HiFiMan Susvara Review - Almost perfect! 

This is so much more than just a product review. IMO this is a beginner's guide/mythbusting video regarding a lot of the snake oil and confirmation bias on the most common myths in the hifi community. I love your videos for doing this, more people should talk about the myths/misconceptions regarding hifi gear as there is a LOT of them.

Susvara owner. I describe them as the most boring headphone, not because they're bad, but because they're that good. There are no nasty surprises. I use mine alot more gaming, watching movies and series than listening to music. Not because they're lacking but because they make the audio visual experience far more real, than anything else I've heard. I often will hear a siren or bird chirping in the background of something I'm watching, thinking it's somewhere around me.

Lachlan, your channel is top of my long list of audio subscriptions. I really appreciate your hard work, candour and dedication. Thank you.

Thank you for this very specific and passional review!

Excellent review - really illuminating - thanks!

Finally a review of the piece de resistance!

Thank you so much for putting in the time and effort to make this amazing review. Much love from a fellow Victorian, cheers!

Truly quality interview, excellent job. thank you

Brilliant review, thanks Lachlan. Great content and explanations. I learned so much. The detailed headphone comparisons were worth their weight in gold! Keep up the great work.

Great review as always. My favourite part is always the comparisons when you discuss the tracks you used. So if I wanted to see something more in the hobby it would be discussions of the music by reliable reviewers such as you. Thanks

I am so glad you are bringing this "power" issue up.

Wow, You knocked this review it out of the park :)

And Ladies & Gentleman - This is how one reviewer stands up to burst the myth and stop making a fool of ppl trying to tell only expensive amps are good. I am running Abyss 1266 & Susvara via Sparkos Aries and then ran it via a famous $4500 USD power amp . 0 diff in sound rather Aries had clearly better control over 1266 & Susvara than the power amp . This is one of your best Lachlan . Thanks for having the guts to say that you don’t need power amps to power 1266 & Susvara and even more importantly backing it up with sensible reasoning. My favourite RU-vid Audio review till date . Way to go mate !

One thing to consider in regards to power is that many headphones have a variable impedance especially dynamics, planars can have variances but they tend to be in the range 0.1-4ohms. Something like the focal clear can be advertised as having 60ohm impedance, but when measured shows a 342ohm peak at ~60hz. Bass takes more power on certain transducer types(and more importantly on specific implementations) and absolutely affects headphones just as much as loudspeakers. The clear is a freak and almost any other dynamic driver won't exhibit such extreme variation.

Thanks for the review

I've had some time with the Susvara's now and I can confirm they are incredible. Startlingly intimate and real, there's nothing between you and the artist. Other headphones for much cheaper achieve a similar intimacy and detail (21 LCD x) comes to mind, but the difference is the intimacy feels more processed and digital. Like you are listening to the flavor of the mics the music was recorded on as well as the music. You hear the gear.. Where with the Susvara's the gear falls away and there's nothing between you and the music. They are also detailed without ever being harsh or sibilant. They don't have as much bass as the He1000v2 or Arya's but both of those I found much more harsh and sibilant. If you like electronic and hip hop mainly I'd probably recommend a different headphone (LCD 4)(abyss 1266 Phil tc) or you are gonna need some pretty dramatic eq. But if you are into folk, singer songwriter, orchestral, movie scores, acoustic pop, or any music played on organic instruments with vocals.. these are the best headphones I've ever heard at those genres..

Another great review sir. As an owner of the Focal Utopia’s I’m always interested in how other TOTL headphones match up. I would like to see an in-depth discussion of sonic floor modulation and how it affects one’s perception of recorded music. Keep up the good work.

Grade-A levels of anality. Love it. Brilliantly thorough. Thanks

Really enjoy your reviews. In my humble opinion i think you have come a long way. Better, precise and informative without being boring. I would like to know more about comparison in regards to wires, wifi, Bluetooth, apple air and aptx comparisons. If that does effect the final signal. Ps plus I just dowloaded dts for headphones and dolby atmos for headphones on windows

Having your perspective on different headphone types (drivers, open, closed) with different music styles would be interesting

I always enjoy the high quality of your videos. j

Great video, thank you! Would love a video on some tube basics.

Having compared the Susvara vs Empyrean extensively on a high-end chain (MScaler+DAVE+Solaris), I completely agree with you. The Susvaras are a clear cut above and beyond the Empyrean in terms of quality of reproduction, but the Empyrean wasn't any less enjoyable to listen to. And for certain genres like especially electronic music, the Empyreans are just more enjoyable overall.

