Don’t know if this is the right thread to post this, but going to post it here since this is pretty much a comparison thread. I wanted to do this comparison to see how good the Susvara soundstage and imaging are since that’s been on my mind the entire week. So I was comparing the Susvara against the Raal SR1a and my near field 2 channel speakers, the Polk R200. Then the Onkyo A800 was calling me like Diablo, so I just threw it in because I just wanted to listen to the Onkyo A800 today. It started off of me just comparing soundstage and imaging, but I just threw in a lot of random comparisons because my brain can’t focus on 1 thing at a time.
I know its not a fair comparison because the price range is all over the place and my setup price range is all over the place, but I actually really like all of them pretty much equally because of what they bring to the table. Except 2 channels near field speaker, I like that a lot more overall.
*** Main Speaker Chain ***
ROON Rock - Intel NUC 7i7 > EMM Labs NS1 > [Silver Sonic AES] Mojo Audio Mystique EVO B4B 21 > [Audience Ohno XLR] Custom 45/6SN7 Tube Only Supratek Cabernet DHT > [Gabriel Gold Extreme MK II with KLE RCA] Schiit Vidar 2 > Polk Reserve R200 with 1 subwoofer / Raal SR1a
*** Main Headphone Chain ***
ROON Rock - Intel NUC 7i7 > EMM Labs NS1 > [Silver Sonic AES] Mojo Audio Mystique EVO B4B 21 > [Audience Ohno XLR] Custom 45/6SN7 Tube Only Supratek Cabernet DHT > [Snake River Audio Mamushi Signature Series (hybrid formula) RCA] Allnic HPA-5000XL > Susvara / Onkyo A800
TLDR: 2 channels near field speakers are absolutely amazing for soundstage, I think headphones can never get to this level no matter how good the technology is. It’s probably a physical limit of how big you can make a soundstage. But other things like instrumental separation and placement, headphones like the Susvara does great against my entry-level near-field speakers. When I hear songs like “Forever Lost” - Myth & Roid on my speakers, I was just absolutely in awe of how amazing it sounded. I don’t think any headphone can sound like that no matter the price range and its all thanks to its soundstage and the subwoofer.
*** Quick SR1a vs Susvara vs Onkyo A800 vs R200 Comparison on soundstage and imaging but turn into more of preference comparison???: ***
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Raal SR1a - Cleanest sound out of all of them. Midrange clarity is still the best, but Susvara is like a step behind to me. Soundstage is really impressive on the SR1a and I think it expands further than the Susvara. It really do reminds me of my 2-channels speakers with the way it can makes sounds way outside my range. Example is when I was playing this Kuso horror game and this pulsating dreaded music was playing outside my head and feels like a feet in front of my stage left. I tried the Susvara on the same horror game and couldn’t get that presentation. The dreaded pulsating music was playing at my stage left near the corner of my eye. But the Susvara did make me feel more scared because the Subbass was pretty impressive and really set the mood for me.
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Hifiman Susvara - Pulls the most details out of all of them and places them in really good spots. Sounds very clear, but I am hesitant to call it “clean” sounding. When I think of a clean sound, I think of the SR1a and Mysphere 3.2. I wonder if it’s because of its bass since that is what is really missing in those 2 headphones and Subbass on the Susvara probably doesn’t make it sound as clean as the SR1a and Mysphere 3.2. Soundstage is huge in height to my ears letting the music soar really high. I don’t think the SR1a goes as high like the Susvara on my current setup. Imaging and instrumental separation is the best in this comparison. It really gives you a clear picture of where the instrument is and where the noise is coming from. It also gives good detail of the noise going from point A to point B, as you can really hear the noise start and as it travels and starts to fade out. I say the Susvara is probably the most “emotional” headphone in this comparison when the bass is involved. It doesn’t really beat the SR1a in terms of clean and clear sound. But, the Susvara beats the SR1a by a mile in terms of letting me hear the “emotion” of the music. But, where the SR1a beat the Susvara in terms of clarity and clean sound, it feels like 1 step above, which isn’t too huge to me. But sometimes, I really want to hear that step above in sacrifice for things like bass and the mood of the music on certain days. The Onkyo A800 is like the opposite emotion of the Susvara where I would say the color of the mood is red (aggressive). I say the color of the mood of the Susvara is more of a “blue” (melancholy) on the comparison songs I did today. The Susvara can get “yellow” (happy) depending on the track, but this comparison track choice is a “blue”.
