"My Flagship Headphones" - HiFiMAN Susvara Review

December 06, 2021

Note: This article is based upon the article "The Ultimate Hifiman Susvara Review” made by Sandu Vitalie on his website SoundNews and is printed here in partnership with SoundNews. The review was originally posted on November 29th, 2021. It is presented here in full.

Intro

I’m publishing headphone reviews starting with 2009, but if I’m looking deeper into my past, I’m doing them for at least 20 years, always ranking every single headphone that passed through these hands, so I wouldn’t forget any of them. Back in 2009, Sennheiser was releasing the most expensive non-electrostatic headphone of the time and that was HD800. Being a headphone junkie and owning every single Sennheiser flagship of the time (HD580/600/650), I wanted it so badly that I started saving the next day and a few months later, I was making a huge step forward, buying my first pair of proper high-end headphones. That was the moment when I understood that a headphone could never be perfect, as there would be ways of improving their performance and ultimately my listening experience. A year later, I finished building a system around them, going with a chip-based R-2R DAC with a vacuum tube output stage, driving a modified version of the WooAudio WA6SE by yours truly, all for the purpose of squeezing the last drop of performance out of them, turning their flaws into their pros.

Today I will be telling you a story about a very similar headphone, that is currently the most expensive non-electrostatic headphone in existence that needs extra care and plenty of polishing until it turns into a diamond.

When I’ve received the mighty Hifiman Susvara, I felt overwhelmed by…disappointment. I said to myself: “This is really it? This is how the world’s best headphones are sounding?” As something was gravely missing its mark. Detail retrieval and a much higher transparency were in place, but as a transient response nut, I couldn’t feel my tunes speaking to me, I was almost maxed out on a Benchmark HPA4 and still, musical notes wouldn’t fly away and envelop my entire body. Engagement factor was nowhere to be found, all that remained was a thin, lifeless and boring sounding metallic carcass that sent my thoughts into the abyss. “This should be a defective pair” I thought and I started turning pages on its user manual, arriving later at its sensitivity numbers that planted a sprinkle of hope. Ten months ago, I could easily deliver you the usual Hifiman Susvara review that you can find anywhere online, but I would be telling you only parts of the truth and that’s why I started experimenting, exactly as I was doing with HD800 back in the day. Several organic sounding digital sources planted some life back in them, some all-discrete class-A amplifiers put a lot more meat on their skinny bones, seriously improving their pace, rhythm & timing and for a moment I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Months later, I’ve received a special adapter cable so I could power them with all sorts of integrated and power amplifiers (speaker amplifiers) and that’s when I felt connected to the all known universe, turning them into a gemstone of a headphone.

I will be touching base on some of the most controversial Susvara claims, I will be demystifying some myths and I will be trying a bunch of headphone and speaker amplifiers, comparing them with several competitor headphones and then running a full set of measurements in a quiet environment. Don’t take it as another Susvara review, but more like a journey in rediscovering headphone listening and my biggest hobby for one last time. In recent years I’ve tried most planar-headphones out there and some were merely okay, some were good and only very few were truly outstanding. Years ago, I’ve put a difficult task in front of me: finding the world’s best transducers in a headphone and speaker form and while I’m still searching for that special loudspeaker, I belive I’ve arrived at the finish line when it comes to headphone listening.

I’ve tried most Hifiman headphones by now and they all carry a house sound that is very familiar to me, but on a well-thought system, Susvara doesn’t sound like any other planar headphone out there and let me explain you why in the most overkill fashion. Before I’ll do that, let’s dive deep inside their package first.

Unboxing Experience

As with all top-tier headphones, Susvara came double boxed with an absurd amount of bubble wrap and soft-foam for a better protection during shipping. You can never be too careful, especially with high-end headphones and I can only congratulate the Hifiman team for an excellent packaging. The headphones themselves are coming in a huge leathery-like box that has a metallic top cover. The company logo and model name are laser engraved on it, adding just a splash of uniqueness and taste. In it, you’ll find a velvety-like material that surrounds the cans and some extra foam that protects its detachable cables. It was surprising seeing 2 headphone cables instead of 3 cables as it was the case with HE1000SE, but it makes sense dropping the 3.5mm cable, as Susvara cannot be driven by portable devices. I’m not a huge fan of those cables, mainly for their outer jackets and color scheme…but it’s still amazing having high-purity copper and pure silver conductors that are ensuring a low resistance, never compromising signal transmission. There’s a 4-pin XLR balanced cable and a regular 6.35mm (¼”) one that should cover all your needs.

Build Quality & Looks

As their best headphone ever made, it was natural putting a higher accent on the build-quality this time around. You can find plastics and pleather on Arya, but you won’t find on Susvara and HE1000SE, that use more metal parts, a stronger headband, deeper and comfier earpads and some wooden accents that are adding refinement and class. At 450 grams (exactly a pound) I find them lightweight and super comfortable long term. These aren’t applying a lot of pressure on top of my head or around my ears, making them some of the most comfortable planar headphones. These are considerably smaller than HE1000SE, but a little heavier as Susvara uses bigger and stronger magnets to anything they’ve done before.

Hifiman went with the same Window Shade System that was applied to their HE1000SE, Arya and Jade II, making them as open, as headphones could ever be. You can easily see its magnet structure, planar-magnetic driver assembly and there is nothing stopping those acoustic waves behind the driver from going outside. People around you should prepare some ear-plugs, as these will be leaking a good deal of noise outside their cups, more so than regular open-back headphones are doing. This clever design unlocked an extraordinarily open and acoustically transparent sound, boosting their soundstaging capabilities to the next level.

The hybrid earpads with leather on the outside and soft fabric where skin is being touched isn’t a novelty anymore, but I really enjoy extra padding that could potentially increase the soundstage size. These are asymmetric and are following the shape of the human ear, comfortably distributing the weight evenly, yet offering a nice grip once commencing a listening session. Interestingly enough, they seem to have the deepest earpads I’ve seen on Hifiman headphones, and it seems that the latest iteration has them exactly as thick as those found on HE1000SE.

Their metal structure was created via CNC milling and hand polishing and you actually feel that while holding them in your hand and closely inspecting their earcups. You can feel the extra care the fine grain polishing that went before applying a matte silver paint.

So far, Susvara and HE1000SE are the best-looking Hifiman headphones and there isn’t much else to add in here. I am aware of its thinner metal structure, I am aware of its wooden veneer, giving an impression that cutting corners are common practices at Hifiman, but I’ll remind you that solid wood, a heavier metal structure, some thicker metal grilles and heavier earpads will be leaving a huge burden on your head and neck, subsequently lowering comfort levels long term. I have an Audeze LCD-4 and Erzetich Phobos V2021 around me too, but at around ~700 grams, those are much heavier and less comfortable to use. Would you trade exquisite looks over comfort long term? I don’t think so. I’ve blamed them too, until I’ve put them on my head, completely disregarding their veneer or thinner steel structure.

Comfort Level

Maybe these aren’t the deepest ear-pads I’ve experienced so far, but these are surely some of the softest out there, using a plushier memory foam compared to what I’ve seen on competitor headphones. I find them gentle on the cheeks and soft enough to be used in long listening sessions, sometimes forgetting that I’ve using headphones in the first place. There is a small gap in between them and the driver assembly, meaning that there is no pressure building up and you should forget about sweaty ears in the summer time. I’ve tried third-party earpads specifically designed for Susvara, but I still believe the stock ones are provided the best comfort to sound performance ratio. They fit around my head snugly and provide plenty of padding, putting close to no pressure at all around my ears. In their stock configuration, there was a higher side pressure, but once I’ve adjusted them to my head size, everything went back to normal. Long story short, Susvara together with HE1000SE and Sennheiser HD800 provided the most relaxed listening experience.

Tech Inside them

Hifiman Susvara is a flagship open-back planar-magnetic headphone, using smaller planar-magnetic drivers compared to their Arya Stealth and HE1000SE models, but that was made on purpose, as a smaller diaphragm is much easier to control when dynamics are going crazy. The thickness of Susvaras’s diaphragm is under a millionth of a meter, making them extremely responsive to a powerful magnetic flux. Their extremely light and high tensile strength material together with those acoustically transparent Stealth Magnets are working as Ying and Yang, complementing each other and achieving a perfect harmony.

If light rays are shining directly on Susvara’s diaphragm you can see its gold coating conductors applied on top throughout a complex process.

