Yes this is true, but HFM replaced them free of charge when in warranty. Other manufacturers have lot of questions and hesitating to replace something. But yeah you have prepaid that service in initial price...
And the problem with aftermarket earpads is that they change the frequency response, so you either have to measure the difference or be able to find measurements on the internet where such pads have been measured (Oratory sometimes measures headphones with different pads for instance).I don't know much about services by other manufacturers for a nice reason:
I own many headphones and in-ears from many other manufacturers, and except for the Audeze LCD-i4 in-ear I have never had something defective from these other manufacturers (my Audeze i4 had a defective driver right from the beginning, there was no trouble in getting a replacement through my dealer).
Re. the falling apart of the ear-pads of my Hifiman headphones, it happened after the warranty. I think I could still have tried to get replacements for free because I used to be a good client for my dealer and because the ear-pads are so low quality that they must cost Hifiman about nothing. Yet I avoided to go that way and chose instead to buy expensive Dekoni ear-pads with genuine leather, as I am not interested in further low quality Hifiman ear-pads which might self-destruct again within 2 years...
(I however might have to contact my dealer for getting replacements ear-pads for my Arya v1 if Dekoni still does not provide a substitute (issue re. the integrated mesh for protecting the drivers from dust) for the Arya v1.)
There is no need to use the HE adapter with the AHB2. If I understand you correctly, the HE adapter was used with the AHB2, but not with the Topping A90. The low output from the AHB2 was due to the adapter and not the amplifier.
Is it correct to assume that headphones—Susvara in that case—are “pure” resistive loads? Not necessarily “flat” (real) impedance, but with minimal/no capacitive or inductive component?Yep, and I agree. It will allow the Susvara to play 3dB louder. This also means higher distortion in a range it should not be used in.
I can see the HE-adapter to be beneficial with some class-D (the ones with load dependency) and some tube amps. They will 'see' a nice 8 ohm load.
Is it correct to assume that headphones—Susvara in that case—are “pure” resistive loads? Not necessarily “flat” (real) impedance, but with minimal/no capacitive or inductive component?
I’m trying to understand whether something like the HE-adapter is always a possible option to use a load-dependent Class-D amp with a headphones…
And the problem with aftermarket earpads is that they change the frequency response, so you either have to measure the difference or be able to find measurements on the internet where such pads have been measured (Oratory sometimes measures headphones with different pads for instance).
Not much difference there, looks like they've really tried to mimic the original pads very accurately.Indeed, you are quite right.
Dekoni provides measurements on their site for their pads with the FR curve of the original earpads on the same graph : there are some differences, but not much, and in any case the FR by Hifiman have some issues, the worse for me being the recession in the presence area, weakening the voices.
Here for example the measurement graphs comparing the Dekoni hybrid pad to the stock Susvara pad:
Great find!I think, for this one in particular, we need a TotalDac and an amp in the same league.
But, I have a question to @solderdude this is not in par with your review :
Susvara
back to HIFIMAN back to measurements home published: Oct-29-2017 NO SMOOTHING is applied to the shown plots. Most measurement sites have some smoothing applied which ‘irons flat’ sharp peaks and ‘w…diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com
I am lost.
My regrets. Not sure when your most recent purchase was, but my experience of QC for Hifiman for products purchased in the past couple of years has been flawless—I own and/or have gifted the HE1000se, HE1000 Stealth, Ananda Nano, Edition XS, Arya Organic and Stealth, and haven’t had a one of them be anything less than flawless; the Susvara and HE1000V2 I auditioned through Amazon’s generous return policy were equally seamless in build. I’ve had the Edition XS and HE1000se for almost two years, and they’ve both held up to near-daily listening, and for the former, an extensive amount of knocking around via travel.I agree with you that the price of the Susvara is a rip-off. And the more so when taking into account its very poor manufacturing quality. I remember that, when I was following the Susvara thread on Head-Fi years ago, I read about several persons reporting that the earpads of their Susvara had already fallen apart within 6 months after purchasing them! This combined with the crazy price protected me from wasting my money on these headphones.
I am sorry, but, in view of their very poor material quality, I fear that even the other Hifiman models are also overpriced.
I purchased and own five Hifiman headphones, from the cheap Sundara to the more expensive Shangri La Jr (€ 4500) , and for four out of these five models the earpads fell apart within two years.
