What It Really Means To Be Real, i.e. What Gear Do We Actually Use

This is because Schiit's bread and butter is entry level, while the top of Schiit's lineup is merely Upper-Mid-Fi™. No self-respecting audiophile wanting the best to be able to tell their friends or cover up their insecurities would ever buy Schiit. Schiit's not True-Hi-Fi™.

I am dead f'ing serious. @zerodeefex and I have laffed about this many times. This is because we both have some really good stuff and crazy setups, but we keep it very real even though we can afford more, preferring to spend money taking the family on awesome vacations.

I take that as the STEM geeks + money = high potential for high-spending audiofoolerly.

 

The other piece of it is we've owned weird expensive summit fi shit.

I don't post about side adventures over the years with TOTL MSB stuff and trying out dartzeel amps.

 

Also synergy matters the most. I've heard systems in the high 6 figures range that were meh due to poor synergies and systems in the low 4 figure range that were insane because they were so well put together.

Also, Fang is a butt so hifiman is out for me these days outside of my code X.

 

Hard to strike a balance. There been a conscious effort to steer the site to mid-fi and entry level because that is where readers will want the most help. I see coverage of summit-fi stuff, when is there any, like the car magazines covering the Porsches and Aston Martins. And anyone into high-end cars knows that doors on McLarens don't close right.

As for summit-fi, the lack of coverage thereof or general ambivalence, here's the deal:

1. People don't write much about them and generally keep it to themselves. Totally understandable that people don't feel like showing off or worse, be subject to ridicule.
2. People who can afford summit-fi gear generally know what they are doing or what they are getting into. 99.85% of SBAF readers are mere mortals or lesser-beings to them. Thus they have no interest in sharing.
3. It's a PIA to do a write up. Some have admitted they just don't have the words to express sound. Another factor is although people can afford summit-fi gear, they can't quite afford to cycle through or line up a bunch of similar competition to do a comparo. Reviewing gear without comparison is hard in the context of SBAF expectations.
4. Every now and then, someone at SBAF will send me summit-fi stuff to check out and tell everyone about. They can turn out to be duds (Denafrips Terminator, STAX T-8000, or anything that sounds like it was named by Skynet) or awesomesauce (Rockna Wavedream). Another example of awesomesauce would be the DSHA 3F. However, my glowing review and @CEE TEE democratization of the 3F with Nitsch Audio, has probably made the DSHA 3D lose it's luster to the point where its not exotic enough, too "mid-fi". Hah!
5. Sometimes I will write about my own summit-fi experience, like my $10k VPI Classic 4 table with two arms, one a $8k arm that is obviously part audio jewelry too. The problem is that someone will find another table even better than the Classic 4 for $30k. Thus we end up with ORFAS schlonging all over again, despite the fact that I will highlight cheaper low-end $350 and mid-end $900 carts, implying they really aren't "lesser", but rather different than the $3k cart. Of course that only means that I didn't get the $12k cart. The handful of people who really get summit-fi have several systems, usually at different price points. All of them have the components of their system meticulously curated with very gradual changes over time. And these people will never say that any one of their systems is purely better than the others.

Talking about summit-fi just scrambles my brain. Personally, I feel confident enough to share, even pointing out weakness in the summit-fi stuff I own. With most others, it too often ends up a schlong or us vs. them thing, especially in audio. Car people can be a little bit like that, but audio people - it's just bad. People are so wrapped up emotionally with their audio gear, more than they think. Can't even joke about it without hurting feelings.

The USA in certain areas, SF Bay Area and Socal, it's probably just as easy (or maybe even eaiser) to get hands on an HD800 + random EC or DNA amp. Outside of California, the it's different, but lots of amps work with the HD800S, some inexpensive: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/best-amps-for-hd800-2021-edition.10330/. Not to that mention that experiencing a Sus setup outside of NY and CA are probably next to impossible. Most Hi-Fi dealers in the USA have closed and the USA is huge geographically. South TX has nil. People prefer their trucks, 4x4s, and modded lever action guns. The latter I actually think are pretty cool. There's something about a firearm with a mechanical action controlled by the user.

The low serial # stuff is an old wives tale (I had some hard data at changstar.com) and pretty much moot now with the HD800S. As for EC amps, plenty go around because they are easily available, they are cheap, stay in the "SBAF family", and the models don't have a consistent sound like DNA. Craig has sold hundreds, thousands of them. Most people I know keep them, stay happy and away from the forums.