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Onkyo A800 - Thickest sounding out of all of them and it adds more body and weight to a lot of notes being played. The presentation sounds like an echo chamber for classical orchestra compared to the other gear in this comparison. Soundstage is the smallest in this gear comparison and imaging is also the lowest in this comparison. The Onkyo A800 makes up for lack of soundstage the emphasis on the bass and reverb. The reverb really makes it the music sound a lot bigger than it really is to me. Emphasis on the low end makes me really hear that she is really grinding on the violin strings with the violin bow and it can come off as probably more aggressive vs the Susvara sounds more delicate in the music “Four Season Of Buenos Aires: 3 Primavera Portena (Spring)” - Arabella Stenbacher.
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Polk Reserve R200 -This is more huge and more open sounding than all the gear in this comparison. Soundstage is unmatch by a lot in my opinion. SR1a and Susvara can only dream on having this soundstage. I will give the Susvara a nod since the Susvara imaging is much better than the R200. It has a clean sound signature like the SR1a but the bass is more present thanks to my subwoofer. Clarity is great, but not amazing like the SR1a or Susvara. Even though it is more huge and more open sounding than the Susvara, I feel like it doesn’t pull much details like the Susvara and I don’t really hear the little nuances like I can with the Susvara. I got to focus to hear the little nuance on the R200. And there are times where I feel like there is a instrument is over powering another a little too much like in “Symphonie Fantastique in C Major, Op. 14, H. 48:4.” (Movement 4)- Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (Les Siecles, Francois-Xavier Roth) at 1:37 - 1:57 with the brass instruments (stage left was overpowering stage right). Timpani sounded incredible with the R200 with subwoofers.
Reference Songs:
*** “Four Season Of Buenos Aires: 3 Primavera Portena (Spring)” - Arabella Stenbacher ***
Preference: Onkyo A800 > Raal SR1a > Susvara
Polk R200 is probably not my prefer for this track. My current headphones collection is just way better for capturing the tonality and showing the characteristics of a violin.
(I only list notes of my favorite headphones for this music comparison)
- At 2:53 - 3:23 and 3:38 - 4:44 (basically all the way to the end) you can really hear the details of the violin bow pulling the violin and the powerful vibration the violin is making in that performance. It always leaves me in awe hearing it with the Onkyo A800. Hearing the vibration on my other gear is not as impressive compare to the Onkyo A800, so I much the Onkyo A800. I also don’t think its too much of a complex music, so instrumental separation and huge soundstage is not really a factor for me in this piece.
*** “Symphonie Fantastique in C Major, Op. 14, H. 48:4.” (Movement 4) - Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (Les Siecles, Francois-Xavier Roth) ***
Preference: Onkyo A800 >= Susvara > Raal SR1a
Polk R200 depends on the mood honestly for this piece. I say I would choose the Onkyo A800 and Susvara over the Polk R200 even though the Polk R200 has a bigger soundstage. I really appreciate the Onkyo A800 presentation on the timpani and the Susvara imaging for this over soundstage.
(I only list notes of my favorite headphones for this music comparison)
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I really enjoy this music with the Onkyo A800 the most. It’s not the cleanest sounding and the soundstage is the smallest of this comparison, so that makes the instrument more cluster together compare to the other gears here. But the trade off is really rewarding because the timpani sounds absolutely incredible on these headphones and it really echos in your head. The Onkyo A800 is still my favorite gear to listen to the timpani even with all my collection and past collection because of how it shows reverb for that instrument. But I never hear what the Abyss 1266 can do with those instrument, maybe one day or probably never. But it can’t just have bass, it also needs that reverb that I’m constantly looking for in certain instruments. It might be overkill compare to real life, but I’m fine with that as nothing really sounds like real life to me with maybe the exception of the Mysphere 3.2 and occasionally the SR1a on certain tracks.
