[Brahmsian]

Asking any classical music fans out there who own both the Sundara and HE560 whether they care to provide a comparison on which they prefer.

 

[MixMasterMan]

I think that the fact that so many people continually compare Sundara to headphones costing two to three times as much and even comparing to Susvara at over $6000 speaks volumes as to the incredible achievement of Fang and company for producing this incredible headphone at $500. No headphone is perfect but for $500 I don't think Sundara can be beat.

It would be an even more incredible achievement, if Fang and Company stopped with the cheap production quality/process, and used better parts, as well as a more thorough QC check. The 400i's I picked up less than 3 weeks ago started falling apart (plastic yolks holding the earcups cracked ON BOTH SIDES), and had to be returned. When you buy Hifiman, you are playing Russian Roulette. Sucks...

 

[phthora]

It would be an even more incredible achievement, if Fang and Company stopped with the cheap production quality/process, and used better parts, as well as a more thorough QC check. The 400i's I picked up less than 3 weeks ago started falling apart (plastic yolks holding the earcups cracked ON BOTH SIDES), and had to be returned. When you buy Hifiman, you are playing Russian Roulette. Sucks...

Oh come on. That's a misleading comparison... You only have a 1 in 6 chance of getting screwed in Russian Roulette.

EDIT: In case I come off as too harsh... I say this as a person who has owned 2 400is and 2 560s and love all both utterly. I am also in the process of getting my headband replaced by HiFiMan, who have so far been excellent in their handling of this situation. On the other hand, I feel perfectly entitled to throw some shade at them when I have (and continue to be) outspoken in my praise of many aspects of the company and their products.

 

[yaby1979]

It would be an even more incredible achievement, if Fang and Company stopped with the cheap production quality/process, and used better parts, as well as a more thorough QC check. The 400i's I picked up less than 3 weeks ago started falling apart (plastic yolks holding the earcups cracked ON BOTH SIDES), and had to be returned. When you buy Hifiman, you are playing Russian Roulette. Sucks...

It would be an even more incredible achievement, if Fang and Company stopped with the cheap production quality/process, and used better parts, as well as a more thorough QC check. The 400i's I picked up less than 3 weeks ago started falling apart (plastic yolks holding the earcups cracked ON BOTH SIDES), and had to be returned. When you buy Hifiman, you are playing Russian Roulette. Sucks...

My 400i's that a bought in November 2017 are perfect. I've seen older 560's that are a disgrace. But we're talking about Sundara which every pair I've seen including mine have very good build quality and sound incredible. Sadly it seems that there are several Non Sundara owners with lots of advice. Those of us that Actually Own Sundara have few complaints and for $500 I've found nothing better. Since you have such a horrible opinion of Hifiman and you'd never buy Sundara Why Are You Even Here? Sad.

 

[MixMasterMan]

My 400i's that a bought in November 2017 are perfect. I've seen older 560's that are a disgrace. But we're talking about Sundara which every pair I've seen including mine have very good build quality and sound incredible. Sadly it seems that there are several Non Sundara owners with lots of advice. Those of us that Actually Own Sundara have few complaints and for $500 I've found nothing better. Since you have such a horrible opinion of Hifiman and you'd never buy Sundara Why Are You Even Here? Sad.

I'm just gonna leave this here...cough

 

[Light - Man]

Oops, I did not cancel my Beyer DT1990 order before dispatch, so they are on their way and I should have them by tomorrow.

I will do a quick comparison with my well run-in Sundara and my Fidelio X2, hopefully by Saturday and I will be very careful in my wording - in order not to get any further posts deleted.

I will try not to say that the Beyers sound absolutely ******* compared to the Sundara!

Glad to see this thread re-open for business again!

Oops, wrong gif!

Meant more like this!

Sorry guys but been busy and also recovering from the Easter holidays (which I need a holiday after!)

I got a PM from a guy who just received his Sundara's and within moments one side stopped working.

This was my reply:

"The thread seems to be open again. That is a pain re your faulty unit. I remember a guy who says that he squeezed the pads together like bellows fairly aggressively and it fixed the problem for him (but is very odd).

I have been busy and I need to put it into words, also still trying to get my head around the DT1990 with the added complication that it comes with 2 sets of pads.

I will give my views soon but I have given the 1990 several days burn-in and a lot depends on the music type compared.

I would say that the Sundara gets you more involved with the music while the 1990 is more mechanical but still competent.

At this stage I probably won't keep either as my Fidelio X2 is very good in its own way. I might wait for the next big thing (hype machine) to arrive.

What other gear have you tried so far, have you tried the HE400i which is on Amazon UK for £180 at the moment?"

Not very helpful was it!

 

[acekc]

I got a PM from a guys who just received his Sundara's and within moments one side stooped working.

