[HeadphoneAddict]

I honestly wasn't that wow'd with the Sundara. I actually walked about thinking that I had expected a lot more from them. At 500ish I can think of others I would rather have. I listened to 4-5 songs fully, maybe I missed something.

When we auditioned them we used a CEntrance HiFiM8 DAC/amp and that drove them very well, with better synergy. So optimizing your source and amp must be taken into consideration.

 

[twiceboss]

I'm sort of relieved to hear that, strangely - the 500-1000 market is looking very interesting lately and I'm looking to get something around that price for a secondary setup I'm putting together; with the AEON, the LCD2C, the Elear (since it's dropping in price), etc I feel like the Edition X V2 is actually the one that should be competing with those rather than the Sundara.

The Elear is dropping in price? Where did you hear that?

From my experience, Focal doesnt wow'd me much. Especially elear and clear. And Utopia is really good but the price does not do justice with the performance. I even tried utopia with the highest setup. wa22 and the thousand cable. Still... i dont feel the wow much.. maybe when u reah 2k ish setup, the difference is not that much

 

[shenanbay]

I am interested in the Hifiman Sundara and Aeon Open. Would love to hear some of the impressions

 

[twiceboss]

I am interested in the Hifiman Sundara and Aeon Open. Would love to hear some of the impressions

hands down sundara is better to my ears. Aeon has that clarity but the bass is shy to my preference

 

[Vigrith]

The Elear is dropping in price? Where did you hear that?

My local Focal dealer (they have no website, oldschool store) has it listed for 799€ now; Moon Audio also had that sale where the new in open box Elears were going for like $600 which, despite them being open box, is a hell of a deal. I guess it may take a while for it to normalise but I have no problem seeing them go for like $700 in a few month's time.

 

[Allanmarcus]

I think the AR planar discussed earlier in this thread should be on anyone short list for mid fi headphones in the 500-1000 range

 

[twiceboss]

note that, sundara feels cheap but cleer has all! I will buy cleer once it is released next year during CES

 

[shenanbay]

My local Focal dealer (they have no website, oldschool store) has it listed for 799€ now; Moon Audio also had that sale where the new in open box Elears were going for like $600 which, despite them being open box, is a hell of a deal. I guess it may take a while for it to normalise but I have no problem seeing them go for like $700 in a few month's time.

yeah moon audio had a mint open box for $500

 

[shenanbay]

hands down sundara is better to my ears. Aeon has that clarity but the bass is shy to my preference

I see thanks for the input buddy

 

[Zeeke]

If anyone has a thought or question on IEM's I can say that I spent more time in two days listening to IEMs that I have in my entire life probably. I sat down with pretty much every vendor there and listened one by one to all they had to offer. I would play the same 3 songs so that I could give an honest opinion. I learned A LOT about IEM and sound in general. I was using a Fiio X5 Gen 3 playing FLAC files. One thing I can say is that after listening to so many, after a while it gets hard to tell what you really liked and why.

I got pretty good at determining what I did not like and why. For example I learned that I really dislike forward sounds in IEMs.

One of my main goals was to determine if to my ears I could tell a good IEM from a great IEM. What I learned is that I can but not always with every brand. Once I got to the really good level it was sometimes hard to distinguish the next level from the previous level. For example the Audio 64 U8 and the U12 for me sound pretty much exactly the same but the U8 has a tad more bass.

I learned a lot, had a blast, and was able to fully listen to things I have previously only been able to read about. I am an avid researcher so ive spent hours and hours reading about some of these amazing toys that I was finally able to play with. It was two days of kid in a candy store for me. I loved it.

One thing I would mention as it really impressed me is the Meze Neo Classic. Those things are like 350.00 and were selling for 250.00 at the show, they sound absolutely amazing for that price. Comfortable as well.

How many times do you actually get to listen to 3k+ headpones and IEMs back to back to back it was sooo fun.

 

[twiceboss]

I see thanks for the input buddy

No problem, how i wish AEON has better SQ than what I heard during canjam...

 

[Zeeke]

Did u listen to your fav songs on that? I brought my own DAP to try with it!

Yeah I was using my Fiio X5 Gen 3. Maybe I just needed a lot more amp. I had high gain on but I still had to almost max the volume. I didnt get a chance to go back later and listen with a better amp.

 

[NaiveSound]

More pictures, more information?

Any new dac/amps (portables)?
Like mojo/dac portable/oppo ha2/Peachtree?

 

[Jodet]

Am I alone in thinking the Ether Flow's have missed the market at $1799? At fifteen hundred, or even $1599 they'd be far more worthy of consideration.

Eighteen hundred.... it's a lot, especially with the Clear being $1500.

 

[bixby]

I am interested in the Hifiman Sundara and Aeon Open. Would love to hear some of the impressions

Not crazy about either. Aeon seemed mid centric but without sufficient body or detail. Sundara cannot be run from a phone. My V-10 was all the way up and not loud enough. Pleasant enough but mids too laid back. Like they just darkened and quieted down the 400s. Not as peaky as the 400s and better bass.