HTSkywalker
Headphoneus Supremus
As I also own the Focal Elear, am using the $220 Focal cable on the Ananda but I tell you that no audible difference whatsoever with the Hifiman stock cable.
Hifiman Ananda
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musicman2006
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Hi everyone.
So I’ve had the Ananda headphones for two months now and am loving them.
Has anyone tried modifying the ear pads ?
I found a simple modification that really improved my listening experience and I’d like to share it.
I used 1/4 weather striping which is only $2 at Lowe’s or Home Depot , this is a dense foam material with only a light amount of stickiness, place the sticky side up so it is in contact with the pad, not the dust cover.
I cut and placed a single layer under the foam pads in the space between the pad and the dust cover as shown in the photos below. A double layer was placed on the thick side of the pad to help angle the drivers better. The double layer on the thick side is important because it is really what helped with the holographic imaging improvement. I tried it with a single layer too but it didn’t have quite the same effect.
Altogether this helps to fill in that space left between the pad and headphone, it helps give your ears a little more room in the pads, and it helps angle the pads better.
The results - it definitely tames the occasional shoutiness of vocals, and the imaging snaps right into place. Before the mod, musical layering was not a strong suit but now there is a definite holographic image with clear differences in the space between instruments.
The previously oval shape of the soundstage and has now filled out to create more of a sphere, which is what I wanted. I’m not saying this mod has increased the boundary line of the sound stage, just that its been filled in nicely.
On Sade’s album Promise, her vocals now seem to float in space with instruments clearly layered with their own depth points. In the track Punch Drunk, i can now hear each instrument’s decay and really feel as though I’m in the room with the musicians.
this mod is so cheap and easily reversible, it should definitely be tried.
System is MacBook - Audirvana/Tidal - Bifrost multibit - Jotunheim 2 balanced output with Periapt XLR cable.
So I’ve had the Ananda headphones for two months now and am loving them.
Has anyone tried modifying the ear pads ?
I found a simple modification that really improved my listening experience and I’d like to share it.
I used 1/4 weather striping which is only $2 at Lowe’s or Home Depot , this is a dense foam material with only a light amount of stickiness, place the sticky side up so it is in contact with the pad, not the dust cover.
I cut and placed a single layer under the foam pads in the space between the pad and the dust cover as shown in the photos below. A double layer was placed on the thick side of the pad to help angle the drivers better. The double layer on the thick side is important because it is really what helped with the holographic imaging improvement. I tried it with a single layer too but it didn’t have quite the same effect.
Altogether this helps to fill in that space left between the pad and headphone, it helps give your ears a little more room in the pads, and it helps angle the pads better.
The results - it definitely tames the occasional shoutiness of vocals, and the imaging snaps right into place. Before the mod, musical layering was not a strong suit but now there is a definite holographic image with clear differences in the space between instruments.
The previously oval shape of the soundstage and has now filled out to create more of a sphere, which is what I wanted. I’m not saying this mod has increased the boundary line of the sound stage, just that its been filled in nicely.
On Sade’s album Promise, her vocals now seem to float in space with instruments clearly layered with their own depth points. In the track Punch Drunk, i can now hear each instrument’s decay and really feel as though I’m in the room with the musicians.
this mod is so cheap and easily reversible, it should definitely be tried.
System is MacBook - Audirvana/Tidal - Bifrost multibit - Jotunheim 2 balanced output with Periapt XLR cable.
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Firevortex
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yea, if you read previous pages i've padded mine with 20mm audiofoam. less dense than yours but it gives more air and bass. there is another guy in the Arya thread which did similar mod to yours but only used 1 single sheet.
Silly newbie question, but I almost never look at tech specs but I'm contemplating getting the following:
Hifiman Ananda - frequency response: 8 Hz - 55 kHz
Pro-ject Pre Box S2 Digital - frequency response: 20Hz - 20kHz
I'm guessing you can't really hear below 20hz, but is this a bad pairing because of that? (Might be a bad pairing for other reasons, though, I don't know.)
Alternatively, the same shop has (the rather ugly):
IFI Zen Signature Set Dac + Can - frequency response: 10 Hz – 200 kHz
EDIT: Reading the thread I guess these may be a bit power hungry, so I should be looking at completely different tech specs than the above values... I've never bought headphones which were picky about amps before, so that's why I'm new at this (reading the comparison between these and the HE6SE now makes me second guess the Ananda decision, but that seems to be even more picky with amps... and it seems the price of the HE6SE has doubled in the last year... not that I would ever be able to get it as US discount prices in the EU, though).
