I really liked this review by DMS… Reminded me what got me into this hobby…
The Sundara was my first hifi headphone, and the one that got me addicted to this hobby… It has so much going for it, soundstage, resolution, detail and instrument separation, planar magnetic bass that doesnt drown out the detail… Even after trying alot of other headphones including more expensive ones, I still enjoy coming back to and listening to the Sundaras now and then… They were my first planar magnetic and open backed headphones and kindof blew my mind with how immersive they sounded compared to other headphones I had previously…
HiFiMan undercuts itself sometimes more than its competitors. The HE-400se had stealth magnets before Sundara and was released for $150, $200 less than Sundara.
And now you have the Edition XS with fantastic sound and more bass than Ananda at $200 less than Ananda.
I have a hifiman sundara but.
The left driver stopped working literally overnight. ,
I tried to inverse the jack . So I plugged the (r) jack3.5 to the (l) driver and still nothing.
While on the right driver, the left jack worked.
So the problem isn’t the cable…
I don’t know if it s the connector or if it’s actually the magnets or something else…
Is there a way to test?
I don’t know what to do ,the guarantee expired
What can I do ?
So, my Sundara replacement unit just arrived. My question is if there’s a stealth magnetic revision for Sundara too or is it just a myth? Can’t find much info on the internet about it. I cannot open the box yet but if this stealth revision is real is there a practical way to verify it?
Thanks for the response. It’s good to know. I’ve read on reddit a while ago that someone got the “stealth MAGNET” revision of the Sundara and it sounded weird to me, cause I knew that only HE400SE has stealth magnets. I think he meant to say stealth revision or something.
I had not used the Sundaras for a while, so I took 'em out for a spin last night. But they sounded off, somehow. Just kind of hollow and flat. Definitely not what I remembered them to be. At first I thought it was because I have been listening to other cans and my ear was off. But it was more than that; these things were lacking fidelity. Something was wrong.
Right off the bat I decided to replace the balanced cable I had on there with the one I had on the new HP-2’s. And BOOM! - They completely woke up! In fact, they sounded better than I ever remember them sounding. I have never had a cable go “dead” on me before, but there it was. Problem solved. But now I am down a cable.
I don’t know why, but suddenly I thought “What about the Stock Kennerton cable that the HP-2’s came with? I know it isn’t balanced but It’s a great cable and I bet it would sound great on the SP200.” So I installed it on the Sundara. First off, this cable looks killer on these cans! Then I connected them to the TA-20/SP200 combo at the SP200’s 6.3mm SE jack. Holy Shit. They sound incredible on there! This Preamp/amp combination continues to surprise and impress. The Sundara loves it.
I never thought the Sundara would sound this good when running single ended. I was wrong. This particular pairing is fantastic. I think I am going to use the word… Synergy! This grouping has it. Moral of the story? The Sundara can go single ended and perform very well. I’ll probably get another balanced cable in at some point, but I’m not in any rush.
80mw into 32 Ohms. Hmm… I’m not sure that will get the best out of them. As mentioned above, I am throwing a good amount of juice at them to get them humming. This is just my experience, however. That E35 looks pretty cool, though.
Due to Sundara’s weight I have to get a more lightweight daily headset. I will keep the Sundara for shorter auditions. I was thinking of Sennheiser HD600 (they’re about 30% lighter) but I heard bad things about their soundstage, is it really that bad compared to Hifiman headphones? I used to own a HD560s and I’ve had headaches from how congested and in my head everything sounded.
This grouping has it. Moral of the story? The Sundara can go single ended and perform very well. I’ll probably get another balanced cable in at some point, but I’m not in any rush.