[lapzoo]

Either of those would be great for the Sundara. They have similar power to the JDS Labs Atom, and it drives them great. If you listen to quiet music like classical though, you will need to use high gain.

The Schiit amps have significantly more power or not?

 

[Chodi]

Yeah this is why I'm slightly hesitant to return at this time. At the end of the day I'm not a sound engineer and my 3db figure just comes from A/Bing them with my Fidelio X2 which to me sounds like it has perfect channel balance and subtracting volume from the left channel with the sundaras until they sound about the same. Obviously this isn't a foolproof system and I may just let them burn in for longer until I make a judgement that there's 100% something wrong

3 db would be unaccetable. That woulď be easily audible. Easiest way to check is with a mono tone or a recording with a mono voice. The shift would be obvious. The tone should be dead center.

 

[bigjako]

I continue to enjoy the Sundara... I'm somewhat treble-sensitive and the Sundara falls on the right side of that line for me, but after a few hours my ears feel a little over-sparkled. Does anyone have any experience with DIY-Audio's Sundara passive filters? It "lowers the 9kHZ peak by 6db" I'm curious if that would nip that little extra sparkle off the top end for me. I'm curious to try it, or something like it but I'd love to hear anyone's experience with those.

 

[JamminVMI]

I also recently purchased a sundara and had channel imbalance issues, upon eqing it feels like there's around a 3db difference with the left driver being louder than the right. I got in contact with the store I purchased from and this was the response

"I am very sorry to hear there is an issue with the headphones. May I just check that you are sure there is an imbalance? We’ve had a few reports from customers mentioning one of the earphones sounding louder than another by 10-15% but upon checking and providing a replacement we are certain this is how Sundara headphones sound normally."

I can get a replacement at this time but is this really just how the Sundara sounds? Should I try burning them in further or just eq out the difference instead of wasting my time sending out for a replacement?

Um, no, not normal...

 

[DivineCurrent]

I continue to enjoy the Sundara... I'm somewhat treble-sensitive and the Sundara falls on the right side of that line for me, but after a few hours my ears feel a little over-sparkled. Does anyone have any experience with DIY-Audio's Sundara passive filters? It "lowers the 9kHZ peak by 6db" I'm curious if that would nip that little extra sparkle off the top end for me. I'm curious to try it, or something like it but I'd love to hear anyone's experience with those.

Hey, I normally use EQ with the Sundara. I haven't used any passive filters on DIY Audio though. I don't really hear any peak at 9 kHz, but take a look at my EQ settings for the Sundara I posted before below. I think it makes them sound nice and warm, similar the Sennheiser HD 650 or 58X plus all the benefits of a planar magnetic.

I was experimenting more with EQ on my Sundara yesterday, and now they sound even better than what I was using before. The past 2 months of owning the Sundara, I found them to be a bit too bright for my tastes, there seems to be a hump around 12-13 kHz that brings out cymbals and metallic instruments a little too much. This is in comparison to my reference headphones HD600, HD58X, and Focal Elex. However, this time I finally got the EQ settings right in that area and now they sound very balanced. Adding a low shelf at 150 Hz and a dip at 4 kHz, and now they are often more enjoyable to me than the HD600 or 58X. So don't be afraid to use EQ on headphones, even small adjustments make a huge difference in my experience.

 

[bigjako]

Hey, I normally use EQ with the Sundara. I haven't used any passive filters on DIY Audio though. I don't really hear any peak at 9 kHz, but take a look at my EQ settings for the Sundara I posted before below. I think it makes them sound nice and warm, similar the Sennheiser HD 650 or 58X plus all the benefits of a planar magnetic.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try that first. Any recommendation for a Mac EQ tool? I know that Spotify and Amazon don't have it in their Mac apps, so I appreciate any reccos you have.

 

[TeamHiFiMAN]

I also recently purchased a sundara and had channel imbalance issues, upon eqing it feels like there's around a 3db difference with the left driver being louder than the right. I got in contact with the store I purchased from and this was the response

"I am very sorry to hear there is an issue with the headphones. May I just check that you are sure there is an imbalance? We’ve had a few reports from customers mentioning one of the earphones sounding louder than another by 10-15% but upon checking and providing a replacement we are certain this is how Sundara headphones sound normally."

I can get a replacement at this time but is this really just how the Sundara sounds? Should I try burning them in further or just eq out the difference instead of wasting my time sending out for a replacement?

