I never tried my Susvara with my pendant when I still had it, but I’d suspect it’d be a bit on the wet side, and the lack of oomph would hurt the dynamics.
My favorite amps with it are the WA33 > Cavali Liquid Gold >> DNA stratus.
First 2 are very close, stratus drives it, but it’s underwhelming on the Susvara compared to the other two.
Awesome! Im basically in the inverse position. Abyss seem like the only thing that have a prayer of competing, but I haven’t heard them yet. They’re on my radar to track down when audio shows resume.
Anyway, congrats on your acquisition!
I’m still wary about generalizing about tubes or tube amps, but I’ve been running the NOS tubes picked by Zach (some green label Baldwins), and they’re fantastic. Very clean, and neutral. They trim the treble a bit, which does blunt the impact of sharp dynamics, but that’s something that has been common to maybe all of the tube chains I’ve heard.
Pendant V1 has plenty of headroom with Susvara—much more than specs would suggest. I can’t really push them past about the noon mark, and max volume is 5:00. I’ve called that the “welding” setting, since I can’t imagine what needs that much power, lol.
Anyway, Susvara on Pendant with that tube set has an enhanced sense of space and a smidge of extra smoothness (like it’s needed, lol) at the cost of those sharp transients and less realism on things like cymbal splashes. But it’s a worthwhile tradeoff, IMO—a little more musical and engaging at the cost of some timbre issues that are all but unnoticeable unless the track is dominated by natural instruments. Scores and such are more fun on SS chains due to timbre, naturalness and presence.
The odd thing about the Susvara is it doesn’t sound bad when it’s under driven, it’s just not quite the same headphone. And it doesn’t stand out from many other high end offerings.
When I first got tried it on a lot of amps, most would get them loud, often with plenty of headroom, the issue was what happened to the resolution and low volume dynamics (this is I think the feature that is truly special on the headphone).
I bought the liquid Gold (the original version) before I got the Susvara, with the intention of getting a Susvara or Abyss headphone, if I didn’t have it I’d claim they sound fantastic on the DNA.
Hearing the Liquid Au is the reason I bought the WA33, I wanted a tube amp that could actually drive them.
I’ve said this elsewhere I would take the D8000Pro over the Susvara if I had nothing better than the DNA to drive them with. They are very different headphones, but you get most of what a D8000Pro is even with relatively modest amplification.
The DNA is about the same power output as the Pendant, it’s a bit dryer, more resolving, more immediate sounding. I stopped using my pendant after I got the DNA which is why I sold it.
The pendant is a faster sounding amp than the DNA with stock tubes, but swapping the rectifier on the DNA a makes that a lot closer.
I used tungsram EL84’s, a Mullard 12AU7 and some NOS rectifier Zach recommended in my pendant, though I tried a lot of tubes in there, I had a lot of EL84’s on hand.
FWIW I don’t think the issue is power, in driving the Susvara, but there does seem to be a correlation, with more powerful amps doing better with it.
Oh hey, I actually had this guy make the larger ones for the asgard and the like as I messaged him over it lol.
This is fantastic…what a beautiful combo
Very interesting and good to know. Perhaps this is not the best thread for this discussion so I may post to a more appropriate thread in the future. But, I have been considering an OG Pendant to use with a Fostex TH900mk2 (I’ve heard that combo works nicely). What I am intrigued by is your comment regarding the Arya and Susvara because, I have have an HE1000v2 landing soon and if the OG might be a player with loz Z/ high current planars it may be worth a deeper look.
Earsonics Grace with Plussound Exo Gold Plated Silver cable.
Arrived here today after overnight shipping from Austria to the UK! (I was surprised how fast the shipping was)
Unfortunately have to use the stock cable until my DD Hifi adapter arrives.
Interested in hearing your thoughts on that set 
Will do 
Gorgeous. Enjoy
May be on a horizon some day for me when I dive back into the planar world. We’re expecting a writeup! 
Happy Birthday! Enjoy and let us know how you like the HE1000 
Happy Birthday man, enjoy
Happy birthday. That’s a nice birthday gift.
Very nice. Happy, happy!
Feed me, Seymore!! Very nice, Sir.
