Ok got my Ananda today and wow. big drivers FTW! 
Ok lets get the lame stuff out of the way. box it came in is very nice. i can tell its particle board covered with a leather like material. stitching on the outside with a large plastic plate. Inside is a silk like fabric. its nice and every headphone that costs over 400$ should have it. but the company’s will probably use this as a excuse to drive up the price. i would gladly accept a cardboard box if it was 50$ cheaper. it has no handle. i wish they would come with a handle.
the cable is a little strange, clear plastic, a little janky but thin and long so the jank is good. the headphone fits fine and i dont think theres any leaks even though it has no swivel. But i can feel it on my jaw, not sure if this will cause issues for long term wear. Its BIG, going back and forth to the Elex is like going back and forth from a Sports car to a RV.
Ok sound. i thought at first that this would be a little like the Stax headphone. i mean it is a massive driver. but no. I dont think it has the detail and nuance of the L700. But it has more than the Elex. It plays music big and fortunately i like big music. and it sounds good for this. Songs like Simple Minds Utopia, Radioheads Burn the witch and Tears for Fears Working Hour sound really really good. I love how big sounding this headphone is.
Thing is it needs volume. But the treble is too high. so i turn the volume up. but the treble gets in the way and makes it painful leaving me with the only option, to turn down the treble. Its sound makes me want to turn the volume up but as i do it seems not to change that much. i can turn it all the way up on low and high gain and it takes big steps to here a difference. but it needs volume.
ok now because of the volume and treble. it doesn’t sound so good on certain songs. This may not be a headphone thats kind to older stuff, and i need that. i love the new wave 80’s and i want it to sound good. Newer stuff is better. And Moon shaped pool 48kHz/24bit sounds pretty good on it. its seems ok on better recorded and newer music.
The lack of midrange is unpleasing. The Elex and the Ananda sound close to each other except for the midrange. The Ananda has more detail and nuance. So its large presence and detail vs midrange. The treble and midrange are a problem. especially on older recordings. I took a look at the frequency response from DIY audio heaven. and from that raised the EQ 1.8 and 2.5 up for midrange, and the 7k and 14k hrz down for treble. The 7k down made it much less painfull. i think it sounds better but not sure. maybe sonar works or someone has a way to fix it better. Arya is more balanced though. If you got the cash go for that. But i love this headphone. Its great.
