HE-6se V2 vs Susvara: which needs more amplifier?

The HiFiMAN HE-6se V2 is 50Ω at 83.5 dB (no reference unit printed); the HiFiMAN Susvara is 60Ω at 83.0 dB (no reference unit printed). This page is only about what they ask of an amplifier — not how they sound, which no specification on either sheet can tell you.

The Susvara needs 0.5 dB more than the HE-6se V2 to reach the same loudness — 50 mW against 45 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationHE-6se V2Susvara
Impedance50 Ω60 Ω
Sensitivity83.5 dB83.0 dB
Sensitivity (voltage)96.5 dB/V95.2 dB/V
Power for 100 dB45 mW50 mW
Voltage for 100 dB1.49 V1.73 V
Current for 100 dB29.9 mA28.9 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
6.25 Ω7.50 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
240231

One caution before reading the rows. HiFiMAN HE-6se V2 and HiFiMAN Susvara printed a decibel figure with no reference unit, so this page reads it as per milliwatt. If it is really per volt, each of them needs far more than the table says. Why the two readings differ by so much.

Where the two part company

9 of the 280 sources have the power for the HE-6se V2 but not for the Susvara — Tanchjim Stargate II, Hidizs SD2, iFi GO link, 6 more.

231 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both. That count is about power only — the output-impedance and hiss lines above are separate questions, and a source can pass this one and fail those.

What each one needs from 80 to 105 dB

The gap between these two in decibels does not change with volume — it is a property of the two headphones. What changes is the size of the numbers, and it changes fast: every 10 dB costs ten times the power. The row that matters is the one nearest the level you listen at, and for most people that is nearer the top of this table than the bottom.

The Susvara is more demanding than 99% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the HE-6se V2 than 99%. Both figures use the same measure as the rest of the site: whichever runs out first against a 2 V, 100 mW dongle, voltage or power.

dB SPLHE-6se V2 powerHE-6se V2 voltageSusvara powerSusvara voltage
800.45 mW0.15 V0.50 mW0.17 V
851.4 mW0.27 V1.6 mW0.31 V
904.5 mW0.47 V5.0 mW0.55 V
9514 mW0.84 V16 mW0.98 V
10045 mW1.49 V50 mW1.73 V
105141 mW2.66 V158 mW3.08 V

105 dB is included because forum power figures are usually quoted there or higher. It is also a level that damages hearing in minutes — how many minutes is its own calculator.

The cheapest source that satisfies both

SourcePriceHeadroom, HE-6se V2Headroom, SusvaraOutput impedanceNoise
FiiO KA11$294.6 dB3.3 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$591.5 dB0.2 dB0.6 Ω1.0 µV
iBasso DC03 Pro$691.5 dB0.2 dB0.12 Ω0.9 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 231 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 66 of them also publish an output impedance low enough for both under the one-eighth rule and a noise figure that stays below the audible-hiss threshold with both — the rest either fail one of those or never printed the number at all, and 163 of them are in the second group.

The cheapest of the 66 is the FiiO KA11, at $29. It leaves 4.6 dB of headroom on the HE-6se V2 and 3.3 dB on the Susvara, its output impedance is 0.7 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 6.25 Ω and 7.50 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 39 dB and 40 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.

Cheapest that satisfies three published numbers is not the same as best, and none of it is about how either headphone sounds. To put either model against a source this page does not mention, or to change the target loudness, use the amplifier matcher.

What each sheet prints, and what it is worth

ModelAs printedToleranceStandard
HE-6se V28Hz- 65 KHznot printednot printed
Susvara6Hz-75kHznot printednot printed

HiFiMAN prints 8Hz- 65 KHz for the HE-6se V2 and 6Hz-75kHz for the Susvara.

Neither range has a tolerance printed beside it, and that is the whole of what this section can tell you. A wider range on one sheet is not deeper bass or more treble on that headphone: without a tolerance, neither number says how loud either model is at the ends of its own range, so the difference between the two is a difference between two pieces of marketing copy. A ±dB figure is what turns a range into a specification, and of the 490 models whose maker prints a range, 58 print it.

None of this is a measurement. What each maker publishes, and what it is worth, is set out in the frequency response audit.

Both pages in full

Each model has a page of its own with the full source list, the hiss estimate and the provenance of every figure above: HiFiMAN HE-6se V2 and HiFiMAN Susvara. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones HiFiMAN never published — what that maker publishes, counted.

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