I always wanted to try another amp but my biggest concern is that I won't be able to tell the difference and it will be a waste of money for me in the end. I am not a critical listener at all but I am very curious if I will be able to have similar experience as you trying out different amps.
Critical listening is a skill that develops over time, and with practice. I don't believe it's exclusive to people with "golden ears." In fact, I've had a lot of fun throwing Stellias on the heads of friends and family, and every single person (regardless of age & experience) has been able to tell that "something special" is going on, even if they can't easily articulate what. In any case, don't feel "underqualified," because you're not. You're the only one qualified to know what you like.
Some of the most frustrating (but ultimately good) advice I got when breaking into HiFi was to "listen to what you know." As someone with thousands of CDs and a huge mental catalogue of music, I was hoping someone might narrow down the options a little. And while I do believe there are some tracks that are objectively good for evaluating certain things (e.g., "Why So Serious?" for sub-bass), the hidden wisdom in that advice is that music is ultimately art, and different source material speaks to each of us. The music that music moves us is the same stuff we know best, so those tracks are the ones we're best equipped to pick up on subtleties and nuances between different presentations. Frankly, it's also what we want to "sound its best," whatever that means to each of us.
What's difficult is:
1. Identifying system bottlenecks / correctly attributing differences
2. Separating objective performance / behavior from subjective preferences
Every playback chain is a system, starting with recordings -> streaming -> DAC -> amplification -> transducers, and every link in that chain needs to be as strong as possible for the whole system to perform optimally. If another link in your chain is weak, then upgrading the amplifier might not make much difference. But if your amp is the weak link, then a better amp could make a comparatively huge difference. This is where objective measurements can be informative. For example, frequency response curves for headphones are kind of meaningless until you can correlate them with listening experience, but when you can say, "I liked
X, but thought the bass rolled off too soon," then you can compare a frequency graph for
X with one for
Y and make a guess about whether its tuning might be more or less to your liking. It takes time and experience to figure out stuff like this, but eventually things will start to correlate and you'll find a way to navigate.
Sussing out which link in the chain is the weak one or responsible for some good or bad contribution can be super tedious. The only way to be sure is to isolate variables to the maximum extent possible, and then change one thing at a time. And then do it again. And a couple more times. And come back tomorrow and do it all over. It's impossible to fully weed out things like placebo, mood, fatigue, etc., but repeat testing like this will tell you a few things: (a) is the change repeatable? (b) is the magnitude obvious? (c) does the difficulty of discerning repeatable differences exceed your interest in doing so? If you can answer "yes" to C, congratulations--you have reached your endgame.
Finally, I firmly believe the whole point of this hobby (as a listener, anyway) is to get as much enjoyment as possible from our music. My personal definition of an audio chain is: an apparatus that converts audio recordings into emotional response. There is a lot of science behind preserving signal quality and integrity, but the final step is inherently and necessarily subjective since music is art and its meaning is personal. This is where experience and subjective reviews can be particularly helpful. If you find people with similar tastes or experience with chains you know, then you can compare notes to see what you each like / dislike. It's a bit like talking about favorite meals and how to prepare them to perfection.
I like visual metaphors, and I've shared these following images a few places to try to help describe my personal ideals, what I like about them, and to underscore that more than one presentation style might be appealing.
Susvara on a powerful, neutral SS amp renders music with the best realism [IMO] that I've heard from any personal audio chain. Everything in the mix is clearly and cleanly rendered, with outstanding separation and very natural staging. It's like the musical equivalent of a bright, sunny day, where every blade of grass is rendered, and you can see deep into the horizon.
Meanwhile, my other favorite chain is Verite Closed on tubes (ZMF Pendant, specifically). That presentation is not like Susvara, and isn't really trying to be. VC sounds amazingly open for a closed headphone, and has a huge soundstage unlike anything else I've experienced in any other closed back. Music is rendered in a huge canopy, with super lush mids / vocals that are much more intimate. Tubes add a smoothness that gives the whole sound a sense of refinement without any fatigue. The overall VC experience is every bit as compelling to me as Susvara, but for totally different reasons.
--
Well, if my last post wasn't enough of a brain dump, this one certainly is, lol. If I haven't scared you off or hopelessly confuse you, let me circle back to your main concerns:
- Can I hear a difference between amps? Yes, I'd wager you are able to recognize differences when they present. It gets easier with experience and practice, but it starts with those "I just heard something in this track that I've never heard before" moments.
- Will I hear a difference / will it make a difference? That's harder to answer since there may be convoluting factors such as system botlenecks, hearing ability, listening skills, relative interest in listening to lots of gear vs a "good enough & get out" approach, etc. Personal priorities, means, and preferences can have a large impact on how far it makes sense to push the envelope.
The good news is, there's no reason you
need to try out a bunch of amps
. It's something you can choose to do to figure out whether you hear a difference worth paying for. Given the cost of the headphones, I personally think it's worth investing in a very capable amp. If I hadn't already had a couple channels free on my McIntosh amp, I'd most likely have piled on the AHB2 bandwagon, since plenty of people seem to like that amp for Susvara, specifically, and it measures objectively outstanding.
A90 is a solid choice for Susvara if you simply want to start great and try for better. It's hard to convey the magnitude of improvements from A90 to other amps, but I find the improvements both minor and obvious--minor enough that I won't feel [even slightly] bad about bass or separation on A90, but obvious enough that I can easily recognize and appreciate the improvement on my big chain. It's like getting the sear just right on a really fine steak, if that translates for you (point is, it's minutia that makes the meal). It's easier for me to know when it's right than for me to describe exactly what makes it right, though I've been able to find like-minded people who recognize and appreciate some of the same nuances that I appreciate, and that process of comparing notes has convinced me that what I'm picking up on and describing must be coming from the playback chain (unless it's just confirmation bias, in which case at least we're having fun, lol).
Hope that helps. That's kind of a crash course in my whole audio journey over the past few years.
