Poor Quality Control warning, but I’m sure somebody here will take the risk, especially with amazon’s return policy.
Open Box Hifiman Sundaras at $249:
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FML I bit. guess we’ll see, when it arrives in about 2-3 weeks…
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You are braver than I am. Looks like you got it right before it sold out too.
I have a feeling this is one where some vendor hast just one available. Or some third party selling their own or something. But it is Prime, so figured I’d be able to get money back. Hopefully it’s not a scam to get personal info through Amazon.
Wouldn’t call that one a scam. Headphones.com sells those all the time in open box at that same price. Sure its not the same company?
Sold by Kaviso
I found some other post indicating this “Kaviso”:
Yeah but they are authorized by Drop:
“Kaviso is a brand partner in the electronics and outdoor industry which utilizes data-backed, tailor-made strategies, to maximize brands potential. Our seller central account is an authorized seller of exclusive products and brands such as Drop (formerly Massdrop), beyerdynamic, and Hifiman.”
And the link underneath the title leads to a Massdrop product page. where they are listed for that price
Yeah you’re fine with the seller. Now it’s just a QC concern.
So what tends to be the issue with these? is it just a hifiman staple? or specifically the Sundara model? I heard there had been secret revisions.
I also read on a used sale post that the pads where crappy and peeled off so the owner had gotten some new pads and didn’t have the originals anymore. Any issues with the pads? or are we talking about headband, or worst of all, the drivers?
Erm, you may not want to hear this, but from what I’ve read online the issues vary and cover most of what you just listed. And QC issues happen with all Hifiman products, not just Sundaras.
The only officially announced revision from Hifiman was that the glue in the earpad was improved for durability. Seems the glue was a very prevalent issue.
An unofficial revision is that the older models have pads that are not as angled and less comfortable depending on your head/jaw.
The worst issue is that people have stated one side of the headphone driver is lower volume or simply dies out on them (see amazon reviews).
There are probably more issues but YMMV.
It’s an issue with the company at its core and they have shit quality control just in general. The headphones are incredible and build quality feels decent enough but theres a multitude of issues. My last 4 hifiman broke due to driver malfunctions. 2 of which were sundaras. What @kcrack mentioned is completely accurate.
Pads were known to have glue issues but as far as I am aware thats been technically resolved less you have an old addition or again just piss poor quality control as an issue
No word on headband but the driver is the biggest issue. Channel imbalance, one of the drivers practically imploding upon itself and just straight up breaking of parts coming loose inside the cups, cable malfunctions at the connection joint as though it wasn’t installed correctly. Theres a world of damn issues with their quality control. If I sound really angry about it its because I am. I love the sundara its quite literally one of my favorite headphones and when I got my ananda it was nothing short of incredible sounding. However all broke withint a short time frame. I took a hit of a little over $100 on my first hifiman which was the 400i as it didnt have return policies, ordered through ebay, not knowing any better busted on me within little over a week.
The open box models tend to be a hit or miss… if you get a refurbished model these are said to be already repaired by hifiman take that with a grain of salt as you will. Refurbished models claim to no longer have any qc issues
damn. I had the driver on one of the sides die on me on one of my Audeze Mobius. That sucked.
shit lmao thx. At least didn’t spend more than 250? lol…
Are the pads interchangeable on the Sundara? or glued?
In the cases where they broke, @Falenkor, did you contact hifiman? I think I saw commented that support was not great and something about the president laughing at people’s problems or some such? did I dream that?
I think the probability is that you’ll be fine. I hope so. Sundara is an excellent headphone so long as it works! Falenkor has indeed had a particularly intense streak of bad luck…
The pads have a mounting ring glued to them. They are not glued to the earcups.
I did yeah. Two of the headphones were directly from them. I had the second sundara replaced instead of repaired over to the ananda which I had heard good things about. The ananda broke and thats when I had enough and went off. Demanded my money back I didn’t want a repair at that point I was so angry. I won’t say their service is particularly poor? But it could be improved of course.
Hifiman claims that their open box models on their site are actually the already fixed versions though I have heard no true clarifications outside of hifimans claims. I hear to many incidents of their headphones breaking
I will put it to you this way man. If you have a working sundara? It punches way the hell above that price point. It’s one of the best planars I have tried Sub $500 in terms of neutral bright and being a planar. It’s one hell of an amazing headphone for sure. If hifiman would get their act together I would have practically nothing at all negative to say and it would be 100% instant purchase material
You can change them iirc they have that hifiman plastic filter you have to pop off with the pads though. It can be a pain in the neck suggest looking it up first.
Thanks, guess we’ll wait and see. Crossing fingers XD
It’s amazon though, I would assume your fine. Definitely check it for issues though as one of the more common that I experienced and hear more often was the imbalanced sound of the drivers. Pads probably will show wear from being an open box. If something happens and you want an alternative look into DT 880 or HarmonicDyne Helios. While not planars they share the signature and amazing detail of the sound
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Pads are fairly easy to change: rings on pads have slots, rings on ear cups have grooves; just have to squeeze the ear pad so the slot gets pulled back and snaps onto the groove when you let it go. Mild PIA to do so in both directions at worst.
I got the Aeon 2 open here now, the Elex on the way, the liquid platinum on the way, and now these; so if they don’t work out and I gotta return them, as long as there are no issues with the refund process, I won’t be worried. It was more of a rush for the deal but…
I mean I really wanted to order sundara the other day when we were talking about the open back headphones for gaming with the wife and I ended up with the elex. So having the open back planar as well, not a bad deal. I was still itching for an XX edition from hifiman but kind of fear the QC now lol
At that point yeah, I think you will be just fine with or without that sundara lol. wait, and the liquid platinum? You got the balanced cables for the aeon 2 I hope?
Nothing wrong with giving them a shot. I had a horrid streak of luck doesn’t mean you will have the same. I know quite a few on here have still working great units from hifiman. Like I said its a bit of a hit or miss it seems.
Understandable but in the terms of xx edition they can be found on amazon as well when they are around for return policies and replacements have to be upheld. As for the date it comes back through another run you have to take into account that its on DROP’s end for the warranties and the like not so much hifiman
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Yes, the Aeon 2 Open came directly from Dan Clark through APOS audio with balanced cable instead of standard cable. That’s why I was so happy with the price; I couldn’t find the balanced cables anywhere (I have found them now for sale and is not that bad of a price) for sale. Moon-audio was selling their own cables instead of DCA ones.
I did see the xx edition at Amazon for $630. But I read something about people believing it was only worth $400, and that it was originally for sale at $500 and later went up to $600. I was between used anandas from Amazon for $611, the xx edition (supposedly new) from amazon for $630, and the Elex used (or new)
subjective opinions. Everyone has an opinion your entitled to voice it… but your also entitled to be wrong lol. Edition xx is just like the ananda but warmer not as treble peaky or bright both are good just depends on which sound your looking for.
lol sounds good. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on that one. If it’s anything like my own aeons it will be one good listening session.
Moon loves their cables… they also love making sure those cables are insanely high in price and pushing their “dragon” cables. Nothing says give me several extra hundred dollars extra like a dragon cable lol.
The elex shares a close signature to the sundara so you should notice if anything some moderate similarities outside of the driver difference and the strange bubble soundstage the elex has. Granted, you will probably end up enjoying the elex more than the sundara in my opinion. Whole other ball game with that headphone
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