Very interesting impressions going on here, looks promising
Well this is as you said too early to say (and I havenāt heard the verums in person), but would you potentially call the PM-50 something of a midpoint between the Verum and the Sundara? Or is that just flagrantly incorrect lol
That would be something fair and safe to say so far
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Annnnnnd now I need to try a pair of Verums lol
About them being veiled, in comparisons to the Sundaras or Blons they might be, but I am not sure if that is just losing the airy effect or not so far. It is bit hard to say since the Nighthawks are usually my go to set and it will take a bit to get my brain readjusted to a more neutral sound signature.
After a day of listening to them some of my thoughts have not shifted too much. Andover has made a rather solid set of headphones. I find it hard to find any major faults with them honestly, I just find it a bit hard to quickly fight for it over a few other selections at the price point of $500.
It certainly will come down to preference,I donāt foresee myself selling them off any time soon. I think if they go back on sale it is worth trying if you are someone wanting a bit more oomph coming out of the Sundara.
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I feel like this is an appropriate tune for these cans to sound great onā¦
Off the Easy Skanking in Boston album.
Running off of the Liquid Platinum really gives these cans a leg up for listening to a lot of Reggae. Power, punch, and a bit of sweetness.
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If anyone is interested in a live stream with Andover Audio:
Join us on Tuesday, May 12th at 4PM EST for a live chat with Qobuz and Andover Audioās Chief Engineer Bob Hazelwood!
Topics will include:
- Bobās audio industry background
- Andover product lineup, including the PM-50 Planar Headphones
- Qobuz Hi-Res streaming service
- Hi-Fi design, music, and more!
Bruh I didnāt mean it in any way. Just glad she liked the the 990s over the rest of the collection.
These are on drop as of this morning.
Iām curious about these, but they may not have the Audeze like bass that I prefer in a planar.
I also stumbled across a fr graph in case anybody is interested.
The 5k spike seems off putting but the rest of the graph is pretty attractive
I agree. I wonder if it sounds how it measures.
Their the spike isnāt necessarily a sudden peak either Iāve heard iems with much more agressive spiked not offend me too much.
$399
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Again, I agree with you. The original Monoprice M1060 was the king of 5 KHz spike/ringing.
Hopefully I get my hands on one after rona so I can get to try a pair . I e seen some good reviews for them. I for one am just glad itās not another sendy clone.
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Agree again, lol. This appears to have some similarities with the Sundara, but less elevated in the air frequency regions. The bass looks like it has good extension. I wonder if it is shouty because of the rise from 1 to 2 K, as that is notoriously a sign of shoutiness. With the right music, that shoutiness may be a good thing though.
If you do get a pair of these, you must share your impressions.
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Here let me tag the guy who had me try this headphone @Pr3ssAltF4. as far as my experience went with theseā¦ very beautiful headphone, good build quality, not very shouty it does sound pretty good but strangely sounds slightly muffled out of the box least to me imo. Not a fan of the pads those cups are tiny and are more on ear than over ear. I would say its more of a Sidegrade to the Sundara with some different qualities but thatās just my personal opinion on it. Least with this you donāt have to worry about QC. Figure I will let press over there explain thoroughly since its one of his go to favs and he chose it over the sundara
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Hi Hello again. Iāve had these for about two weeks. Listened to them constantly for a week and a half, and Iāve spent half a week on the ZMF Eikons with some switches back and forth. Running all these guys off Monolith LP + Enog2 balanced.
:===: Andover Audio PM-50 :===:
Pros =>
- Great bass / impact for a planar in the price range
- Very balanced freq response / sound signature
- Vocals sound great and natural
- Warm sound sig. Like a hug with music.
- Non fatiguing to the extreme. Can listen to these forever
- Dynamics are good
- Detail on par with (or better than) the Sundara is there. See below for issues though.