As for the magnets themselves, Hifiman developed acoustically invisible stealth magnets that are reducing the wave diffraction turbulence, which can degrade the integrity of the sound waves. The result? A lower total harmonic distortion that leads to a purer, more harmonious sound. Unlike the sound waves created by conventional magnets, the rounded shape of the stealth magnets passes through acoustic waves without generating interference, leading towards a more transparent sound. After releasing the Susvara in 2017, Hifiman slowly but surely included these magnets is some of their more affordable headphones as HE1000SE, Arya Stealth, Deva Pro and HE400se.

The Window Shade System is moving the unwanted acoustic waves outside its cups, improving the perception of a breathable sound, that can stretch wide open in all directions. As with all newer generation Hifiman headphones, you’ll find 3.5mm jacks in their cups, making them extremely versatile when it comes to third party cables.

You’ll find two detachable cables in the package, that use mono-crystalline copper and pure silver conductors, making them some of the best cables Hifiman ever made. Honestly, I dislike their look, especially their color and texture of the outer jacket feels uninspiring to say the least. Luckily, sky is the limit and you can use any other third-party cable that looks better or uses higher purity conductors.

They have an impedance of 60 Ohms and the lowest sensitivity I’ve seen of any headphone of 83 dB per 1mW of power, making them the hardest to drive headphones in existence. This review is about ten months in the making, as I needed to test them with as many desktop headphone amplifiers, integrated and power amplifiers (speaker amplifiers), so I can better understand them and squeeze the last drop of performance out of them, so what are we waiting for? Let’s hit some eardrums!

Sound Performance

Foreword

Before telling you a lot about their performance in the most overkill way, I will say that these are by far the most misunderstood headphones. I’ve read and I’ve watched multiple Susvara reviews, just to be let down by many of them and I can say that most didn’t experience the mighty Susvara to their fullest potential. I could finish my Susvara review a long time ago, but it wouldn’t be the review that I wanted to write/film and share with you, because I would be telling you only a very small portion of a much bigger story. People made mistakes in their Susvara reviews. You see, when making headphone or loudspeaker measurements, it doesn’t matter if you are driving them with 1-Watt or 1000-Watt amplifiers, as you’ll be getting the same results in terms of frequency response. When doing such measurements, you are usually sending a sine wave and a sine wave is a curve representing periodic oscillations of constant amplitude as given by a sine function. That sine wave isn’t acting like music, meaning that it cannot tell you anything about dynamics, engagement factor, impact and bass slam, because that signal doesn’t carry such information. Music can have huge dynamic peaks and only with it you can feel them, meaning that measurements are telling only a small part of the story and the most important outcomes is how these speakers or headphones are performing in a real-life scenario. I will have 20+ headphone amplifiers below and around 10 speaker amplifiers driving the Susvara and you know what? All of them were measuring absolutely the same with Hifiman Susvara when it comes to frequency response, does that mean all of them will sound the same? Absolutely Not. There is a major difference between them, mostly when it comes to scale, dynamics and resolution. Can you also guess why low-power OTL amplifiers are not recommended for low sensitivity headphones and loudspeakers? Because they cannot offer you a desired amplitude and power reserve for an immaculate transient response, rise and decline of dynamics. Those were made only for higher-sensitivity headphones and loudspeakers.

Problem number two is power. Sounding loud and being well-driven are two different things. I could make the Susvara (and many other planars) loud enough even with a laptop or with a small USB dongle, arriving at 100 dB doesn’t mean Susvara will sound good, it only means they will sound loud if I’m sending them a constant amplitude. Problem is that music never sends a constant amplitude, there are always changes in amplitude and timing happening in microseconds, timing is crucial and low-powered sources can’t keep up with that, creating a huge mess when it comes to dynamics and resolution. Remember, there could never be too much power, only too little power. Having a huge power reserve on tap, guarantees you that clipping will never occur on your amplifier, rendering dynamics in all their glory. Two identical amplifiers that have different power ratings can still sound different when driving the same headphone or speaker drivers. Can you guess why I’m driving my Susvara with two identical power amplifiers and not just with a single one?

Problem number three is being ignorant and never open to experimentation, as simply put Susvara are the only headphones that could sound dead and uninteresting from an amplifier and completely different on other one. You can easily misjudge them and their performance, these aren’t performing the same as 99% of planar headphones are doing nowadays.

I know that a lot of people don’t believe the hype that Susvara needs a powerful integrated of power amplifier (speaker amplifier) to shine at their best, but let’s think for a moment that such affirmation is false and you can drive them perfectly fine, awaking nicer dynamics even with regular headphone amplifiers and let’s have a look at what Hifiman recommended to use with their best of the best. Hifiman designed an amplifier that was specifically tailored to perfectly match their Susvara and that my friends is EF1000 - let’s have a close look at it.

The amp and the power supply are weighting some ~25 kg (~54 pounds) providing 110 Watts of Class A/B power in 8 Ohms and around 20 Watts of pure Class-A power in 35 Ohms. That my friends is an overkill integrated amplifier that will easily move your standfloor loudspeakers and the Susvara as well. Hifiman recommends it as the final frontier, unlocking the last drop of performance out of them. While I never tried their EF1000, I’ve tried several speaker amplifiers that are providing the same numbers and let me tell you that Susvara never sounded better out of any headphone amplifier. I have plenty of headphone amplifiers around me, those are coming and going on a weekly basis and as you can guess, I’ve tried them all with Susvara and while some sounded quite good, none of them approached on the same level with a super-clean and incredibly transparent power amplifier like Benchmark AHB2 or Keces S300…those were something else entirely. This is not a conspiracy theory and certainly not rocket science, just pure physics, this is how Susvara behaves in real life while listening to music and not to sine waves.

This is the sole reason why I needed so much time finishing this review. I just ranked all headphone and speaker amplifiers that passed through these hands, pairing all of them with Susvara and arriving at the following conclusion. I never wanted to deliver a copy/paste review as others did and I never wanted to hype them to the stratosphere, this is not what I’m doing. I’m independent and self-sustained, nobody pays or influences these reviews. Some might get an ad-banner somewhere around here, but that doesn’t mean I’ll offer positive reviews in return. Don’t believe me? Check my Sendy Peacock review and draw your own conclusions.

Power Requirements & Amps Pairings

Brace yourselves lads, this will be a long one. While their detail retrieval and transparency went up or down depending on the amp that was driving them, their dynamics, transient response and soundstage levels were changed to unrecognizable. If there is an amp depended headphone out there, then Susvara together HE6/HE6SE are sitting on an iron throne as king and queen.

Long story short, at 83 db per a single mW of power at 60 Ohms, Susvara are harder to drive than several passive loudspeakers that I had in the past. With a KECES S300 power amplifier (130W in 8 Ohms) I needed to crank the volume higher on my preamp by 5 clicks compared to a pair of Buchardt S400, by 4 clicks compared to a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 11.2 and my current KEF Reference 3 standfloor speakers need exactly as much power for an SPL of 90 dB. This is crazy…but it makes total sense knowing their unfriendly sensitivity. Susvara were tried with more than 20 headphone amplifiers and 10 speaker amplifiers and let’s check how they really performed.

Headphone Amplifiers
xDuoo TA-10 and TA-10R

Detail retrieval and transparency weren’t that impressive, making way for some smoothness and for a higher midrange presence. Mid-bass was (almost) okay, but sub-bass was nowhere to be spotted. Both aren’t doing them justice

Resolution/Details: 6
Transient Response: 5
Dynamics: 6
Tonality: 7
Power/Control: 6
Stage size: 7
Overall score: 6.17

xDuoo TA-30

Now we’re talking. Dynamics improved, power delivery and control improved. It’s no longer veiled and muddy sounding. Still, sub-bass is nowhere to be spotted and dynamics aren’t as visceral and impactful. If you aren’t into modern music, this could work as a temporary solution.

Resolution/Details: 7
Transient Response: 6.5
Dynamics: 7
Tonality: 8
Power/Control: 7
Stage size: 8
Overall score: 7.25

xDuoo XA-10

My favorite all-in-one combo at the moment up to $500 to be used with regular headphones. Sounds good, but its limited power output shrunk their scale and lowered dynamics. It’s quite shy and gentle sounding with Susvara, otherwise a great little combo for everything else.

