Mind a refresher on your chain? Currious to see what you are running.
That asside, appart from the conical stage of d8kp (and that may just be language, not hearing differences), your impressions match mine nearly to a T.
Soekris 2541 ā Wells Audio Milo Reference
Itās def. a language thing, at least with elements I perceive thrown to the far left and far right can seem increasingly diminished (kind of like arriving at a point), and the D8KP is good with placement and layering. āOblongā with a lack in height is a better description of the stage.
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Ok, r10p is just dumb. There are so wierd resonances with the cups on (not suprising when you look inside) but the cups just come right off without any tools. Cups off, not only do these things kick harder than sus, but they have more detail to boot. The tuning isnt quite as good as sus, but its really close tbh. Idk why the hell hifiman isnt doing mlre with these drivers. They get a real set of winners on their hand if this is what they can do with foam infront of them and being mounted to damn 1/8th inch ply
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Youāre disclosing their Sus2 plans 
Honestly, that hadnt crossed my mind. It would make total sense if this wad some membrane test muel or something considering its basicaly got the driver structure from yheir cheap shit but still has dumb detail anyways
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Comparison of the HEKse and Susvara on WA33, responding to @Rhodey asking about that in another thread:
I did compare them even though that wasnāt my focus since if I ended up keeping the HEK over the Susvara it would mean selling the WA33 as well (which is why I had it here in the first place to test out if thatās an option for me to save money).
From here this is subjective to my ears, ymmv:
The HEKse is a much more straightforward approach to audio presentation than the Susvara, it still goes deep and linear in the bass and extends well in the highs while staying pretty balanced. Compared to the Susvara it sounds a bit brighter than Iād like my headphones to be, not sibilant ear piercing get if off kind of treble but enough to be a bit much for me in some songs. Itās more engaging and forward.
Soundstage is wide and accurate, also quite deep. The WA33 definitely emphasizes the grand scale of what the larger hifiman drivers can do with that cup size. Speed is also immediate.
I think the Susvara is a bit better with everything it does if you really try to compare them but they are also very different. Itās much more laid back and the sounds from the Sus hover around you. It was a bit more holographic as well (spherical maybe?).
Technicalities with HEKse are there with the cream of the crop and with the price you can find it (if youāre lucky) I havenāt heard anything remotely close to it.
I can rank it (from what Iāve heard personally) as top 3-4 headphones to ever sit on my head (Susvara, 1266 most likely above it and LCD-5 competing with it).
For many Iām not sure itāll be a good match with the WA33. It wasnāt for me even though itās not what I intended it for. Iāll bet it would sound amazing with the Enleum or a bit warmer tubes.
I can see people owning it alongside the Susvara if they can afford it and have other source gear for it. But honestly, I rather have something much more different instead so the differences are even bigger when I decide to pick it up over the Sus.
If weāre already at it, a side note about the LTA Z40+ as a headphones amp (from the headphone out, not speaker taps at least) - not surprisingly itās no match to the WA33 and not even remotely close. At least not with the Sus and HEKse. I have a couple other headphones coming in to continue this comparison and discovery journey.
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Awesome info! Thanks for doing that and taking the time to give us your impressions.
Sounds like a good headphone to have alongside a warmer set. Could fit a role in a collection and may sound better off of a warmer tube or ss amp. Again, thank you!
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With something like an Atrium and a good amp for both that can be a killer combo.
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Anyone have experience with Hifimanās warranty service? They want me to pay $1500 to repair my in-warranty susvara lol
This seems wierd. Ive had to send 2 back and its always been no questions asked, just attach your receipt. Whats going on with yours? Also, did you go through your dealer or go direct?
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It is 2.5mm and they said they donāt have any 2.5mm in stock, so they want me to pay $1500 for that. It was bought in 2020 so it is still under warranty, I already sent them the receipt. I think theyāre violating the Consumer Protection Act by asking that much for a warranty repair. Either way, it seems scummy.
good luck with that one. Consumer protections in the US are general a joke. That seems like a very weird line to take though. I would reach out to the orgional dealer and see if they can help
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Yeah I doubt Iāll have to go that far. I donāt think they will stand by that $1500 figure, itās really ridiculous and Iāve never heard of it before.
