[domes]

I'm quite surprised how close the Sundara is technically to the Ananda. While the Ananda is a better headphone and I'm loving them right now the Sundara isn't that far behind. The Ananda has a better soundstage and separation (some of the best separation I've ever heard) along with a bit more detail but the Sundara isn't far off. If your not a crazy headphone junkie like me the Sundara is one of those you can get and never have to worry about getting another ever again.

Thanks for this comparison. I picked up the Sundara a few days ago and have been enjoying them. But can’t help but think about the Ananda prompted a bit by the round ear cup vs the ear shaped cup comfort difference and possible jump in sound quality.

 

[yeboyi]

I'm quite surprised how close the Sundara is technically to the Ananda. While the Ananda is a better headphone and I'm loving them right now the Sundara isn't that far behind. The Ananda has a better soundstage and separation (some of the best separation I've ever heard) along with a bit more detail but the Sundara isn't far off. If your not a crazy headphone junkie like me the Sundara is one of those you can get and never have to worry about getting another ever again.

Yeah seems like if you have Sundara you need around $2000 budget to upgrade. Arya seems nice upgrade.

 

[senorx12562]

I'm quite surprised how close the Sundara is technically to the Ananda. While the Ananda is a better headphone and I'm loving them right now the Sundara isn't that far behind. The Ananda has a better soundstage and separation (some of the best separation I've ever heard) along with a bit more detail but the Sundara isn't far off. If your not a crazy headphone junkie like me the Sundara is one of those you can get and never have to worry about getting another ever again.

...until the pads fall apart. Lol.

 

[Smoothstereo]

I'm quite surprised how close the Sundara is technically to the Ananda. While the Ananda is a better headphone and I'm loving them right now the Sundara isn't that far behind. The Ananda has a better soundstage and separation (some of the best separation I've ever heard) along with a bit more detail but the Sundara isn't far off. If your not a crazy headphone junkie like me the Sundara is one of those you can get and never have to worry about getting another ever again.

Thanks for the quick comparison. I was wondering what I will get moving up to the Ananda and whether its worth twice the price of the Sundara. Isn't the Ananda ear cups made of plastic or is it metal like Sundara, and are the grills plastic or metal ?

 

[hippotas]

...until the pads fall apart. Lol.

Does hifiman also fix that problem with new pad ? And the driver thing...

 

[Chodi]

...until the pads fall apart. Lol.

Earpads are not forever. If you use your headphones often you will be replacing the pads at some point. You can roll pads with third market choices like rolling tubes in a tube amp. Some do. Or you can just buy factory replacements as needed. Hardly a reason to reject a headphone.

 

[SkyZippr]

For me the major problem with Ananda (and potentially all the other teardrop-shaped Hifiman's) is its headband. It's waaay too big. Even if I adjust it to the shortest, the earcups still hang lower than I'd like to, almost touching my neck.
Also the cable, as almost everybody on this planet has pointed out, is one of the worst I've ever seen.

 

[DivineCurrent]

I received my Sundara from headphones.com a few days ago, I had some time to get a good feel for them and give some first impressions.

So, first impressions.... wow. I've owned other Hifiman planars like the 400i and 4XX before, but these are seriously impressive. Especially for the price. When I was initially comparing to my two other most used headphones, the Focal Elex and Sennheiser HD 58X, I got the impression these were a bit too bright in the treble past 10 kHz for certain recordings. However, I like to use EQ so that was easily fixed. And the little EQ I did use was only -2 dB at 7 kHz and 12.5 kHz. But even without EQ, I think these are actually on a similar level as the Focal Elex in terms of imaging, tonal balance, timbre, speed, and bass response. In fact, it beats the Elex in soundstage width and just has an overall better sense of space and clarity. Things just feel more open, it's like that planar wall of sound people talk about. The Elex still edges out in dynamics and imaging depth, hitting harder in percussive tracks and maybe doing a little better with busy recordings. But wow, I am just so impressed by the Sundara so far. It has that extended planar bass I was looking for, and with some EQ it does hit harder in the sub bass than the Elex. I was debating on whether to go with the Sundara or an LCD-2, but I am so glad I went with the Sundara. I don't know if you can get this kind of clarity with a sub $1,000 Audeze, since they tend to be a little warmer and darker. Also, I think these do vocals very well, maybe not as good as the Sennheiser HD58X and HD600, which are vocal kings in my opinion. The 58X has the advantage of being more focused with it's smaller soundstage, and has a little more natural timbre and even frequency response. But the Sundara outperforms the 58X in many other areas like clarity, detail retrieval, soudstage width, and dynamics. And I think the Sundara trades blows with the Elex, which is just amazing.