Hi there, can you please email us at customerservice@hifiman.com so that we can look into what’s happened and to see how we can help?

Thank you!

April

 

[bigjako]

I finally connected the Sundaras to a used Little Dot MKII. I'd heard that that was a bad idea, that they wouldn't work well together, but it sounds wonderful to me (first connected to a Modius, then passed through the 789 to the MKII. I was a little paranoid I thought I might blow the planar (or the MKII) and tested it on a cheaper headphone first. I have to say it really addresses a lot of my thoughts on the Sundara (I won't call them issues). It's warmer overall, with thicker mids but still open with great separation. And with plenty of volume to spare (I'm at 40/100). There's a negative impact too, but I think it tames some of brilliance of the Sundara and makes them feel more natural, which were my only issues with the Sundaras.

Am I somehow risking the Sundaras by running them out of an OTL tube amp? I'm having a hard time going back to the THX right now.

 

[Taulbeeb]

Has QC gotten better on the silent revision? I really am interested in getting a pair, but I would hate worrying about issues with the build or drivers..

 

[joshUKUSA]

So it turns out my issues were down to the sundara really not getting on with the SE output on my Liquid Carbon X amp, my custom balanced cable finally arrived this morning and running them balanced has entirely solved the issue. I even went back and forth a few times to make sure I hadn't been imagining it beforehand and there is an obvious leftwards bias when running them through the SE output as opposed to the balanced which is very strange.

Either way very happy with the outcome as these headphones sound absolutely fantastic especially for quieter acoustic tracks

 

[lapzoo]

So it turns out my issues were down to the sundara really not getting on with the SE output on my Liquid Carbon X amp, my custom balanced cable finally arrived this morning and running them balanced has entirely solved the issue. I even went back and forth a few times to make sure I hadn't been imagining it beforehand and there is an obvious leftwards bias when running them through the SE output as opposed to the balanced which is very strange.

Either way very happy with the outcome as these headphones sound absolutely fantastic especially for quieter acoustic tracks

You could blind test it with the help of someone.

 

[Chodi]

I finally connected the Sundaras to a used Little Dot MKII. I'd heard that that was a bad idea, that they wouldn't work well together, but it sounds wonderful to me (first connected to a Modius, then passed through the 789 to the MKII. I was a little paranoid I thought I might blow the planar (or the MKII) and tested it on a cheaper headphone first. I have to say it really addresses a lot of my thoughts on the Sundara (I won't call them issues). It's warmer overall, with thicker mids but still open with great separation. And with plenty of volume to spare (I'm at 40/100). There's a negative impact too, but I think it tames some of brilliance of the Sundara and makes them feel more natural, which were my only issues with the Sundaras.

Am I somehow risking the Sundaras by running them out of an OTL tube amp? I'm having a hard time going back to the THX right now.

No problem. It will cause the Sundara to sound warmer.

 

[Benaudio]

Just got a pair of those.
They look like they are a real value indeed, liking them so far. Maybe I was expecting the bass to be just a bit more in quantity, they are a bit south of neutral for my taste, compared even to my Elegia. They are the latest revision, manufactured mid June.

You guys can tell me what kind of changes can be expected after burn in, if any?
Any change to bass / treble quantity and quality?

 

[lapzoo]

Just got a pair of those.
They look like they are a real value indeed, liking them so far. Maybe I was expecting the bass to be just a bit more in quantity, they are a bit south of neutral for my taste, compared even to my Elegia. They are the latest revision, manufactured mid June.

You guys can tell me what kind of changes can be expected after burn in, if any?
Any change to bass / treble quantity and quality?

I find them too bright without EQ, so I use oratory1990's preset. There's a +6dB on 105Hz, so there should be your desired bass, it's definitely enough for me, listening mainly to rock. But I also like it with EDM.

Here's the preset.

I don't think burn-in exists, but my ears do got used to the sound more and more over the last few weeks. Guess it's more of a brain burn-in.

 

[Benaudio]

Thanks, that's very useful!

Yes, brain burn in is definitely a thing, after some hours of listening the bass already seems to make much more sense. Will keep it un-EQ'd for now to get to know them first.

But already loving them, the treble is really nice with great detail, dynamics a very good, FR nicely balanced, imaging is also top notch IMO!
Air round the instruments also very good.
Not very much to say in the negative department to be honest.
Will see after the honeymoon but I'm very pleased, and based on what I had read, I was expecting much, so it is no small feat!
Starting to understand why these HP are being raved about, I'm glad I grabbed a pair!