[Dorien]

I have the HE560 V1.5 with the 2.5mm plugs, ebony wood veneer and Focus A pads. Maybe the best sound that I have heard from an open headphone.
Large, encompassing soundtage, balanced, natural, very detailed, with high resolution. They need decent amping and then they will shine.
They are also very comfortable and light for a planar magnetic headphone.

I have not heard the Sundara but they say HE560 has more bass.
I also tried Focuspads on HE560 (smaller soundstage, slightly more bass and less mids)
and NewFantasia sheepskin pads (big, agressive bass and more V shape in character).
Focus A pads are perfect for me. These are the hybrid pads that have velour inner profile.

 

[SilverEars]

I have the HE560 V1.5 with the 2.5mm plugs, ebony wood veneer and Focus A pads. Maybe the best sound that I have heard from an open headphone.
Large, encompassing soundtage, balanced, natural, very detailed, with high resolution. They need decent amping and then they will shine.
They are also very comfortable and light for a planar magnetic headphone.

I have not heard the Sundara but they say HE560 has more bass.
I also tried Focuspads on HE560 (smaller soundstage, slightly more bass and less mids)
and NewFantasia sheepskin pads (big, agressive bass and more V shape in character).
Focus A pads are perfect for me. These are the hybrid pads that have velour inner profile.

There's also the new Palipads on new versions as well. I heard Ori pads darken the reponses of HE6 so perhaps of interest for somebody looking for darker. I got a set of Ori I'm looking to sell so message if interested.

 

[tan.phan.vt]

I have the HE560 V1.5 with the 2.5mm plugs, ebony wood veneer and Focus A pads. Maybe the best sound that I have heard from an open headphone.
Large, encompassing soundtage, balanced, natural, very detailed, with high resolution. They need decent amping and then they will shine.
They are also very comfortable and light for a planar magnetic headphone.

I have not heard the Sundara but they say HE560 has more bass.
I also tried Focuspads on HE560 (smaller soundstage, slightly more bass and less mids)
and NewFantasia sheepskin pads (big, agressive bass and more V shape in character).
Focus A pads are perfect for me. These are the hybrid pads that have velour inner profile.

He560 seems to have more sub bass than Sundara from my experience with both. Sundara has a somewhat scratchy sound that i cannot explain, compared to to smoother sounding He560, narrower soundstage too.
Tried both on my ifi micro idsd black label.

 

[Dorien]

He560 seems to have more sub bass than Sundara from my experience with both. Sundara has a somewhat scratchy sound that i cannot explain, compared to to smoother sounding He560, narrower soundstage too.
Tried both on my ifi micro idsd black label.

Thanks for the info.

My DAC was a Starting Point Systems DAC 3 and used Sense V1 / Kercso Audio CompositeAmp for amping. Sense V1 was barely enough for my volume needs. Dynamics, soundstage were great on both.

 

[LCMusicLover]

I bought some ZMF pads for my Auteur — didn’t care for the Universe perforated suede pads on Auteur. But, at the suggestion of another member, I tried them with HE-560. I didn’t have spare rings, so couldn’t give a very good trial. But, after trying them just relying on clamping force to hold them in place, I was encouraged enough to order some rings from Hifiman to allow for an extensive trial. After a bit of USPS shenanigans, the rings arrived today. Long preamble to:

I really like these pads w/ 560s. If you find the ‘V’ a bit extreme, or hear mids (especially vocals) a bit ‘too far back’ you owe it to try these pads. They make a significant difference. They don’t ‘rotate’ frequency response, but they definitely alter the headstage, and bring the mids up.

To be clear, these pads don’t kill the open/airy headstage of the 560s, just ‘tame’ it some.

Background — I guess these are ‘v2’ 560s — 2.5mm jacks, faux wood trim, purchased July 2017. They were actually my first full-size cans after a long sojourn in IEM-land. Certainly fully burned in.

 

[jeff442]

This is my first post on Head-Fi and I am amazed at the wealth of information offered here. For the last 10 years or so, I have been enjoying 2-channel listening via my living room loudspeaker setup. I owned VMPS RM30 speakers which integrate planar midranges and ribbon tweeters. They are very unique speakers and I absolutely loved the sound, but with small children, it was time to move onto something else for critical listening. I ended up selling (*sniff*) my loudspeakers and as part of the coping process, started to journey down the rabbit hole of head-fi. From what I read, open back planar based headphones would offer the most comparable experience to what i had previously enjoyed. I decided to pickup the HE 560 V4 via one of the Adorama promos, figuring this would be my best bang for my buck at $250. That opened up pandoras box! Now I have plunked another $400 down between the THX 789 amp and the SMSL SU-8 V2 DAC. Both the amp and the DAC feature balanced XLR connections. Connecting the amp and DAC is fairly straightforward as it would be 2 XLR cables, one per channel, similar to my previous loudspeaker setup. My question is how do connect the 560 headphones to the balanced output on the amp. Is it some type of adapter or an entirely new cable?