Thank you so much for the explanation of power requirements for headphones. I had the Utopias and the EC ZDS, and I was wondering if the ZDS has the ability to drive the Susvara properly. I love the tube sound, but I’d want the grip and control over the planar to provide the best sound - what tube amps have you plugged the Susvara into? Good results?

Really great review, I didn't expect to laugh 😀 I would like to learn about equalisers, the absolute basics of what they are, how you use them to vary the sound, adding more bass or the like and showing us some options of portable, if such exist or small desk versions to the full-size units and explaining the differences.

Excellent thorough review as usual Lachlan. A long time after this review but a relevant development- open box Susvara sets are srarting to appear from authorized vendors in the $4000 range with full warranty and even money-back return policies- bringing the price more in line with the likes of Utopia so the comparison here is very apt (both are still aspirational but Sus is starting to become similarly aspirational)

Thank you for addressing the planar power myth, I'm finally pulling the trigger on a pair of HE1Kse's and I was not sure if I need to upgrade from my current L30 Amp. I have been scouring online someone who addressed this matter. Thank you so muchh!

awesome review.. thanks

Great review, hope I can get 1 in the future.

Thank you Lachlan, you've cleared up the fact that I should be aiming for a not too revealing headphone while I have less than perfect source. At some point in the future I should acquire some extremely well recorded and produced high definition music. That's when I need to get very high definition revealing headphones a chord Dave and m scaler etc.

Lachlan did you enjoy the Sus pairing with the Soloist 3XP? Did you notice a significant difference with the upgraded power supply from Burson in this combo?

Driving low frequencies in headphones is actually the limiting factor in amplifiers. Assuming that the headphones have a flat impedance versus frequency response a 1 volt 100 Hz signal is going to require the same power as a 1 volt 1 kHz signal and also a 1 volt 10 kHz has signal. The thing with music is there's a lot more voltage produced at low frequencies than higher frequencies. That's just the nature of music. That's why amps can struggle with low frequencies when driving headphones. As long as the amplifier has the ability to quickly supply enough current and voltage then it won't be a limiting factor. Amplifiers can fall down when they can't supply the voltage and current quickly enough not to disrupt the waveform. This could be easily checked with a tone burst test.

great review, as usual - thanks! since it may be driven by speaker amps it may be the ultimate tool for those of us with doesn't based systems to find out what speakers and room interaction are adding/substraction/changing from/about "the truth."

Woow, cant thank enough for this extrem precious Information 👍🐬🙏👌🌞

Fantastic review as usual. As for my question, could you talk about the general tuning approach differences you've noticed between Summit-Fi devices like these and more "normal" headphones like a Sundara or an HD-6XX?

By the way regarding your TT2 test. Does the TT2 offer the same current output from the headphone out and xlr out?

There looks to be a dip in the frequency response centred around 3 to 4 kHz. This is the inverse of the Harman target. Did you try boosting this area to see if it improved the sound?

Terrific review, thanks! Do you know of speakers that could compare to the Susvara in sound quality?

Nice reviews . All of them

For me, I love the Susvara on Tubes. Try it on an ampsandsound device. I got the Nautilus for the SUS. Also, for the Emperyn(sp) use case - fun and engaging, I chose the ZMF Verite Closed. Has a little more punch. I'm interested in trying the Elite when I get a chance to see how it would do.

So… what’s the sweet spot (price/performance) amp or amp/dac to power the Susvara? Wa the TT2 with SE output enough? Or a dedicated amp and separate dac a better solution?

Great review, I heard too many comments about speaker amp for the Susvara. I'm interesting to know more about estat amp, especially when Audeze came out with the CRBN

Great review! I’d like to hear a review on how these hi end headphones sound through something like the chord Mojo or similar priced headphone dac/amp.

Wondering if the reason you fell in love with the empyrean is causing you to bump the mid bass in your voice for your videos. Seems to have a bit of boost either from eq or maybe room gain?

I don't know if you heard the Shangri-La Jr but I wonder which is the best between the Susvara and the Shangri-La Jr (especially regarding resolution and timbre)... Any opinion about that?

