The bass is slightly more pronounced, you can verify this in the measurements. I challenge those leading edges, though. ;) I look forward to your thoughts in the Utopia thread. :)

Yeah, I mean, I get it - putting it in a marble chassis "carved from the same quarry as Michealangelo's David" and pairing it with a complement of tubes that mechanically rise as if they are the curtain going up on a Broadway show is brilliant marketing (I have it on pretty good authority that...

There is a VERY slight tonal difference between them, and reportedly better driver reliability. Having heard them both, I do not think the '22 sounds better than the OG at all. It's not much different, but it is certainly not "better" to my ears. Yeah, I am keenly interested in Immanis (I'm...

I've only heard it once, but I came away from my time with HE-1 thinking it is a magnificent TOTL headphone in an over-the-top form factor that doubles (or triples?) its cost and its perceived value. Apperio is likely at least as good, if not quite as oppulent in its presentation. As is my own...

Focal loudly touted how new & improved the Nutopia is on day 1. Many of us still think the OG sounds better. Proceed with skepticism.

Yeah, but people also try to dump their TOTL headphone before its replacement comes out and the OG's value drops. And yes, there are quite a few of them on the market right now, for sure. That said, I still don't think this new announcement - even if it does turn out to be a new flagship -...

Watched a video of High End Munich today that showed the Warwick Acoustics room with Apperio set up right next to HE-1. Bold move, I like the confidence! :thumbsup:

IEMs. In all seriousness, when I don't want to be bothered by recording/production/mastering quality, earbuds are the way to go. Everything sounds "pretty good" on my TWS. For headphones, maybe HD600?

Interesting stuff! I must admit, having owned many headphones in the past, and Utopia being my favorite for the last several years, I picked up Caldera & Susvara (and Holo Bliss) in the last ~8 months, and I've found Susvara and Caldera getting the vast majority of my head time. I can...

I'm having a geek-gasm just thinking about this. ;)

Here here! :clap::clap::clap::clap: Some time ago I made a post about not using EQ to "correct" headphones with unconventional tunings in favor of enjoying those headphones "as the designer intended". Not that I don't understand the value of EQ and where it can 'correct' a problem, but unless...

Forgive my ignorance here, but I'm confused. Are you using the pre-out of one into the other??

I don't think you should interpret comparisons with Susvara as meaning that Immanis is more like a planar than an e-stat - for one thing, it is commonly said by many people that Susvara sounds more like an e-stat than it sounds like any other planar. Also, Susvara has been "top dog" in...

I'm just going to go ahead and pretend you meant something remotely respectful by that.

To be clear, I didn't contradict any of this, I simply offered my take on this particular comparison plus the question about Susvara vs Immanis that seems to be on everyone's mind. :) Also, ZMF offers an industry leading lifetime warrantee on their drivers, even if they did ever fail (which...

When it comes to hard-hitting deep dynamic bass, Caldera stands alone. Neither Susvara nor Utopia can touch Caldera on this classic, a favorite of mine from a lifetime ago. :L3000:

I think "soundstage" (i.e. width) is often confused with sound field depth & imaging. If you don't take the time to carefully analyze what you're hearing it's easy to not make a distinction between them. HD800S has exceedingly wide "soundstage" by virtue of the fact that its frequency response...

Fair enough. I'm not an electrical engineer, so I won't pretend to fully understand either side of the argument, but I have a hard time imagining any reason Goldensound would lie about this - and based on all available evidence he is most certainly smart enough to understand the science...

Interesting. Caldera and Susvara are undoubtedly playing in the same league, but for me they are too different for one to be "better" than the other. For me, 2 things that are each great at something different cannot compete with each other, they complement each other. I think the question...

Well said, and I totally agree. Before I actually got my own Susvara, I always thought of it as a specialist - the ultimate headphone for "audiophile bs" (said lovingly, as I love my audiophile bs), but not the right choice for more "pedestrian" music. Since getting my own Sus, though, I've...

This is literally the first time anyone has ever described Susvara as "relaxed". LOL But in all seriousness, as a Suvara owner and someone also very interested in Raal, thanks for the great review. :)

Everyone thinks they can find a shortcut at first. ;)

This lines up with every review I've heard of both amps - and when I was amp shopping you better believe I went deep down that rabbit hole. I'm pretty sure the popular wisdom is that Bliss errs on the side of being smoother and more organic than comparable alternatives, though in the absence of...

Fair enough. So, you can easily pick up Sus pre-owned or open box these days for $4K (or less). So if we assume a worthy amp will cost $3K (I think your 4k estimate is high), then we're looking at $7k. So, again, any new competitor to Susvara that costs MORE than Susvara is a losing...

Then that ONLY makes sense if it costs less. If MSRP is more than Susvara, why wouldn't a newcomer just buy Sus plus an amp capable of driving it?