[Whazzzup]

Hp first. But if you are serious about audio build your system around a music server, but big wallets are necessary

 

[redi1972]

Hehe. No worries. It’s been on my radar ever since I sold it to get the Focal Clear which is nowhere near as pleasurable a listen as the Sundara - to my ears. The Clear is sold again and so the coast is clear to re-purchase the Sundara

Funny, isn't it. You get a headphone that costs four times as much as the Sundara, but it actually sounds worse to you instead of four times as good. A testament to how personal audio is. It also means that finding the right set of cans is just a matter of trial and error, with hardly any objective guidelines to follow to get where you want to be.

Great. You’re good to go then!

Should arrive tomorrow, I'll post my findings here for anyone interested

 

[redi1972]

Hp first. But if you are serious about audio build your system around a music server, but big wallets are necessary

Not sure what a music server is (other than that it would be a PC dedicated to playing music, including external DAC, amp etc.?), but I don't like the 'big wallets' requirement very much

That said, I was prepared to shell out up to €1000 for either new headphones or a new DAC, fully realizing I would be jumping head-first into the rabbit hole. Hopefully the Sundara will tick all checkmarks for me...

 

[Chris Kaoss]

You're on the right way to enjoy music instead of analysing it.

Have to have a listen to the Sundara too, i guess.
Just to know how they do sound to me.

Thanks guys.

 

[redi1972]

You're on the right way to enjoy music instead of analysing it.

That's the thing, part of me is constantly wondering if I would enjoy it even more if better equipment allowed me to get a (subjectively) better sound, but I realize that it may be a never-ending search that will indeed prevent me from enjoying the music I listen to. So I do force myself to appreciate the qualities of my current gear, and convince myself that if I don't find something that blows me away then what I have will still give me much listening pleasure. Which it really does

Have to have a listen to the Sundara too, i guess.
Just to know how they do sound to me.

Thanks guys.

Another victim eh? I should write Hifiman for getting commission for the sudden surge in sales since starting this thread

 

[surfgeorge]

Not sure what a music server is (other than that it would be a PC dedicated to playing music, including external DAC, amp etc.?), but I don't like the 'big wallets' requirement very much

That said, I was prepared to shell out up to €1000 for either new headphones or a new DAC, fully realizing I would be jumping head-first into the rabbit hole. Hopefully the Sundara will tick all checkmarks for me...

You are on the right track with the PC, but there are much more cost effective options like an Intel NUC or, what I am using, a Raspberry Pi with free software and some Audio specific hardware boards. If stationary operation is your use case, you can connect a Raspberry Pi with Allo Digione board to the Mojo and control it from the phone to play music from USB stick, Tidal or even internet radio.
Cost me like €200 or 250 and the sound and operation is really good.

 

[Chris Kaoss]

That's the thing, part of me is constantly wondering if I would enjoy it even more if better equipment allowed me to get a (subjectively) better sound, but I realize that it may be a never-ending search that will indeed prevent me from enjoying the music I listen to. So I do force myself to appreciate the qualities of my current gear, and convince myself that if I don't find something that blows me away then what I have will still give me much listening pleasure. Which it really does


Another victim eh? I should write Hifiman for getting commission for the sudden surge in sales since starting this thread

Share nearly the same way, i've to say.

Have auditioned a lot of headphones, many of them way above 2k, after getting my fav one to date just to realize that i've hit my sweet spot way earlier for my musical satisfaction. ^^
Last one was the Denon D9200, which will go on sale in the next days.

Nonetheless, the way was, and maybe is, a great one to be walked/ to walk on.

The Sundara will be another quick step to feed my curiosity.
Guess it'll pair really well with the Mojo.

 

[Whitigir]

Both!
I know the forum restrict 1 word posts, so I gotta leave this comment in here. But it was a one word meaning “BOTH”!!

 

[redi1972]

Both!
I know the forum restrict 1 word posts, so I gotta leave this comment in here. But it was a one word meaning “BOTH”!!

