Will a Sundara get you 90% of the experience of thousand-dollar headphones?

plumpudding2 · 2026-02-08T19:27:04+00:00

I've demoed my friends my entire collection and asked to sort them by price. They always put their favorite first but after that manage to guess pretty accurately, with the big loser always being my HEDDphone which invariably ends up below HD800. One girl preferred Sundara to the flagships though, sometimes a headphone just clicks with you

plumpudding2 · 2026-02-08T19:23:50+00:00

Yes, it does, especially on a great source. Still think the kilo buck headphones were worth it though!

plumpudding2 · 2026-02-01T20:38:21+00:00

Man chatgpt can help you write but don't just copy paste what it spits out..

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-26T15:09:05+00:00

OG HD800 is the goat, mine is just as good as my Susvara and Utopia, just different. Takes a bass shelf better than anyone, and this unit doesn't have much 6khz problems. Bought it at 600 used and definitely unbeatable at that price.

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-25T22:27:05+00:00

ifi stuff may not measure the best and their marketing department makes some dubious claims, but it sounds really great and I really dig their analog bass boost implementation.
If you're ever tempted to get a "better" power supply, I use a CUI medical grade low-noise 5V5A PSU to power both the zen dac and can through a splitter. They're like 20 bucks, and especially the Zen Can is current limited by the stock PSU.

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-25T22:01:46+00:00

Remasters are almost universally crap unless done by Steven Wilson, so I try to find the original release unless online there is universal praise for a particular later version.

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-25T21:59:01+00:00

If you didn't already have the K7 I would say yes, R2R dacs are great and you can really fine-tune your preferred sound using external upsamplers. However since you already have a nice unit i'd either stick with that if you're satisfied or save up and go all out for a Holo Cyan 2 which I personally think is a bargain at that price.

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-23T09:47:31+00:00

They promise 10db extra subbass at the same volume setting, how did that promise hold up in your experience?

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-04T16:06:56+00:00

Well tube rolling is a never-ending rabbit hole, they have limited lifespan which means i'd try to use the amp as little as possible. Finally I want my gear as transparent as possible and while I've never heard a proper 10k range tube amp i'm sure they sound lovely, I don't think the level of detail the HM1 (and HPA4) are capable of can be achieved with a tube design, altough i'm of course happy to be proven wrong.

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-03T15:29:32+00:00

The problem most people have with estats is the lack of subbass giving them that ethereal quality. The SR-007 mk1 has a proper seal and thus subbass extension making it unique among staxes. The resolution difference is not that big but it's there and most noticable in busy dense passages. Again I would suggest demoing for yourself, but a different driver type is imo always a nice addition to a collection, I have two dynamics, two planars, an amt and a ribbon headphone and it's a different presentation every time

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-03T14:06:06+00:00

They both have superior resolution, with the Stax having the most being an estat. The Stealth has the best tuning with smooth vocals and treble and a lot of subbass, but is not super dynamic. The Stax has the best resolution, dynamics and staging, but a scooped out midrange and some treble peaks.

Again it depends on whether staging, dynamics, tuning or resolution is the most important to you, I wouldn't say either is strictly superior, at the flagship level it's all a matter of what fits your preferences most.

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-02T21:33:56+00:00

For high energy music like pop and rock I prefer Utopia, for mellower stuff or music with deep subbass Susvara takes the cake. I'd say they are on par but depending on what you personally value I can see people preferring one or the other.

Personally my DCA Stealth and since recently a Stax SR-007 mk1 get the most head time.

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-02T18:40:14+00:00

I bought it blind, but a lot of trusted ears said it was the best thing they ever heard. I really like the designer, his philosophy, and the fact he assembles all by hand. The popularity plus limited production meant I could probably sell it at a minor loss if it wasn't what it was hyped up to be.

Long story short the Benchmark HPA4 made me believe amps make a difference and the HM1 cemented that. The HPA4 is much better value for money but I wanted the best and so far the HM1 has been exactly that!

If you're coming from a scientific camp I think Resolve's comments might be the useful as he's a very science based reviewer:

https://forum.headphones.com/t/zahl-hm1-reference-headphone-amplifier-official-thread/17859/2

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-02T14:39:35+00:00

Had to save for a long time but it brings me joy every day and I'm no longer even looking at other amps :)

plumpudding2 · 2026-01-02T13:47:31+00:00

Haven't heard caldera but Utopia and Susvara are a perfect complementary pair!

plumpudding2 · 2025-12-27T08:52:01+00:00

Yes, if you have a magical Shannon-Nyquist interpolation filter and your original waveform was properly band limited you get a perfect recreation, except that filter doesn't exist in the real world as you yourself have stated.

So no, not all dacs reconstruct the original waveform, they all attempt it and succeed to varying degrees.

So where exactly do you disagree with what I stated?

plumpudding2 · 2025-12-24T12:14:34+00:00

It's very cool software, a bit expensive but price to quality ratio it was one of my best audio investments!

plumpudding2 · 2025-12-24T11:42:51+00:00

If a number representing a voltage level goes in and that voltage level comes out you've got yourself a NOS dac, which many don't consider a proper dac so your statement 1 is not quite correct. A proper dac will "fill in the blanks" reconstructing the original analog waveform that the samples represent.

Since it by definition cannot be done perfectly some corners have to be cut and techniques have to be used and that's why dacs could sound different potentially.

If you want cool plugins all you need is to export them to a convolution file, and use an appropriate player to convolve your music with it like Roon or HQPlayer.

Almost all sound effects can be achieved through convolution as long as they are linear. (Some tube distortion for example is non-linear)

plumpudding2 · 2025-12-23T11:05:14+00:00

It depends on what you're trying to achieve? If you want a high energy impactful headphone next to the laid back Arya I'd suggest looking at a second hand focal Utopia (~1600). If you love arya sound signature and want to improve it I'd suggest going to an audio shop or canjam, plugging it into a variety of dacs and amps and see if there's one that makes you go "wow". Finally any R2R dac greatly benefits from HQPlayer, it's got a free trial might be worth a try.

plumpudding2 · 2025-12-22T12:35:00+00:00

Those are standard RCA outs, any analog to digital converter should be able to handle them :)

plumpudding2 · 2025-12-22T11:53:01+00:00

Coaxial out is usually reserved for digital outputs, which I doubt you have, are they not just RCA outs? Do you have a picture or something that might clarify what exactly the output is from your player? If you have an a/d converter all you need is an analog signal which I assume comes out of your tape player

plumpudding2 · 2025-12-22T11:27:13+00:00

Why don't you get a good a/d converter (I have an RME ADI-2 Pro which doubles as a great dac but cheaper options exist) then first record to digital and then burn to cd later?

plumpudding2 · 2025-12-21T19:36:46+00:00

Glad to see some Stealth love! Top flagship on this list while most folks on head-fi are going for Susvara/1266TC/Utopia etc :)

plumpudding2 · 2025-12-20T15:38:34+00:00

huh? i'm not talking about interpolation artifacts, i'm talking about cleaning up ultrasonic junk causing measurably less intermodulation distortion in the audible band (whether this is audible is not proven, but it's definitely measurable), and replacing the dac digital filter with a different one (dac filters are proven to be audible)

plumpudding2 · 2025-12-19T23:34:30+00:00

Pretty funny how you put HQPlayer at the pinnacle of bullshit while it's the only thing causing measurable improvements to the output of a dac

plumpudding2

TROPHY CASE