- Planar resolution
- Decent attack, especially for the price
- Build quality is out of this world (I like the look, build, weight, feel, and pads better than my Eikons)
- Super portable. These things are a joke to drive, especially for a planar. Theyāre my go to travel headphone.
- They make kinda crappy old recordings sound great. Reference Simmer Down by Bob Marley and the Wailers.
- Super engaging especially for older recordings and rock. Much MUCH more so than the Sundaras.
- Very responsive to amplification changes. I like these with all my amps. I want a THX though to see what happens with a super dry analytical one though. It might make these a lot better. Iām listening on a hybrid tube
Cons =>
- On-ear fit for anyone except a child. Theyāre coming out with new bigger pads at some point, but for a fit reference see SONY MDR-7506ās with the best pads of all time.
- Warm sound sig sounds muffled when compared to cans like Sundara / Eikon. Muffled feeling goes away after having them on for a while. Might be warm up or ears adjusting, dunno. This affects how much detail you perceive. Itās there, but the muffledness makes it hard to pick out. Weird.
- They make bad recordings sound good. I would call this a con. Smoothes over the very tiny things that youād notice with super detailed crystalline clear cans. These would be classified as super detailed almost muted sounding.
- The pad choices are ok, not good. They change the sound a lot, but both are lacking somewhere.
- Soundstage is smaller than the Sundaras. Imaging is better. Separation is same or slightly worse because of the quasi-mutedness. Sounds are big and tend to almost overlap. Gives a very comforting enjoyable sound, but decidedly not for analytical listening.
Summary =>
My personal opinion is that these cans are better (at least a little bit) than the Sundaras in every way except the mutedness and the on-ear fit. I find the Sundaras to be more screechy, have anemic bass, be distinctly unengaging for everything except orchestral and analytical listening, and have a shitty build / feel much more delicate in comparison to the PM-50s. I find the PM-50s sound muted in comparison, are not analytical cans in any sense of the word despite the detail they provide, have a shitty on-ear design for a lot of people (even though I like it a lot, I wish these things had an around ear fit too), and are pretty sucky for orchestral and epic soundtracks compared to the Sundaras. These are comparisons. Comparing to the Sundara (the best in price range option) is a hard bar to make, especially for a tiny company in the US. I would call these a solid alternative to the Sundaras for people who are okay with the fit and want a much more engaging sound. Even if these arenāt exactly what you want, I think these prove that Andover can make some reallllllly good products and these cans make me really excited to see what else they can make 
(Iād throw the money at them for that alone tbqh).
If you have any questions, let me know. Iāll be happy to answer or do comparisons with requested tracks or whatever.
Edit : Also, by no means do the PM-50s suck for classical. They are just anemic compared to the Hifimans for a good chunk of it. Then again, thatās what Hifimans were designed for, so high bar. Like Iām loving listening to the Star Wars Main Title on these. The impacts are delightful. Also the Dragonborn Theme. But with the Holberg Suite these donāt hold a candle to the Sundaras. Still pleasant, but you āloseā a lot of the staging and airyness that suites that piece so well. Whereas with the others, the better bass, warmer sound, and better impact give the PM-50s the leg up. Still sounds less epic than the airy sundaras, but the pieces are much more āfunā.
With the dragon born thing skip to 2:00, when the vocals come it these cans carry me to Skyrim I swear to fucking god. The Sundaras do not. Same type of thing with Dragon Age Inquisition.
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Iām real curious how these take to pad rolling. Maybe some of the sound signature issues can be improved with the right pads. Sounds like these do a lit if things right, so may he worth the risk.
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I do believe they are worth the risk. They might not be perfect, but I think itād be worth it supporting Andover just to see what they do next. Also, these cans are damn enjoyable.
If you are expecting analytical headphones, do. not. buy. Even though they can do it a bit, these are not built for analytical listening, and if you expect that you will be a very unhappy boi.
Fit is a whole other issue and you really have to get your hands on them for a week or so to really feel if they work for you.