NAN7 : Why I Chose It Over Susvara, Tungsten, and HE1000se
Hello everyone,
NAN7 Headphone : Where Musical Enjoyment Meets Real Technical Performance
I went into the NAN7 expecting nothing more than a very good headphone.
But after spending serious time with it, building the right chain around it, and comparing it directly against the Susvara, Tungsten, and HE1000se, I arrived at a conclusion I genuinely did not expect:
The NAN7 was not the most technically accomplished headphone in my collection, but it was the only one that won me over completely.
And to be completely honest, this was not an ordinary review for me.
This is one of the deepest reviews I have written since entering the world of audio, because it was not built on a quick impression. It was built on extended time with the headphone, a very large number of experiments, constant changes in pads, cables, amplifiers, burn-in, and direct comparisons against headphones that sit at a very high level.
More importantly, this is one of the very few reviews that genuinely changed my ranking of the best headphones I have heard, and brought me to a level of conviction that is extremely rare for me.
If I had to summarize the NAN7 in a single sentence, it would be this:
It is a headphone that gave me pure enjoyment, sonic completeness, and a very high technical level, without ever making me feel that I had to sacrifice one thing to gain another.
The first thing that surprised me about the NAN7 was that it did not present itself as a headphone I wanted to test.
It presented itself as a headphone I wanted to enjoy.
The biggest reason for that, in my view, was the way it delivers music with strong energy, clear dynamics, and a vivid sense of life , without ever turning that performance into showmanship or chaos.
Once the initial shock of that energy settles, you begin to notice something else that is extremely important with the NAN7:
note weight.
There is density and fullness here that give everything a clear physical body, yet without sacrificing speed or coherence.
Bass
With the ZMF pads I used throughout this review, the bass became one of the NAN7 strongest qualities for me.
Not because it is exaggerated, but because it is tuned in a way that makes it both enjoyable and trustworthy at the same time.
In terms of quantity, the bass here is not fully neutral.
There is a clear lift, but it is a very deliberate one, and it never once feels overdone.
Sub-Bass
The sub-bass performance here was genuinely difficult for me to dismiss.
It combines depth, speed, control, and physical impact in a way that is unusually complete.
It reaches very deep and gives the low frequencies real, physical presence rather than just a faint sensation in the background.
What makes it special is that it does not merely add fun.
It also increases the physical weight of the music and gives low frequencies a realism that makes their presence extremely convincing.
And despite all of that, it remains fast, cohesive, and very well controlled to the point where you can enjoy it fully without any sense of mess or bleed.
Mid-Bass
This is where the NAN7 began to give me exactly the kind of punch and weight I had been looking for.
It was deeply satisfying to me because it brought together quantity, control, speed, and note density without ever sounding exaggerated or overbearing.
The punch is clear, the weight is excellent, the control is very strong, and the speed is also very good. All of that made the bass sound complete and convincing to me.
And despite its obvious presence, I never felt any unpleasant intrusion into the mids.
On the contrary, it added a slight warmth and a beautiful sense of fullness that benefited the entire presentation.
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Mids
Lower Mids
The lower mids were one of the most important regions in shaping the NAN7 identity for me, because they bring obvious richness, excellent presence, and a cohesion that reflects across the entire sound.
This is not simply a region with a bit of fullness.
It is one of the main reasons the sound feels so anchored and so convincingly dense.
Its richness is not merely a touch of warmth.
It is real fullness that gives the sound a clear body and extremely convincing presence, yet without any trace of thinness or dryness.
Upper Mids
The upper mids were one of the biggest surprises for me, because this is normally one of the hardest regions for me to accept when it has any degree of forwardness.
And yet, here I found myself genuinely enjoying it.
Yes, there is a slight forwardness here, but it is very mild and never forces itself on you in an unpleasant way.
More importantly, I never heard any sharpness, aggression, or fatigue, even during long listening sessions.
The reason, quite simply, is that several things come together here at once:
A slight forward tilt, naturalness, clear detail, and enough cohesion to let this region blend into the sound rather than impose itself on it.
