I found them wide and tall, but Iām having a hard time finding depth.
To be honest I have a hard time with headphone sound stage at all. I much prefer the home theater or at least stereo speakers for it.
1 Like
Thanks. The ear shape plays a part too, thatās why people describe the soundstage of the same headphones differently. I think the consensus for the ananda is that it has a tall soundstage, but some say it is wide while some say it is narrow
The shape thing is a real factor - for me, regarding the fit.
I wish I could stand to wear this headphone for more than 15 or so minutes, but I canāt. I have a pretty normal sized, ovular/rectangular headshape. For me, the Ananda applies a lot of press on my lower jaw and even slightly on my upper neck area. The notches are pointless, as I can only wear the headphones on their lowest setting. Too bad.
They sound nice, very nice even. Lovely detail, separation, imaging. They sound kind of ādeadā though, at the same time. Very polite.
At the same time, the Sundaraās ear cups are too small for me - I donāt like pressure being put on my ears like that. Unfortunate. Iām pretty sensitive, as you can probably tell, but at the same time I find the 6xxās, broken in 1990 Pros, and Thieaudio Monarchs super comfy.
2 Likes
I have a fairly wide and large head, do you think the anandas will fit me? My head might be wider than yours and my ears are slightly below my eyes if that helps
With a hat size 65 in Europe, or xxl in America, I have no real comfort problems with the Ananda, only because of the egg shape, the jaw takes a bit of getting used to.
The advantage of this shape is that you can have elephant ears and these still fit comfortably in the ear caps.
1 Like
Fit is highly subjective - head shape is probably half of the story, maybe less. Iām just sensitive to pressure along the jaw and neck. Your mileage will vary. For me, it just wasnāt going to stay on my head for more than a half hour.
1 Like
Im thinking about returning my anandas 
They are great, light and comfy, soundstage is open, big and tall but incoherent to me, Itās hard to describe but the instruments feel like they are part of a huge mass of sound rather than actually separated. They are detail and separated but it just feels uncanny compared to my other dynamics.
They also sound dead analytic, like no emotion at all just detail (a lot of it, found new sounds in almost every song).
2 Likes
DMS calls the timbre metallic too. The characteristics you described might be the āPlanar soundā.
1 Like
I think this ādead soundā may be specific to the ananda, even the sundara sounded a little bit less dead.
other planars have been known for āplanar slamā like the he5 or he6 but I havent heard those, I was also unimpressed by the lcd2c, I guess ill stick to dynamics from now on, took some time and money to find out though.
1 Like
Ananda tends to be very comfy for big heads, but there are some exceptiond
1 Like
IME, having owned Ananda and now owning Arya they take a little while to loosen up (read: burn in). That being said, thereās definitely a difference in presentation bass wise between dynamics and planars. Dynamics usually have a bass hump that planars mostly donāt have, but still donāt go as low, as detailed, or as textured, without distortion, as planars do, generally. Definitely a learning curve, so to speak.
1 Like
oh definitely, I donāt think they would sound dead to most people, but they still do sound kinda dead to me.
I think they are an absolute beast for the price and most people will enjoy them a lot, the tuning is completely fantastic with enough of everything, but they are way too analytical for me, I enjoyed the sundaras just about the same for a lot less money, they were quite a bit less technical and just a bit more musical but that was enough.
Iām still deciding if I should keep the anandas because they are that clear with probably the best frequency response Iāve heard, I think the aryas should improve the weak dynamics a lot but out of my price range.
1 Like
Understood that. Have you thought about EQ. Planars generally respond well to even massive amounts of EQ. But ultimately we like what we like and itās your world as it concerns your ears. Rock onā¦
2 Likes
Iām thinking of getting these or elex,coming from HD 650
what are you expecting to get from either, what would you like different from the 650
i like more bass and treble and hopefully same midrange of 600 series
Itās the elex then, I have a lent pair with me right now lol.
Both the ananda and the elex will deliver a lot more bass extension than the 650 (and quantity if you want to eq) but the midrange is where I think the elex gets a clear advantage over the anandas, its beautiful and upfront unlike the anandas which are more true to source and analytic.
For my preference in the midrange
elex > 650 = ananda
take in mind that even tough I like the anandas midrange as much as the 650 they sound completely different.
Also, the reason I say elex its because of the āI like more bassā part, they are punchier than both the ananda and the 650
1 Like
Iām kinda scared of those focal āclippingā and āimbalanceā issues
Yeah, me too, but hifiman products have that same bad rep
just bought the ananda ! got a good deal for them ahehe
1 Like