 

[ultraman31]

This is my first post on Head-Fi and I am amazed at the wealth of information offered here. For the last 10 years or so, I have been enjoying 2-channel listening via my living room loudspeaker setup. I owned VMPS RM30 speakers which integrate planar midranges and ribbon tweeters. They are very unique speakers and I absolutely loved the sound, but with small children, it was time to move onto something else for critical listening. I ended up selling (*sniff*) my loudspeakers and as part of the coping process, started to journey down the rabbit hole of head-fi. From what I read, open back planar based headphones would offer the most comparable experience to what i had previously enjoyed. I decided to pickup the HE 560 V4 via one of the Adorama promos, figuring this would be my best bang for my buck at $250. That opened up pandoras box! Now I have plunked another $400 down between the THX 789 amp and the SMSL SU-8 V2 DAC. Both the amp and the DAC feature balanced XLR connections. Connecting the amp and DAC is fairly straightforward as it would be 2 XLR cables, one per channel, similar to my previous loudspeaker setup. My question is how do connect the 560 headphones to the balanced output on the amp. Is it some type of adapter or an entirely new cable?

You would need to get a new balanced cable. Check out Hart Audio Cable if you are looking for something affordable and good quality cable.

 

[jeff442]

Thank you. Stupid question though - The balanced cables that go between amp and DAC are 3 pin XLR male at one end and 3 pin XLR female at the other. I'm familiar with those already and have 2 on order.

For the cable that goes from the front of the THX amp, I assume this would be a 3 pin male XLR termination at one end into a 3.5" TRS left and 3.5" TRS right?

 

[ultraman31]

Is it thx789 from Drop? If so, it’s 4pin xlr

 

[jeff442]

Yes, correct. So I would need something like this?

https://hartaudiocables.com/collect...lanced-headphone-cable?variant=31299690627153

 

[Kukuk]

Looks like that's a mini XLR, you'll want a full-sized XLR.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Yes, correct. So I would need something like this?

https://hartaudiocables.com/collect...lanced-headphone-cable?variant=31299690627153

To use that, you'd also need this:

https://hartaudiocables.com/collections/interconnects/products/ic-3-4-pin-xlr

 

[housekrl]

This is my first post on Head-Fi and I am amazed at the wealth of information offered here. For the last 10 years or so, I have been enjoying 2-channel listening via my living room loudspeaker setup. I owned VMPS RM30 speakers which integrate planar midranges and ribbon tweeters. They are very unique speakers and I absolutely loved the sound, but with small children, it was time to move onto something else for critical listening. I ended up selling (*sniff*) my loudspeakers and as part of the coping process, started to journey down the rabbit hole of head-fi. From what I read, open back planar based headphones would offer the most comparable experience to what i had previously enjoyed. I decided to pickup the HE 560 V4 via one of the Adorama promos, figuring this would be my best bang for my buck at $250. That opened up pandoras box! Now I have plunked another $400 down between the THX 789 amp and the SMSL SU-8 V2 DAC. Both the amp and the DAC feature balanced XLR connections. Connecting the amp and DAC is fairly straightforward as it would be 2 XLR cables, one per channel, similar to my previous loudspeaker setup. My question is how do connect the 560 headphones to the balanced output on the amp. Is it some type of adapter or an entirely new cable?

Welcome to the world of headphone listening. As they say, Sorry about your wallet!

 

[gearofwar]

I am new to thread, does anyone know if Ananda is considered an upgrade from HE-560 V1 Revision 2 (2.5 connector) ? I currently own HE-560 running it on the stock cable terminated to XLR balance (I have been thinking of replacing the cable if deciding to keep 560).

 

[housekrl]

I am new to thread, does anyone know if Ananda is considered an upgrade from HE-560 V1 Revision 2 (2.5 connector) ? I currently own HE-560 running it on the stock cable terminated to XLR balance (I have been thinking of replacing the cable if deciding to keep 560).

To me it is an upgrade. Much fuller, more balanced sound. Tonally more accurate. Larger soundstage. I still like the 560 but Ananda has much more high-end sound. Closer to TotL in my opinion.