[SilverEars]

Its funny, when i went to a hifiman booth at a show that was in my city last feb, they had the susvara, 1000se, 1000v2, arya, ananada and sundara. they also had the jade 2 but thats in a different category.

heres what i remember,
i loved the almost perfectly natural sound of the susvara, but cannot stomach its price point so i left thoes aside.

the 1000se and v2 were almost identical, the se sounded better to me, but like maybe 15% better over all.

i then did a trial on the arya, enjoyed them very very much and was hard pressed to not end up dropping my credit card and taking them home that instance. I then tried the Ananada but coulsnt listen for as long as i did the others due to other people looming over. but from what i couls remember, it blended the music so nicely that i couldn't decide if the arya was worth that extra premium. i do like the look of the arya more and the pads felt better? and headband was more comfortable i found (maybe tad looser).
I think the Ananada is a better purchase in terms of value, and when its given back the owner more time with sound than what they've paid for it. maybe modding might be a thing.

i myself may end up with the ananda in the near future unless the arya drop in price 200-300 less. then Arya for sure.

I think overall, I may actually enjoyed Arya the most of them all, but take this with a grain of salt because I only demo'd it at a meet.

I found HEKSE, a bit meh personally considering the price, and it doesn't really standout technically out generally out of the HEK series. I could see what you mean when saying similar.

 

[cactus_farmer]

no damage from nuggets most complain the adhesive isn't good enough.

My head is probably 85% percentile - its big, but even all the way closed to get the center of the driver to my ear canal it needs to be higher - best/most treble and sounstage IMO - on the HEX v2. The Anada which I find bright I might detune them by wearing them lower. Also when you change head position - looking down, up, sideways the nuggets keep them in place much better than w/o

Thanks, does the soundstage become smaller when the Ananda sits low on your face (i.e. your ears are towards the top of the earcups)? If so, is a pretty drastic change, or subtle?

Also, would you say with the Dekoni nuggets - a medium sized male adult head should be able to get a good central fit with the Ananda? Or should anyone with an average sized head skip this headphone?

 

[bagwell359]

Thanks, does the soundstage become smaller when the Ananda sits low on your face (i.e. your ears are towards the top of the earcups)? If so, is a pretty drastic change, or subtle?

Also, would you say with the Dekoni nuggets - a medium sized male adult head should be able to get a good central fit with the Ananda? Or should anyone with an average sized head skip this headphone?

If you love/like the can I'm sure there is a way to get a fit. I haven't listened to the Ananda enough to be sure what happens at diff locations on your head. I just knew that I really wanted these to be a TOTL type headphone for me, and they are not (for me).

 

[oqvist]

Doesn't happen to much with different placements.

 

[cactus_farmer]

Doesn't happen to much with different placements.

Surely the bigger your head is the better the Ananda will sound to you because you can get more of the driver above your ear thus increasing that magical 'tall' soundstage everyone talks about?

If you had a truly massive head your ears could rest on the bottom lip of the inside of the earcup such that almost all the earcup is above your ear and then I'd imagine the soundstage would be ridiculously tall...

Out of interest, what approx size is your head (big/medium/small)?

 

[oqvist]

No real idea of my headsize but I can experiment a lot with the placements.

 

[cactus_farmer]

No real idea of my headsize but I can experiment a lot with the placements.

This must mean you have a large head. If you had an average sized head there would only be one setting you'd be able to 'experiment' with; the tightest setting where it's still borderline too big and the tops of your ears rub against the upper lip of the inside of the earcup and if you were to loosen the headband from the tightest setting the earcups would simply dangle below your actual ears and fire the music into your jaw instead of your ears.

 

[mksilent]

Hey, HFM fans,

I have the possibility to get both the Ananda and the Edition X V2 for a comparable price (Ananda 799€ new / Edition X V2 730€ 1 year old, top maintained).

I am now uncertain which headband I like better. Both in terms of wearing comfort and quality?
From the sound signature the V2 should be warmer. In addition, the highs are a bit more reserved than the Ananda and the bass are both comparable!

Is that true? What would be your choice?

Many greetings

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

Hey, HFM fans,

I have the possibility to get both the Ananda and the Edition X V2 for a comparable price (Ananda 799€ new / Edition X V2 730€ 1 year old, top maintained).

I am now uncertain which headband I like better. Both in terms of wearing comfort and quality?
From the sound signature the V2 should be warmer. In addition, the highs are a bit more reserved than the Ananda and the bass are both comparable!

Is that true? What would be your choice?

Many greetings

True. The Edition X V2 is the better choice.

 

[CoFire]

Hey, HFM fans,

I have the possibility to get both the Ananda and the Edition X V2 for a comparable price (Ananda 799€ new / Edition X V2 730€ 1 year old, top maintained).

I am now uncertain which headband I like better. Both in terms of wearing comfort and quality?
From the sound signature the V2 should be warmer. In addition, the highs are a bit more reserved than the Ananda and the bass are both comparable!