Resolution/Details: 7.5
Transient Response: 7
Dynamics: 6.5
Tonality: 7.5
Power/Control: 7
Stage size: 7
Overall score: 7.08

Topping A90

Offers much better transients and a much clearer picture to many amplifiers from this list. Power output isn’t that bad, the only things I disliked were dynamics, stage size and driver control. Could be used as a temporary solution.

Resolution/Details: 9.5
Transient Response: 9
Dynamics: 6.5
Tonality: 7.5
Power/Control: 7
Stage size: 6
Overall score: 7.58

Topping A30 PRO

Very similar to A90, while sounding by a hair more organic and life-like. The only downside, it gets really hot with Suzy and clips at higher volumes. Could be used as a temporary solution

Resolution/Details: 9
Transient Response: 9
Dynamics: 6.5
Tonality: 8
Power/Control: 7
Stage size: 6
Overall score: 7.58

Topping L50, L30 and A50S

Forgetaboutthem. Insufficient power, little to no dynamics, otherwise great amps for anything else but Susvara. I wouldn’t use either of them.

Resolution/Details: 9
Transient Response: 8
Dynamics: 6
Tonality: 7.5
Power/Control: 5
Stage size: 5
Overall score: 6.75

LittleDot MKIII SE

A downgraded version of xDuoo TA-30 that (with stock tubes) ruins the whole experience. Susvara are becoming quite bright with it, doesn’t offer sufficient power, dynamics felt shy and restricted. I wouldn’t use this one.

Resolution/Details: 6.5
Transient Response: 6
Dynamics: 6.5
Tonality: 7
Power/Control: 6.5
Stage size: 7
Overall score: 6.58

SMSL SH-8S and SH-9

I’m getting a similar performance to a Topping A90, delivering a thinner and more linear performance that isn’t working well with Suzy. Both are clean and transparent, super-fast sounding, but they can’t deliver proper dynamics. Could work as a temporary solution.

Resolution/Details: 9
Transient Response: 9
Dynamics: 6
Tonality: 7
Power/Control: 7
Stage size: 6
Overall score: 7.33

SMSL SP400

This flawed masterpiece can awake much nicer dynamics with Susvara, but only if a source with a 5.5V output is being used. Works best with its matching M400 DAC that offers a hefty voltage or with any other DAC that could go higher than 5V via XLR. This is probably the cheapest amplifier that could drive the Susvara well enough.

Resolution/Details: 9.5
Transient Response: 9
Dynamics: 7.5
Tonality: 7
Power/Control: 8.5
Stage size: 6.5
Overall score: 8

Benchmark HPA4

This is my personal tool when I’m evaluating headphones, DACs and amplifiers. It cannot get any clearer and more transparent that this, it works great with everything out there, but not so much with Susvara. Occasionally, it shuts down when a heavy bass note is landing. An amazingly transparent amplifier, but far from the best option for Susvara. I see it as a clearer version of the SMSL SP400 at the cost of being less powerful.

Resolution/Details: 10
Transient Response: 9.5
Dynamics: 7
Tonality: 7
Power/Control: 7.5
Stage size: 6.5
Overall score: 7.92

Singxer SA-1

This is probably the cleanest sounding all-discrete Class-A amplifier that I’ve tried, but it’s limited power output heavily limits its performance with Susvara, clips a little at close to maximum volume, otherwise I see it as a very good alternative to Topping’s A90 due to its nicer tonality/timbre. Could work as a temporary solution, until you saved for a Flux FA-10 or Soloist 3X.

Resolution/Details: 9
Transient Response: 8
Dynamics: 7
Tonality: 8
Power/Control: 6.5
Stage size: 6.5
Overall score: 7.5

Burson Soloist 3X

The absolute best Susvara amplifier up to $1500. It has the power, it has the kick and dynamics, sounds fun and engaging, but it isn’t the most accurate or resolving amplifier. I see it as a cleaner version of Flux FA-10, I could easily live with it.

Resolution/Details: 8.5
Transient Response: 8.5
Dynamics: 9
Tonality: 8
Power/Control: 8.5
Stage size: 8
Overall score: 8.42

Burson Conductor 3XP

A slightly weaker version of the Soloist 3X. I like everything about it, but it felt less powerful, less dynamic/impactful and not as refined sounding. Could easily work as an all-in-one solution for your Susvara.

Resolution/Details: 8
Transient Response: 8
Dynamics: 8.5
Tonality: 8
Power/Control: 7.5
Stage size: 7.5
Overall score: 7.92

Musician Andromeda

A great sounding Class-A amp that worked amazingly with plenty of headphones after two weeks of burn-in. Its less impressive 20W SMPS is limiting its output transistors, never delivering the power that Susvara is craving about, offering shier dynamics and a smaller stage size. I wouldn’t get it for Susvara.

Resolution/Details: 8.5
Transient Response: 7.5
Dynamics: 7
Tonality: 7.5
Power/Control: 6.5
Stage size: 7.5
Overall score: 7.42

Soncoz SGA-1

Cool little amp on the lush/musical side. I never thought such a nice timbre can be obtained out of ordinary op-amps. The only downside is that this is a low-power design, it was limiting the Arya and LCD-4 and it didn’t work with Susvara at all. Great for many headphones, but not for Susvara.

Resolution/Details: 8
Transient Response: 7
Dynamics: 6.5
Tonality: 8.5
Power/Control: 6
Stage size: 7
Overall score: 7.17

Audio-GD D-28

One of the warmest Class-A amplifiers out there, puts a lot of meat on the bone, sounds big and airy, but it wasn’t made for such behemoths. Chocked dynamics when doing past 3 O’clock. It’s a hard pass for Suzy.

Resolution/Details: 7.5
Transient Response: 8
Dynamics: 8
Tonality: 8.5
Power/Control: 7.5
Stage size: 7.5
Overall score: 7.83

Matrix Audio Mini-I 3 PRO

Great little device, amazing build and feature set, but it heavily struggled with many planars, especially with Susvara. Use its DAC and streamer sections, but not its headphone amp section. Never worked great with Susvara.

Resolution/Details: 8.5
Transient Response: 8
Dynamics: 6
Tonality: 6
Power/Control: 5.5
Stage size: 6
Overall score: 6.67

Matrix Audio Element X

The most detailed and transparent sounding DAC I’ve heard, heavily limited by its headphone amplifier section. Worked okay with warmer/lusher headphones, but it wasn’t that great with linear and honest sounding headphones as Arya or Susvara. Zero dynamics with Susvara, no bueno at all. I’m using its streamer and DAC section and I’m never using its headphone output.

Resolution/Details: 9.5
Transient Response: 8
Dynamics: 6.5
Tonality: 7
Power/Control: 6
Stage size: 6.5
Overall score: 7.25

Audiobyte HydraVox + HydraZap PS

The most liquid and real sounding DAC I’ve heard at my place, uses a fully discrete amplifier stage, it can drive the Arya and LCD-4, but not the Susvara to satisfactory levels. Use its DAC section, with a nicer amp for best results.

Resolution/Details: 9
Transient Response: 7.5
Dynamics: 7.5
Tonality: 9.5
Power/Control: 7
Stage size: 8
Overall score: 8.08

Flux Labs Acoustics FA-10

This is by far the cheapest all-discrete Class-A amplifier that I would get for Susvara. Outstanding results, offers much better dynamics, at the cost of a lower transparency and detail retrieval. A solid choice for Susvara users that could be improved down the road.

Resolution/Details: 8
Transient Response: 8.5
Dynamics: 8.5
Tonality: 8
Power/Control: 9
Stage size: 7.5
Overall score: 8.25

Flux Labs Acoustics Volot

This is as good as headphone amplifiers could get. This sounds like an evolved version of FA-10, detail retrieval and transparency went up and this is literally the most open and wide sounding amplifier of them all. It is bigger sounding even compared to most integrated and power amplifiers. The only thing I disliked about it – it isn’t that visceral sounding down low. If you don’t like experimenting with speaker amplifiers, this could be The Amp for Susvara.

Resolution/Details: 8.5
Transient Response: 8.5
Dynamics: 8.5
Tonality: 8
Power/Control: 9
Stage size: 9
Overall score: 8.58

Ferrum OOR + Hypsos PS

One of the best headphone amplifiers, specially tailored for Hifiman Susvara. It has an amazing tonality, sounds lush, alive and very engaging, hits hard and fully preserves dynamics. Has a lot of power to spare and it was specifically designed with Susvara in mind. It sounds smaller than Flux Labs Volot, but it improves dynamics and transient response. If you don’t like experimenting with speaker amplifiers, this is good as it gets. I’m beyond impressed by this pairing.

