Bottlehead Forum

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: jonathan.lesser on July 16, 2021, 11:21:36 AM

Title: Driving HiFiman Susvara with Speaker Amplifier
Post by: jonathan.lesser on July 16, 2021, 11:21:36 AM

After finishing and having a great time building the Mainline headphone amplifier, I am looking to build something to drive my Susvara's. 60 Ohm impedance, 83 dB.  Does anyone know if the Stereomore II would work, and if so, which upgrades would I be looking for?  I would plan on putting a preamp in front for volume control.  Thank you in advance!

Jonathan Lesser

Title: Re: Driving HiFiman Susvara with Speaker Amplifier
Post by: Doc B. on July 16, 2021, 11:32:13 AM

I can't find a recommended power spec. I would guess that the Kaiju might be the best match. Being as it's a $6K headphone, seems like it deserves the best you can throw at it.

Also just want to point out that the Stereomour 2 does not require a separate preamp for volume control. The Kaiju, however, will benefit from one.

Title: Re: Driving HiFiman Susvara with Speaker Amplifier
Post by: jonathan.lesser on July 16, 2021, 01:41:27 PM

Thanks so much Doc

Title: Re: Driving HiFiman Susvara with Speaker Amplifier
Post by: jonathan.lesser on July 16, 2021, 02:02:16 PM

Doc, would you mind giving me some idea of the time and complexity of Kaju relative to the Mainline kit I just completed?

Title: Re: Driving HiFiman Susvara with Speaker Amplifier
Post by: Paul Birkeland on July 16, 2021, 02:08:08 PM

A Kaiju build will take substantially less time than a Mainline. 

Title: Re: Driving HiFiman Susvara with Speaker Amplifier
Post by: jonathan.lesser on July 16, 2021, 02:41:04 PM

Thank you Paul. You can believe that if it has heat sinks I’m not going to forget them.

Title: Re: Driving HiFiman Susvara with Speaker Amplifier
Post by: jonathan.lesser on July 18, 2021, 05:33:25 AM

Hello everyone, a question about using the Kaju with my headphones, would I need a full impedance adapter to use this?

Title: Re: Driving HiFiman Susvara with Speaker Amplifier
Post by: Paul Birkeland on July 18, 2021, 06:38:49 AM

I'm not sure what a full impedance adapter is, as doing a web search for it doesn't really return any results. 

If you want to use fairly power hungry headphones with a Kiaju, you can run them right off the speaker taps.  If you want to use really sensitive headphones with the Kaiju (which isn't a great idea in my opinion) then using a resistive voltage divider at the output is a good idea.

There is more misinformation on this topic than probably any other, so don't hesitate to continue the conversation if you have additional questions.

Title: Re: Driving HiFiman Susvara with Speaker Amplifier
Post by: jonathan.lesser on July 18, 2021, 07:31:05 AM

Thank you very much