Vocals
Vocals were one of the clearest areas where I felt the headphone truly understood how to balance naturalness, clarity, and presence without allowing one to overshadow the others.
The first thing that drew me in was the tone itself.
It sounded extremely natural and convincing, with no trace of artificiality or exaggeration.
Vocals never sounded recessed, but they also never stole attention away from the rest of the elements.
They simply arrived in exactly the right place.
There is also a beautiful sense of intimacy to them, but that intimacy never comes at the expense of the rest of the image, nor does it take away from the enjoyment of the instruments.
Vocals sat dead center, naturally and convincingly, exactly where they should be within the stage.
If I compare male and female vocals, I would say both were excellent.
But female vocals in particular had a truly exceptional presence.
And the reason is that they did not excel in just one way.
They brought together:
smoothness, clarity, emotion, texture, and extension — without any harshness.
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Treble
The treble was one of the areas that made me feel the NAN7 was tuned very closely to my own taste.
It is comfortable, it has beautiful sparkle, and its detail is strong without ever becoming sharp.
It was very comfortable for me, and that matters because the comfort here did not come at the expense of clarity, nor did it introduce any sting or unpleasant edge.
What is even better is that, despite that comfort, it still carries a beautiful and well-judged sparkle that keeps it lively and vivid without any excess.
At the same time, it retrieves detail in a clear and powerful way, but without making those details unnaturally prominent or fatiguing.
In short, what I loved most about the treble here is that it combines natural tone and beautiful shimmer without letting either one dominate the other.
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Detail, Resolution, and Clarity
When it comes to detail and resolution, the NAN7 was one of the most surprising headphones I have heard, because it presents an enormous amount of detail, but in a way that feels natural and never artificially emphasized.
The details here are not the kind you have to go chasing.
They are simply present, obvious, and available to you naturally, but without any sense of showmanship or forced projection.
What elevates this even further is that the resolution is very high, yet still delivered in a completely natural way, without sounding exaggerated.
As for micro-detail, the headphone was genuinely excellent.
The smaller details are easy to hear, but without turning listening into a purely analytical exercise.
Clarity was another area that elevated the NAN7 significantly for me.
It delivers a very high degree of clarity while fully preserving body and naturalness.
Even with that level of clarity, the sound still retains its physicality and fullness, and I never once felt that clarity was being achieved at the expense of tone.
And that is what makes it convincing:
It is not simply clear.
It is clear, full, and natural at the same time.
Stage and Imaging
The NAN7 did not have the widest stage I have heard, but what impressed me was not stage size alone, it was the way the image itself is built, and how open, convincing, and cohesive it sounds at the same time.
The stage is clearly spacious, but the width never feels empty or artificial.
As for depth, it was among the best I have heard. It gave the image a genuine sense of dimension and made the distribution inside the stage feel much more convincing.
And what increased my confidence even further was not just the size or the depth, it was the clear spacing between instruments and sounds, because it allowed each element to occupy its own space in a comfortable and convincing way.
The imaging in the NAN7 was one of the strongest signs that the stage is not merely wide, but precisely constructed.
Directional positioning was excellent, and you always felt that every sound in the stage occupied a clear and convincing location.
Its handling of distance and proximity was also genuinely impressive, and that was one of the things that made the image feel alive and coherent instead of sounding like a simple left-right spread.
And the imaging was not just technically accurate, it made it easy to lock onto each instrument within the image and follow its position without confusion.
As for layering, it was one of the factors that made the image so convincing for me, because you do not just hear separated sounds, you genuinely hear gradation in rows, positions, and depth.
It gave a very clear sense of vertical and depth-based organization, which made the image feel deeper, more ordered, and more convincing.
Most importantly, this did not only show up in clean recordings. It remained strong and apparent even in busier, more complex passages.
Separation
Separation was excellent, but what I loved most was that it never felt cold or artificially demonstrative.
It separates clearly while keeping the performance cohesive and musically intact.
