Fit and Comfort

Seen above is the HIFIMAN Susvara Unveiled placed on a mannequin head, to help show how these headphones would look on a human head. Note that the head is slightly under average sized, so account for the discrepancies accordingly. As with all headphones, getting a good fit and seal is crucial, so make sure to properly use the available height adjustability of the headband and the swivel/rotation of the ear cups themselves. This section is mostly a summary of the points expanded upon in more detail on the previous page and I will mention here that the right ear cup not going inward as much as the left one has zero impact on the fit and seal I could get here. I have always appreciated the sheer comfort and flexibility of the higher end HIFIMAN headphones and this is no exception. It weighs ~430 g and yet feels significantly lighter on the head thanks to the excellent weight distribution over the wide, supple leather suspension band which also prevents any hotspots on the top of your head. The clamp force from this headband is also near-perfect in preventing any leaks or undue pressure on the side of the head, especially combined with the contoured and roomy ear pads. It may not look the most subtle on your head but no one is realistically using the Susvara Unveiled anywhere but indoors anyway and, once you are over the initial awkwardness of the magnetic veil system, this will end up being a set you will likely spend hours at a time losing yourself in music. There are very, very few headphones in the market today which manage to do that for me, and the Susvara Unveiled is right up there. I think part of this has to do with the lack of any ear pressure and the more natural sound presentation too, but more of that soon.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

Please read the relevant section on this page for a brief introduction on how planar magnetic drivers work if you are unfamiliar with them. To summarize, it involves ultra-thin diaphragms with conductive traces as the effective voice coil. This theoretically allows for lower inertia paired with high magnetic flux fields generated from magnets to move the diaphragm back and forth very quickly for fast transients and increased resolution while lowering distortion. HIFIMAN is using what it calls the nanometer thickness diaphragm, which some have taken to mean a single nanometer thick. I suppose in that regard the marketing has worked, but it's more that the thickness of the diaphragm is less than one micron, and thus in the nanometer range. The Susvara Unveiled ditches the gold coating of the original set for silver which has an increased electrical conductivity and helps increase the sensitivity of these newer drivers, thus addressing one of the major complaints from the original Susvara. The biggest change here, even compared to other headphones, is of course the removal of the entire grille on the back, thus making this a true open-back set and eliminating any reflections/refractions as previously discussed. This helps make the drivers more open, and aiding further is the use of HIFIMAN's stealth magnet system which debuted with the original Susvara in 2017 to further minimize sound distortion. This is evident on the back, although the magnets on the front side do seem flatter and larger by comparison. These can perhaps help smoothen out the treble peaks based on HIFIMAN product history, so it could well be another point of improvement over the original Susvara.

The end result is a premium set of headphones with a rated sensitivity of 86 dB/mW and a rated impedance of 45 Ω—compared to 83 dB/mW (but often even lower in practice) and 60 Ω for the original Susvara—not the hardest headphones to drive, but will still necessitate a decent amplifier to make the most of. In fact, given how Susvara source chain discussions never seem to end, I suspect nothing will convince customers about the same for the Susvara Unveiled either so I'll not talk a lot about source synergy here. I used a variety of different DACs and amps with the Susvara Unveiled, with my preference being a fairly neutral-sounding and analytical DAC (Gustard A26) and a warmer amplifier such as the HIFIMAN EF1000 or Feliks Envy. I also found the Aune S17 Pro to do a marvelous job, especially for its asking price. A tube preamp paired with a baseline solid-state amplifier that can output ~1 W at 32/64 Ω—think more current than voltage though—should also get you most of the way there without breaking the bank.

Frequency Response Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm-neutral signature emphasizing a slightly elevated bass and smooth treble range with detailed mids and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our current headphones test setup uses a set of two custom in-ear microphones for the two channels. These microphones closely adhere to the IEC711 class, but have been tweaked to be more reliable in the >10 kHz frequency range, the precise issue with my previous setup, that is otherwise still very good and will continue to be used for IEMs and earphones. Two soft silicone pinnae are installed on the sides, separated by a distance matching my head, and multiple "height" adapters have been 3D-printed for further customization based on fit, head size and shape. Each set of microphones has an XLR output I separately adapted to 3.5 mm. I used a transparent source—the Aune S17 Pro Class A amplifier fed off the Gustard A26 DAC—for measurements and listening after confirming it was not a bottleneck in any way. This artificial head simulator feeds the microphone lines into a reference USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/12th setting, netting a good balance of detail and signal-to-noise ratio. The default tuning was used for testing, and no app or program-based EQ settings were chosen, unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is measured at least thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the individual measurements for statistical accuracy.


I've recently separated my IEMs and headphones database to avoid people confusing them, so you can find my headphone frequency response measurements on this link now. As before, you can choose from different preference targets there, including two from Harman Kardon developed after years of R&D. The Harman 2018 over-ear target in particular is a reference curve many headphone makers aim for now, but I find it too bass-boosted. As such, I am opting for the Harman 2018 curve with the bass target from the Harman 2013 curve, which is what is being referred to as the "Harman Combined" target. You will also note immediately the exceptional channel matching on offer here. It's very difficult to get large planar magnetic drivers this close, let alone the entire combination including the ear pads too. At the same time, I will point out that HIFIMAN's own measurements (included in the box, as seen on page 2) show minor imbalance in the lower treble. So I suspect this could be down to various factors, including the measurement rig and process, but ultimately I could not hear anything to suggest any mismatch. There's also the part where this is one of the very first Susvara Unveiled ever made, so I can only hope things remain as good in the future. Either way, major props to HIFIMAN for getting this part right, and I will also mention that using the headphones for 100+ hours didn't change the frequency response or my subjective listening experience either, for those who would undoubtedly be curious about burn-in.

