đŸ”¶ Andover PM-50

Seems good so far, curious to see how it continues to go for you and if burn in is large :+1:

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I dunno if it’s burn in or my ears adjusting, or both, but they’re sounding much, much better now. Still A/Bing with the Sundara for a song every 15 minutes or so. Also tried out the iFi nano iDSD bl. I threw it on measure instead of listen, and there’s a real improvement between the two. Taking away just a bit of the warmth did wonders. I think the whole analytical amp / dac thing might be true. These have gobs of detail and are much warmer than the sundaras.

Also, everything has almost too much power for these things. I might actually need something to reduce the level before the amp. Am on mid setting on dac and low on amp and I’m barely at 9 o’clock. Midnight is ear-splittingly loud.

Hifi Guides review. I am not qualified, but not a lot of info about these around so figured I’d throw this in there to attempt to be helpful.

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Glad they look as beautiful in your pictures as they did online! Looking forward to your impressions in a few days after they’ve burned in (if that affects them) :slightly_smiling_face:

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Day 3 of PM-50s : Have pretty much not taken them off my head unless I’ve been forced to. Went to bandcamp to relisten to my collection. Downloaded the FLAC albums and VLC media player. Realized that this album is given a new dimension by these cans while running with the iFi iDSD Nano BL. I need to do work, but I keep getting sucked back in.

These are wonderfully warm and only getting more comfortable the more I wear them.

Can’t wait to get back home and run these with the LP again.

I also picked up the PM-50s. I currently have them connected to the Asgard 3 and Topping D30. I only been listening to them for about an hour so far. It certainly is a warmer Sundara at first glance. With my small ears, I can see easily this being more of a on ear without a pad replacement.

I saw the early reviews complaining about the clamping force, at least with my pair I have no issue with the initial force.

At least so far I can say this could be a safe pick up

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Yet another update on these


So my sister came back from school and I had her A/B these and the Sundaras with the Liquid Platinum Hybrid without saying anything about price or sound at all. For reference she is not super into headphones or sound, but listens to music constantly. Her thoughts are pretty interesting compared to what I heard.

  • Sundaras are airier and much nicer for mellow electronic / alternative type music. Brought out details she’d never heard in the tracks she listens to before. Decidedly goes to Sundaras for mellow alternative and orchestral.
  • It’s easier to separate sounds with the Sundaras in some tracks and the PM-50s in others.
  • Easier to pick out details on the Sundara in some tracks, but the PM-50 has about the same amount of detail as well (i.e. details pop on the sundara, but they are just ‘existing’ in the PM-50s).
  • PM-50s are much more pleasant for rock, blues, jazz, and folk. Punchier, more dynamics, and more ‘comfortable’ sounding.
  • All vocals are more to her preferences on the PM-50s.
  • Comfort was to the PM-50s, fit went to the Sundaras.

Conclusion was it was a complete toss-up. Said they were equally good at slightly different things, and they were similar sounding in a lot of ways.

I disagreed on the amount detail comparison (I think the PM-50s flat out have more, but I agree that it is very laid back). Everything else I find myself agreeing with.

However, since the Sundaras are currently $350 vs the current $500 for the PMs, it’s hard to recommend the PMs over them. For the sale price of $400 that they were it seemed to both of us that PMs were worth the increased cost (if only for the build quality / feel / looks upgrade and a different sound).

@gallappago Interested to hear your thoughts on the above.

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She has good ears for music pairings with sound reasoning. You should do this more as the collection grows really interested on her thoughts now.

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I think that becomes obvious with more time. Something more laid back sounding generally is harder to pick up detail. Sort of like the sendy which has very forward treble of the things people pick up on like right away is the detail

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Also, more caveats with which to get if anyone is ever considering getting one or the other.