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The Susvara might be my 2nd favorite and not too far off of the Onkyo A800. It could replace the Onkyo A800 depending on what I want to hear more in this piece. The soundstage is grand and the instrumental separation is probably the best in this comparison. You can easily tell which instrument is being played and the soundstage feels like layers rather than them overlapping each other. The timpani sounds really nice on the Susvara, but I enjoy it more on the Onkyo A800. I feel like the string instruments were lacking to me, but the other headphones didn’t do a much better job either tbh.
*** “Paradisus-Paradoxum (Mayu Maeshima as Singer)”, “Remembrance (KIHOW as the Singer)”, “Forever Lost (KIHOW as the Singer)” - MYTH & ROID ***
Preference Susvara > Onkyo A800 (sometimes prefer if I want more physical bass) > SR1a
Polk R200 is no comparison, songs like Forever Lost is jaw-droppingly incredible on the R200 because of its vast soundstage and the subwoofer. I would speakers any day if I can.
(I only list notes of my favorite headphones for this music comparison)
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At 1:30 of “Paradisus-Paradoxum”, the backing vocals is easily more noticeable in the song. There is this ominous electric noise looming in the background for about 5 second. I think the Susvara did a perfect job capturing that moment and exposing it to the listener so the listener could experience it.
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In a song like “Remembrance”, again the Susvara does a really job capturing the mood of the music. I think having the ability to reach pretty low end and also making sound really clean at the same time help create the current mood of the atmosphere of the song. The song is also a slow pace song and I always have issues with the SR1a on slow songs that rely on bass. With the Susvara, I never felt it was either too fast or too slow. It always felt right no matter what song is playing. As always like the other songs, the Susvara is a champ on pulling details to my attention without rubbing it to my face. You can easily notice the backing vocals usage in the song without taking away my attention too much on the main vocals. I think it’s pretty impressive to be able to do that without really spoiling the mood of the song.
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For the song “Forever Lost” the mood is pretty similar to “Remembrance” where it’s a slow melancholic song. “Forever Lost” utilizes more backing vocals making the song a little more complex than “Remembrance”. With the wrong gear, it could probably sound congested, but I don’t think I had that issues with the gear I use in this comparison. I think the Susvara did the best job separating everything, but it’s not overkill where it destroys the harmony, but I think it’s done perfectly enough where you can recognize what sounds are being played.
*** Conclusion ***
This comparison first started off because I just wanted to know how the Susvara instrumental separation and soundstage compare to something like the Raal SR1a or even a bookshelf speakers like the Polk R200. Then, the Onkyo A800 called to me like Diablo and I couldn’t resist putting that headphone on my head.
The final results made me really appreciate every gear I own because they offer my unique value in music. It’s not even just about the music anymore to choose what kind of headphone I want. It really boils down to what I want to hear in my music at that moment. For example, “Four Season Of Buenos Aires: 3 Primavera Portena (Spring)” - Arabella Stenbacher. If I wanted to hear more of the violin being pluck, I would use the Susvara. If I wanted a more clean signature, I would use the Raal SR1a. If wanted to hear the violin bow really grinding on the violin, I would use the Onkyo A800. If I want a bigger sound that sounds more free and open, I would use the Polk R200.
In terms of soundstage, I think 2 channel speakers in a near field setting is unmatched. The other headphones can still provide unique qualities that my current 2 channels cannot provide. But man, if headphones transport you to a private concert, I think 2 channels transport you to another planet. It truly feels like the sky is the limit on a 2 channel and its really deep. It is just so much easier to get immersive from a 2 channel where a headphone will always feel like a closed space to me. The Raal SR1a and Mysphere 3.12 don’t feel close at all, but the sound isn’t a huge as a 2 channels. My gear is also very unoptimized, but 2 channels is just a way deeper experience for me. I noticed I didn’t write too many notes on the R200 because I was just stunned by how great it sounded with a lot of my music compared to headphones. Its already getting late already, so I think I will just call it a day with this mess of no topic comparison.
I think I just wanted to write this to confirm what my next step should truly be. I thought I never cared about soundstage, but now that’s what I truly enjoy right now. People taste and what they look for in music really do be changing. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and thanks for reading my text vomit!