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Welp, it happenedā¦ I was listening to my susvaras off of my Aegirs today and while I was listening the left channel suddenly popped fairly loudly and then stopped playing sound altogether. Tried them off of a different amp just to make sure it wasnāt just the amps and sure enough no sound out of the left ear. Later did some tests by hooking up my setup to speakers and I found out that I am getting some loud pops on the left channel when changing the volume. Seems to happen almost at random, and only after my preamp has been on for more than an hour. My guess is a faulty tube or something shorted in the preamp and thatās whatās causing this behavior, but now I have the pleasure of figuring out if I can get my sussys fixed or replaced under warranty, so thatās fun. Fingers and toes crossed that I donāt have to pay $2000+ to get them fixed (thatās what Iāve been told the price to fix a broken driver is if youāre not covered by warranty).
Needless to say, lesson learned. No more using speaker amps with headphones, even if it sounds really good for the money. (or if I do, use a better preamp that wonāt potentially break your stuff when used with a faulty tube lol but I still probably wonāt anyways).
I guess this way I am now being forced to use my speakers again, so silver lining there because it sounds wonderful as long as I donāt change the volume haha (definitely going to change out the tubes to see if that was the primary culprit). After this all gets resolved Iāll probably move my rack off my desk and in between my speakers for full speaker duty and invest in a āgood shit tierā headphone amp to pair with my replacement or fixed sussys. This way both systems will be using hardware that was intended for their respective jobs. And once my wife and I move into a place of our own (not an apartment), you can bet Iāll probably move away from headphones and into speakers as my primary apparatus (see what I did there lol).
Anyways, Iāll keep yāall updated on what happens and where my system will go from here. Yāall are awesome and happy Thanksgiving. Speaking of which, I am grateful to all of you, and being a part of such a wonderful community. Eat something yummy for me would ya? Iām going to drown my broken headphone sorrows in turkey and mashed potatoes lol.
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Little update on the situationā¦
Firstly, Iām 99% sure I figured out the culprit of the dangerous pops. I think the sockets in the socket savers were loose because after I tightened the sockets and plugged the ābad tubesā in again the pops stopped occurring. So the big takeaway is if the tube goes in easier than normal you may have a problem lol (or just avoid tubes altogether and never worry about your sockets being loose haha).
I did however wind up with a tube that had a noise issue and was able to get a replacement very promptly from vivatubes (that matched the other tubes I had bought, top-notch customer service there). I also ordered some new socket savers just to be on the safe side (a different brand this time too), which came in the mail over the weekend. So with the replacement tube and socket savers here I was able to plug everything in today and listen through my speakers. So far I havenāt had any pops at any volume level after more than 8 hours of playtime. But just to be safe Iām going to continue to test the stability of my system with these new socket savers and tubes, but so far so good. And as nice as my speakers are to listen to, I definitely miss the sound of my Susvaras haha.
Speaking of Susvaras, Hifiman customer service was very nice and told me theyād be able to replace the headphones for me. I just had to send the broken pair to them first. It was interesting having to ship (in their words) āThe item without any accessories such as the box or cables.ā So I did my best job to package the headphones well without using the original box (I know theyāre already broken, but I donāt want them to arrive more broken lol). Anyways, Iām just glad everything was able to work out okay in the end. Iāll update yāall once the replacements come, but for now back to listening to my speakers. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend!
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Sucks about the tube, but Iām glad HifiMan is replacing them.
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I try to avoid socket savers, unless you absolutely need them, high quality tube sockets are surprisingly expensive, and so cheap tube savers are never going to have them.
I swap tubes so infrequently Iāve never had an issue with a socket though.
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Fwiw, they donāt need the pads either. I keep mine when I have to rma sus so I can build up a stockpile
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Tubemonger has some quality socket savers/adapters. I have some and can attest to their quality.
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