So yeah, the Sundara is a keeper!

 

[ezduzit2500]

Although I am not currently using any tube amps I have owned several. I am really a life long fan of tube amplification. I think using a tube preamp would accomplish exactly what you are after. I have noticed this year that there continues to be new solid state amps with a tube input stage introduced in the high end. The China tube market which is very active has many. Even the newest offering, Monolith Liquid Platinum which has been much anticipated is a tube hybrid with a solid state output. The old but not forgotten Little Dot MK1+ at bargain pricing is also a tube hybrid. So yes, adding a simple tube preamp to your system would give you an inexpensive way to play with rolling tubes and you would learn appreciation for tube harmonics. Do I think it is worth the effort......yes.

I appreciate your reply. I do plan on experimenting with a tube buffer/pre. Too hard to not do - as a constant tinkerer and diy-er whose hobby has always been good sound on a reasonable budget.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

The Sundara is still one of my favourite headphones. It is about as bright as a headphone can get without coming off unnatural..at least to me. I started out digging brighter signatures...owning an awful lot of AKGs as well as both the HD700 and HD800.
...but after having spent time with cans that are more balanced or heck just warmer..well I seemed to develop a taste for warmth over coldness aka “detail”.
The Sundara though tickles the fancy of my old self whilst still managing to come off balanced..like a natural purveyor of sound.
I also own the HE500, bless it’s boots, and I rather think of the two as complimentary headphones - ying and yang. Sundara for air and delicacy and the 500 for earthiness and a little rambunctiousness. Both of them though have got zing..like in spades of zing!

 

[Chodi]

The Sundara is still one of my favourite headphones. It is about as bright as a headphone can get without coming off unnatural..at least to me. I started out digging brighter signatures...owning an awful lot of AKGs as well as both the HD700 and HD800.
...but after having spent time with cans that are more balanced or heck just warmer..well I seemed to develop a taste for warmth over coldness aka “detail”.
The Sundara though tickles the fancy of my old self whilst still managing to come off balanced..like a natural purveyor of sound.
I also own the HE500, bless it’s boots, and I rather think of the two as complimentary headphones - ying and yang. Sundara for air and delicacy and the 500 for earthiness and a little rambunctiousness. Both of them though have got zing..like in spades of zing!

The HE500 was my all time favorite sounding headphone. Unfortunately I had a motorcycle accident years ago and could no longer take the weight of having a brick on my head so I sold it. To this day I long for that performance. Even though I've owned several flagship headphones the HE500 sound brought the soul of the music like no other. I bought the Sundara on a whim and after some amp rolling I'm very happy with it. If you are using an amp with near 0 input impedance the Sundara will sound bright. I switched to an amp with a warmer signature and a 50 ohm input and it sounds fantastic. Some headphones are real picky about the amp their paired with I believe the Sundara is one.

 

[stimuz]

Earpads are not forever. If you use your headphones often you will be replacing the pads at some point. You can roll pads with third market choices like rolling tubes in a tube amp. Some do. Or you can just buy factory replacements as needed. Hardly a reason to reject a headphone.

Real leather pads last a long ass time.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

The HE500 was my all time favorite sounding headphone. Unfortunately I had a motorcycle accident years ago and could no longer take the weight of having a brick on my head so I sold it. To this day I long for that performance. Even though I've owned several flagship headphones the HE500 sound brought the soul of the music like no other. I bought the Sundara on a whim and after some amp rolling I'm very happy with it. If you are using an amp with near 0 input impedance the Sundara will sound bright. I switched to an amp with a warmer signature and a 50 ohm input and it sounds fantastic. Some headphones are real picky about the amp their paired with I believe the Sundara is one.