Does this really the cable as the Ananda? I had listened to a review with Dr Fang where he states that they spend a lot of time trying to get the cables right. It would be interesting to hear the justification for these cables because they are just strange feeling. Nice review, I look forward to hearing these sometime.

such a great product and killer review! If I didn't already have a 1266 Phi TC I'd be saving for a Sus. Susvara, 1266 Phi TC, LCD4, Utopia, Emp, Final D8k pro, Verite closed, HE-1, Shan-gr-la, SR009, SR007 are all on the mount rushmore of summit fi headphones.

Great review, amplification quality is hugely important for this level of sets indeed. (Thank you for the exchange on my previous comment, decided to delete it to avoid misunderstandings :) ).

As an Audioquest headphone lover, I wonder if I too would prefer the Meze Empyrean to the Utopia and Susvara. As far as amplifiers go, do you think the THX 789 has enough power to drive the Susvara?

Recently tried Susvara with Hypsos + Oor ... finally heard some solid bass from Susvaras (after a few db sub bass shelf admittedly, but H+O has tones of headroom).

What a great video to wake up to on a Sunday morning! This was such a good watch, Lachlan!

Hello Lachlan, Thank you making this review relevant to those that won’t be able to afford such a headphone. Can you please review the HE6SE sometime. I would like to learn more about class A amplifier.

As usual, Lachlan, an impeccably produced video on an outstanding pair of headphones. I hope you''d agree that music - like any other art form - should be an emotional experience. In that respect the headphones that give you the greatest emotional experience should be the ones of choice. For that reason you would probably(like me) lean towards the Empyreans. At twice the price is the extra detail from the Susvaras sufficiently important to warrant the expenditure? I've listened to all the tracks you cite through my Empyreans. Ben Folds sounds crystal clear and the sibilants undistorted. There is a slight overall echo - you can hear it in the drums - but not on the vocals to my less than perfect ears. Ditto the "triangle" in The Living End track with its rather middy guitar sound but the vocals are clear. The Beck track sounds excellent. So is hearing these fine details absolutely necessary to the overall sound? Does it increase the emotional experience? Many thanks again

The power thing is still a bit confusing. My HE6se (slightly less sensitive than Susvara -- 82.5dB/mW) seem to sound better on $200 Emotiva A-100 speaker amp than $1K Soloist 3XP. Deeper bass and smoother highs on the A-100. (Though the 3XP wins in imaging and probably detail). But yeah as you said that may not be because of power but because the amps themselves sound different. But I'm still surprised that a speaker amp sounds better than a dedicated headphone amp 5 times the price.

Nice review! Hope that you can consider doing a review on the 2nd TOTL of HiFiman; HE1000SE. Heard mixed review about these 2 headphones with a mix of supporters on either side claiming superiority over the other. Thanks!

I'd like to see a comparison between iem and headphone sound. Like, what you get when going for a headphone vs iem or vice versa. It might be too broad of a topic, though I do want to experience in particular how the bass presentation in headphones and iems differ.

Would love to know more about the different kinds of amps. I know Op Amps but what are the other variants and what are the differences?

Also, I'd like to ask if the earmen eagle is still your top recommendation for a usb dac of that price range? I'm gonna be using it only for iems

for your personal taste, if u had to choose one, susvara or utopia, which would you choose

How do headphone ohms affect choice in headphone amps?

For vocals, you founded the Empyrean / Elite is more excitement and emotional than the Susvara or your prefer the more natural and pure vocals of the Susvara? Also, tube amp or solid state for the Susvara? because also some using speaker amps for them.

Would love to learn more about headphone/amp impedance and how to understand a bit better the correlation between sensitivity and impedance.

Excellent review. I absolutely adore my Empyreans (as you do) as they just make all music so pleasant to listen to. You just forget about analysing the sound as even poor recordings sound great. The fact is, even with Roon and wonderful recordings available digitally nowadays we all still have CD Quality recordings that just aren't recorded well. The Empyreans really are superb all rounders that you can listen to all music.. all day long. I sold my Stellias because they were very unforgiving with the level of detail they retrieved. Give them a crappy recording and it just sounded "even more crap". Give them a good quality recording and they were superb but I felt I could only listen to superb recordings. Quite limiting. Occasionally I still think "this would sound incredible on those Stellias" when I come across a well recorded track. I have two headphone setups now for the Empyreans - Matrix Element X with Feliks Euphoria AE, and a Schiit Bifrost 2 with Schiit Jotunheim 2... I am very tempted to try these with that Feliks tube Amp as I didn't have that to test with the stellias. I know detail retrieval is also insane with these but the tube Amp should soften them I feel. Perhaps these will be more forgiving. The Empyreans wouldn't go anywhere of course. I will try and work out an audition with a local dealer. Might have to lie to the wife about the price..."Nah they weren't THAT expensive"..frankly the cost is silly really. Cheers again for a great review and also for explaining the power requirements. I think my equipment will easily drive them. I doubt my Dragonfly Cobalt will though 🙂