Resolution/Details: 8
Transient Response: 9
Dynamics: 9
Tonality: 8.5
Power/Control: 9
Stage size: 8
Overall score: 8.58

Integrated and Power Amplifiers (Speaker amplifiers)

If you don’t know what you’re doing, please skip this part to the next chapter. If you do and you’re extra careful about it, then you can try driving them with speaker amplifiers. For that you’ll need a simple banana (speaker terminals) to 4-pin female XLR adaptor cable, I’m using one made by Forza Audio.

Before doing this please Triple-Check:

That your DAC is put in its preamp mode and that you’ve lowered its volume
That you lowered the volume of your preamp
That you lowered the volume of your integrated amplifier
Never power on your integrated or power amplifier with Susvara being connected to them.
Never shut down your preamp, DAC, integrated or power amplifier with Susvara still connected to them

I won’t held responsible if you’ll destroy your Susvara. If you know what you’re doing and you have experience with passive loudspeakers, then you can give it a try, otherwise stick to your headphone amplifiers only. In case you’re willing to try some of those amps, please check my speaker amp ratings as follows:

SMSL DA-8S and DA-9 Integrated amps

Nope. Skip them. This is brute power that isn’t refined or clean sounding. I wouldn’t use those amps, even if their dynamics were quite impressive.

Resolution/Details: 6.5
Transient Response: 8
Dynamics: 7.5
Tonality: 6
Power/Control: 7.5
Stage Size: 7.5
Overall Score: 7.17

SMSL SA400 Integrated

A much better sounding integrated amplifier, everything felt improved, but its small cooling fan and coil noise coming from its power supply were extremely annoying. Otherwise, a good sounding integrated amplifier. If you are lucky and you aren’t getting coil noise as I do, it could work as an affordable Susvara amp.

Resolution/Details: 7.5
Transient Response: 8.5
Dynamics: 8.5
Tonality: 7
Power/Control: 8.5
Stage Size: 8
Overall Score: 8

KECES E40 Integrated

Gorgeous tonality, sounds smooth, meaty and organic. A very well-done integrated amplifier, at the cost of being less clean and resolving compared to others. Delivered amazing dynamics even with just 40 Watts of power. Could work as a temporary solution.

Resolution/Details: 7
Transient Response: 8
Dynamics: 8
Tonality: 9
Power/Control: 8
Stage Size: 7.5
Overall Score: 7.92

Naim Unity Atom (not the Headphone Edition) Integrated

The warmest, the smoothest and the most liquid sounding of them all. The only problem is that transient response felt botched and it wasn’t going as fast as Susvara usually sounds. It was too creamy and soft for my tastes, otherwise an amazing pairing and a great all-in-one unit.

Resolution/Details: 7.5
Transient Response: 6.5
Dynamics: 7.5
Tonality: 10
Power/Control: 8
Stage Size: 8
Overall Score: 7.92

Burson Timekeeper 3i

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. This thing hits like Mjolnir’s hammer, it goes fast and it carries a natural tonality. I like everything about this integrated, with the exception of its resolution/transparency that were good, but not outstanding. This could easily be The Amp for the Susvara. I couldn’t stop smiling listening to music through it, this is fun factor incarnate.

Resolution/Details: 8
Transient Response: 9.5
Dynamics: 9.5
Tonality: 8.5
Power/Control: 9
Stage Size: 8.5
Overall Score: 8.83

Kinki Studio EX-M7 Power Amplifier

Outstanding tonality and technicalities. Sounds full-bodied, meaty and extremely dynamic at the cost of never being ultra-clean or transparent. It delivers 250W in 8 Ohms, but due to its limited peak current output (only 18 Amperes), it shuts down with Susvara on many occasions when a stronger bass note lands. With electronica music it shuts down every 10 minutes, entering its protection mode and saving its transistors from being melted down. An amazing amplifier that isn’t working well with Susvara.

Resolution/Details: 7.5
Transient Response: 9
Dynamics: 9
Tonality: 9.5
Power/Control: 8.5
Stage Size: 8.5
Overall Score: 8.67

KECES S300 Power Amplifier – My Daily Driver

By the gods…this is a beast of an amp. Dynamics, transients, cleanness, power and control, everything you need flowing through your Susvara. So far, this is the only amplifier that surpassed the performance of the Flux Labs Acoustics Volot and Ferrum OOR + Hypsos. If I’m listening through S300 and it’s evening outside, I cannot shut it down until I see the sun rising. This thing is nuts, I like it to death, this could easily be the last amplifier you’ll ever need for Suzy. If you’re super crazy, you can add another one for wilder dynamic swings. S300 rocks my world right now.

Resolution/Details: 9
Transient Response: 9.5
Dynamics: 9.5
Tonality: 8.5
Power/Control: 9.5
Stage Size: 9
Overall Score: 9.17

KECES S125 Power Amplifier – Discontinued Product

The little brother to the S300. More or less the same, but it’s less dynamic and not as clean sounding. Not as open and wide, not as fast or engaging. Everything is toned down by a little, otherwise an amazing power amp that is almost flawless. Sadly, KECES isn’t making it anymore…

Resolution/Details: 8.5
Transient Response: 9
Dynamics: 8.5
Tonality: 8
Power/Control: 8.5
Stage Size: 8
Overall Score: 8.42

Benchmark AHB2 Power Amplifier – My Daily Driver V2.0

Holy mother of Thor, this is dynamics, speed, transient response, resolution and transparency incarnate into a single metal box. There isn’t a clearer, a more resolving or a more transparent sounding amplifier out there, this is a wire with gain amplifier that doesn’t add anything into the mix. It might appear as slightly thin and not as organic sounding, hence scoring much less when it comes to tonality and it never sounded as big as S300 or Volot. You can’t get a more impactful, a faster or cleaner sounding amplifier. You should pair it with a warmer source for a perfect match.

Resolution/Details: 10
Transient Response: 9.5
Dynamics: 9.5
Tonality: 7.5
Power/Control: 9
Stage Size: 8
Overall Score: 8.92

! Two Benchmark AHB2 Power Amplifiers in Bridged Mode !

380 Watts in 8 Ohms or around ~55 Watts in 60 Ohms…this is the pure definition of overkill. Be prepared hearing the most impactful Susvara, can it ever be too much bass slam and impact? It can! Electronica could become tiresome in the long run, it’s way too impactful sounding, but oh boy… I’ve never heard such dynamics anywhere else. This is next level, but if you already have an AHB2, I wouldn’t get a second one only for your Susvara. I’ve got the second one for my loudspeaker setup.

Resolution/Details: 10
Transient Response: 10
Dynamics: 10
Tonality: 7.5
Power/Control: 10
Stage Size: 8
Overall Score: 9.25

This article will be constantly updated with fresh new headphone, integrated and power amplifiers. I should get my hands on the Enleum AMP-23R soon, there is a new Topping power amplifier coming along, many other units will be added in the future and I’m looking forward to that.

III. Sound Performance

With everything out of the way, lets focus on the most important part on this review. I was mostly driving them with two AHB2 / S300 and sometimes I was swapping them with the Flux Volot and Ferrum OOR. Susvara are one of those headphones that will accelerate and decelerate in an instant, very much how electrostatic headphones are working and if I would never know all the tech behind those grills, I could swear that some e-stats hopped on my head. I’ve heard lightning-fast transients and the best slam I’ve faced so far. If you think Audeze LCD-4 are punching hard in the sub-bass, Susvara were on another (higher) level altogether, painful at times, extremely dynamic and impactful, like constantly sitting in between the hammer and the anvil. I’m into all kinds of music, from soft to aggressive, from old and new, everything is right up my alley. With Susvara on my head I’m sure that transients are perfectly preserved and that there aren’t additional micro-details hiding behind my tracks. I was experiencing the best my source and amplifiers were capable of. These are my truth tellers, never trying to beautify or alter the final outcome and the gap between them and the second-best headphone is bigger than anticipated.

