[TeamHiFiMAN]

i have seen measurements and there was changes to the tonal characteristic of the Sundara and it was stated to be caused by a changed in the pads the come with Sundara. Are you saying no changes were made to Sundara pads at some point in time to makes changes to the sound or perhaps improvement? Has Sundara pads always been Palipads or something different earlier on?

Yes it is always the Palipad, we changed the glue to make them more durable, as we found in warm conditions, they would over time slowly come apart and this new glue is better suited for such environments.

April

 

[FullBright1]

When the Sundara first arrived a couple of years ago, obo, i was among the first to own it, and i had to return it as the Left Driver was DOA.
So, my next attempt arrived today, 12-28-2020.
It was supposed to arrive on 12-24 along with my AKG 371, and my Grado GW100v2, and my Beyer Amiron Wireless, but, Covid-Fever has infected the world and shipping has been delayed,.......till further notice.

So, im listening to them for a while today, and, i realized something..
These sound like a cross between the LCD-X and the Hifiman Edition Xv2, except they dont have quite the power of the LCD's low end, nor the soundstage or quite the resolution of the Hifiman Edition Xv2., but..... that is not an insult.

I have to say that i was expecting less. My expectations were low., and they have been exceeded by this somewhat dry, but quite natural and articulate sounding set of headphones.
The Sundara's possess a unique dark tho airy timbre.
I like its vocal presentation, as unlike the HD800S, the vocals,.....the midrange is not a step behind.
Dynamics are good, Bass extension and texture is good.
Mids are lean but balanced which is way way better then bloated and too warm.
Trebles are again, dark yet airy.......and seemingly not sharp.
There is little to none of the glaring shouty stuff going on here as you find with the Arya or Ananda's mids.
The Sundara has all the sonic aspects i liked about the original HE560, but adds midrange, balance, and a treble that is not sharp.,.....and tho its not quite as comfy as the H560, it is a bit lighter.

All the "notable" reviewers have said that the Sundara's are a must own, and a fantastic value @$350, and they are right.

 

[jasswolf]

When the Sundara first arrived a couple of years ago, obo, i was among the first to own it, and i had to return it as the Left Driver was DOA.
So, my next attempt arrived today, 12-28-2020.
It was supposed to arrive on 12-24 along with my AKG 371, and my Grado GW100v2, and my Beyer Amiron Wireless, but, Covid-Fever has infected the world and shipping has been delayed,.......till further notice.

So, im listening to them for a while today, and, i realized something..
These sound like a cross between the LCD-X and the Hifiman Edition Xv2, except they dont have quite the power of the LCD's low end, nor the soundstage or quite the resolution of the Hifiman Edition Xv2., but..... that is not an insult.

I have to say that i was expecting less. My expectations were low., and they have been exceeded by this somewhat dry, but quite natural and articulate sounding set of headphones.
The Sundara's possess a unique dark tho airy timbre.
I like its vocal presentation, as unlike the HD800S, the vocals,.....the midrange is not a step behind.
Dynamics are good, Bass extension and texture is good.
Mids are lean but balanced which is way way better then bloated and too warm.
Trebles are again, dark yet airy.......and seemingly not sharp.
There is little to none of the glaring shouty stuff going on here as you find with the Arya or Ananda's mids.
The Sundara has all the sonic aspects i liked about the original HE560, but adds midrange, balance, and a treble that is not sharp.,.....and tho its not quite as comfy as the H560, it is a bit lighter.

All the "notable" reviewers have said that the Sundara's are a must own, and a fantastic value @$350, and they are right.

Agree with your thoughts, and looking at your collection, very keen on your thoughts with regards to the ATH-R70X and K371 as complimentary headphones.

Worth reaching for, or better off finding a higher-end target?

 

[Flognuts]

Still the best headphones South of $1000 AU

Headphone Bargain of the decade.

Keen to try the Ayra and call it a day, but equally happy to call these my end game, pairs amazingly well with the Chord MOJO.

 

[FullBright1]

Agree with your thoughts, and looking at your collection, very keen on your thoughts with regards to the ATH-R70X and K371 as complimentary headphones.

Worth reaching for, or better off finding a higher-end target?

You have good ears........

And my Collection here......i need to update it, as ive purchased about 70 more headphones since i last updated my Bio, and about 20 more Dac Amps.

I can't tell you , yet, how the K371 sounds, but i already disagree with some member here who says the Treble has no clarity.. As that can't be correct, as the one thing that all AKG headphones will always have, is extra or spicy Treble.
Mine are in the box, waiting for me to try them.....which i will do in a little while, and then i'll come here and tell you what they offer us.

