HIFIMAN Susvara Headphone Review

[solderdude]

Is the "AKG K120" the correct model number? When looking it up, I found this: "AKG introduced its first headphone, the K120 DYN, in 1949." Did AKG reuse the old model number, or is it typed incorrectly in your post?

AKG K 120 | Hifi-Wiki

www.hifi-wiki.de

AKG K120 - Vintage Kopfhörer ( Bj.1974 ) VERY RAR !!! für Sammler | eBay

Entdecken Sie AKG K120 - Vintage Kopfhörer ( Bj.1974 ) VERY RAR !!! für Sammler in der großen Auswahl bei eBay. Kostenlose Lieferung für viele Artikel!

www.ebay.de

 

[John_Siau]

AKG K 120 | Hifi-Wiki

www.hifi-wiki.de

AKG K120 - Vintage Kopfhörer ( Bj.1974 ) VERY RAR !!! für Sammler | eBay

Entdecken Sie AKG K120 - Vintage Kopfhörer ( Bj.1974 ) VERY RAR !!! für Sammler in der großen Auswahl bei eBay. Kostenlose Lieferung für viele Artikel!

www.ebay.de

So, there was an AKM K120 DYN introduced in 1949 and there was an AKM K120 introduced in 1974. The only similarity is the name and AKM brand.

 

[migo77]

MS Copilot says:

"To volume match two headphones, you need to know their sensitivity ratings, which indicate how loud they can get with a given input voltage. According to the web search results, the 7Hz Salnotes Zero IEMs have a sensitivity of 108 dB/V1 and the Hifiman Susvara headphones have a sensitivity of 83 dB/V2.

Using the formula SPL = sensitivity + 20 * log10(V), where SPL is the sound pressure level in dB, sensitivity is the sensitivity rating in dB/V, and V is the input voltage in V, we can calculate the voltage needed to get the same SPL for the 7Hz Salnotes Zero IEMs as the Hifiman Susvara headphones.

If the Hifiman Susvara headphones produce 82 dB SPL with 210 mV input, then the 7Hz Salnotes Zero IEMs would need an input voltage of:

V = 10^((SPL - sensitivity) / 20)

V = 10^((82 - 108) / 20)

V = 0.0063 V or 6.3 mV

Therefore, you need to set the output voltage of your amp to 6.3 mV to get the same SPL for the 7Hz Salnotes Zero IEMs as the Hifiman Susvara headphones."

Thank you very much! I've tried 6.3mV but it seems to my ears that is not matched, it is lower volume. Difference is not big. I'll try today again to verify, I was tired yesterday.

 

[chosen1ft]

I just register today,I think you should start the rate a few days before you post the review and then stop the rating after the review is shown to prevent your fans from being affected by your review.

 

[Jimbob54]

I just register today,I think you should start the rate a few days before you post the review and then stop the rating after the review is shown to prevent your fans from being affected by your review.

You do know the poll doesn't really matter? Most respondents never have and likely never will try a pair of these .

 

[Chagall]

You do know the poll doesn't really matter? Most respondents never have and likely never will try a pair of these .

Some people just can't help themselves

 

[majingotan]

Not a single DCA headphone on this self-proclaimed "Best headphones in 2023 / 2024" kek

Best Headphones In 2023 / 2024

Audio: Listen to this article. Best Headphones In 2023 / 2024 By Sajid Amit, Founder, Amplify Audio Reviews. Hi everyone! Just casually dropping my top 10 headphones for 2023, here! There are so many excellent headphones in the world, varying degrees of compatibility with musical genres, user pre...

audiophilestyle.com

If there is an ‘’impossible to hate for anyone’’ headphone then Susvara is probably number one in that ranking as well.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Not a single DCA headphone on this self-proclaimed "Best headphones in 2023 / 2024" kek

Best Headphones In 2023 / 2024

Audio: Listen to this article. Best Headphones In 2023 / 2024 By Sajid Amit, Founder, Amplify Audio Reviews. Hi everyone! Just casually dropping my top 10 headphones for 2023, here! There are so many excellent headphones in the world, varying degrees of compatibility with musical genres, user pre...

audiophilestyle.com

Dan Clark must not have paid them plus DCA headphones don't come with snake oil. That's slightly surprising though, since the E3 was hyped a lot and apparently sold well.

Man those tonal and technical performance ratings are all over the place and make no sense whatsoever. Zero consistency. How do you have some similar HiFiMans and Staxes so far apart in tonality?

 

[Chagall]

Not a single DCA headphone on this self-proclaimed "Best headphones in 2023 / 2024" kek

Best Headphones In 2023 / 2024

Audio: Listen to this article. Best Headphones In 2023 / 2024 By Sajid Amit, Founder, Amplify Audio Reviews. Hi everyone! Just casually dropping my top 10 headphones for 2023, here! There are so many excellent headphones in the world, varying degrees of compatibility with musical genres, user pre...

audiophilestyle.com

Yep, that's the wetness without thickness guy. Still makes me chuckle.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Yep, that's the wetness without thickness guy. Still makes me chuckle.

I prefer wetness with thickness, but I'm not sure what this has to do with headphones.

 

[majingotan]

Yep, that's the wetness without thickness guy. Still makes me chuckle.

Hahaha. Don't give me some thoughts!