The amount of micro-details that came forward was so big, that the rest of the flock that I have on my wall felt muddy and mid-fi sounding, including things like Audeze LCD-4, Kennerton Wodan, Erzetich Phobos V2021 and to a lower degree compared to Meze Elite and Hifiman HE1000SE. This shouldn’t be a novelty to anyone, as I’m testing the most expensive non-electrostatic headphone out there. What’s more interesting is that all that information wasn’t coming in an aggressive way towards me, as it happens with HE1000SE for example. Susvara are adding some organic matter on top of a colder sounding headphone (HE1000SE), making them easier to listen to in longer listening sessions. I didn’t try every Hifiman headphone out there, but from the ones I’ve tried, Susvara were easily the most organic and life-like sounding cans, with notes appearing two meters away in a tender and pleasant way. If their Arya Stealth and HE1000SE provided a somewhat narrower stage, that is no longer the case with Susvara that stretched wider its wings and portrayed a bigger soundstage, that was more impressive horizontally than vertically. There were more sounds to my left and right, even coming from behind my back, enveloping me fully and letting me choose the focus points. With Susvara it isn’t a mind game anymore, as I was picking up notes from air, listening to them individually even in crowded tracks. For me, Susvara also worked as an essential tool when evaluating DACs, headphone amplifiers and speaker amplifiers of all sorts, as they were showing me the smallest details and everything that was changing in the acoustic chain.

I believe that Hifiman struck a perfect dose of naturalness, liquidity and technicalities into a single headphone. While this is by far the most technical, speedy and resolving headphone I’ve tried, it was never thin, lifeless or boring sounding. Some organic matter always appeared and voices were always grabbing my soul. There are many natural sounding headphones in my collection, but none of them are making me listen to music until the sun rises outside. With Susvara, I’m constantly adding more music into my playlist, hearing the truest version of that song, without extra pudding up top.

I remember the moment I’ve got them, plugging them in and hearing my music like I’ve never heard it before. From a 4K picture, I’ve went directly to an 8K ultra-wide picture that preserved the full color gamut, delivering the whole dynamic range and not only a portion of it. If there is a con with Hifiman Susvara, then that is their annoyingly low sensitivity and the standard Hifiman build quality, as when it comes to acoustics…this is simply the last frontier.

Transient Response

Susvara is to the headphone world exactly what Koenigsegg Jesko is to the automotive world, as on the right amplifier Susvara are the fastest sounding headphones that I’ve tried in a very long time. Everything else I’ve experienced at home or on audiophile conventions weren’t exactly as fast and impactful sounding. I wish this would be an exaggeration from my part, as when it comes to dynamics, it felt arriving at the finish line with these. I wish there would be a smaller difference between them and their second-best HE1000SE, but it’s a huge one! A bigger one than going from Arya Stealth to HE1000SE. With the right amplifier (or amplifiers in my case), Susvara are relentlessly hitting you with an incredible force, moving more air and delivering harder punches into my ear-drums. With some electronica tunes, it could become too much, but this is really how dynamics should be confronted, as no other headphone delivered the same levels of impact. I can’t stop smiling and toe-tapping when The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Noisia, Infected Mushroom and Igorrr are appearing on my playlist, teleporting me instantly into to my musical nirvana. When my kid has classes from home, I would never put the Susvara on my head, because some bad language might come out of my mouth when dynamics are hitting their (G) spot…it’s crazy.

Although I will be measuring them soon and I’ll compare them with top-tier headphones, there isn’t such a measurement that can show you dynamics, their impact and bass slam, such reading doesn’t exist, but our complicated minds can feel that in a microsecond or two.

if I would use my laptop, some USB dongles, Bluetooth thingies or portable DAPs, then this chapter would be written the other way around. Hell, even plenty of desktop headphone amplifiers couldn’t awake nicer dynamics out of them, I really hoped my Benchmark HPA4 could make them ruthless and impactful, but alas…it was far from that. Susvara can also be boring, never reaching those dynamics out of many sources and amplifiers. Even some speaker amplifiers weren’t that impressive, hence trying a lot of them and reporting back my findings. There are several chameleon like headphones that are altering their personalities on different setups, but Susvara leads their way, sounding boring or hyper-active depending on the amp and source that was driving them.

Soundstage & Depth

Susvara doesn’t offer that extremely wide and airy soundstage as listening to near-field speakers, that title is still nailed on the forehead of Sennheiser HD800 and on all its variants, but it doesn’t mean these wouldn’t sound open and Mariana Trench like deep. While there is indeed an imaginary wall that musical notes are hitting at some point, Susvara was still incredibly open and transparent, up there with some of the nicest headphones. It’s open shade system worked wonderfully, unlocking a see-through transparency and a layered soundstage, increasing the perception of air traveling around. When I’m covering their grilles with my bare hands, the sound changes drastically in a bad way, more so than many other headphones of different brands. Susvara are proving what I’m calling a natural soundstage, that still sounds like a headphone, but never trying to shove those notes inside my skull. Personally, I find them wider and more exposed sounding compared to HE1000SE and Arya Stealth and only by a hair deeper to a Meze Elite or Audeze LCD-4. Either of these will be delivering a pin-point location of the notes flying mid-air around you, but Susvara highlights their leading edges and contours even more, as if individually listening to all those notes.

From my headphone collection, Susvara easily takes the spot as the most precise sounding when it comes to imaging and layering and if there are layers and sub-layers hidden somewhere in between my music, Suzy will unmask them without too much trouble, delivering them in an effortless way. Usually with open back headphones, you are either choosing openness or transient response, but never both. Take a look at many flagships headphones that are always trading scale with transients (HD800, Arya Stealth) or the other way around (Fostex TH909), but that rule of the thumb is no longer applied to the Susvara. These are both airy, wide open and gloriously impactful and visceral sounding in the same time. If you are on a fence, they can easily replace multiple headphones and deliver a more enjoyable experience.

Detail Retrieval & Transparency

Oh boy…here we go again. Putting it bluntly, Susvara easily outperformed my own KEF Reference 3 loudspeakers ($14.000), as these were more resolving to anything I’ve tried at my place. These were showing the last drop of information compared to the rest of flagship headphones that passed through these hands, with the exception of their own HE1000SE that were incredibly close, followed by the Meze Elite - which are something else to their Empyrean. Audeze LCD-4, Kennerton Wodan and Erzetich Phobos V2021 sounded muffled and uncontrolled by comparison and I wish it wouldn’t be the case, as I still like them all for their own traits, but it is as it is. After listening to Susvara for a few hours and then swapping them with competitor headphones, it feels like downgrading from a Hi-Res screen to a Low-Res one or like swapping top-tier lenses from a camera with entry level ones. The picture wouldn’t be as sharp, clean and defined and that becomes so obvious after mere seconds of music playback.

After connecting them to a top tier DAC, followed by a Benchmark HPA4 preamplifier and then by two Benchmark AHB2 power amplifiers, it felt like exposing the whole truth behind my music, all its flaws, all its mastering errors, all the gremlins hiding in there, all the good and bad, putting everything on a plate without making excuses. With Susvara on my head, there would always pop a new sound that was previously unheard of and that happens with old and new music alike. It happens so often, that after getting them, I felt the urge or relieving all my favorite albums, rediscovering them once again from a different point of view. Their HE1000SE is more or less the same, but it adds a slight treble itch that is completely missing on the Susvara. Some might feel that HE1000SE is more resolving since there is a higher treble ringing, but I feel it’s the other way around, as Susvara can still highlight that last drop of information in a more natural way, that was missing on HE1000SE. Good sounding planars and dynamic headphones up to $2000 suddenly sounded like mid-fi units, hiding portions of the truth, while adding something from their own.

You spot the Hifiman Susvara in a lot of reviews around here that popped in the last months, because I was using them in a lot of my DAC, headphone amplifier and speaker amplifier reviews, as it became so much easier discerning minuscule differences between sources and amplifiers. Susvara worked as a tool, never sugar coating the final outcome, staying true to audiophile recordings, revealing everything that is hidden and nothing more.

There are still several top-tier headphones that I want to try, but from the ones I’ve faced at my place, nothing beats them at their own game and their game is ultimate transparency and detail retrieval. It’s easily a 10 out of 10!

Frequency Response

VII. Bass

I’m not a bass-head by any means, but I’m in love with fast executed bass lines, I’m craving for a tremendous slam down-low and I love when I’m surrounded by multiple layers of it, all while being undistorted when going past my comfortable listening levels. Susvara is like that only with specific headphone/speaker amplifiers.