She said she’d go with the PM-50s if she absolutely had to get either/or because of the versatility and build quality comparatively, even with the $150 dollar price difference and the Sundara being better for the music she enjoys sitting and listening to. I also made her aware of the sensitvity of the Sundaras to static. I also had her plug them into a phone with no amp/dac and walk around (which is her most common use case). PM-50s are much easier to drive and sound much better out of a phone. She also felt much more confident in the build quality / durability of the PM-50s. Her final verdict was that it depended on both use case and where / how you’ll be using them. PM-50s are much more versatile, whereas the Sundaras would be better in a studio or only ever being used at a desk with amplification.

I know for a fact that she’s never heard headphones of this caliber before, so the Sundara’s clarity / airyness might be affecting the opinion imo. Regardless, I think her POV and opinion is pretty spot on with a few caveats.

She is now currently listening to DT990s/770s and 4xxs through a Schiit Hel while studying. Currently heavily favoring the 990s. Will check back in with that in a few hours and have her A/B these guys again with the Archel instead of the LP.

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Lol you have the perfect opportunity to get her hooked on audio

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Lmao yea, her comments were, “I wish I had money to spend”


I can hear the pocketbook crying already.

Also, she’ll be taking one set of cans and the schiit hel back up to school. Will probably be the 4xx cause she can drive them off the phone with no amp.

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Fuck yeah! I knew I liked her

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4xx is a little more power hungry than a phone can generally provide from my experience
pretty much have to max it out to get to my preferred listening volume on an original Pixel XL.

But it is much more efficient than a 250 Ohm beyer :stuck_out_tongue:

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So I pulled out my Blon B20s, modded pair of Theaudio Phamtoms, and Verum 1s. Switching between them this morning, I feel that they all are around the same class of headphones. All that do things a bit differenlty overall.

Of the grouping the PM50s are by far the easiest to drive. I feel that some people could be content driving them off of a phone like the LG V20. My brother at least seem content with it and didn’t feel like the jump to an amp was worth it overall with the hassle of being locked down in one spot.

Sundaras being more airy does help it with classical and details are easier to pick out on them just due to it being brighter. They do exist on the PM 50 but as I found out with headphones like the LCD 2C or Nighthawks, unless I was accustomed to the sound it is harder to grasp for them easier.

Comfort wise they feel great to me honestly, of the group Sundara is certainly the lightest, but heavy things on my head has never bothered me at all.

I think it is still too early for me to say for certain if the PM has more details then the others at this price range since I have not listened to it for too long. I know it is above the Phamtoms and on par with everything else currently.

I can see myself preferring this on some genres overall and I do believe it is worth keeping overall. Just like you came to a conclusion earlier price at $500, it is a hard sale. When you can get the others at $350 or less it is a rather hard sell. Build/tuning wise it is great, doesn’t need mods like the Phamtoms. I like the overall build more then the Sundara and believe it is on par with the Verum.

More and more I listen the more I just go different strokes for different folks. I don’t think there is a right answer to which is better currently, just they all fit nicely in the same class.

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Different animals with one being a higher impedance higher sensitivity dynamic and the other being low impedance low(ish) sensitivity planar. Don’t have the Beyers to compare, so I’ll take your word for it.

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Yea. Both cans scale with amplification, of course, but the Beyers are much harder to drive out of the gate. I’m also not saying the 4xx’s are super easy to drive either, just comparatively so.

We both definitely like the Beyers more though (except that fucking curly cord lmao). Just turns into a convenience thing.

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Oooh, could you elaborate a bit on how the Verum’s compare?

Also, yea, your thoughts sound spot on.

Do the the PMs sound ‘veiled’ at all to you? I’ve been playing around with the volume on different amps and songs and I rarely (emphasis or rarely) get an inkling of veiled sound. Dunno if it’s being unused to warmth or on-ear fit or bad recordings or what.

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It doesn’t feel that Veiled to me, but I can say that is one area I am by far the weakest in noticing in general. I will need much more time before I can even come to a idea one way or another on this one.

In comparison to the Verums, I find the Verums to be overall more of an engaging sound. The bass seems to go a bit lower, a bit thicker in sound and hits harder. The sound stage and imaging seems to be slightly larger overall from early comparisons.

I do find the PM 50s are certainly more laid back set of the two.

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Very interesting impressions going on here, looks promising