[TeamHiFiMAN]

@TeamHiFiMAN

If I purchase a sundara from either your website or amazon, Is there anyway to know if we are receiving a unit with properly working drivers? The reason i ask is because back in November 2019, I went through 3 sets of Sundaras, all brought from amazon, all of which had Driver issues (left sided driver lower volume and buzzing). Those were my first and only hifiman purchase and needless to say, I was extremely dissapointed and terrified to buy sundara again

However, I think I am ready to purchase a new set right now but only if theres guarantee that the driver issues are fixed. Please let me know.

Hi there,

Sorry we just saw your post, please be assured that the Sundara we are selling either on our official site or other platform are fixed version, so no need to worry about the driver issue.

Please feel free to email us at Customerservice@hifiman.com if there is any question, we will be at your service.

April

 

[TeamHiFiMAN]

I have the chance to buy this pair for a great price. Is this pair the upgraded version?

Hi there,

Thank you for purchasing our products.
As the manufacturer, we noticed the online review that mentions the Stealth Revision of SUNDARA as well. But we assure that there's nothing has been changed to the driver to tweak the sound of SUNDARA. We've only improved the stock earpads for enhanced comfort and durability, but nothing changed to the size or shape of the earpdas, so actually we never have the "Stealth Revision version".
If you'd like to buy the latest batch of SUNDARA, you could always place an order at our official stores, either through the HIFIMAN eBay store (hifimanofficial) or HIFIMAN website.
We feel sorry for the misunderstandings. Feel free to email us if you have any other questions.

Thank you!

April

 

[.Sup]

Can somebody be so kind and please measure the size of the pads? I'd like to buy aftermarket ones when I receive my pair because velour is usually very itchy for me.

 

[turbobb]

@.Sup - a little tricky measuring pliable items but the I.D. is roughly 59mm H x 57mm W (I know it looks like perfect circle but that's what my caliper is saying).

All, I was looking for a replacement cable that had a mic and was all kevlar in hopes that it'd be less unwieldy than the thick stock rubber cable. Found a hybrid on ebay for about $34 and couldn't be more pleased with them. The reason I call them hybrid is that the half that plugs into the source is kevlar while the other half separated by a metal piece that sprouts the two 3.5mm leads that plug into the headphone are rubber, they are very thin and super pliable. There's also a fully functional remote (as tested on an Android phone) which was icing on the cake since I was primarily focused on just having a mic so I don't have to unplug the headphone for calls:

Here's a pic of it connected to the Sundara and the original cable for comparison. I have not bothered A/B'ing the two since I care more about the convenience/utility for this specific purpose, regardless, I can't discern any differences thus far.

 

[.Sup]

Hey turbobb, thank you for measuring the pads and sorry I haven't been clear enough. I am looking to buy this pad:
https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/coll...ts/headphone-memory-foam-earpads-xl-sheepskin
However I am not sure if the 110mm is too wide, so basically what I am asking is how wide is the cup of the headphone. Thank you again!

 

[turbobb]

@.Sup - ok in that case the O.D. is 104mm so they should fit but the OEM pads have a backing bracket with 4 notches that's glued to the pad (this Dekoni has them). Not sure if the Brainwavz pad will have this.

EDIT: HFM sells the rings: http://store.hifiman.com/index.php/earpad-mounting-rings.html

Perhaps @K.J. can chime in here since he replaced the pads with Brainwavz Angled Hybrids before.

 

[.Sup]

Thanks turbobb, that's all I needed to know. It is then the same size as the HE series pads. I have an extra pair of rings left from HE-500.
I think this is the better way to go then: https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/coll...e-memory-foam-earpads-round-sheepskin-leather
They are smaller than the original but leather/pleather stretches. I have these on my HE-4 already and they are great! All you need besides the rings is to make four holes with a sharpie to uncover the ring's notches. Easy to do. Thank you again!

 

[ferraro25]

.

 

[rebbi]

Hey, Guys,
I just got my Sundara's from Amazon last week. Out of the box I found them rather thin and bright, but then I saw in the owner's manual that HFM recommends 150 hours of burn in time for the to settle down and achieve their target SQ. Can someone please verify their burn-in experiences with the Sundara? Thanks in advance!

 

[JohnNick]

I received my Sundara (brand new) and after almost three weeks of listening / burning, today I can already give an opinion on them. Most likely my unit is not a stealph revison*, as this lot from my country’s dealer is from December 2018. I already had the HE560 V3 so I will try to talk about the differences between these two headphones as well.

In physical aspects it is notable that the headband of the he560 was more rigid / firm and without noise, compared to the headband of Sundara. However it has the same design and finish taking the different colors.

In the first song at Sundara I noticed a peak in the treble. I continued listening and after about 3 hours of listening to Sundara, those peaks disappeared. That was all the difference so far, after almost 50 hours of burn.

I will be brief about the sound quality. Today I can say that it is a well balanced phone, but with a tendency to be brighter despite not having those peaks in the treble anymore. To my ears, they sound with musical presentation, very airy, fast and with good detail. In the bass it has a good punch, but for my preferences I could have a little more weight in the sub-bass, to give more “ground”. The mediums seemed to me to be well balanced and melodious. And in the treble they sound brighter, with a good extension, detailed and don’t sound piercing.

As I no longer have the he560 I will have to talk about it from memory, which is not ideal, but in general aspects I can remember some differences. The He560 was much more difficult to amplify, very annoying with synegia to play well. Sundara needs amplification, but much less to play well, and it is not so difficult with synergy. I remember that the He560 had less mid-bass, but it had more sub-bass and depth than Sundara (as long as it was well amplified)**. At middleweight, the He560 was more forward and seemed to have more details (maybe). And in the treble I remember that the he560 had more treble and sounded more tiring after a long time of listening. Spatiality Sundara does much better, more open and airy, but the he560 had more depth.