Every element gets its own space clearly, but without pulling the music apart or weakening its unity. The entire image remains coherent and persuasive.
Holography
As for three-dimensionality, the holographic effect in the NAN7 was one of the qualities that increased the realism of the image for me.
It does not merely let you hear distribution.
It gives you a clearer sense of presence within the image itself.
And what makes it work so well is that it never feels artificial or exaggerated. It enhances the realism of the image and makes it feel alive, rather than simply well-arranged.
In short, what convinced me about the NAN7 technically is that it was not strong in just one area.
It delivered an extremely complete picture:
High resolution, excellent clarity, a convincing image, and strong spatial precision, all without sounding cold or dryly analytical.
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Chain Synergy
I need to make one thing very clear before going further:
The NAN7 is one of the most pad-sensitive headphones I have ever used, to the point where changing pads can make it feel like an entirely different headphone.
The effect of pads here was not a minor improvement or slight adjustment.
It was the single biggest factor in changing the headphone’s personality for me, more than anything else I tested with it.
To be precise, the main evaluation in this review is built around the following ZMF pads:
ZMF Hifiman+ Subs / Sundara + HE-Series / Hybrid Lambskin/Mesh
Those were the pads that gave me the best overall performance with the NAN7.
And what matters here is that the ZMF pads were not my preferred choice at first.
But once I introduced the HiFiMAN Prelude amplifier, my opinion of them changed very clearly, and they became the pads that gave me the most complete version of the headphone.
That said, the stock hybrid pads still retain real value, especially if my goal is purely musical enjoyment.
They provide more warmth, more flow, more softness, and a higher emotional pull, along with a very musical sense of cohesion that makes them a beautiful option when my only goal is enjoyment.
But in overall terms, ZMF was unquestionably the more complete and superior choice for me.
Cable Pairing
After pads, the cable was one of the most influential factors in changing the NAN7’s character for me.
And I need to stress this clearly: the NAN7 is not only sensitive to pads, it is also clearly sensitive to cables, to the point where the cable became the second biggest variable for me after the pads.
My main evaluation here is based on the Naif Signature cable
Quite simply, it was the cable that gave me the most balanced and convincing version of the NAN7.
The Naif Signature did not win me over merely because it matched my taste. It won me over because it was one of the main reasons the NAN7 reached its clearest and most complete form in my system.
What I liked most is that it did not improve just one area.
It enhanced note weight, refined the tonal balance, rendered detail more clearly, and increased dynamic impact, all without damaging the headphone’s natural character or pushing it away from its identity.
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Amplification
I also need to be clear that the NAN7 does not reveal its true capabilities with just any amplifier.
It is not hard to drive in the traditional sense, but the version of the NAN7 I am talking about here only appears when it is paired with an amplifier powerful enough to bring out the best in it properly.
And the important point is this: it is not enough for the amp to look powerful on paper.
The NAN7 wants an amplifier that can deliver High current, because that translates very clearly into better performance.
To reach the version of the sound I am describing here, I tested the NAN7 on three primary amplifiers that formed the basis of my judgment:
HiFiMAN Prelude / Cayin iHA-6 / Aune N7
If I rank those three amplifiers with the NAN7 in terms of overall performance, my order is:
HiFiMAN Prelude # first
Cayin iHA-6 # second
Aune N7 # third
The HiFiMAN Prelude was not merely the best amplifier I tried with the NAN7.
It was the real turning point that allowed me to hear the headphone in its clearest and most complete form.
With the Prelude, the improvement was not confined to one area.
It was obvious both technically and musically.
One of the most important things it did was improve balance, raise overall coherence, increase dynamics, add more note weight, and inject the music with a stronger sense of life and engagement.
Even the mids and treble became more aligned with my personal taste on it.
Most importantly, it changed my opinion of the ZMF pads themselves and made them the clear reference choice for this headphone.
So the conclusion with the Prelude was simple:
It was not merely the best partner for the NAN7.
It was the amplifier that elevated it from an excellent headphone to a truly exceptional one.