Hifiman Ananda - frequency response: 8 Hz - 55 kHz
Pro-ject Pre Box S2 Digital - frequency response: 20Hz - 20kHz
I'm guessing you can't really hear below 20hz, but is this a bad pairing because of that? (Might be a bad pairing for other reasons, though, I don't know.)
Alternatively, the same shop has (the rather ugly):
IFI Zen Signature Set Dac + Can - frequency response: 10 Hz – 200 kHz
EDIT: Reading the thread I guess these may be a bit power hungry, so I should be looking at completely different tech specs than the above values... I've never bought headphones which were picky about amps before, so that's why I'm new at this (reading the comparison between these and the HE6SE now makes me second guess the Ananda decision, but that seems to be even more picky with amps... and it seems the price of the HE6SE has doubled in the last year... not that I would ever be able to get it as US discount prices in the EU, though).
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Ananda is very sensitive, so any decent SS headphone amp that gives 1W at 16-32 Ohms will drive them with ease. Another thing is trying to modify its frequency response with an amp, which is something that I don’t recommend. Amps should be as close to neutral as possible; if a headphne sound doesn’t suit the listener’s taste, equalization or, better still, choosing another headphone is the best route in my opinion.
Don’t be worried by matching the ends of a amp or headphone frequency response. Human hearing is very limited at these ends, so it is very unlikely that it could cause a noticeable problem.
Don’t be worried by matching the ends of a amp or headphone frequency response. Human hearing is very limited at these ends, so it is very unlikely that it could cause a noticeable problem.
227qed
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Not trying to start a war, but I noticed the owners manual says that these require 150 hrs burn in. Is that true? Do they get noticeably better with time?
The pads compress over time, will contour more to your face which will change the frequency response and the resonance area. The HD650 changes noticeably with pad compression.
tinyman392
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Mine didn’t fit perfectly when I first got them and the seal was weak. So that did break in with use as they sealed a lot better as time progressed. I normally never hear any changes past the 50-ish hour mark with any headphone. That said, with regards to the drivers, I really can’t say much as the pads were the bigger factor here by a large margin.
227qed
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FWIW I have a few comments. Take with salt.
I use a zen dac at work, it sounds great. I do t mind the way it looks. It’s a great deal. Gets remarkably close sound-wise to my mimby/ican combo at home. I’d probably fail a blind test.
I have the >400 mW ifi micro ican at home and it powers the ananda just fine. I’m not sure if I’m missing out on anything by not having more power, but they sound great. I think the zen can has more power so you should be good. Also, review I just read of the micro ican I have even said that it beautifully powered the hungry he6, despite the small power numbers
On to the next point, I absolutely love the XBass and 3D features on the ifi products. I basically can’t live without them. For the ananda, it adds in a lot of missing low end and the bass impact is great. I’m really impressed with how well the ananda takes bass EQ like this. If you listen to edm, rap, etc—any genre where you want a strong bass response, you should absolutely consider the ifi stuff unless your using a Loki or other EQ. I am a bass nut and use the XBass and Loki to get the bass up, but the XBass really gets me 75% of as much as I’ll ever need for music.
I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in the zen stack whatsoever unless you’re a total purist and don’t like bass.
227qed
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For sure, pads are huge, no pun. I don’t expect the drivers to change, but I’ll happily take a dose of positive placebo any day.
tinyman392
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Back in the day when I did reviews, I would hook up the headphones to my old iPod that was just playing on shuffle+repeat 24/7. I could hear differences after letting it sit for a day, but they were typically minor; they were rarely enough to change my overall thoughts. I don’t do that anymore though since time isn’t of the essence, so I just let them break in naturally. With respect to that I rarely hear much change (since the change with time is a lot harder to hear than the change all at once).
Edit: probably not the best place to go into the entire burn in debate.
No noticeable changes since first listening. A lot of brain adaptation, however. For instance, sibilance is still there, but I have learned to be less bothered by it.
HTSkywalker
Headphoneus Supremus
As for amps, frequency response is the technical ability of an amp delivery spectrum regardless of human hearing. While still not the main reflection for a good amp but the wider the better.
A good and reasonably priced amp which can drive the Ananda I would recommend:
- SS amp: Schiit Magnius or the Drop THX AAA 789 for a bit more $
- Hybrid amp: Cavalli CTH
Tube amps are out of the question for Planars
HTSkywalker
Headphoneus Supremus
Take my advice for it, I did exceed the 150 hours by far. There is no night and day difference before and after the 150 markup. The Ananda sounds wonderful out of the box, the sound will gradually change in an un-noticeable way as you use them but definitely after around maybe 500 they won't be the same exact sounding as out of the box.
Regardless no rush in breaking in, just enjoy them.
HTSkywalker
Headphoneus Supremus
True the only noticeable change with time is the earpad taking shape.
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