, even if you input an unbalanced signal you will also get the maximum output power.
“Silver fox” has four output interfaces: 4 pin XLR balanced, 6.35 single, 4.4 balanced as well as double 3 pin XLR balanced.
2. Operating Instructions:
“Silver fox” is a pure headphone Amp and the operation is very simple. There are only several function keys: power switch, input selection, output mode selection, high/low resistance selection.
Long press the out key to switch between high and low resistance modes. There are four kinds of headphone impedance options for choice: high resistance, low resistance 1, 2, 3. You can selected any mode according to whether you hear noise. High resistance mode is recommended in most cases.
3. Performance Parameters:
- Power: 20W (30 Ω BTL, distortion 0.02%)
- Frequency response: 20-20KHz (0.2db)
- Net Weight: 12kg
- Gross Weight: 13.7kg
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Will be interesting to see how this does.
A fair bit more expensive though and significantly higher distortion so I don’t think it’s going for a similar approach. 6Moons says the Enleum AMP-23R is leaner than this so it’s probably going to be more for those wanting a much warmer sound.
They’re not likely to be at canjam are they?
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High praises
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It is generally understood that resistor ladder DACs work best when the resistors are kept warm at a constant temperature. Does “standby” mode on the May keep enough electricity flowing through the unit to keep the resistors warm or is it recommended to leave the May powered on 24/7? I’ve kept Bifrost powered on 24/7 for years (as is recommended by most users AND the manufacturer), though I’m not sure I’m quite as confident leaving May powered on for years on end given its price tag? Is there any common agreement on this?
I leave my Wavedream on 24/7 and would do the same if I owned a May
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The conventional wisdom and my experience is that many on/off cycles stress electronics, are worse than a steady-state (either on or off), and may cause solder cracking. Capacitors tend to degrade when driven past their limits or over a few decades too, and I don’t think cap aging can be prevented.
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