Well it seems you're the minority at the moment

I'll wait how the Sundara test pans out, and whether the next step might be an outrageous double upgrade or not (which I think will have a big risk of not liking the change, and then not knowing whether to blame the headphones or the DAC/amp ). I guess the best strategy would be to plan a visit to a nearby hi-fi seller for a listening session.

 

[Whitigir]

Well it seems you're the minority at the moment

I'll wait how the Sundara test pans out, and whether the next step might be an outrageous double upgrade or not (which I think will have a big risk of not liking the change, and then not knowing whether to blame the headphones or the DAC/amp ). I guess the best strategy would be to plan a visit to a nearby hi-fi seller for a listening session.

Make sure your credit card is ready

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

That's the thing, part of me is constantly wondering if I would enjoy it even more if better equipment allowed me to get a (subjectively) better sound, but I realize that it may be a never-ending search that will indeed prevent me from enjoying the music I listen to. So I do force myself to appreciate the qualities of my current gear, and convince myself that if I don't find something that blows me away then what I have will still give me much listening pleasure. Which it really does


Another victim eh? I should write Hifiman for getting commission for the sudden surge in sales since starting this thread

I think if you are an audiophile, you do both. I know for me, I always want to analyze what I am listening to because part of the fun of this hobby is learning about sound and what I like and the various options and flavors of sound and learning the language of it so that I can discuss it. But, I also just enjoy listening to music. For me, it's easy. Every day I wake up and I pick something and listen to and enjoy what I am hearing.

 

[redi1972]

Make sure your credit card is ready

It's cowering in the corner currently.

 

[529128]

Funny, isn't it. You get a headphone that costs four times as much as the Sundara, but it actually sounds worse to you instead of four times as good. A testament to how personal audio is. It also means that finding the right set of cans is just a matter of trial and error, with hardly any objective guidelines to follow to get where you want to be.

Taste is subjective. Price and quality aren't equivalent in this hobby.

You're on the right way to enjoy music instead of analysing it.

Indeed. Listen to music, not the gear.

That's the thing, part of me is constantly wondering if I would enjoy it even more if better equipment allowed me to get a (subjectively) better sound, but I realize that it may be a never-ending search that will indeed prevent me from enjoying the music I listen to. So I do force myself to appreciate the qualities of my current gear, and convince myself that if I don't find something that blows me away then what I have will still give me much listening pleasure. Which it really does

The erroneus conclusion that objectively better equals subjectively better (or price equals quality) is unfortunately quite widespread. Trust your ears.

 

[redi1972]

Well that excitement was short-lived
The Sundara arrived, hooked it up and didn't like it at all. I was hoping for more clarity and transparency, but was getting less of it compared to my Fidelio X2s.

The way I would describe it, it's basically its sound signature with most notably elevated mids compared to the X2s that result, to my ears, in over-present mids that for me destroy the transparency, as they dominate the sound too much. Not sure if that makes sense. Guess I'm just an old fart too used to the X2s V-shaped sound
For many tracks that I listened, it makes that the balance of instruments and vocals is different, which in principle is fine and something you will get used to over time. However, in some cases/tracks I simply cannot hear the details that I'm used to hearing.

Take as an example a track like 'Little White Lie' by Sammy Hagar. It's a pretty decent recording IMO, but near the end of the song all instruments (drums, guitars, harmonica) go into this big-bang finale that on my X2s still stays balanced, layered and transparent, just to use my own layman wording. I can hear the separate instruments clearly. With the Sundaya, I cannot hear anything anymore other than a huge cacophony of noise because the mids are overpowering everything.

So basically I would be spending time trying to at least EQ the mids down I think, but not sure if that would fix all problems. With tracks that didn't have the overpowering mids issue, the Sundara wasn't revealing anything that I couldn't already hear with the X2s, and as said sometimes they would even be less resolving.

It was a fun experiment, but I'll be going on a listening visit to some shop most likely when I want to continue this quest, instead of ordering blindly. For now, I have concluded that I'm very happy with my current headphones The Sundaya is already heading back to sender.

 

[Deolum]

I go with what some here said. The source, so that whats before the dac, is imo way overlooked. A cleaner source like a Pi or another streamer can do wonders.