As for the Cayin iHA-6, it was one of the best amplifiers I tried with the NAN7 after the Prelude.
The Aune N7 was a good and enjoyable option, but it did not reach the same level of overall integration for me.
On the other side of the spectrum, my experience with the Singxer SA-1
…was one of the clearest demonstrations that the NAN7 does not automatically give you its best just because the amplifier is respectable.
The most obvious loss with the SA-1 was in the bass.
Control dropped, punch softened, and weight was no longer at the same level I was getting from the better-suited amplifiers.
And that confirmed something important for me:
The issue was not whether the SA-1 could drive the NAN7 at all.
The issue was whether it could truly grip and control it, and that weakness showed up first and most clearly in the bass.
So my conclusion regarding amplification was very clear:
The NAN7 does not merely ask to be powered.
It asks for an amplifier that knows how to control it and extract the best it has to offer.
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Burn-In
One of the things I became convinced of with the NAN7 is that burn-in was not imaginary here.
It is something that can be heard clearly in the result if you give it enough time.
From my experience, I do not think any judgment on the NAN7 is truly reliable before it has had at least 24 hours of burn-in.
The clearest difference after burn-in was in the bass, because its coherence improved noticeably, and that change reflected directly on the overall impression of the headphone.
And while the bass was the most obvious area of change, I also noticed a smaller improvement in overall coherence, which made the headphone sound more mature and settled.
If there is one thing that became absolutely clear after all of these experiments, it is this:
The NAN7 is one of those headphones that rewards you very clearly when you give it the right chain, and can rise far above what you might expect from it initially.
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Before the Comparisons
If I stopped here, before any comparison, the NAN7 would still not be “just” an excellent headphone to me.
It would already be a headphone that reached a level of completeness high enough for me to consider it Endgame.
In short, I think the NAN7 is best suited to someone who wants high musical enjoyment with a strong technical foundation, especially someone who enjoys experimenting with the chain and extracting the best possible result.
If, on the other hand, someone is looking for a cold, analytical presentation, or a headphone that gives its best version immediately without any experimentation, then this is probably not the ideal choice.
Comparisons
Because this review could not be based on the NAN7 alone, I had to compare it directly against three of the best headphones I have personally heard:
Susvara & HE1000se
Tungsten DS V1
And honestly, those comparisons were not just an extra step.
They were one of the biggest reasons my ranking of the best headphones I have heard changed in a very real way.
NAN7 vs Tungsten V1
The closest headphone to the NAN7 in this entire experience was the Tungsten, and the surprise was that the gap between them ended up being far smaller than I had expected before the comparison.
Before I even started, I felt that if the NAN7 could reach around 80% of the Tungsten’s level, that alone would be an excellent result.
At first, with the stock hybrid pads on the NAN7, it was clear that the Tungsten was ahead, especially in some technical areas.
But once I switched the NAN7 to ZMF pads, the entire picture changed dramatically.
The level of similarity became almost shocking, to the point where I would say the NAN7 reached roughly 95% of the Tungsten for me.
That was the point where I realized this was no longer a comparison between two headphones from clearly different tiers.
It had become a comparison between two headphones that were extremely close, with smaller strengths trading back and forth.
The Tungsten did outperform the NAN7 in some areas, but none of those advantages were overwhelming.
They were specific, technical advantages:
- A slightly larger stage
- Slightly more precise imaging
- Slightly better layering
- Slightly stronger holography
- Slightly more attractive treble sparkle
And despite all of that, the overall gap remained small.
The biggest area in favor of the NAN7 was resolution, where it was clearly ahead.
It also had slightly better note weight, and its clarity was a little stronger in a way that made the presentation feel cleaner and more convincing.
If I had to summarize the comparison between the NAN7 and the Tungsten in one sentence, I would say this:
The Tungsten was slightly ahead technically, but the NAN7 was able to challenge it seriously there, and then win the comparison on the strength of musical enjoyment.
