The AMP-13R against EX-M1 invoked major déjà vu. At first glance these two seemed voiced as alike on Susvara as they'd been with floorstanding speakers months ago. Both hit like a truck, went impressively low, were explicit, fit, accurate, smooth and tonally linear. Still, important disparities emerged once my acclimation phase was over. The EX-M1 was leaner and rendered outlines more edged. The Bakoon executed the job in texturally fuller more complex fashion yet easily as articulate. Its treble trails decayed longer, were of a finer grade yet felt more substantial. It was less icy, more muscular, tangible and organic all at no cost. On the contrary, this petite marvel was a resolution monster capable of extracting the tiniest of dust motes from out of its hauntingly black background like it were nothing. Most importantly, its delivery was exquisite enough to shift my focus from isolated bits bluntly magnified to far more important elegance and charm – two major attractions of this machine.

Over the years I learnt that top resolution is subtle by nature. It doesn't seek attention but occurs supportively alongside all else. It just is. In this context, the EX-M1 did well but had a fair bit of that in- your-face flashiness, tension and excessiveness. The AMP-13R materialized still more virtual dots more effortlessly and tasteful enough to keep detail overload at bay and feel more substantial. That alone made a major difference in how both amps spread their word. But major disparities didn't end there.

The EX-M1 with Susvara was exceptionally snappy and stunningly immediate. Rapid string plucks and hand claps rushed into my ears with no apologies. Thunderous strikes appeared out of nowhere, invoked major scares and faded as swiftly as they appeared. This type of speed is a very rare thing with regular floorstanders but Susvara off the Chinese amp had plenty of it. Ears not adjusted to such bravado would most likely find it intimidating at first. But several tracks in, the at first hostile sensation naturally flourishes into an exciting addiction which leads to music becoming very much alive and driven. This became a potent motivator to rediscover my playlist one track at a time in search of those refreshing lightning strikes which were more felt than heard.

Headphones naturally remove our listening rooms from the equation, thus are less prone to bass boom and wobble, two culprits responsible for smear and clarity loss in the upper bands. The EX-M1 and Susvara hit squad didn't even know what that meant. It just kept scaling according to SPL demands and remained perfectly unperturbed. When my ears screamed uncle, I went no further but clearly could have. That was damn impressive. The Kinki's leaner posture and agile attitude boosted this already extremely fast experience. At this point I wondered. How many Susvara owners have heard their cans this reckless and bold? Then came the major twist.