Driving HiFiman Susvara with Speaker Amplifier

jonathan.lesser · 1387

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Offline jonathan.lesser

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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



Offline Doc B.

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Reply #1 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.

Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
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Offline jonathan.lesser

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Reply #2 on: July 16, 2021, 01:41:27 PM
Thanks so much Doc



Offline jonathan.lesser

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Reply #3 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?



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #4 on: July 16, 2021, 02:08:08 PM
A Kaiju build will take substantially less time than a Mainline. 
« Last Edit: July 16, 2021, 02:46:15 PM by Paul Birkeland »

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline jonathan.lesser

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Reply #5 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.



Offline jonathan.lesser

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Reply #6 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?



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #7 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.

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline jonathan.lesser

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Reply #8 on: July 18, 2021, 07:31:05 AM
Thank you very much