However, no matter what solid-state amp was driving them, Suzy was always unimaginably fast, tactile and textured down-low, delivering the full spectrum and easily reaching the lowest octaves. Having said that, low-end can sometimes feel incomplete, ethereal and lightweight sounding with the wrong amplifier, hiding plenty of subtleties and bass information.

On much nicer amplifiers, they increased their pace and added several layers on top, providing the hardest hitting type of bass that I’ve exploited from the land of headphones. It was bottomless and extremely dynamic, always putting a wide smile on my face. These were so different sounding with top-tier amplifiers that it felt like listening to them for the first time, it was an uncharted territory for me, something I didn’t encounter until this moment. These delivered such a tremendous impact into my eardrums, that the second-best headphones were still miles away. It almost feels like listening to standfloor loudspeakers and feeling it with the entirety of my body. It’s important mentioning that these aren’t by any means bass-head headphones, these aren’t extremely warm, creamy and seductive down-low, just absurdly linear, honest and impactful sounding.

VIII. Midrange

I didn’t experience every single Hifiman headphone out there, but from the ones I’ve tried, Susvara delivered the most life-life, believable, meaty and organic sounding midrange. This particular region is the most important one for me and Susvara scored big time when it comes to cleanness, transparency and naturalness, as they’ve combined them all, fully preserving the midrange presence that I so crave about. Susvara provided unforgettable moments with my blues and jazz collection, highlighting the pitch of the human voice and never altering their character. Moonlight Sonata (3rd Movement) by Beethoven is such a difficult task for most headphones, because it’s tough rendering piano notes in all their glory thanks to their longer decays and reverberations. While Susvara isn’t adding a lot of weight to it, it adds a longer sustain and a slight decay, exactly as piano sounds in real life. Susvara are by a hair creamier, sweeter and fuller-bodied to their HE1000SE and Arya Stealth and by a lot more to anything else they’ve done so far, making them tastier and smoother sounding. These are the first Hifiman headphones that I can describe as soul-grabbing and life-like, never trying to sweeten things up as several Audeze and Meze headphones are doing. Vocals were soothing and I could listen to soprano voices all day long, never getting bored of their natural pitch. Finally, Susvara have more life in them, sounding vivacious and bold, but never stepping on overly-warm, cold or bright territory.

Treble

You know, unexperienced people can attribute higher treble peaks as being highly detailed sounding, but a treble peak is only…a treble peak and nothing more. Put them besides a pair of Sennheiser HD800 and there would be considerably less ringing and lower treble peaks, while bringing forth additional information, putting a light on everything that is lingering in there. Susvara is one of the few Hifiman headphones that isn’t increasing the treble output even by a single dB. These are yielding an almost straight line in the highest regions, something that no other top-tier headphone could do and I have graphs to prove that. These are extremely detailed up top, without making it a burden with treble intensive music like rock or metal. While there is an abundance of information, I never found them clinical or teeth clenching when drummers were going wild on their kits. I’m not sure if their powerful magnets or golden traces on their diaphragm made them so easy going, real sounding, yet extended even past top octave.

There are many headphones out there that are trying to recreate the shimmer of tambourines and cymbals, just to fail miserably when it comes to their metallic texture. Susvara, on the other hand re-created them much closer to what I’m hearing in real life, preserving their leading edges and their shimmer, but without making them stand out too much. HE1000SE for example adds an unnatural ringing, making them clearer and more defined compared to what I am experiencing in real life when sitting on a drum kit. When it comes to treble, Hifiman holds a special recipe that (sadly) wasn’t applied to their affordable stuff and that makes Susvara quite special sounding.

Overall, this is the most extended frequency response that I’ve came across with headphones and my measurement analysis will prove that to you.

Detailed Measurements

After offering my subjective opinion, it’s time putting them under a magnifying glass. When it comes to measurements, I have the highest confidence in the Benchmark HPA4, as it is as linear as headphone amplifiers could ever be and I have resumed at using the SMSL VMV D2 as the main DAC for this job. The measurement rig used was the MiniDSP EARS calibrated with HPN (Original Headphone Compensation) files. Do note that MiniDSP EARS is not following IEC standards, meaning that my readings can’t be used as reference measurements or anything like that, I’m doing them only to get a general idea about their sound signature.

I have measured them for several times now, as finding the perfect spot on the test jig wasn’t that easy. No side-pressure was applied on the earcups, they stood still in their natural position and I’ve measured them several times before both channels were matched at less than 0.5 dB.

Take a look at their RAW measurements without any smoothing applied. Driver matching is unlike anything I’ve seen so far, there are insignificant deviations between both channels, but I needed to measure them about 15 times before reaching this result.

Applying a gentle 1⁄12 smoothing, I am getting this graph and there is no other way in saying that this is the most linear and extended frequency response I’ve measured around here, it looks stunning! There are several slopes in the upper midrange and lower treble region, but it’s nothing compared to other flagships. This is as linear as headphone measurements could get, there are a few drops in there, but not a single rise from my 84 dB test signal, which is more important. Treble rendition is immaculate and as close to a linearity curve, this looks like proper flagship material.

If you are curious how Susvara compares to top-tier headphones, here’s a graph that will highlight their differences. Draw your own conclusions from it.

As you can clearly see, Susvara offers the most linear FR, LCD-4 seems to offer the warmest sound, HE1000SE is offering the hottest treble and both Meze headphone are somewhere in between, delivering an outstanding performance. Still, if you want the best that follows a reference tuning, Susvara is that headphone.

Their THD reading is again, the lowest I’ve recorded thus far, reaching as high as 1% in the treble, but never going higher than 0.5% in the bass. Usually, with open-back headphones the highest distortion is happening in the bass, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with Susvara. Their overall THD sits at 0.27% which is world class by my standards.

Decay looks impressive as any other reading and you can see that their diaphragm moves extremely fast, never lagging behind in a particular frequency range. After a short time frame of 160ms, a 84 dB sine wave drops to 20 dB at the lowest point and to 57 dB at the highest point in the FR, strengthening my claims that this is a lightning-fast sounding headphone, never lagging behind and never pressing the brakes when it comes to transients.

Waterfall combines the FR plot and decay into a single graph and you can clearly see their FR looks absolutely fantastic, it’s the closest to a linearity curve, looking similar to that of HE1000SE and Arya Stealth, but more linear and extended at both ends of the spectrum.

Spectrogram shows a minor ringing happening in between 30 and 70 Hz that is a usual sight with Hifiman headphones, but I don’t see nasty distortions building up anywhere else. I cannot hear that ringing in real life scenarios, which is great.

All in all, I’ve recorded the most linear and extended frequency response, the lowest THD I’ve seen so far, an immaculate driver matching and a super-fast decay of the notes, this is definitely flagship material in every possible way.

Comparisons
Hifiman Susvara ($6000) VS Hifiman HE1000SE ($3500)

Hifiman prepared a similar packaging, you are getting a high-quality display box surrounded by a leathery material, they have identical cables with high-purity copper and silver conductors, with the exception that HE1000SE gets an additional cable terminated with a 3.5mm jack, suggesting that you can drive these with portable devices. Apart from that, both are using exactly the same materials, their build quality is identical, HE1000SE goes with bigger elongated earcups, whereas Susvara has smaller cups, earpads and subsequently smaller drivers inside. Both are using similar technologies, but Susvara is heavier by a little, since it has more powerful magnets, including golden traces on their diaphragm.

When it comes to sensitivity, we are looking at two very different headphones, one has it at 96 dB and the other at 83dB at almost double the impedance. Putting it into perspective how different they are, for a loudness level of 110 dB (fairly loud), HE1000SE would need only 25 mW and Susvara would need 502 mW – that’s almost 20 times more power coming from your amplifier and that my friends is a very big deal.

If I’m using a regular headphone amplifier and I’m discarding that Flux Labs Volot and Ferrum OOR + Hypsos, then HE1000SE sounds more interesting and engaging to me. They both carry a very similar tuning, but in this case HE1000SE is more toe-tapping and visceral sounding, at the cost of being slightly brighter sounding up top. Susvara appeared shier and almost ethereal sounding, never delivering rumbling bass notes down low, as if always pressing the brakes when it comes to dynamics. Putting them on aforementioned amplifiers or on the KECES 300 or Benchmark AHB2 power amplifiers, then I’m getting a different picture altogether, as Susvara are suddenly becoming impactful and vivacious sounding, pushing and pulling those membranes like no others are doing.