I've been listening to the Susvara Unveiled almost non-stop for the last few days now, and my impressions about its sound quality started very high and have grown positively even further. Some of this no doubt has to do with me feeling less anxious about using it at all, and there is also the part where it is simply that good. The Susvara Unveiled goes for a neutral-bright tuning to my ears, and is likely going to come off that way to most people. In fact, I'll say right now that some places in the measured frequency response don't exactly match my subjective findings—there's more 6-8 kHz energy compared to the measurements, and a dip at 9-10 kHz which makes it more pronounced as a result. Likewise, the Susvara Unveiled has decent amounts of air, but it feels less emphasized compared to the lower and mid-treble. This, combined with the mids being more forward than usual for a HIFIMAN open-back planar magnetic set, makes the Susvara Unveiled come off detailed yet non-fatiguing, forward yet tolerable to me. I suspect some may find it too forward though, especially in the upper mids and lower treble. In particular, some female vocals and piano keys might have glare to be aware of.

Let's tackle everything in more detail now beginning with the bass. We see excellent extension all the way down to 20 Hz and lower. It's almost flat from the mids going down, and yet I can clearly distinguish bass notes despite the lack of a pronounced bass shelf. EQ can help further, especially for sub-bass thumps, but the Susvara Unveiled plays bass more naturally and is a more dynamic set than even the Arya Organic with its tuned bass shelf. You will easily hear bass guitar string pulls, the rustling of sticks hitting kick drums, and yet appreciate the impact behind the actual bass guitar and drums too. Pretty much everything comes off well-textured too, and this helps appreciate trailing ends of tones as much as leading ones. There are some driver modes and pad resonances here which soften certain punchy songs as well as certain piano key fundamentals for me, but otherwise the Susvara Unveiled is an easy win on the bass front. The best part is that you don't need to have a nuclear power plant driving it either as with the predecessor, although it still scales well with a warmer chain. The Susvara Unveiled also has minimal leakage in addition to a low resonant frequency, and thus doesn't suddenly lose this extension should you be wearing glasses.

I found the bass to mids transition to be extremely tight, almost to the point of sounding like an e-stat with how snappy everything is here. Male vocals in particular sound as engaging as I remember hearing from world-class speakers, and then I realized vocals and instrument timbre seems quite improved across the board from before. This was a noticeable weakness of the original Susvara in my opinion, especially for string instruments, and the new Susvara Unveiled handles it much better to where once again it seems to be balancing out the more natural presentation of e-stats with the more "correct sounding" playback from dynamic driver sets. This is not to say it's a unicorn that gets both positive traits without any compromises though. Some harmonic tones are likely to be more emphasized than they should be owing to the tonality here. Trombones and the aforementioned piano keys are examples of this to where Chopin's recordings (Preludes and Waltzes) didn't give me the satisfaction I wanted, especially after having enjoyed nearly everything else. There is also a more ethereal playback in some cases—could be from the reduced resonances here—that might sound loose for some, but that comes down to preferences more than a drawback of the Susvara Unveiled. In fact, for anyone who found newer generation HIFIMAN open-backs to be lacking in the soundstage department, the Susvara Unveiled has a grand presentation that will undoubtedly please everyone. It is very well controlled, feels rich and spacious, and is backed by precise imaging in front and around the ears to where I could not stop listening to my acoustic jazz and orchestral library.

The upper mids are more filled out than your typical HIFIMAN open-back set, and no doubt a lot of this has to do with the bare drivers on the back. The end result is female vocals are more forward facing too, perhaps too much as previously mentioned, and I was not a fan of some vocals coming off slightly peaky and unpleasant to my ears. The 4-8 kHz region is generally more energetic here, even compared to the ear gain in some places, which will be divisive. Some will love the emphasized vocals and the ethereal presentation you get with it, and perhaps some of the wider staging has to do with this as well given the more filled upper mids, and others may find it overly bright and perhaps even sibilant. Unlike the original Susvara which is a more effortless listen, the Susvara Unveiled is far more engaging and compels you to make a choice on whether you will absolutely adore it forever or dislike it in favor of other sets. Play around with EQ, this set can easily take it. I will say that the mid and upper treble is fairly smooth though, and extends quite well despite the air region being less friendly to harps. On the other hand, you'll not have to worry about your ears ringing with cymbal strikes and other percussion instruments as with the vast majority of planar magnetic headphones and there's obviously plenty of detail retrieval going around to please everyone. Likewise, I don't really hear any distortion with my usual listening at ~70-75 dB—I am sure people will be asking about this. I am not going to share any distortion/CSD/spectral decay/waterfall measurements here for the simple reason being I don't use an industry-standard measurement setup and these are not metrics I personally value too much.


Oh, before we head off to the comparison section on the next page, let me address the small elephant in the room. If you think that the magnetic veils will somehow transform the Susvara Unveiled to a closed-back set, then I am sorry to burst your bubble. They do provide ~5-10 dB of isolation in the lower frequencies, but end up making the set absolutely unbearable to listen to with just a lot of shrieky treble. In fact, I even risked driver integrity doing these measurements since there is a small chance the bare drivers may not respond well to being played with the veils on—especially at higher volumes. Do not try this out of curiosity, especially since I've hopefully quenched it for you, and stop playing/turn down the volume on your source the second you realize you left the veils on.