Thank you for the great review! I own the Chord Hugo TT2 and am curious about your remarks about the Susvara and the TT2. Are you saying that the TT2 can not drive the Susvara well enough from the front outputs or was the output the same from the front and back with your adaptor? I was thinking of getting the Susvara with the TT2 being my main amp and DAC. Is that a good pairing then from your testing? Thank you for your excellent video reviews? You do a great and thorough job!

I'd love to test a pair of these just to know what I'm missing out on.

I thought the improved sound from speaker amps was not power, but the better damping they provide to control woofers.

Hi Lachlan! I have read so much review about the Susvara on the net but your review in my book is the most comprehensive of all, Thanks for that. I am planning to buy the Susvara by this coming fall and will also add the Lazuli Nirvana headphone cable on top of it. I will power this with my Simaudio 430HA ( Running my Hifiman he-1000 right now ) 8 watts at 50 Ohms load. My dac is still a 650d from sim audio that i also use as my cd player. I might leave comments once everything will be in place because we do not hear to much of the 430HA driving Susvara on the net. Later on.. i might add the Tambaqui Dac from Mola Mola. I will possibly have to drive to New Jersey ( USA ) but i don't mind. Good day and keep up your excellent work! A music lover...

Thanks for the awesome review. I may have no money for bills, but I got good sound. Just joking. I got neither. Which amp do you recommend for these cans?

Thanks!

Can you please discuss the difference between microdynamics and macrodynamics?

Lachlan-Very much enjoy your reviews--thanks! I have never understood the difference between balanced and unbalanced outputs. Help!

Great video Lachlan esp. reg. power requirement. And then Hifiman offers the EF1000 as 'best' pairing with the Susvara....snakeoil or truth?

Time for Abyss 1266 Phi TC so that I know which of the two would be a better upgrade to my Utopia! :)

Good day Lachlan. Just commenting here on my second account. Thanks for your reviews. I got the Blessing 2 recently and find it quite a bit more detailed than the HD560S. I also ordered the Ananda but can't access it due to travel restrictions.

I bet money if you waterfall graph on the same amp from low to high gain on demanding headphones the harmonic changes to attack and decay speed and 2nd and beyond harmonics will show more than just a frequency graph. Looking in 2 dimensions like that is glossing over a lot of what makes some headphones great that don't necessarily graph well on a frequency chart but have harmonics that work well. I personally can say without a doubt I can hear occasional lack of resolving capabilities listening on my he6 and realize I have my amp in low gain (but normal listening volume) before I even have to check. I'll add that resolving capabilities have pretty noticeable effects on soundstage handling adding another hard to graph element and I suspect is why better amps that can keep their capacitors charged better can have such a drastic effect on resolution and soundstage handling. Reminds me of the burson super charger effect. Interesting video and I'd love to see a deeper dive because I know I'm not alone when it comes to being able to hear the difference with some of my harder to drive headphones like the he6 and 600 ohm T1.2 even on the same amp with different gain stages at the same listening volume.

Killer review, love the in-depth-ed-ness. Not a headphone for my tastes (I don't want to know the truth) so my wallet is happy for now. Definitely enjoy the education though, I'm sure these make many an audiophile quite happy. ✌️

A great review, a lot of technical information and I've never understood the sense that loudspeaker amps should be an advantage for high-end headphones. I would never think of running my Abyss PHI TC with a speaker amp. But I am of the opinion that it makes no sense to run an Abyss PHI TC or a Susvara with a $ 500 amp and that many people don't understand, because they read the spec sheet and think the amp has enough power.

I'm gonna need popcorn for this one.

I have not been a headphone guy - Just came across your channel as I am considering some lifestyle changes that would lead to dumping my floor standing speakers and going with an expensive headphone only system using something like the Felix or Woo Audio amps - I am very impressed with the sophistication and insight of your reviews - extremely well done, thank you - I do have a couple of questions. 1. What about positioning the headphone amp behind a line-stage preamp rather than just source -> amp -> headphone? Anything gained/lost? I ask because I have a lot of LPs and a sophisticated turntable/phono preamp setup I am looking to retain. 2. After watching scores of videos, seems like many commentators espouse RtR DACs for headphone listening like the Holo May - as the owner of an expensive delta sigma DAC, just wondering why that might be. Keep up your fantastic work?

