My First Impressions with the HiFiman Susvara

August 3, 2025

The Aune S17 Pro Evo came in via Amazon delivery about two weeks ago. I hooked it up to my HiFiman Susvaras. It was alright. I get decent sound straight up hooked up to my M4 iPads and 2024 Mac mini. The newer models can better drive headphones with higher resistance. They sound comparable to my Mark Levinson No. 5909 which is more than 3 times cheaper though. Not sure I want to return them. Will try to wear everything in more but that will take some time. The S17 does generate a lot of heat. It hasn’t switched to low bias though yet. I think I may move it downstairs or get a network streamer with ethernet port. Here are some photos of the unboxing. Will try to report back in a couple of months.

Aune S17 Pro Evo shrink wrapped Aune S17 Pro Evo outer box opened Aune S17 Pro Evo shrink box contents Aune S17 Pro Evo on my desk next to BlueSound Node 2i Aune S17 Pro Evo and Hifiman Susvara

Parag August 14, 2025

The Susvaras came by Fedex today. I have some photos of the open-box unboxing. The build of the headphones seems very solid. I heard there is a lof of gold in the wires and diaphram. Various headphones in the HiFiman lineup are named after Buddhist history and Sanskrit. Susvara means a heavenly melody in Sanskrit. There are also the Ananda headphones. Ananda was Buddha’s disciple. Likewise, Sundara means beautiful in Sanskrit. I believe you are not supposed to say the “a” at the end of the words. It was added because English didn’t contain enough letters for their Sansrkit representation.

My initial thoughts were that I was underwhelmed. With the volume cranked up to what would be ear damaging levels without headphones I could not say it was that special. It was a little bit better than what I was getting out of my Mark Levinson No. 5909 headphones. The different instruments seemed to be more distinguishable. I had hooked up the 6.5mm jack from the Susvara headphones to the Sony STR-AN1000 receiver I had. I’ve read you need an amplifier to get the most out of them. An Aune S17 Pro Evo is coming Friday. I will have more to report that weekend.

Susvara word in Buddhist Sanskrit in Devanagri script

Susvara shipping box Susvara shipping box different angle Susvara shipping box opened Susvara first inner box Hifiman Susvara Case Hifiman Susvara Case opened Hifiman Susvara case contents Hifiman Susvara contents exposed

Parag August 5, 2025

About a week ago I ordered the Hifiman Susvara headphones. I bought the 3.5mm refurbished version. They still haven’t arrived because that particular model was out of stock. They upgraded my purchase from refurbished to open-box at no additional cost. The customer service rep said the open-box versions have less wear to them.

On their warranty page it said the Susvara’s have a one month return period with 3 year warranty. I bought an Apple USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack and also the Aune S17 Pro Evo to drive them. The headpones are rated at something around 60 ohms I think. I’ve heard they’re very difficult to drive. Here is the stack I plan to use:

2019 iMac -> Qutest -> Aune S17 Pro Evo -> Susvara

I’m not sure what USB cable I am using for the connection between the iMac and Qutest. For the connection between the Qutest and Aune amplifier I am using Audioquest Evergreen RCA cable. For the link to the Susvara, I am using the stock cable.

Fedex has told me it will be here Wednesday. Will update this page again once i have tried them out.

Parag August 3, 2025