In this configuration, modern music sounds electrifying and extremely impactful, something that I’m getting only from well-made standfloor loudspeakers in a dual-mono configuration. Susvara sometimes gives you this feeling that bass notes can be felt with your entire body, not only with your ears. The difference is bigger than expected and this is by far the biggest variation between the two. Transient response and dynamics are on a higher level with Susvara when properly driven, scaling astoundingly high with potent amplifiers, something that HE1000SE isn’t doing as much.

Secondly, their tuning is slightly different, as HE1000SE focuses a little more on the top-end, adding a longer decay and shimmer with cymbals, which isn’t happening on Susvara. In the end, HE1000SE are sounding more technical than musical, where Susvara strikes a nicer balanced between those two, sounding more natural and life-like to me.

Thirdly, the way the musical notes are rendered is quite different, as HE1000SE is almost robotic and fake sounding, aggressively highlighting the leading edges and their texture, while Susvara is gentler and focuses mostly on their innards, on their weight and substance. HE1000SE is incredibly clean and detailed, but Susvara adds more body and fullness, making the whole performance smoother and easier going. When listening to acoustic music, Susvara sends me to my musical wonderland, while HE1000SE struggles doing that, almost getting me there if I’m having a glass of whisky near me.

Susvara portrays a more natural soundstage, as there is more happening to my left and right, it sounds more open and transparent, while never sounding as tall as HE1000SE are doing. The difference isn’t huge, but it’s apparent with live and acoustic music, where I could delve deeper with Susvara and unearth additional layers from my music.

Last but not least, Susvara brings that last percent of detail retrieval and transparency, just a little bit more compared to HE1000SE. What was 99% is now sitting at 100% and I’m getting the absolute last drop of information from my tunes, in the most natural and organic way. What’s more interesting is that those details are coming gentler towards me, appearing out of thin air, something that HE1000SE does more aggressively and unrefined. Both are astonishingly close, splitting hairs with the most music, but there is still a difference with well-mastered music.

Long story short, you’ll need a considerably more powerful amplifier to awake nicer dynamic, a more believable and holographic stage, all while sounding extremely engaging and toe-tapping. Susvara are so damn unresponsive from usual headphone amplifiers that on many occasions I’ve picked up the HE1000SE that can be enjoyed even out of portable sources. Susvara is a different animal and if you got the money for their best, you should prepare a similar budget for an amplifier, otherwise stick to their HE1000SE.

Hifiman Susvara ($6000) VS Audeze LCD-4 ($4000)

When it comes to looks and material choices, LCD-4 takes the crown with chromed grilles, wooden cups, carbon fiber headband and thicker metal anywhere else. There is something that always drags my attention to them and I’ve always adored their unique look and outstanding build quality.

When it comes to comfort, with a much lighter frame, softer earpads and applying little to no pressure on top of my head or around my ears, Susvara can be used for hours and hours without any listening fatigue. My neck is strong and LCD-4 aren’t posing a problem for me, but I know a few guys that can’t use them for more than 45 minutes due to neck pain. Susvara are easily scoring their first point

When it comes to packaging and accessories, Audeze is bundling them with either a single ended 6.35mm cable or with a 4-pin XLR cable. Hifiman added both cables to the package, but a simpler display case compared to a usable bomb-proof travel case with LCD-4 and Audeze’s are scoring another point.

When it comes to sensitivity, LCD-4 has it at 97 dB and Susvara at 83 dB. Putting it into perspective, for a loudness level of 110 dB (fairly loud), LCD-4 would need only 20 mW and 2 Vrms and Susvara would need 502 mW and 5.5V rms– that’s 25 times more power coming from your amplifier and again, that is a very big deal, since LCD-4 could be enjoyed with several portable DAPs like FiiO M15 and Shanling M8, which isn’t really the case with Susvara. LCD-4 are winning their third point.

Putting them both on the Flux Volot, Ferrum OOR + Hypsos or on power amplifiers, I am getting a very different picture. If I’m listening to Susvara for a few tracks and then I’m switching to LCD-4, it feels like detail-retrieval and transparency are going down by several notches, much lower compared to HE1000SE. I could never say that LCD-4 are muffled or muddy sounding on their own, but in comparison with Susvara…that is really the case. There is a higher level of detail and transparency with Suzy, Audeze heads might call that as too much detail, too much honesty, too much of everything and that is really how Susvara sounds versus any other headphone. Suzy wins another round.

When it comes to tonality, we are looking at two very different headphones, once carries a reference and linear tuning while trying to be natural and organic sounding, while the other embraces the darkness, sounding much creamier, warmer and more saturated. LCD-4 highlights the whole bass and midrange section, while calming down the upper midrange and the whole treble region by a lot, creating a very bass and mid-centric headphone that tries to relax you and show you only the good parts happening in between your music. I listen to a lot of older blues and I could do that much easier with LCD-4 as they are hiding all the grain and mastering errors of that era, while Susvara pushes them forward destroying my moments of peace. Susvara is considerably more extended and linear in the frequency response, putting everything on a plate and never hiding the truth from the listener, these will not sugar coat or beautify your music as LCD-4 are doing constantly. It really depends on your setup and on what kind of listener you are, I love them both and I understand them both, but if I would choose one, Susvara would be that headphone.

When it comes to transients, up to this point LCD-4 were the most impressive headphones out there, delivering hard punches down low with electronica music, impressive sub-bass notes and easily reaching 20 Hz on most amplifiers. With the right equipment…Susvara becomes even more impactful, harder slamming and the difference is again, substantial. You are becoming a punching bag for Susvara when clean power is being delivered to them, pounding and kicking like a warrior entering its berserk state. There is no contest, several people came to visit me and we all arrived at the same conclusion, that Susvara takes the lead when it comes to speed and impact or transient response as a whole. It was a different picture when I’ve put the LCD-4 versus HE1000SE in the octagon, but Susvara beat the hell out of LCD-4 even at its own game.

When it comes to imaging and stage size, LCD-4 are always delivering this believable stage that stretches wide open in all directions, sounding deeper that wider on most occasions. I’m getting a similar performance with Suzy, but everything seems even more focused, even more controlled and flying farther away at the same time. Their open-shade system does wonders to imaging and stage size and Suzy are scoring another point.

In the end Audeze LCD-4 scored 3 points and Hifiman Susvara outplayed them with 5 points. That doesn’t mean I will be ditching the LCD-4, it’s still one of the nicest looking headphones out there, it’s a mighty fine headphone that offers a warmer tonality and the most liquid midrange, always having a place in my heart. Everything else is just on a higher level with Susvara, delivering much better technicalities, but making you buy additional electronics for the best results.

Hifiman Susvara ($6000) VS Meze Elite ($4000)

When it comes to looks and feel, let’s say that I didn’t experience a more beautifully crafted headphone than Meze’s Elite. These are just screaming high-class and refinement from a mile away. I cannot nitpick about the Elite, they look perfect to me from every point of view. These are made out of polished aluminum, carbon fiber and real leather, taking long-term sustainability to a whole new level. You can easily replace their magnetic earpads – the absolute coolest invention I’ve seen with headphones and I wish all others would use the same ferromagnetic earpads. Elite are one of the few fully serviceable headphones, as every single part of their chassis can be disassembled and serviced at home.

When it come to accessories, you are getting a 2-in-1 display and travel case with the Elite, two pairs of earpads that will be sounding different and a single high-quality detachable cable terminated with a 6.35 mm jack. Susvara adds another cable in the package, but an extra pair of earpads and a higher-quality metallic travel case is more important, hence scoring another point.

When it comes to comfort, I find them both highly comfortable long term, both are lightweight, easy on the cheeks and on top of my head…but Elite are working better on my huge noggin, as they are nicely distributing the weight on top of my head and Elite are scoring their third point.

When it comes to sensitivity, Elite are much easier to drive, thanks to their prodigiously high 101 dB sensitivity and to a lower impedance of 32 Ohms. Long story short, Elite would need only 7.81mW of power coming from your amplifier while delivering a very loud 110 dB SPL, they will need about ~64 times less power to achieve the same volume of 110 dB compared to Susvara. What was extremely loud with Elite was barely audible with Susvara and what was loud on Susvara would fry Elite’s drivers in microseconds and I needed to be extra careful when comparing the two. Meze’s Elite are looking extremely confident with 4 points.