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NAN7 vs Susvara
The comparison between the NAN7 and the Susvara was one of the most important for me personally, because the Susvara is not merely a great headphone, it is one of the most recognized summit-fi names in the world.
What matters here is that the Susvara was not underperforming in this comparison.
With the HiFiMAN Prelude, it rose dramatically for me and gave me a level of musical enjoyment that I had never previously heard from it.
Even after that improvement, the NAN7 still sounded more enjoyable to me, denser, and closer to the feeling I was actually looking for from music.
And despite everything the Susvara did right here, it still could not take me from the mindset of comparison and evaluation into the same state of pure enjoyment that the NAN7 could.
Even in terms of stage, the NAN7 felt bigger and deeper to me than the Susvara, and that difference increased the sense of immersion and involvement.
As for weight and density, the NAN7 was also clearly ahead there, and that was one of the biggest reasons it felt more enjoyable and more convincing to me than the Susvara.
If I had to reduce my entire feeling about this comparison to one sentence, it would be this:
To me, the NAN7 sounded like Susvara on steroids.
And in the end, the Susvara remains a truly great headphone.
But in this specific comparison, the NAN7 was the one that felt closer to my taste, more enjoyable, and more complete as an overall experience.
NAN7 vs HE1000se
The comparison with the HE1000se was also important to me, because it is a headphone I know well and one whose strengths I genuinely respect.
But I still wanted to see, directly, where it would stand against the NAN7.
The HE1000se remains a very impressive headphone to me, but in this comparison it was clear that both the NAN7 and the Tungsten outperformed it in most areas, even if some of those differences were relatively small.
One of the strongest points still in favor of the HE1000se was stage width, because it still gave a larger sense of space than the others.
But in terms of weight and density, it was clearly lighter than both the NAN7 and the Tungsten, and that was one of the main reasons it felt less complete to me overall.
And although the HE1000se has very real technical strengths, the overall experience still felt less complete to me than what I got from the NAN7 and the Tungsten.
The HE1000se remains a headphone I respect very highly. But in this comparison, it was clear to me that both the NAN7 and the Tungsten were stronger in terms of overall presentation and total conviction.
Final Ranking
One important point here is that my final ranking was not based on a single criterion, because there is a clear difference between the headphone that wins me over technically and the one that wins me over in actual listening enjoyment.
If the criterion is pure musical enjoyment, then my personal ranking is:
- NAN7
- Tungsten
- HE1000se
- Susvara
But if I isolate pure technical performance, then the ranking changes to:
- Tungsten
- NAN7
- Susvara
- HE1000se
And what ultimately secured first place for the NAN7 was the difference between those two rankings:
The Tungsten was first technically.
But the NAN7 was first in enjoyment.
And for me, that was the more important difference.
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Playback Chain
Lumin U2 Mini (Streamer) ➝ DENAFRIPS GAIA 15th (DDC) ➝ GUSTARD R26 (DAC) ➝ Burson Audio Soloist 3X Performance (Pre-amp) ➝ HiFiMAN Prelude (Amp)
Burson Audio Soloist 3X Performance (Pre-amp) :
- Burson V7 VIVID DUAL Fully Discrete # Volume Controller
- Staccato DUAL Fully Discrete
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Conclusion
After all of these comparisons, the conclusion became very clear to me:
The NAN7 is the best of the group for me, because it was not merely close to the top technically, it was the only headphone that truly took me out of the mindset of testing and experimentation and into pure musical enjoyment.
After all the pad rolling, cable changes, amplifier pairing, burn-in, and direct comparison against headphones like the Susvara, HE1000se, and Tungsten, I reached a very clear conclusion:
The NAN7 is not merely an excellent headphone, nor just an unexpected overachiever.
For me, it is a true Endgame headphone, provided you give it the right chain to reveal its real identity.
And the reason is simple:
It was the only headphone that managed to take me out of the mindset of testing and evaluation… and into pure musical enjoyment.
That is why, with complete confidence, I can say this:
The NAN7 is the best headphone I have spent serious time with so far.
Best regards,
IEM World
