I recently picked up a Sudara. My main hp is the Clear Mg. I loved it, but I think I may like the planer sound more than dynamic. The Clear is great with the punch and slam. But, I think I’m hearing more “music” out of the Sundara. Am I bat sh*t crazy?
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Probably…welcome to the club, lol. I get lost in my Sundaras for hours!
We’re all a little crazy.
I also had the Clear Mg and tried the Sundara as well - the Sundara is a fantastic option at ~$350 but I didn’t think it did anything better than the Clear Mg did, so to each his own haha. But if you think you prefer it, go for it!
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Live with them a little longer and make sure, but yeah - Sundara performs the instrument separation and “speed, on/off” elements that planars impress with — AND performs other core competencies really well at the price with very few downsides.
I find planar deliver a lot of “gee-gaw” moments when you first listen to them.
I feel kinda bad for saying it but I almost can’t enjoy dynamic drivers anymore, they’re just so slow and muddy it distracts me from being able to do anything other than listen to how bad the clarity is. I have had a couple $2000ish+ range dynamics and even those were just slow. They had their benefits but I just can’t get past poorly controlled bass and poor decay control, it just makes everything sound off.
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Muddy and slow… That!
sounds like you need to get the Stellia or Utopia just to be sure… 
Don’t forget a Verite Closed just to be safe!
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“Am I bat shit crazy?” Ah yes that is every question of every audio enthusiasts when they got something for the first time in their lives, particularly their first set of high-fidelity audio. That is also me questioning my existence of using every headphone I own when I first got the Koss KSC75, especially with the Yaxi pads swap.
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I totally feel what you’re saying on this but as a counter-argument: I had the Dan Clark Aeon 2 Noire and while I felt the comfort, speed and detail were great, it just felt… lifeless. Boring. Dead. No dynamics. It’s hard to express how a headphone can technically sound great and yet… not inspire me to wanna listen to anything. Whereas the Focal’s dynamic drivers immediately sort of brought the music back to life.
I totally feel that and I have a hard time liking a lot of planars for exactly that reason. I’m stuck on the HE6 for a lot of how it presents it’s dynamics and the HE1000se (thinking susvara soon) for kinda that reason and also the soundstage handling which is another thing I’ve never heard dynamic driver headphones pull off nearly as well as what some planars like the HE1000se can do.
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About to dip into the Focal waters, but THIS is what I’ve started noticing recently about lower-end planars. That’s why I recommend listening to things for awhile, live with them. Cause the separation of those type of headphones is impressive in one way, but I think the lack of connection reveals itself more slowly.
Genre dependent also of course.
I had read somewhere that people are taking to transplanting Stellia drivers into Radiance bodies. Apparently, the Radiance got a redesigned sound cup and vent, while the Stellia got the Beryllium driver. The Beryllium driver is said to sound SUPERB int he upgraded housing, and is a direct upgrade from the Stellia.
Not that I have bank to try this out, but there are a few Stellia housings for sale on Head-fi with Radiance drivers in them to support the theory…
I’ve also heard Audiotechnica ATH-AWKT to be in the running with Stellia and Verite Closed in this upper bracket… At least for closed-backs.
Not at all. One could argue that the Sundara, in terms of how much raw info you can potentially get out of music, is the batshit crazy one compared to lots of things out there. Have you tried the Elex (Elear with Elex pads) or Clear OG? I prefer those to the MG. If you like the Sundara’s sound signature, you might lean more towards those, plus they’re cheaper as well so you could easily finance one of them in case you sold the MG.
DCAs don’t really have a sound imo. They just download the music directly into to your brain. I think it’s a combination of the technical proficiency of the planar design, the ultra low distortion, and the dead neutral tuning.
The correct answer is you need a better amp instead of all the meme need more expensive headphones.
But yeah you arent crazy. What you hear is what you hear.
@Dzaw Having mained the AWKT for 2 years now I can say that the AWKT is very differently tuned compared to the much more lifely and intimate Stella and VC.
The main strength of the AWKT is to lay down a wade soundstage with thin dense imaging in a natural relexing way that you can listen to for hours and benefits from a tube amp to make things fun.
Stealla is peak consumer tuning and VC is very intimate with nice big vocals that take up your full face. VC is the natural end goal of HD600 imo.
I guess I should explain a little better. My HP journey over the last several years has been all dynamics. The baby Grado SR80E > 58x > HD660s > Elex > Clear Mg. Everyone knows about the Sundara 's rep. So I got the opportunity to get a pair used off HiFi for a good price. Now, I’ve had the Mg’s since a month after launch, and the Sundara’s for a week. The dynamics on the Mg are great, but they sometimes don’t sound natural and over done. I just feel I hear more “music” from the Sundara. I’m thinking of selling My Mg and pursuing a better planar. Suggestions? My current rig is a Bifrost 2 > Jot 2. Thanks for looking
Arya is what makes sense given all this and the level that you’ve gone to.
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I agree that if you’re on this forum, you’re probably at least a little bat-shit crazy, I know I am with this stuff. My headphone gear significantly out-values my vehicle at this point, which is as ridiculous as it sounds.
I say trust your ears–I don’t know how else anyone could operate in this hobby. If they prefer cheaper things, all the better… but you should try some of the higher end Hifiman stuff if you like the Sundara.
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If you are getting the Arya get the non stealth version. for whatever reason the stealth version I demoed was pretty intimate reguardless of source.
Also it makes alot of sense that the Sundara sound alot more musical when stating your source being the Bifrost 2->Jolt as the schiit stack is pretty warm and combined with the the warm slightly dark nature of the clear MG can skew the sond too much to bass dynamics. Just a system mismatch sadly
Well if you are willing to drop monnie I would consider the meze liric to compliment the sundara as your fun planar.
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