Anyone have a comparison to the HE-400 or HE-500 to these? I still rock the HE-500’s and love them.
The HE400 and 500 have way more bass slam and are more of a v shaped sound. Very fun and enjoyable. Also have a wider soundstage. The sundara prioritizes detail and light and airy sound with a more neutral signature and is more intimate . The 400 and 500 are also more amp dependent and power hungry. The sundara will run well on most amps.
The 500 is super enjoyable and not really like the sundara
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Thank you for helping! I’ve been using a Asguard 2 and Modi 3 along with a Subpac S2 it’s a blast.
Yeah the older hifiman really slam, something that I miss from their current lineup. Although I just got the he6se and that is truly old hifiman in a new product. Crazy bass and layering
You could check out the he5se, as I think it is more tuned to be like the he500
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What about a comparison between the Sundara and the HE-560?
Now that’s a bit closer, as the he560 still has the edge in bass and has a slight v shape, but the sundara has better improved mids and is a more refined sound signature. The he560 is also still pretty amp dependant compared to the sundara. I personally prefer the he560v1 over the sundara, but for most people the sundara is the better headphone.
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Open up a he560 v3 and then compare, like the headband is not bad, I would suggest everyone who had 560s to change the back grill and switch to the other focus pads, OMG i didn’t want to let them go! I bet they don’t need to get these and just do the cheap mod. Also yes timbre is slightly plasticy, think like typing on a keyboard and not the metallic click but the bottoming out the abs hitting another surface. Maybe even someone talking with slightly too much saliva in their mouth, something like that as best as I can tell. Also they need way more power at that point too…
The v3’s are not very good compared to the v1 560’s. They kinda messed up the v3 and cheaped out. Also yeah they need more power then normal
Did you open the back up? That makes the difference with them, 100% man, and sorry I never got the v1, ish was expensive when I went with the v3. I had driver flex but no other issues. I don’t consider driver flex an issue since it is related to the seal.
Basically a Jerg mod, but you don’t need to do all of it to get the benefit.
I knew it! when Z said that phantoms where the best planars you could get for 350$ i started the thread “Thieaudio Phantom vs. HiFiMan Sundara” where i posited that if Z heard the Sundara’s that he would change his mind and name the Sundara’s as the best planars at 350$. Know finally i think he pretty much confirmed it!
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Kinda thinking something similar lol, but was not going to say it
I didn’t thing the 560v1 really needed modding for my tastes. I have heard a few 560 mods and they were all right. The he500 took super well to mods
Yea a pad swap to the Focus A and then literally just put a really open mesh grill to keep fingers from getting to the drivers. I swapped it for a friend back to back and he was blown away by it, he ended up buying them off me in part because of it. I did some more work on sealing the chambers separately but outside of that bone stock perfection. It was an analytical sound and you could bass bump like a LCD2C at that point, but I had analytical sound in the DT1990 so it was not needed.
Basic take away is they are congested until you remove the grills. I suggest a mod before an “upgrade” in this case to have the end user see if another purchase is justified, if they are thrifty/handy that is.
Edit: basically this, pay no attention to the pads as I was able to get the Focus A after this pic.
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Chicken wire?
It does look better then stock.
That works really well for this type of use case
I wouldn’t have the patients to sit there and cut that stuff. I use to get animals out of peoples attics and it takes so long to work with that stuff and it’s sharp.
Oh yea, the wire pissed me off quite a bit lol, but i got it to work, another guy came up with the idea later to use some pantyhose on the wire to act as a makeshift dust-filter as well, so it can look decent too. For people that don’t think they are congested just give it a shot cus I was taken aback after just opening them up a bit.
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I’ve always liked leather pads on my 'phones, so when I had the 4xx, I tried mounting leather pads on them. However, the bass became quite muddy. I then got the idea of taking 2 small round pieces of felt and sticking them to the earcups, under the pads as a sort of “vent” as shown in the picture.
Holy…damn…
Dat TIGHT, skull-shaking bass.
Naturally, I wanted to try the same with the Sundaras - It still works great, but the bass is not quite as…“wow”-like.
EDIT: The pads I’m using are Brainwavz Sheepskin, if I remember correctly.
Try it for yourself and tell me what you think about it 
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