bagwell359
Headphoneus Supremus
HEX v2 has deeper angled pads than the v1. a slight color scheme change and something else minor. Fans of HFM are pretty unified in liking the v2 more. I've never heard a v1.
Hifiman Ananda
- Thread starter SilverEars
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HEX v2 has deeper angled pads than the v1. a slight color scheme change and something else minor. Fans of HFM are pretty unified in liking the v2 more. I've never heard a v1.
Here: https://crinacle.com/rankings/headphones/ literally best tuned headphone according to crinacle. Value king in his list.
bagwell359
Headphoneus Supremus
Ananda not so flat on:
hear.reviews
headphones.com
diyaudioheaven
before we hear any more rips on diyaudioheaven: they point out the ringing at 9kHz; audible resonance issues at 4kHZ and 8kHz. Rtings doesn't seem to bother.
As for crinicle.com the graph is pretty meh, but more strange they rank it above:
All Sens (HD-800/800S/600/650) (ouch!)
All MrSpeakers (thwaaaack!)
(all Stax including the SR-009) except the SR- 007) (bang!)
all ZMF (snort!)
all HFM but (Arya, HEK v1/v2) - guess the HEKse, Susvara, Shangri-La must suck (whack!)
(all Audeze) including the LCD-4 (boom!)
(all Abyss) (including the Phi (oof!)
pardon the Batman sounds, I defy ANYONE to agree that the Ananda is better that every single can I listed.
Add on: I've come to see the Ananda as probably one of the best cans in its price range - say +/- $200 as long as it isn't married to a bright amp or DAC, and probably safest with an EQ. Now IMO that's a pretty dead price range. At the original list, not quite so good.
I find the HFM cans I have all sounding a lot better with an EQ, Now according to Oratory 1990 they are perfect over 3k, so I guess an EQ won't help after all (over 3k). Honestly that's a crazy claim and crinicle doesn't agree either.
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SilverEars
Headphoneus Supremus
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Basically, they are not flat on crappy rigs? No headphones are flat. Wouldn't it actually make more sense that they appear to look flatter because they are not using ear simulators? Like DIYheaven's crappy rig results showing slight valley that shouldn't exist without any uppermids ear gain being reflected (therefore flatter looking?). Earlier, I've posted references to look into why measurements look the eay they do. Did you whatch the one with Tyll explaining?
How did you take the sampling on which, the V1 or V2 is actually the better tuning or liked better? Did all these people have both and decided that V2 is superior? My opinion is that Andanda has better technicalities than HEXV2, but I can't say how similar V1 sounds to V2. I get a feeling V1 will be a different tuning as Ananda is particularly different from V2.
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If you think those are better then there is nothing to discuss.
bagwell359
Headphoneus Supremus
Certainly not flat from 3k - 20k as Oratory `1990 says the Ananda is.
Does Rtings do CSD/waterfall plots? DIYH informs us of ringing and resonances, which I do put stock in.
I have a very good memory for things I read. There was a strong bias towards the v2. I never did hear the v1 so I'm not sure about that - but with a different pad it makes sense it's different, look at what pads do for the 600, 500, 6, etc.
bagwell359
Headphoneus Supremus
There are at least 3 versions, go out on the 560 site and make that assertion.
That is not a universally held opinion, not by a long shot.
Don't think you looked all that hard.
Headfonics: The lower treble remains fairly linear with the mids up to around 6-7k where it elevates fairly quickly and sustains to around 10k. Higher pitched instrumental timbre is thus a lot cleaner sounding and more to the fore on the Ananda.
Headphoneer: The Sundara feels more dynamical, it slams harder. In many ways (than the Ananda); The 560 has better low bass, is more transparent and more comfortable to wear.
The HE1000 v2´s presentation is not very different from the Ananda´s. But it has none of the Ananda weaknesses. It has similar sound-staging but is better especially in depth. It digs deeper in the bass, it has better dynamics, the tonality is more coherent, and it is cleaner across the range: The slight midrange bloom of the Ananda is exchanged for a very well balanced and even more detailed midrange. (Yes the KEK v2 is a lot more expensive, but, Ananda not perfect).
But overall they do like them.
Diyaudio: The peak around 8kHz is audible.
The CSD looks a bit ‘messy’ compared to dynamic headphones and does show the 8kHz peak is a resonance and not just a frequency response thing. Also around 4kHz and in the highest frequencies resonances are seen. The membrane isn’t damped that well it seems.
The plot shows a ‘bump’ around 0.4ms which means there is an audible emphasis around 2.5kHz which is not seen on the frequency plots, in fact it even shows a dip there. It does account for the ‘clear’ sound it has.
The 4 letter site that we can't mention:
user: ...peak around 8kHz. This has a negative effect on high pitched percussion instruments and the leading edges of some notes so things start to sound a little bit artificial.
They are not good for classical. Timbre is off although tonality is good. They sound very thin / lean and above all decay is very fast so high pitched instruments sound fake... After a half an hour they become very fatiguing
user2: Ananda falls a bit short on my gear (SE output from THX AAA 789), most notably in the opening measures of the third movement (Presto) of Beethoven's 7th Symphony (c: Karajan) (5564189). On the Ananda, the timpani and the strings meld together into an incoherent blob at the soundstage "layer" that is closest to my ear. Definitely fatiguing and non-euphonic to me.
Most of the rest of the time it was Ananda vs HEX v2 and vs 500/560.
You know what I see? An Ananda fan defending his financial and ego investment.
bagwell359
Headphoneus Supremus
So did you do any actual research on them? I'm sure.
I think most of the controversy comes from unorthodox earcup design, headband design and fit/seal. Natural dip just before the 8k ''peak'' making 8k look like an issue in some graphs. Also most of those graphs shows Sundara and Ananda bass same which is wrong. Ananda has significantly more bass.
I think you are the one who defending his financial and ego investment since Ananda is literally way cheaper and updated/improved HEX v2. It also has way better tonality than HD800, 800S.
Hey i know most of those. I agree with crinacle's tier list except he is way generous for the HD6x0 technicalities. I'm not here to fight you. Ananda might have driver variation, it's Hifiman we are talking about. Also as i said earlier earcup and headband design, seal can affect the sound. Also we have different earshapes and size which affects different frequencies.
Maximiliano Campo
100+ Head-Fier
How do these compare with the Audeze LCD2-C in terms of sound quality?
I read your post carefully,
I can say with the best of my knowledge and belief that I have rarely read such arrogant and overestimated content here
bagwell359
Headphoneus Supremus
I read your post carefully,
I can say with the best of my knowledge and belief that I have rarely read such arrogant and overestimated content here
From a member of two months and 77 posts... Overestimated? I think you need to get around a bit more - or do you really think the Ananda is the 8th (per crinicle) best headphone in the world? A ridiculous position for them to take IMO (and I'm sure of most Sr. posters here).
Module
100+ Head-Fier
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Nobody says it's a "8th best headphone in the world". What is that even mean btw? Seems like marketing bullsh*t, just like you trying mock Ananda, saying even HD 600 and quite a handful other headphones clearly better than Ananda. It's meaningless.
If you don't understand, nobody mentioned Ananda is best headphone in the world here, or top 10-20-30, it's stupid, top lists always are very subjective here (if you don't stick to simple logic more expensive = better). But can we all agree Ananda for most of us is good headphone for its price? I think yes.
Sorry for my bad english.
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Not every headpone reviewed there. It's more like 8th best headphone in the list. Actually it's the best in the list tonality wise with S= rating along with Utopia.
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