 

[Blorg]

Not a single DCA headphone on this self-proclaimed "Best headphones in 2023 / 2024" kek

Best Headphones In 2023 / 2024

Audio: Listen to this article. Best Headphones In 2023 / 2024 By Sajid Amit, Founder, Amplify Audio Reviews. Hi everyone! Just casually dropping my top 10 headphones for 2023, here! There are so many excellent headphones in the world, varying degrees of compatibility with musical genres, user pre...

audiophilestyle.com

I think Sajit is in Asia and DCA I don't get the impression are very popular here. I very rarely see them come up here in Thailand. Are they popular in the Philippines? I do find him a bit woo audiophile but wouldn't have thought that list was outrageously controversial, for that matter several on it recommended by Amir (I think most of the ones he reviewed), some of them with golfing panthers.

 

[Chagall]

I think Sajit is in Asia and DCA I don't get the impression are very popular here. I very rarely see them come up here in Thailand. Are they popular in the Philippines? I do find him a bit woo audiophile but wouldn't have thought that list was outrageously controversial, for that matter several on it recommended by Amir (I think most of the ones he reviewed), some of them with golfing panthers.

It isn't controversial, but that's always the problem when ranking anything...some things are going to be left out (in this case a whale).
Top 10 movies, top 10 songs, top 10 cars, top 10 scenes in a p*rno...it's just clickbait with little to no substance.

 

[Rhamnetin]

I think Sajit is in Asia and DCA I don't get the impression are very popular here. I very rarely see them come up here in Thailand. Are they popular in the Philippines? I do find him a bit woo audiophile but wouldn't have thought that list was outrageously controversial, for that matter several on it recommended by Amir (I think most of the ones he reviewed), some of them with golfing panthers.

The tonality preference and technical performance ratings just don't seem to have any consistency. The Susvara and HE1000se for example have similar tonality, yet they're far apart. Headphones with very different tonality are in between. And what's the criteria for technical performance? It doesn't appear to correlate with THD, group delay, FR, or anything but maybe price.

 

[majingotan]

I think Sajit is in Asia and DCA I don't get the impression are very popular here. I very rarely see them come up here in Thailand. Are they popular in the Philippines? I do find him a bit woo audiophile but wouldn't have thought that list was outrageously controversial, for that matter several on it recommended by Amir (I think most of the ones he reviewed), some of them with golfing panthers.

The issue is that technical performance rating doesn't mean anything to readers at all. DCA is quite well known here in the Philippines with Egghead dealer in Metro Manila area and the dealer from Cebu area (forgot the name) carry them as well.

 

[Blorg]

The tonality preference and technical performance ratings just don't seem to have any consistency. The Susvara and HE1000se for example have similar tonality, yet they're far apart. Headphones with very different tonality are in between. And what's the criteria for technical performance? It doesn't appear to correlate with THD, group delay, FR, or anything but maybe price.

I mean it's obviously a subjective ranking, he says it's subjective if you read his post. Not everyone in the headphone hobby thinks you can rank headphones totally objectively. Even many people who do believe in objective measurements, many here are more sceptical of this with regard to headphones than amps or DACs. It's possible to enjoy different tunings, Crinacle who you referenced obviously believes in measurements and he does tend to prefer something like Harman in headphones, or IEF neutral+bass with IEMs, which is very similar to Harman. But his rankings of headphones or IEMs, he attempts to rank tonality not on compliance to a single target but rather how well it implements the tuning it's going for. So there is a variety of stuff there too.

 

[muslhead]

You do know the poll doesn't really matter? Most respondents never have and likely never will try a pair of these .

I have owned two pair and did not vote. I am trying to offset those that have never tried them.
I liked them a lot but not as much as the 1000v2's ... please dont show me what there results look like

 

[Blorg]

@majingotan are you going to sell your Susvara now that it has been debunked? Or are you actually going to continue listening to it because despite this review you actually still sorta like it? It does actually temper the aura and mystique around it for me a bit, but if you wanted to offload it for a bargain price (it's worse tuning than a $25 IEM remember) I might be interested. I need to go on holiday soon actually, we have bad pollution coming up here soon, if the price was good enough I would come get it

 

[Rhamnetin]

I mean it's obviously a subjective ranking, he says it's subjective if you read his post. Not everyone in the headphone hobby thinks you can rank headphones totally objectively. Even many people who do believe in objective measurements, many here are more sceptical of this with regard to headphones than amps or DACs. It's possible to enjoy different tunings, Crinacle who you referenced obviously believes in measurements and he does tend to prefer something like Harman in headphones, or IEF neutral+bass with IEMs, which is very similar to Harman. But his rankings of headphones or IEMs, he attempts to rank tonality not on compliance to a single target but rather how well it implements the tuning it's going for. So there is a variety of stuff there too.

Crinacle's ranking looks more consistent to me. Looking through it, headphones with very similar tonality (especially those from the same brand with more similar characteristics in general) tend to rank more closely with one another. Susvara is right next to the HE1000v2, which is very close to the HE1000se.

The way I process this is: crinacle is giving an honest subjective assessment here, while that other site/reviewer deliberately diversified the list just for the sake of diversity (gotta showcase more brand names to keep them all happy), and the scores are just clickbait. Whereas, because crinacle seems to be more honest, aside from one outlier the top 10 is dominated by 3 brands because those are all similar headphones - a less presentable list.

 

[Blorg]

Jesus Crinacle really likes Hifiman, doesn't he. There is actually only one other brand there with two, namely Focal. Sennheiser and Stax have only one each.

Wonder why Utopia gets a value star but HE1000 doesn't when they have the same score and HE1000 is $1,000 cheaper than Utopia. And now, it's even more dramatic, Utopia went up to $4,400 and then $5,000 for the 2022 while HE1000 went down to $2,000 and now, $1,400.