And the R70/x, is the best Headphone that AT makes........ What i mean is......Its the most neutral, accurate, and balanced.
Its almost as if they were trying to make a perfected HD600, as this headphone is so pleasant to hear.... and accurate.
Light as a feather, also.

 

[FullBright1]

Still the best headphones South of $1000 AU
Headphone Bargain of the decade.
Keen to try the Ayra and call it a day, but equally happy to call these my end game, pairs amazingly well with the Chord MOJO

The Arya sounds nothing like the Sundara., regarding 3 Key sonic situations.
The Arya has an annoying (to me) upper midrange glare, that the Sundara does not possess, and it also has a much more vast soundscape/soundstage, and it produces slightly more detail, yet, the Sundara has excellent detail retrieval.
So, this is one of those.....>"when it it enough".....as past a certain point, detail retrieval interferes with musicality.... And when you paid $3000USD for that, then you've purchased microscopes instead of Headphones.
Also, the Arya is much more comfortable than the Sundara.

 

[Flognuts]

The Arya sounds nothing like the Sundara., regarding 3 Key sonic situations.
The Arya has an annoying (to me) upper midrange glare, that the Sundara does not possess, and it also has a much more vast soundscape/soundstage, and it produces slightly more detail, yet, the Sundara has excellent detail retrieval.
So, this is one of those.....>"when it it enough".....as past a certain point, detail retrieval interferes with musicality.... And when you paid $3000USD for that, then you've purchased microscopes instead of Headphones.
Also, the Arya is much more comfortable than the Sundara.

So apart from comfort....if I don't listen to orchestral then keep the Sundara

 

[FullBright1]

Agree with your thoughts, and looking at your collection, very keen on your thoughts with regards to the ATH-R70X and K371 as complimentary headphones.

Worth reaching for, or better off finding a higher-end target?

Ok, here is the reality regarding the K371.

Its a musical sounding set of headphones, accurate, balanced, and comfortable.
It feels like the recent HD560S on your head, but its more comfy on the ears as the 560S's pads are not the best.
Also, typical of AKG, the bass is neutral city, which can be an asset regarding listening to closed headphones, but your milage will vary.....just be informed that if you need to feel the bass to enjoy the music, then you will not be feeling it inside these Cans.
It could be that with burn in, the bass response will increase.
But certainly, right out of the box, the K371's overall sound is good, which means it will only get better as time provides.

The Sound that is produced by the K371, is sweet, quite detailed, and not dry.
Vocals are a step forward and Bass is a step back.
Soundstage is good but not great, and they are easy to drive.
This is an enjoyable musical sound, with nice detail, and lacking any offensive FR.
If you like the AKG sound, then you'll like these headphones, tho they do sound different, tonally, then the AKG-7 series, in that they are not "airy", or lacking midrange.
Definitely more of a super affordable Reference sound Q, seems to be their goal.
Also of note is that you get 3 nice cables, included.
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[Jman841]

Ok, here is the reality regarding the K371.

Its a musical sounding set of headphones, accurate, balanced, and comfortable.
It feels like the recent HD560S on your head, but its more comfy on the ears as the 560S's pads are not the best.
Also, typical of AKG, the bass is neutral city, which can be an asset regarding listening to closed headphones, but your milage will vary.....just be informed that if you need to feel the bass to enjoy the music, then you will not be feeling it inside these Cans.
It could be that with burn in, the bass response will increase.
But certainly, right out of the box, the K371's overall sound is good, which means it will only get better as time provides.

The Sound that is produced by the K371, is sweet, quite detailed, and not dry.
Soundstage is good but not great, and they are easy to drive.
This is an enjoyable musical sound, with nice detail, and lacking any offensive FR.
If you like the AKG sound, then you'll like these headphones, tho they do sound different, tonally, then the AKG-7 series, in that they are not "airy", or lacking midrange.
Definitely more of a super affordable Reference sound Q, seems to be their goal.
Also of note is that you get 3 nice cables, included.
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That's interesting, almost every review and measurement I've seen of the K371 shows a 2018 harman target bass, which is quite a bit of bass. You're suggesting the bass is much lower than all the other reviewers and measurements suggest?

 

[FullBright1]

That's interesting, almost every review and measurement I've seen of the K371 shows a 2018 harman target bass, which is quite a bit of bass. You're suggesting the bass is much lower than all the other reviewers and measurements suggest?

Graphs and Charts are not ears on heads.
Everything changes there...

