šŸ”¶ HiFiMan Ananda

I donā€™t really see the point of debating it anymore than it has beenā€¦ :stuck_out_tongue:

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I wasnā€™t saying I was going to since I already said my opinions on the matter, but other people might lol

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Just because you keep repeating it doesnā€™t make it true

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My wife said that doesnā€™t matter???

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sorry guys, iā€™m just in love with big drivers

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I also find the treble hot. I have gotten used to the big driver HFM, but none of them from the Ananda to the HEKse have as much concentrated bass explosion as a HE-6 - instead being more diffuse - which is sometimes better, but not always). The HEX and Ananda both have tall soundstages - that are not that wide, but a sensibly modified HE-500 has a soundstage width about 40% wider, but shorter, more speaker like - rectangular and outside of ones head - also more in front - less in the head.

Until you get to killer cans, its all a trade-off. I too like the Arya, but Iā€™m waiting for about a year when they are $900 or less used - but they have to be rev 1ā€™s - forget this SE/Adorama bull crap again.

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This is a forum mostly for people trying to figure out this whole hi-fi thing. I donā€™t want to be that head-fi/SBAF dick, but I think weā€™re getting to the membership point where someone needs to start calling people out for stating opinions as facts. I donā€™t agree with your blanket statement here at all, but that also doesnā€™t mean I disagree with you other opinions. There are a lot of new members here and I donā€™t think think they need to be influenced by your personal opinions unless stated as such

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Iā€™m getting confused, are we still talking about drivers? Itā€™s not a euphamism for something else, right?

I have strong opinions. I always have. but ive always formed my opinions by what ive experienced and the research ive done. And i know how to state them. Iā€™m not afraid to go against popular opinion or the opinion of respected people in the field. but im also learning and im open minded.

I want to influence. ive seen my influence change things sometimes. If i can change this thing into better direction then iā€™m gonna try and do that. But i always keep things civilized. please excuse me if im getting on your nerves. iā€™ll try to rephrase my posts in the future.

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lol, no Zaphain its not a euphamism for something else

Youā€™re not getting on my nerves, but I think you could make a blanket statement that headphones with black coloration are better than those with silver colors as a rule and it would hold as much water as saying Large Drivers are >. I love the Focal Clears, but the black Utopias are the better headphone by most measurements. In most opinions (mine as well, but not all opinions). You can make the case for most of the Hifiman line, where one color performs better than another. But to say that the larger driver Hifiman perform better than the smaller size would contradict that the existence of the Susvaras, HE6, and others. The HEk headhones (large!!! and silver) are the preference of many people, but not necessarily the consensus preferred sound.

Thatā€™s all I am trying to say. Your own opinions are valid and worth as much as anyone elseā€™s, but when you are talking about a high ticket item for most people here, please try to identify you personal preferences thusly

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No no, thats not what im saying. and ive said this before. I dont think a cheap large headphone driver will outclass a expensive smaller headphone driver. i said all things being equal, a bigger driver is better than a smaller one. I think they give more detail and nuance that smaller drivers will miss. I think they will reveal more of the music. I get this from reviews of larger headphones and my experience with the 95x and now the Ananda.

Also everyone says speakers have better sound than headphones. so my reasoning is thats cause they are larger. again, all things being equal. therefore a larger driver, like a speaker, will reveal more of the music. i know it sounds like simple reasoning but none the less i believe its true.

Lets say a company makes a driver utilizing a certain technology for the drivers and a certain level of quality, then makes different size drivers, with all the drivers being equal, the biggest drivers will always have more detail, nuance and reveal more of the music. in that way they are better. thats pretty much what ive been saying.

So i think a company endeavoring to make better sounding headphones by tuning, utilizing the latest technology and quality materials, may also improve the sound by increasing the size of their drivers instead of sticking with the usual size drivers.

Iā€™ll just leave this hereā€¦ from an interview by Steve Guttenburg with Axel Grell, the man who is responsble for the Sennheiserā€™s line up from the HD 580 to the HD 600/650 and 800.

What about driver size? Do larger drivers sound better, play louder or make more bass than smaller drivers? Grell had a two word answer, ā€œDefinitely not.ā€ Larger drivers do a poor job reproducing high frequencies. Grell says the maximum driver size should be around 42mm (for full-size headphones); with larger drivers the surface of the diaphragm physically changes shape at high frequencies and produces irregular frequency response. Larger drivers can generate cleaner bass, but less accurate high frequencies.

With in-ear headphones Grell feels 6.5mm drivers easily generate very deep bass, and excellent high-frequency sound. Larger drivers offer no advantage over smaller drivers. The overall design of the driver and headphone are much more important than driver size, but those differences donā€™t show up in specs. The differences in design are only apparent when you listen.

Source: Here's what you need to know about headphone specifications - CNET

Honestly, I think you are just playing into ā€˜confirmation biasā€™ when it comes to your conclusions. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Omg that is my dream setup. SU8 with the SP200. Looks awesome together

Experience is by definition subjective. If one isnā€™t quoting measurements, itā€™s all personal AND subjective.
BTW, in case anyone is wondering, all those statement are my personal findings. Feel free to ignore, or pay attention as you (all of you) see fit.

Iā€™m a 62 year old curmudgeon - charming, maddening, and out of the box by turns. I donā€™t mind posting a note saying itā€™s MY opinion, but on a site like this, isnā€™t that an oxymoron?

Not trying to start a battle of heat, but, considerations of light.

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yeah i was thinking the same thing. but i can understand what Onaha is saying though. these are big ticket items. and i wouldnt want to influence someone to make a expensive purchase thats wrong for them.

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Thanks! :slightly_smiling_face: yeah im very happy with it. sound is great, and pretty uncolored i think. and not too expensive if you get them on sale. i got the sp200 for 260$ and the SU8 for 170 = 430$. but ive probably spent another 500$ on amps and dacā€™s i wish i could get back lol.

also i was suprised at the picture quality of the lg v20 phone camera lol. it looks so good and its size is only 200k lol

But what if steve grell us suffering from confirmation bias? or some kind of bias. when has Sennhieser even made a large driver headphone? most of Hifimans new lineup is large driver headphone. Stax did this size for years. I think people dont like large drivers cause their afraid of looking stupid with bigger headphones on their heads. but i dont care lol, i dont care, i want that wonderful big driver sound :heart_eyes:

Wellā€¦ feel free to come up with your conclusion or believe a guy with decades of engineering experience making some of the most well known and popular headphones in the audiophile worldā€¦ You said yourself you were open mindedā€¦ so Iā€™ll leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions in the end. :wink:

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Just wondering, when you say that larger drivers are better when all things are equal, when are all things equal? I canā€™t think of a pair of headphones with a larger driver and smaller driver where all things are equal. The majority of the time things will never be equal enough to make that true comparison.

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