if I’ve to pretend being one for a while and crank the volume all the way up to 80% or more so on my Q5. Sundara still sounds very coherent without busting a single seam at any frequency range. Vocals, Cymbals, snares and guitars continue to rein in their domain without any serious trespassing issues. In fact, I really enjoyed listening to Sundara at the volume I wouldn't have dared to listen if it was my rather misbehaving but beloved —M50x. These face masks may not stop the COVID-19 virus from being transmitted to you through this face mask, or (obviously) via the myriad of other ways that the virus can be transmitted.

HiFiMAN SUNDARA | Over Ear Open Back Headphones | Richer Sounds

To my ears, hifiman Sundara sounded good right out of the box although with a touch of restrain and sound being just a tad bassy for my taste, they got me good right from the start. But something about the headband, it felt like the ear cups on either side are trying to cave into my skull. What made these headphones really shine is the outstandingseparation andexcellent timbral accuracyof the instruments. Specific location is not an issue with these headphones. What is created is a sort of alively presence, an acousticfeel which is my preference. If you happen to enjoy chamber music—an intimate experience with the solo voice of an instrument—these will be right for you. I put on Narciso Yepes Albéniz & Granados(2017 Deutsche Grammophon CD) pieces and they felt alive and in wonderful sound. That headband, on the other hand, is kind of a different story. I don’t like the little silver accents that clumsily strike a horizontal line across the otherwise vertically-oriented headband. And where it says “Sundara,” I’d rather it not say anything at all – it really does mess up the minimalist design of the earcups. I trust that the new headband easily beats the previous designs in terms of comfort, but in terms of looks, I’m not sold. The HIFIMAN Sundara, while not a flagship by any means, hits every flag in my book for an excellent sounding headphone and at an absurd value as well. It’s sonic reproduction is ludicrous for its price point and it simply works with every genre and type of music I have thrown at it. It’s neither an analytical set nor a fully transparent one but it hits the right note by being perfectly in between. It has the detail and enough transparency for me to sit down with my eyes closed and listen critically but also the mellowness to be a forgiving daily driver. I have sat with the Sundara’s on my head for hours watching common Youtube videos to Netflix movies without feeling fatigue or discomfort. Despite the healthier infusion of metal in the Sundara design, the weight has not gone up too much, if at all. The Sundara weighs in at 372g compared to 370g for the HE400i and still 3g less than the HE560. The handling though has changed slightly.Between the two, I think most people would be better off with the Sundara. However if you know that you’re extra sensitive to treble or are fanatical about timbre, then the HD600 is the way to go. The Lyr is one of the go-to amps for Hifiman’s planar line-up, and it serves them well Amplification Caroline” from Fleetwood Mac’s album Tango In the Night showed off how well the Sundaras handle when multiple elements combine. The song has a sub bass line that is frequently unproducible to a strong enough quality. The Sundaras smash this notion away from the moment the song starts. You can feel the impact and rumble of the sublime sub-bass as it accompanies the rest of the song in providing more body. This song is like CrossFit gym workouts in action with multiple sonic elements shooting out in every direction. They sound like twinkles of a star shining bright. What astounded me here was how well the Sundara handled the intense separation of the twinkle sounding instruments in the mid-range with the vocals. Each had their own personal space and detail without stepping on each other. The vocalist’s singing of the words “Caroline” had marvelous detail to them; they sounded real with the proper timbre. A relatively high sensitivity makes the SUNDARA easy to power. Although a dedicated headphone amp will always sound best, the SUNDARA’s are efficient enough to be driven by most built-in headphone stages or even a smartphone. As a verification, I asked my son to come over and without looking at the measurements and EQ, listen to the headphone plain and then with EQ I had built above. After about half hour of listening he said there was no sub-bass and the there was something missing in the sound. With EQ he found the sound to be much improved causing him to say he likes it. So good correlation with my findings.

HIFIMAN Sundara Review — Headfonics

I didn’t perceive a large, wide soundstage. The location of sound seemed more‘focused’,‘close’.I’ll describe it more as a‘chamber orchestra’ than a‘symphonic’sound. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The strings, for example, sounded fuller—one can imagine the violins close to the cellos and violas in collaboration for a specific sound space. This, in contrast to afull -blown‘heavy’sound. I do live the “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it“ rule, but I always give thanks to all the pioneers for pushing the envelope on our behalf.

Comfort & Fit

Unfortunately, the Sundara also exhibits a bit of a speed problem right around the 11kHz zone – a problem that’s corroborated by solderdude’s measurements, which indicate resonances around 5.5kHz and an octave higher at 11kHz. The ringing in the lower treble isn’t so much audible to me, because I’m not terribly sensitive in those frequency ranges, but it’s certainly audible in the upper treble, sometimes casting an ugly haze over cymbals. Gone are the elaborate display cases of the HE series such as the wood of the HE560 and the faux leather of the HE400i. In part, I guess it saves a little on budget costs for the project and more on the headphones but I do miss those cases a little.

HIFIMAN SUNDARA Full Size Over Ear Planar Magnetic Headphone

I prefer names, to be honest, and it is not the first time Hifiman has done this with the Susvara and the soon-to-be-launched Ananda being the other noteworthy named headphones. What Is The Pitch? Names Not Numbers From the outset, the build quality of the Sundara is leaps and bounds above that of the HE400se. While the overall shape of the headphone is the same, the Sundara has a full metal build that feels substantial in hand. Here we get a large leather suspension strap that spreads out the weight of the Sundara over a wide area to minimize pressure spots. As such, I find the Sundara to be very comfortable, moreso than the HE400se. The pads of the Sundara are a perforated fabric/pleather mix that’s soft to the touch. The metal connection between the yokes and the cups is significantly more robust than the HE400se’s plastic to metal approach. I don’t expect any snapped cups here unless a user is careless with setting them down after use. One of the big selling points in my research was they could be enjoyed and experienced without the need for an EQ amp. Even though next on my list, I wanted to start with a straight connection to my integrated amp. My research lasted a couple of months, and I can attest the Sundara headphones are the best fit for the beginner audio enthusiast. Theyare affordable and excellent value.

Does the HiFiMan Sundara block out noise?

I think comfort is more attributed to the new pad design which has the same sized 100mm round shape but it seems much softer and moldable. To get the ruff out first, the lower bass response needs some assistance to be up to my taste since it seems almost absent until you use some equalization and turn those frequencies below 50Hz up at least by 5 decibels. Whilst the headband is radically changed in functionality and materials it still sports a split metal design at the top and both still use a pressure displacement secondary strap below the metal headband arch.