So, Absolutely.
I checked this on my Analog HeadRoom Max as well as on a Nice Marantz CD player, as well as on the RME ADI 2 Dac FS, and also the Monolith 788.
The K371 has less bass volume than the Sundara, or the HD560S or the Focal Elex, or the OllO S4X, or the Grado GW100v2.
So, unless my set has 2 defective Drivers, then it definitely has a very neutral bass.

Normally i would go to my Utube page and listen to my videos i created, but, what i did with this set of Headphones is listen to this video, as i use this to reference bass response.
So, if you listen to it, it should have a powerful and deep bass response.
However, in my K371's, the bass is neutral, and has no thickness or rich bottom end extension... so, if a K371 owner listens to this video and that Bass is huge and deep, then i do indeed have a bad set of K371s.
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[Jman841]

Graphs and Charts are not ears on heads.
Everything changes there...

So, Absolutely.
I checked this on my Analog HeadRoom Max as well as on a Nice Marantz CD player, as well as on the RME ADI 2 Dac FS, and also the Monolith 788.
The K371 has less bass volume than the Sundara, or the HD560S or the Focal Elex, or the OllO S4X, or the Grado GW100v2.
So, unless my set has 2 defective Drivers, then it definitely has a very neutral bass.

I mean, graphs and charts do a very good job of representing tonal balance, also, the subjective analysis of almost every reviewer suggests the bass is very present as well. Are you not getting a good seal possibly? Graphs don't do a great job of representing things like detail, soundstage, resolve, speed, etc, but tonal balance is the one thing they do very well.

I would be suspect if every reviewer is suggesting these have a ton of bass and yours does not. Something seems to be off. Could be your pair in particular, could be a seal issue (On your head or within the headphone itself). But, something is definitely off if the bass is so low on your specific pair.

 

[FullBright1]

I mean, graphs and charts do a very good job of representing tonal balance, also, the subjective analysis of almost every reviewer suggests the bass is very present as well. Are you not getting a good seal possibly? Graphs don't do a great job of representing things like detail, soundstage, resolve, speed, etc, but tonal balance is the one thing they do very well.

I would be suspect if every reviewer is suggesting these have a ton of bass and yours does not. Something seems to be off. Could be your pair in particular, could be a seal issue (On your head or within the headphone itself). But, something is definitely off if the bass is so low on your specific pair.

You do own these??
If you do, could you go back to my Post and listen to that video and tell me how the Bass response SIZE and Depth is being reproduced in your K371s....

 

[Jman841]

You do own these??
If you do, could you go back to my Post and listen to that video and tell me how the Bass response SIZE and Depth is being reproduced in your K371s....

Again,

If your pair lacks bass, it's clearly not representative of the pairs of multiple reviewers both subjective and objective (measurements) impressions. Highlighting the term "Size and Depth" does not change this.

I'm am not suggesting your pair does not meet your description, it very well could be, but it is a discrepancy compared with all other subjective and objective observations.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ftqm1c13xjcqgv/AKG K371.pdf?dl=0

You can easily see the bass hump on these headphones. The measurement rig Oratory1990 uses is the industry standard and emulates very well what someone would hear, you can also compare directly with your other headphones on his measurement rig and see that the bass on the pair he has is significantly elevated, however, directly in like with the 2018 harman target, which is a very agreeable tuning for many.

I would suggest contacting AKG to find out what's up with your set, but it sounds like you got lucky. It sounds like the pair you have on hand is an improvement over the ones every other reviewer has had.

 

[bagwell359]

Still the best headphones South of $1000 AU

Headphone Bargain of the decade.

Keen to try the Ayra and call it a day, but equally happy to call these my end game, pairs amazingly well with the Chord MOJO.

$1k AU is $760 US right now.

* The HE-6se (ir still at $699) crushes the Sundara.

* Ananda overall is better.

* HD-600 on an OTL amp easily better,

* Used/modified HE-500 throttles the Sundara too.

* Used Focal Clear are $725-750 range.

So no, not in my opinion.

 

[FullBright1]

Again,

If your pair lacks bass, it's clearly not representative of the pairs of multiple reviewers both subjective and objective (measurements) impressions. Highlighting the term "Size and Depth" does not change this.

Well, my experience is..... i have to hear it, to know.
However, now that you pointed this out, ive been researching a few reviews...
Like this one...
And i can state that this is NOT what my K371s are providing, regarding Bass response.... so, that is why they are boxed up and heading back to the Retailer....

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""""The K371, to me, has one of the best bass tunings of any headphone I have tried in the sub $200 price range. if you are looking for an affordable closed-back with deep and balanced bass. """""