Yeah while the 500 is the proverbial bee’s knees regarding sound quality it still weighs half a kilo. I’m sorry about your crash. I can imagine it being on the uncomfortable side of things if one already sports a somewhat weakened neck. I guess an Ether 2 could be your way of upgrading to a TOTL can without getting TOTL weight.
Then again the Sundara is a solid contender. I know you have experienced it warming up over amps with higher output impedance (I take it that was what you meant?), but I ha e only ever experienced that with dynamic drivers. Planars don’t care about output impedance, at least as far as I can tell.
No matter what I plug the Sundara into I still get a neutral response with somewhat laidback mids and a boost in the upper frequencies. Thing is, I find this slightly bright tuning very very tastefully done. I’m not sure whether it’s to do with planar technology or something else, but I never find the treble harsh or ‘poking out’ when not called for. It sounds elegant.

 

[yeboyi]

I received my Sundara from headphones.com a few days ago, I had some time to get a good feel for them and give some first impressions.

So, first impressions.... wow. I've owned other Hifiman planars like the 400i and 4XX before, but these are seriously impressive. Especially for the price. When I was initially comparing to my two other most used headphones, the Focal Elex and Sennheiser HD 58X, I got the impression these were a bit too bright in the treble past 10 kHz for certain recordings. However, I like to use EQ so that was easily fixed. And the little EQ I did use was only -2 dB at 7 kHz and 12.5 kHz. But even without EQ, I think these are actually on a similar level as the Focal Elex in terms of imaging, tonal balance, timbre, speed, and bass response. In fact, it beats the Elex in soundstage width and just has an overall better sense of space and clarity. Things just feel more open, it's like that planar wall of sound people talk about. The Elex still edges out in dynamics and imaging depth, hitting harder in percussive tracks and maybe doing a little better with busy recordings. But wow, I am just so impressed by the Sundara so far. It has that extended planar bass I was looking for, and with some EQ it does hit harder in the sub bass than the Elex. I was debating on whether to go with the Sundara or an LCD-2, but I am so glad I went with the Sundara. I don't know if you can get this kind of clarity with a sub $1,000 Audeze, since they tend to be a little warmer and darker. Also, I think these do vocals very well, maybe not as good as the Sennheiser HD58X and HD600, which are vocal kings in my opinion. The 58X has the advantage of being more focused with it's smaller soundstage, and has a little more natural timbre and even frequency response. But the Sundara outperforms the 58X in many other areas like clarity, detail retrieval, soudstage width, and dynamics. And I think the Sundara trades blows with the Elex, which is just amazing.

So yeah, the Sundara is a keeper!

Can't wait to get mine. Hopefully it will ship tomorrow. Coming from DT 1990 i think they will not be bright for me lol. If it trade blows with Elex it's certainly on par or better than DT 1990. I didn't like the aggressive/forward sound of DT 1990. Hopefully Sundara is more laidback and roomier.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

I received my Sundara from headphones.com a few days ago, I had some time to get a good feel for them and give some first impressions.

So, first impressions.... wow. I've owned other Hifiman planars like the 400i and 4XX before, but these are seriously impressive. Especially for the price. When I was initially comparing to my two other most used headphones, the Focal Elex and Sennheiser HD 58X, I got the impression these were a bit too bright in the treble past 10 kHz for certain recordings. However, I like to use EQ so that was easily fixed. And the little EQ I did use was only -2 dB at 7 kHz and 12.5 kHz. But even without EQ, I think these are actually on a similar level as the Focal Elex in terms of imaging, tonal balance, timbre, speed, and bass response. In fact, it beats the Elex in soundstage width and just has an overall better sense of space and clarity. Things just feel more open, it's like that planar wall of sound people talk about. The Elex still edges out in dynamics and imaging depth, hitting harder in percussive tracks and maybe doing a little better with busy recordings. But wow, I am just so impressed by the Sundara so far. It has that extended planar bass I was looking for, and with some EQ it does hit harder in the sub bass than the Elex. I was debating on whether to go with the Sundara or an LCD-2, but I am so glad I went with the Sundara. I don't know if you can get this kind of clarity with a sub $1,000 Audeze, since they tend to be a little warmer and darker. Also, I think these do vocals very well, maybe not as good as the Sennheiser HD58X and HD600, which are vocal kings in my opinion. The 58X has the advantage of being more focused with it's smaller soundstage, and has a little more natural timbre and even frequency response. But the Sundara outperforms the 58X in many other areas like clarity, detail retrieval, soudstage width, and dynamics. And I think the Sundara trades blows with the Elex, which is just amazing.

So yeah, the Sundara is a keeper!

I sold off my LCD-2C after extensively a/b’ing with my Sundara. I think you made the right choice