Is that true? What would be your choice?

Many greetings

I demo'd both back to back for a couple weeks. For the life of me, I can't figure out how some people think the Ananda headband is more comfortable than the HEX V2 but it was something that stood out to me. I felt the HEX V2 was far superior in comfort compared to the Ananda. On the flipside, the Ananda is comfortable too, it's just the old design was better IMO.

Soundwise, I agree, the HEX V2 is warmer, more lush, non sibilant with a laid back sound. There is more bass and weight to the HEX V2 bass. The Ananda sounds thinner with less fullness in the mids with more treble energy which gives rise to a slightly more precise soundstage and a perception of clarity. I think the Ananda is just more etched in the treble giving one the sense of more detail but that's a trick IMO. I call it fake detail and its a common Chifi iem tuning trick though I'm not saying Hifiman does this deliberately but it's a tuning that I don't care for. Detail wise, some say the Ananda is more detailed but I disagree. I didn't hear anything on the Ananda that the HEX V2 didn't resolve.

If there's anything I would like to take from the Ananda is the reverb effect or room effect it gave music. Like this sense of space or an echo of you will. The HEX V2 isn't lacking in soundstage but the Ananda does this well but at the price of everything else that's not a good compromise for me.

I wouldn't think twice about grabbing the HEX V2 over the Ananda but that's my taste. The Ananda is a good headphone as well.

 

[Toby Joe]

Hey, HFM fans,

I have the possibility to get both the Ananda and the Edition X V2 for a comparable price (Ananda 799€ new / Edition X V2 730€ 1 year old, top maintained).

I am now uncertain which headband I like better. Both in terms of wearing comfort and quality?
From the sound signature the V2 should be warmer. In addition, the highs are a bit more reserved than the Ananda and the bass are both comparable!

Is that true? What would be your choice?

Many greetings

In choosing between the HEX V2 or the Ananda, I think it all comes down to what you’re looking for and your headphone amp. Like at least a few here, I read posts here and scratch my head and think, “How are they saying this when I’ve literally experienced the exact opposite?” Here we all have an opinion, and as “audiophiles,” I’m quite surprised any of us actually ever agree on anything as it again comes down to personal preference and the headphone amp – at least it does in my opinion.

With all of this in mind, I would ask, what amp are you using? I ask this as maybe some amps are not delivering everything needed for people to hear the differences between headphones, like the HEX V2 and the Ananda. If you have an amp that will show you the differences between headphones, then the next step is what are your preferences in choosing between the two? I wrote a post here a few days ago highlighting the differences between the HEX V2 and the Ananda and you can look that up and read that, but a quick summary is they are not the same. The HEX V2 has a slower and thicker transducer that provides a lush and saturated sound, while the Ananda has a fast and thin transducer for the quick detailed sound. Therefore, what sound signature are you looking for, lush and saturated, or quick and detailed? Pick that and you’ve picked your headphones. Good luck. : )

 

[Module]

Hifiman sales Ananda for $699 now.

 

[cactus_farmer]

Is $699 likely to be the new permanent price for the Ananda now?

Didn't the Sundara drop from $499 to $349 on 'sale' a while ago, but it's never gone back up in price...?

 

[bagwell359]

It's not worth it in terms of technicalities, but it is the closest to HE1000 series from out of them. I only demo'd it briefly at a meet, and it sounded like HE1000 series depth and imaging without the sharp treble, of some splashiness they can exhibit with certain tracks. It sounded smoother in general, but not with the kind of reverb type of decay you get with HEXV2. It has a distinct sound of its' own from Andanda, HEXV2, and the HE1000 series.

I was drawn to the sound personally because I like the imaging of the HE1000 series in terms of depth of the sounds. You can notice the difference in certain live recordings, as I've noticed it between Ananda and HEKV2.

I think its very easy to to tell the difference between the Ananda and HEXV2 - live recordings or no. The HEX v2 is clearly the most different sounding headphones of their entire line from the HE-4, HE5LE, HE-6, HEX v1/v2/SE, the Ananda is much closer to the house sound such as the: 560 and HEX v1.

I have the MD 4XX, HE5SE, and HE-5LE, and would trade them for the Anada instantly, but I also have the HE6SE, HEX v2, and HE-500, and my taste being what is, I'm afraid no trades for those.

 

[Bob Ley]

This must mean you have a large head. If you had an average sized head there would only be one setting you'd be able to 'experiment' with; the tightest setting where it's still borderline too big and the tops of your ears rub against the upper lip of the inside of the earcup and if you were to loosen the headband from the tightest setting the earcups would simply dangle below your actual ears and fire the music into your jaw instead of your ears.

I'm having this issue also. I'm on the smallest setting but they still feel big. Have you heard of any d.i.y. mod/trick to fix this. I've been trying to be creative thinking, like wrap something around the heather headband.