Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Let's explore whether stepping up to the ridiculous tier of headphones - ie the land of the HiFiMan ShangriLa, Warwick Aperio, and Sennheiser HE-1 - does anything meaningful over and above what the current TOTL more standard consumer tier brings. What does any of it have to say about value and the law of diminishing returns?

My reviews of each of these three headphones:

CRBN2: youtu.be/Br1L0UNWML4
ShangriLa: youtu.be/1FvHASYC6Mc
Susvara Unveiled: youtu.be/WI1gnx2tD7s

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Test Gear...

All music was digital in lossless or hi-rez FLAC or DSD formats either played locally or streamed from Qobuz (FLAC only), all through Roon.

Chain 1...

Sonore opticalRendu Deluxe Edition (review coming) USB output into Berkeley Alpha USB DDC (youtu.be/94AvDeeRjHA) AES output into Berkeley Alpha S2 DAC (youtu.be/JY3c4HEyH0s) then XLR output into LTA Z10e (youtu.be/Bft6HUsYDhE)

Chain 2...

MacMini running HQP (youtu.be/T3Kqgh0NdvM) oversampling all to DSD128, SincL filter, USB output through JDS Labs Synapse (youtu.be/m3stCPEl3Q8) then into Lampizator Baltic 3 DAC (youtu.be/QShvh2rqETc) then XLR output into either LTA Z10e (youtu.be/Bft6HUsYDhE)

Timestamps...

00:00 Intro, Pricing, Disclaimer
02:50 Shameless Self Promotion
03:03 Defining Terms & Goals
05:35 The Amp/Energizer
06:52 Sound Comparison
19:03 Thoughts on Value & Diminishing Returns