Anyway, what I am getting at is that people make excuses. Although in the UK/EU, not having access to DNA, EC, ECP, heck, even some of the more limited Upper-Mid-Fi™ Schiit offerings, is truly a limitation.

As for Sus and Abyss, I can crap on them all day long like how I crap on the deficiencies of the HD800, HD6xx including the JAR variants, heck even the ZMFs I like I will admit their shortcomings (Caldera) or as weird (Verite Closed). As of 2023, I don't dare say much negative (if any, it will be in passing buried in a thread as an innocuous reply) for fear of hurting feelings.

The other reason Sus and Abyss are not exalted as much on SBAF? There's a slight traditional dynamic bias which is very evident. However, I think the real reason is that SBAF people have been around the block, and that most (at least the ones I see at meets or in person), have gravitated towards source-first from transducer first-over time, whether they know it or not: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...ource-first-transducer-first-amp-first.12719/ Lots of members run TOTL sources with TOTL amps with what would be considered "shitty" headphones. (Who was that goober that we banned around 2016 because he repeating the HD6XX sucked balls, the average entry level planar is better, and we were like: yeah, we know, we know, the HD6XX sucks balls, but it does some amazing things too).

Unless I get a piece of summit-fi gear shipped to me by a member with the implication that I share my thoughts, this is what I have to say about any piece of summit-fi:

 

I'll be a dick as say this: unless you are running 1/2" tape (no more than second or third generation copy) or a vinyl first pressing (ok maybe second pressing may be OK too) with an entirely analog chain production with a minimum of mixdowns during post, you aren't anywhere near summit-fi or True-Hi-Fi™. The limits of fidelity are not with the gear. I already struggle to get good enough recordings with the Upper-Mid-Fi™ ET3+YggyMIL-B / BL-91+DL103 -> MJ3

 

You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like

 

Well, I was one of the first to get my hands on the Susvara: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...hifiman-susvara-review-and-measurements.4462/

I truly wanted to promote the Susvara. Just that nobody here really cared about it around that time. On SBAF, there's more a preference toward the Abyss offerings. We asked for a Diana from Abyss after ASR did that hatchet job of a review to balance the Force. Abyss told @rhythmdevils that "our gear was too shitty" or "not good enough". This with Abyss running their headphones of the Woo WA5 at shows. FWIW, I owned an OG Abyss. (And yeah, the irony of that statement considering my thoughts on Summit-Fi schlonging)

As with HFM, I don't want to get into it too deeply, but one of their employees obtained credentials with high access on Changstar. It was spying all right and they were quite poor at it. I initially thought someone inside was relaying information, until after I checked the detailed IP address logs and geolocated them.

Yeah, now you know, airing the dirty laundry. As for how I feel, or how some of the old-timers feel about this? You can guess.

 

I don't understand what the heck your point is? Susvara literally has hundreds of posts here and I see people recommending it and praising it constantly. Just because you don't feel like it gets the love it deserves doesn't mean it's invisible here.

Even I don't use my modded HD800 at all other than as a background for video calls in my office with my floating sneakers; most of my time is with the RAAL SR1A at home. I ran an NHB-108 last year for a while after auditioning many amps with the RAAL. I moved to the Tyr and sold the Dartzeel when it turned out to be a better fit in my system.

 

I mean, I'll get into it: Fang basically used someone's elevated privileges to spy on the forum in an incredible display of SDE. Super weird behavior. I have the pleasure of serving an awesome team at a growing startup now and I can say, unequivocally, I would never do this kind of thing.

 

The problem is that we got to the Susvara too early. I was too early on the hype train. When it came out, $6k was a lot of ask, farther than anything out there, especially from a Chinese brand that back then had a reputation for failing headphones (which appear to have been fixed).

Since then, I've noticed in the personal audio space greater participation of traditional high-end dealer networks. Let's face it, old people are dying taking two channel with them. So they need to capture a new audience: younger people. With the CanJams, the shows, more intense marketing efforts including those from dealers, the Susvara has gained traction. The SBAF old-timers don't care because we already back in the day, had our Susvaras, HE1000s, Abyss, and figured out how to amp them, and then quickly moved on, or stayed happy (and away from forums).

Keeping in mind that UK/AUS/Canada tend to have stronger dealer networks in their fewer major metropolitan areas, the following data confirms my observations per Ozymandias's TV screens. I hear Susvara mentioned a lot with Feliks Envy and Holo Bliss.

Susvara


Envy


Holo Bliss


@zerodeefex: our experience is different. It's been there, done that.