The sound signature of Sundara pleases me much more than the he560 and taking into account the difficulty I had in finding a good synergy of amp / dac. Another thing that I found interesting at Sundara is that even at moderate volumes he presents the music in a complete way, with good dynamics and detail. In he560 I had to open the volume well to have that feeling of full music and good dynamics. I really liked Sundara, and I didn’t expect him to surprise me, I just hope he won’t break in the next few months.


*It suggests that there is a stealph revision...

**The best synergies I tried with the he560 were Chord Mojo, Chord Hugo1 and Drop + THX AAA 789. Sundara, on the other hand, is testing with Schiit Jotunheim, Schiit Fulla and the Meizu Hifi Pro dongle. Jotunheim does a little better, but the biggest surprise was seeing a dongle played Sundara very well

 

[JohnNick]

@.Sup - a little tricky measuring pliable items but the I.D. is roughly 59mm H x 57mm W (I know it looks like perfect circle but that's what my caliper is saying).

All, I was looking for a replacement cable that had a mic and was all kevlar in hopes that it'd be less unwieldy than the thick stock rubber cable. Found a hybrid on ebay for about $34 and couldn't be more pleased with them. The reason I call them hybrid is that the half that plugs into the source is kevlar while the other half separated by a metal piece that sprouts the two 3.5mm leads that plug into the headphone are rubber, they are very thin and super pliable. There's also a fully functional remote (as tested on an Android phone) which was icing on the cake since I was primarily focused on just having a mic so I don't have to unplug the headphone for calls:

Here's a pic of it connected to the Sundara and the original cable for comparison. I have not bothered A/B'ing the two since I care more about the convenience/utility for this specific purpose, regardless, I can't discern any differences thus far.

Did you have the link for this cable? Sundaras' are horrible, thanks.

 

[yeboyi]

Can anyone compare this to DT 1990 and Amiron Home ?

 

[Smoothstereo]

I have owned and heard both the so called "stealth revision" and the older initial version. They both sound generally about the same. The only difference I can tell is the stealth revision has less clamping force, it doesn't hurt my jaws as much as the previous version. Sonic wise, I also felt the stealth has a tad more bass/weight making it a bit more warmer in comparison.

 

[SilverEars]

I received my Sundara (brand new) and after almost three weeks of listening / burning, today I can already give an opinion on them. Most likely my unit is not a stealph revison*, as this lot from my country’s dealer is from December 2018. I already had the HE560 V3 so I will try to talk about the differences between these two headphones as well.

In physical aspects it is notable that the headband of the he560 was more rigid / firm and without noise, compared to the headband of Sundara. However it has the same design and finish taking the different colors.

In the first song at Sundara I noticed a peak in the treble. I continued listening and after about 3 hours of listening to Sundara, those peaks disappeared. That was all the difference so far, after almost 50 hours of burn.

I will be brief about the sound quality. Today I can say that it is a well balanced phone, but with a tendency to be brighter despite not having those peaks in the treble anymore. To my ears, they sound with musical presentation, very airy, fast and with good detail. In the bass it has a good punch, but for my preferences I could have a little more weight in the sub-bass, to give more “ground”. The mediums seemed to me to be well balanced and melodious. And in the treble they sound brighter, with a good extension, detailed and don’t sound piercing.

As I no longer have the he560 I will have to talk about it from memory, which is not ideal, but in general aspects I can remember some differences. The He560 was much more difficult to amplify, very annoying with synegia to play well. Sundara needs amplification, but much less to play well, and it is not so difficult with synergy. I remember that the He560 had less mid-bass, but it had more sub-bass and depth than Sundara (as long as it was well amplified)**. At middleweight, the He560 was more forward and seemed to have more details (maybe). And in the treble I remember that the he560 had more treble and sounded more tiring after a long time of listening. Spatiality Sundara does much better, more open and airy, but the he560 had more depth.

The sound signature of Sundara pleases me much more than the he560 and taking into account the difficulty I had in finding a good synergy of amp / dac. Another thing that I found interesting at Sundara is that even at moderate volumes he presents the music in a complete way, with good dynamics and detail. In he560 I had to open the volume well to have that feeling of full music and good dynamics. I really liked Sundara, and I didn’t expect him to surprise me, I just hope he won’t break in the next few months.


*It suggests that there is a stealph revision...

**The best synergies I tried with the he560 were Chord Mojo, Chord Hugo1 and Drop + THX AAA 789. Sundara, on the other hand, is testing with Schiit Jotunheim, Schiit Fulla and the Meizu Hifi Pro dongle. Jotunheim does a little better, but the biggest surprise was seeing a dongle played Sundara very well

I agree with your assessment. Sundara is easier to drive and it's dryer than 560. 560 has a treble peak that's why it gets tiring. I can't consider peaks detail, but nastiness in sound.

HE500 is even more of an improvement with better balaced sound, more bass with more wetness to sound.

With Hifiman planars, I'd recommend high power solid-state amps.

 

[cfranchi]

Hey, Guys,
I just got my Sundara's from Amazon last week. Out of the box I found them rather thin and bright, but then I saw in the owner's manual that HFM recommends 150 hours of burn in time for the to settle down and achieve their target SQ. Can someone please verify their burn-in experiences with the Sundara? Thanks in advance!

Yes I confirm that Sundara greatly benefit of 150h burn in : sound, for me, was a bit grainy / metallic out of the box. To be honest, I was never a firm believer of burn in but for Sundara (and I think for planars in general) it works.

Also I replaced the original cable with a Beyerdynamic cable (1.40m textured cable for T1) : don’t know if it improves the sound but the ergonomic / quality is much better than the Sundara cable.