Yeah, that guy was me.

I have a pair of HE4xx's and really love them, upgraded to a Schiit stack and love them even more. Based on the contents of this thread the Sundaras looked like a candidate for HE4xx++, so i ordered a pair from Amazon. I got them yesterday, plugged them in, started some music (at a reasonable volume, nothing abusive) and within ten seconds the left channel cut out.

I suspect that vibration broke a connection because I could rap the side of the phone with my knuckle and the sound would come back for the briefest instant. Having said that, at this price point I don't think I should have to diagnose, disassemble or resolve an issue like this so they're going back. I also don't want to roll the dice on another pair because based on the number of people in this thread who have experienced similar issues I have to believe that there is a manufacturing issue that is leading to relatively high failure rates, and even if a new pair worked initially I'd be constantly worried about when they were going to die.

 

[Light - Man]

I have had mine about 25 days and have not had any reliability issues yet. I have only been following this thread for about one month and we have probably had about a handful of complaints so hopefully problems are not that common. This is my first HiFiMan and Planar experience.

If people do have issues, they should come on here and mention it, if they are brave enough!.

I am still waiting for comparisons between the HE400i and the Sundara other than it is better, at what?

 

[phthora]

@acekc and anyone else experiencing driver cut-out: Have you tried switching the cable ends around (left to right, right to left) or using a different cable?

I imagine that you have, but, you know, due diligence...

 

[acekc]

@acekc and anyone else experiencing driver cut-out: Have you tried switching the cable ends around (left to right, right to left) or using a different cable?

I imagine that you have, but, you know, due diligence...

This didn't help in my case.

 

[SilverEars]

I've not had driver problems with Hifiman products, but the yoke breaking issues with the new batches of HE560 is quite bad.

I've not run into any driver going out issues with any products over the years. I guess I'm lucky in this respect? Perhaps channel imbalance, dunno.

 

[MixMasterMan]

Glad to see this thread re-open for business again!

Oops, wrong gif!

Meant more like this!

Not very helpful was it!

Lol! That 1st GIF had me dying! - I thought this thread was gonna be anished! Lol

 

[kid vic]

I find this continuing QC problem with hifiman slightly saddening, it would be bad and not so bad if peoples headphones were dying a after several months of use but this constant DOA thing is bad.

It was understandable when Hifiman first started and didn't have the budget to really hone their quality control but now that they are bigger and better established this should be settled; if your a company with multiple $1k+ headphones on the market, a headphone at $6k in production and plans to release one at over $50k you should be slaughtering the $500 dollar market with QUALITY, HIGH-VALUE products.
This is your bread and butter market, this is where most of your sales will occur, this the market that will eventually step into the HE1000 or its successor.

Now I personally haven't heard the Sundara and I'm not slamming it for sound quality, but the reality is that Head-fi is the premier headphone audiophile forum and these issues being perpetuated are not helping the brand image.

I love my HE-500's and Im actually the second owner of them but I hesitate to step into a new Hifiman when literally every single one of their products is dinged with QC issues upon release and then revised twice.

 

[franz12]

I find this continuing QC problem with hifiman slightly saddening, it would be bad and not so bad if peoples headphones were dying a after several months of use but this constant DOA thing is bad.

It was understandable when Hifiman first started and didn't have the budget to really hone their quality control but now that they are bigger and better established this should be settled; if your a company with multiple $1k+ headphones on the market, a headphone at $6k in production and plans to release one at over $50k you should be slaughtering the $500 dollar market with QUALITY, HIGH-VALUE products.
This is your bread and butter market, this is where most of your sales will occur, this the market that will eventually step into the HE1000 or its successor.

Now I personally haven't heard the Sundara and I'm not slamming it for sound quality, but the reality is that Head-fi is the premier headphone audiophile forum and these issues being perpetuated are not helping the brand image.

I love my HE-500's and Im actually the second owner of them but I hesitate to step into a new Hifiman when literally every single one of their products is dinged with QC issues upon release and then revised twice.

It seems to me that QC issues are mostly coming from ebay orders.
I ordered Sundara from Amazon, and never had any QC problems. I eventually returned my unit, but that was due to my individual preference.

Overall, Sundara sounds great. If you pass Sundara reading a few issues from this thread, you might miss something very good. Give it a try. You can return it within 30 days if you don’t like it.

 

[kid vic]

It seems to me that QC issues are mostly coming from ebay orders.
I ordered Sundara from Amazon, and never had any QC problems. I eventually returned my unit, but that was due to my individual preference.

Overall, Sundara sounds great. If you pass Sundara reading a few issues from this thread, you might miss something very good. Give it a try. You can return it within 30 days if you don’t like it.

LOL can't I'm broke and saving for electrostatics, hope my post wasn't super misleading