Passion you 100% nailed the 3 headphones on what they do in my opinion but I think when people say the Susvara’s need more power they think when they plug a $200 Schiit AMP they will not power on or something. Of course they do but will sound flat and can get treble spikes like you said in your review. I’ve tried the following my Susvara’s Violectric V281 powered them sounded okay but harsh treble, Topping A90 powered them but sounded flat with harsh treble, Emotive BassX headphone amp unleashed 50w okay sounding better then the others but still too much treble sparkle, Schiit Ragnarok did pretty good but still way too much treble harshness. Then I bought the HOLLY GRAIL headphone amp Woo Audio WA33 Elite with upgraded KR HP tubes and you complete perfect treble like the power of a solid state amp and the smoothness of a tube amp in one. It’s all about SYNERGY between sources. I keep seeing RU-vidrs trying low end gear and saying it sucks because they are not pairing it correctly. This is like saying I have a Porsche GT3 RS but you didn’t have the money for tires so you put on some 2005 Toyota Corolla tires on and took it to the track in slid off the track saying this car sucks. You CANNOT test low-fi gear like this or you’ll hear it. I personally do not think this was in the recording it was the gear around the Susvara’s. But you are a really one of the BEST reviewers on RU-vid and nailed the 3 headphones that I own.

Hello @Passion for sound. I have an idea for something you could test and then do an episode about. Something that I have always wondered about was the difference in adding a somewhat higher output impedance amplifier to the head-fi chain that is solid state vs one of a similar output impedance that is tube (preferably full OTL). It is an objective fact that higher impedance leads to higher distortion. So I am curious how much of the 'warmth' or other characteristics that are such a great part of listening to tubes is from the actual tubes in the chain. Or is it equal parts distortion introduced by the higher output impedance that the tube amps generally have? Will we get some of this same 'warmth' (distortion) by just adding a higher output impedance (distortion) solid state amp to the chain? In other words can a solid state amp sound like a tube amp simply by being an inferior to state of the art (high output impedance) design?

I wonder if my burson conductor 3x performance could drive them properly 🤔 ( Questyle CMA 12 master as a pre amp)

Any plans to review the Abyss 1266 PHI TC? Wondering how it compares to the Susvara. I am planning to buy a used pair soon and will be able to compare. Will be running them both off rear XLRs of the TT2.

Finally someone being real about the Susvara and how power hungry they are.... which they are, indeedbut never felt like there was not enough power on tap on my iCan Pro Signature (as some say...)

Lachlan, let me remind you that I've really been grooving on your reviews. You have a vocabulary for music, and bridge technical, aesthetic, and emotional references in a way which instructs and clarifies. So, flattery over with, I want to suggest that "emotional engagement" is one criterion which can't be seen as a performance variable. That phrase is entirely personal, individual in nature - "subjective" if you don't mind that word. One could even say the association of the midrange with a mother's voice can correlate with either favoring or rejecting a fatter, warmer midrange on "emotional" grounds based on how comfy you were with Mom, vs finding the emotion in the clearer, more articulate reproduction of the what the artists conveyed to us. I found the Empyrean frustrating emotionally, because I could sense missing music, even though some tunes were warm and cozy and enjoyable. Is there something I may be missing about some shared standard for "engagement"? I'm not saying which midrange you like actually does reflect how you felt about Mom, I'm just saying that we have many, and subtle, reasons to associate a frequency range and a dynamic envelope with an emotional pleasure, and/or a sensual and aesthetic pleasure. How else could you frame "emotional engagement"? As a personal response to a midrange with a certain balance of embracing and informing? I compared two, very disparately priced, dynamic cans: Grado GS3000x vs Focal Utopia 2022. I was seriously pleased with the Utopias right off the bat - there was no peakiness at all, a great balance of a musically rich tonality with excellent resolution and fun slam, superb dynamic range and envelope. But the Grados to my surprise (and my favorite Grado were the GS3000e, before this), were nearly as rich, characteristically more assertive in the mid and upper mid....and while not as timbrally developed on acoustic instruments and voices as the Utopia '22, they were still greatly expressive and fun, and, in absolute terms, world-class. And 40% of the price. BTW - you're absolutely right about the sibilance reverb on Ben Fold's There Always Someone Cooler Than You. I shifted from Utopia 2022 to Susvara. through Holo May KTE DAC and either Bryston BHA-1 or Burson Soloist GT. The Bryston is an example of a nominally inadequately powered amp for the Susvara, but does a more than credible job in balanced mode, which quadruples the weighted power, with dual-mono design as I understand it - it doesn't quite have the effortless delivery of the ten-times more powerful Burson GT, but on my other headphones, I find the 10 year old Bryston to be a more refined, balanced amp than the excellent Burson. WIth both amps, the reverb on s-sounds using the Susvara, is very clear; on the Utopia '22 and the Elite, the reverb was inaudible. On the Abyss 1266TC it was moderately clear; and the Grado GS3000x, believe it or not, was almost as distinct as the Susvara. I find the