Sound wise, I’m shocked how different Elite sounds from their Empyrean…the difference is much bigger than my anticipation level. I remember writing them a year ago, explaining down to the smallest details how a successor to Empyrean should sound and it seems that my feed-back found its mark. Elite are considerably more technical sounding, for the first time I’m experiencing proper transients coming out of them. By that I mean a lightning-fast start and stop of the drivers and a tremendous impact, all while controlling their drivers with utmost accuracy. This seems like a much bigger jump in sound quality to competitor headphones that made their successors just a little better. In its current state, Elite are sounding extremely close to the Susvara, as both share a similar tuning & technicalities and everything that I am doing to write down felt as a minor difference between the two.

When it comes to tonality, Elite are providing a linear performance top to bottom, there is more happening everywhere, but especially in the treble that felt muted and subdued on Empyrean. Their bass is more detailed, better controlled and much tighter sounding than before. If Empyrean could sometimes sound muffled and congested, Elite feels like a proper flagship from any point of view. Elite and Susvara are sharing a similar tonality, with an exception that Meze’s are putting more meat on the bone, especially in the midrange that was fuller and weightier sounding. Elite were by a hair more natural and cohesive, awaking slightly more emotions from my music, but Susvara were more honest in its presentation, never trying to mess with timbre and leaving it as it is. It seems that we have a tie.

When it comes to utmost transparency and detail retrieval, the game is extremely close, but Susvara outplays them with reference recordings, delivering more nuances and tiny details hiding behind my tracks and finally Susvara are winning their first point.

Same goes for speed and final impact, putting them on two AHB2 power amplifiers unlocked their fifth gear, delivering harder punches and a faster representation of my music. Elite are close, but cannot outperform the transient response kings and Suzy wins another point.

Soundstaging capabilities are going neck and neck as both are sounding extremely open, layered and defined. Susvara wins on imaging, depth and positioning of notes around me, but Elite are winning when it comes to stage width, as these are indeed some of the biggest sounding headphones out there, almost reaching Sennheier HD800 levels of openness and spatiality. I believe we have another tie, as Susvara will better highlight the notes traveling in mid-air, while Elite pushes them further from the listener.

When going slightly higher volume wise, Susvara better controls their drivers and delivers a lower harmonic distortion, but only by a little, everything is jus better defined and highlighted, contours are sharper & clearer at higher volumes and Hifiman’s best are scoring another point.

When it comes to frequency response as a whole, Susvara adds just a little bit more information on subsonic levels and on frequency extremities, there is more in the sub-bass and a little bit more in the upper treble, making them truer to life and much closer to my linearity curve, hence awarding them another point.

In the end, Meze’s Elite scored 4 points and Hifiman’s Susvara got the same number. Both are impressive sounding headphones and I find them both interesting and desirable. To me, Elite sounded like a mini-Susvara, arriving close enough, but never outperforming them on key areas. With regular headphone amplifiers, Meze’s Elite would be my weapons of choice as they are much easier to enjoy out of ordinary headphone jacks. Susvara requires nuclear reactors to sound at their best and much deeper pockets as besides getting them, you’ll need a similar budget for a worthy amplifier that would squeeze the last drop of performance out of them. While Susvara wins on acoustic performance, I will congratulate the Meze team for delivering such an outstanding headphone at a more reasonable price. I’m taking my hat off and I’m applauding them both. Chapeau Bas!

My conclusion.

This was by far the most difficult review I’ve ever wrote for a pair of headphones; it was both difficult, time consuming and extremely rewarding. The final question isn’t going to be if Susvara are amazing or not, but are they amazing enough to justify their $6000 price tag? That’s a very tough question that you should address yourselves.

As for me, these are my flagship headphones that I’m using on a daily basis and you can see them around in many other reviews, as they aren’t working as regular headphones only, but as an invaluable tool when I’m comparing audio gear. In many ways, these are the truth tellers of the headphone world, always going an extra mile and putting everything for you, the listener. It would be extremely difficult beating them at their own game and their game is an extended frequency response, fast and impactful transients, ultimate levels of detail retrieval and a natural sounding soundstage, putting plenty of headphones to shame when it comes to technicalities. I didn’t experience every single headphone out there yet (but I’m getting there closely day by day), but from the ones I’ve tried, these impressed me the most.

A flagship headphone like this is coming with a big con, as you’ll need an extremely clean and powerful headphone amplifier for the best results and the same applies to integrated and power amplifiers. If you have additional cash to burn, you can give a try to their $12.000 EF-1000 God-tier amplifier that was specially tailored for Susvara.

$6000 is a huge chunk of money, but knowing that its competitors cannot outplay them at their own game, it is my pleasure awarding them my absolute highest, Gold Award. It was fully deserved and I hope they won’t come up with a successor anytime soon as I’m not prepared for it.

You can get them directly from Hifiman web-store right here , you can also get them from your nearest Hifiman authorized dealer right here , or you can get them from Apos Audio right here . No matter where you get them from, please leave a comment below and let me know how they are treating you.

PROS:

Solid build quality
One of the best looking Hifiman
Lightweight and comfortable to use long term
Ultimate levels of transparency and detail-retrieval, it cannot get any better than this
Wide open and deep sounding, precise pin-point location of the notes, delivering a 3D experience with well mastered recordings
Electrostatic-like speed and decay
Transient response monsters when driven by a potent amplifier, expect a serious thump and impact
Can show an absurd quantity of detail from your tunes, extremely transparent sounding
The most linear and extended frequency response I’ve experienced with headphones
Holographic and 3D sounding all the time, with a laser-precision and pin-point location of the notes
Deep reaching and tightly controlled bass
Rich and natural midrange performance
Clean, detailed and tactile treble
Extremely technical sounding
Some of the best headphone measurements I’ve recorded so far
As High-End as it can get

CONS:

Pricey!
Extremely difficult to drive
Ugly looking stock cables

ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT:

DACs: Audiobyte HydraVox + HydraZap, Matrix Audio Element X, Gold Note DS-10 Plus + PSU-10 Evo, Musician Aquarius & Draco, SMSL VMV D2, Sigxer SDA-6 Pro/Advanced
DDC: Singxer SU-6
Headphone Amps: Benchmark HPA4, Flux Lab Acoustics Volot & FCN-10, Musician Andromeda, Ferrum OOR + Hypsos, Singxer SA-1, Burson Soloist 3X & Conductor 3XP, xDuoo TA-10, TA-10R, TA-30, XA-10, Topping A30 PRO, A50S, L30, A90, SMSL SH-8S, SH-9, SP400, LittleDot MKIIISE, Audio-GD D28, Matrix Mini-i 3 Pro, Element X, Audiobyte HydraVox
Integrated Amps: Burson Timekeeper 3i, KECES E40, SMSL SA400, Naim Unity Atom, SMSL DA-8S, DA-9,
Power Amps: Benchmark AHB2 (x2), KECES S300, S125, Kinki Studio EX-M7
IEMs: FiiO FD7, FA9, FH7, Meze RAI Penta, LittleDot Cu KIS, Hiby Crystal6, 7Hz Timeless & many others
Portable over-ear headphones: Sony WH1000-XM4, Meze 99 Classics, Sennheiser Momentum 2
Full-sized headphones: Hifiman Susvara, HE1000SE, Arya Stealth, HE400SE, Audeze LCD-4, Meze Elite, Sendy Peacock, Aiva, Kennerton Wodan, Magni, Gjallarhorn, Vali, M12S, Erzetich Phobos V2021, Phobos, Mania, Apos Caspian
Loudspeakers: KEF Reference 3, Sound Of Eden Crescendo UNO, Natural Sound NS-17
Interconnects: QED Reference (x2), Topping TCX1 (x2) & others
Speaker cables: Kimber PR8, Audioquest Type4 & others
Power Cables: Isotek EVO3 Premier (x3) & others
Balanced Isolation Power Conditioners: PLiXiR Elite BAC400 (headphone setup), Elite BAC1500 (stereo setup)

Overall score 93/100

Driveability 76/100

Resolution 99/100

Dynamics 99/100

Frequency Response 99/100

Stage Size 93/100

Comfort 92/100

Build Quality 90/100