I provide more details and a few photographs about this unacceptable Hifiman quality issue in the following post of the Ananda Stealth thread:
Hifiman Ananda Stealth V2 Headphone Review
Guess nobody will confuse these with the Dan Clark Stealth, will they... why would they? They are 10x the price. Silly comparison if they did. Apples and bananaswww.audiosciencereview.com
Two years is a very long time for ear pads. Sennheiser ear pads wear a lot faster than that. I also have quite a bit of wear with Audio Technica R70X. Ear pads are a consumable, they are expected to need replacement and two years is already very good. My subjective experience if anything is that Hifiman ear pads if anything are on the more durable side.I purchased and own five Hifiman headphones, from the cheap Sundara to the more expensive Shangri La Jr (€ 4500) , and for four out of these five models the earpads fell apart within two years.
I agree that HFM ear pads are crap. I had problems with different pad thickness L and R and once there was comfort problem with bad formed foam. I've contacted directly HFM support every time and they replaced pad in warranty without issue. I've had not experienced pad self destruction myself yet. Maybe humidity is the key factor here.I don't know much about services by other manufacturers for a nice reason:
I own many headphones and in-ears from many other manufacturers, and except for the Audeze LCD-i4 in-ear I have never had something defective from these other manufacturers (my Audeze i4 had a defective driver right from the beginning, there was no trouble in getting a replacement through my dealer).
Re. the falling apart of the ear-pads of my Hifiman headphones, it happened after the warranty. I think I could still have tried to get replacements for free because I used to be a good client for my dealer and because the ear-pads are so low quality that they must cost Hifiman about nothing. Yet I avoided to go that way and chose instead to buy expensive Dekoni ear-pads with genuine leather, as I am not interested in further low quality Hifiman ear-pads which might self-destruct again within 2 years...
(I however might have to contact my dealer for getting replacements ear-pads for my Arya v1 if Dekoni still does not provide a substitute (issue re. the integrated mesh for protecting the drivers from dust) for the Arya v1.)
You are correct, many amplifiers would be unhappy driving the Susvaras directly.Some amplifiers can peak in the upper frequency range when they see a high impedance load.
This result is entirely incorrect. There is a major error in these measurements!
The AHB2 delivers 80 Vpp on each output in stereo mode (single AHB2) and 160 Vpp in mono mode (using two AHB2 amplifiers). In contrast, the Topping A90 only delivers 49 Vpp. If you do the math, the output voltage of the AHB2 (stereo mode) is 4.26 dB higher than the balanced output of the Topping A90 (not 1 dB lower). In mono mode, the AHB2 would be 10.28 dB higher than the Topping A90.
I suspect the limitation was the input level being fed to the AHB2. Check the input level and the setting of the gain switch on the AHB2.
This surprises me a bit.
According to Benchmark, the AHB2 can output 28.28Vrms at 65Ω (Stereo mode).
As you measured the Susvara's sensitivity at 91.8dB SPL/Vrms (@425Hz), those two combined should theoretically give you almost 121dB SPL Peak.
94+20*log10(28.28/1.29)=120.81
It was a bit strange in that I kept increasing the input voltage to AHB2 but measured level would hardly inch up beyond 113 dBSPL. It almost felt like there was a limiter in there.
Did the AHB-2 trip its limiter when attempting to drive the headphones prior to reaching its rating of ~28V RMS? An intelligent protection system (such as what is built into the Benchmark) in a power amplifier will not only detect excess current, but also high voltage swing with low current such as a 65R load would present.
In other words, it was limiting drive so as to not swing a high voltage, unloaded (65R is no load in real terms) output.
Our posts crossed. I looked for an indicator for clipping on AHB2 but nothing showed up other than limiting the output.
Peak level with HPA4 would then be 126.2 dB at its 11.5 V, i.e. 21.2 dBV, output into 300 Ohm which is already 441 mW. You also have to add 12 dB to the 114.2 dB listed. How do you even get 118 dB there?Good catch..
It should say:
Sennheiser HD 800 S - (105 dB at 1V), peak SPL with AHB2 is 134 dB, peak SPL with HPA4 is 118 dB
Note: the continuous power rating of the HD 800 S is 0.5W, the AHB2 will be able to deliver 2.2W continuous.
yep, HPA4 = 131dB (balanced) and 126dB in SE mode.Peak level with HPA4 would then be 126.2 dB at its 11.5 V, i.e. 21.2 dBV, output into 300 Ohm which is already 441 mW. You also have to add 12 dB to the 114.2 dB listed. How do you even get 118 dB there?
View attachment 339451
It is not symmetrical. That would also add 6 dB by doubling the voltage across the driver not 5 dB.yep, HPA4 = 131dB (balanced) and 126dB in SE mode.