The Susvara is a very difficult headset to drive; can advise some aui amps would be able to draw its full potential Thank you

I have always wondered.... what is it like having 2 working ears? I am completely deaf in one ear since birth (or near enough) and have no idea what it feels like to perceive imaging, soundstage, and directionality in general. I love music and good quality sound but am often annoyed by trying to listen with headphones to music that is heavily stereo-separated (no, it's not fun when half the instruments and the vocal are barely audible because they're hard-panned into the wrong ear). A related quandary... why does the mono-downmix setting in Windows and Android suck so hard? It deadens the sound (example - the ring-out of a cymbal might be extended in the original stereo mix but when mono-mode is switched on it deadens the ring-out significantly)

26:03 Sonoma m1 and Sonoma acoustic aperio deliver even better true to life sound from what I've heard . Please review these and the T+A Solitaire P with it's amp HA200 . That's a magnificent headphone amp combo aswell !

I need to take the entire section of the power delivery of this review and point out a few things. Current fluctuates amplifier to amplifier. When we talk about using a speaker amplifier for something like SUS, we’re not talking about how loud something is getting. The top in a 90 gets SUS to eardrum bleeding levels of loudness depending on how the track was normallised. We are talking about control and delivering the right amount of power simultaneously to different aspects of the driver and vibrations You will never get the lower end on a SUS on the top in a 90 as you do on a benchmark ahb2, at the same loudness volume of 70 dB. The numbers people concentrate on far too often, but there is a lot more going on here, including synergy.

Aaand you get the cable *music stops* 😆😆😆

My TYGRS's came in a flimsy paper board box. Inside an other card board box. I could not love them more. Best, D.

So gangsta love the attention to making this video

Great review, but re: the "myth" of needing more power to drive planars, it comes from the fact that planars require more CURRENT than dynamic drivers, particularly for controlling their low frequency response. For an easy illustration, plug Susvara into a OTL tube amp with moderate power, but low current. The bass, if it produces any, will be loose and distorted as if the driver can't quite do what it's supposed to. People generally miss the distinction between needing "high power" vs "high current".

I listened to the Final D8000 :(, the DCA Expanse, :), then the empyrean, and i literally cried, then i moved to the Elites, yes, more details, but not the emotion, then the Utopia's, boring, and Finally i listened to the Susvara's and they BLEW ME AWAY !! they are on the level of what i experienced when i still had my IRS Beta speakers, so, from those i select the empyrean and the Susvara, and i find it a very difficult choice, between being blown away, or being moved to tears (and a huge difference in price, not just the headphones, but what is required to drive them), the shop was using a 30 000 dollar system (dcs lina dac, amp and streamer), that's far over my budget, i wonder what headphones will sound better in a system for a total price of 9000 dollars (6K dac amp for the empyrean, or a 3k dac + amp combo for the susvara's), i heard some people use speaker amps for the Susvara's, i have a Mark Levinson 23.5 Solid state amp, would i be able to use that with a DAC/Pre with the Susvara's ?

I am pretty sure Sennheiser would say the HE-1 is potentially the best headphone on the planet. It would be interesting to see a shootout ;)

Hi can I use the SUSVARA for producing/mixing/mastering ?

Best audio-related review channel out there Lachlan! A must subscribe

As a he1000se owner this Susvara review was incredible

What Amp/DAC do you use or would you recommend for the Empyrean?

Thanks for a fascinating and comprehensive review! I'm still happy with my Empyrean and won't be upgrading to the Susvara. For a while, I had a HiFiMan Arya, which seems to be well-regarded, but I didn't like it at all. I would not be inclined to take a chance on another HiFiMan. Besides, I just ordered a new Dan Clark Stealth. The early reviews are very good.