I own both the 2c’s and the Ananda’s and I think they compliment each other nicely. My dealer actually told me not to buy them since they were too similar, but depending on the quality of recording and genre I find one can can excel over the other. The great thing is I find these two headphones tend to cover almost all of the kinds of music I listen to, mostly jpop, rock, classical and pop,
Ananda is more spacious, brighter, thinner with less bass impact (more diffuse). The 2C is perfect for modern genres and EDM with the best (most impactful) available bass under £1000. Ananda might be better for orchestral music, live recording or jazz. They do compliment each other, depending on your preferred music genres. The 2C was enough for me and I sold my HEXV2 even though I really liked the spacious sound it offered. At the end of the day I preferred the bass punch and more focused approach of the 2C with my music (60% progressive ambient, 40% everything else). It depends on your music preference I guess.
Since I broke my wallet and swapped my 2C for the Empyrean I am sort of enjoying the best of both worlds: focused bass to die for with a detailed and naturally spacious presentation.
I preferred the 2C to the Elear, Clear,
all the ZMF line-up, HD800s, LCD2F, LCD3 which makes the 2C an exceptional bargain. Only the Empyrean was able to dethrone it for 4 times the price. Of course, the LCD4 and 4z sound better than the 2C, but they are heavy (+100g) and significantly more expensive than the Empyrean.
If you fell in love with your 2C like I did but you are looking for upgrade, go for the Empyrean whenever you are able to scrape the cash together. Nothing else will really satisfy your upgraditis.
LCD4 and 4z have 10/10 bass but only 7/10 upper mids and treble. Empyrean has 9/10 bass compared to LCD4 but 10/10 upper mids and treble. For me as a bass freak
and a headphone enthusiast this made the choice easy.
Anyway, if you are not ready to report financial break down and want to stick with your 2C and you love your bass I can assure you, you have bet on the right horse. When you are ready to spend four times more you will experience a substantially better sound.
Of course you can improve your 2C with better source/amps to some extent, here I am talking about a 2C and Empyrean both driven to their limits. I know, prices are meaningless but I can tell you from experience that nothing will drive the 2C to its limits under £1000. Dac and amp are very important. This is just my opinion and my experience of course.
Only with Chord Qutest and CMA600i I started to understand what the 2C can offer.