So I just read about how the Sundara got a stealth revision this year. Are the pads fully responsible for the change in tone? I’d be really interested in hearing how they sound since I found the Sundara to be too bright for my liking. Does anyone think it’s worth buying the new pads? Of course that’s if I can even get them anywhere.
1 Like
https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/palipad.html (u could get them off this link)
so the stealth revision, to my knowledge the pad change was indeed the one and only thing responsible for the change in sound. As someone who has owned smooth things like the 58x and sharp things like the dt 770, tin t2, i can say that these headphones do have the smoothest treble i’ve heard without really missing out on some frequencies like you do with warm headphones. it’s not a miracle worker but i think really smoothed out certain albums i got. I can seriously say that these don’t sound bright at all to my ears, and i’m more or less treble sensetive
2 Likes
Ughhh these sound perfect for me…my birthday is coming up…hmmm
3 Likes
Anyone here have the Sundaras as well as the Elex and can give me an overall comparison of the two?
1 Like
these are pretty perfect, and actually i may borrow an elex from a buddy in a few weeks just to do a comparison lol. if that happens i can share my thoughts on them
1 Like
I own both but I can’t say that much about the Elex since I hardly use it. They sound pretty different, so I wouldn’t be worried about the Sundara being redundant. The two biggest differences to I notice are (aside from FR) the Elex is overall more natural sounding and dynamic.
Here’s a couple posts from M0N.
1 Like
ah i see you have the focal elex. from what i hear they are better, the elex. what exactly would you be looking for? speed?
Really just want to experience the difference of dynamic to planar sound. Right now I only have dynamics. Only planar I’ve heard was the t60rp and argon mk3 and I wasn’t a fan, and I’ve been told they’re not the greatest example of what planars can do.
1 Like
Happy birthday and happy sundaras in advance. 
2 Likes
The Elex and the Sundara’s are the most similar cans in my collection.
When I first got the Elex’s I found them addictive and wore them for 21 straight days. They truly have a W shaped sound. Lots of bass (more than I was expecting), lots of mids and lots of top end. They are very exciting, but can be fussy on bad sounding material. Very close to perfect, IMO.
The Sundara’s had a pretty low bar to clear: Just be better than the HE4XX’s. These were less than half the price of the Elex’s. These are not as exciting, but are much more relaxed sounding. The sound is VERY full and the 'phones are not as fussy as the Elex’s regarding amps or music.
I find the Elex’s are much heavier and easier to drive than the Sundara’s.
I like both of them for different reasons. If money is tight, the Sundara’s are a great pick up. If you can afford (and can get) the Elex’s, they are amazing. With these two and my Grado’s, I just feel like I have open backs covered.
I am listening to my Fostex’s for the last few days and I must admit that I am itching to get back to some open backs.
I haven’t really compared them since Monday. I got my new amp on Sunday and immediately put on the Elex’s. They were perfect and on Monday I put the Sundara’s on. I wanted to cycle through all my headphones on the new amp, but it took me several days to take the Sundara’s off. 
That is my overall comparison. To really compare the sounds, I would have to A-B them for an afternoon. Both are awesome though.
Not sure if that helps anybody though. I love both of them.
5 Likes
Yeah we owe Massdrop big time for the Elex. Can you imagine the Focal line-up without it? There’s just be the Eligia, Elear and the Listen.
Which fostex do you have?
The Liquid Platinum from Monoprice. Also referred to as a Monolith or as a Cavalli amp.
Plays nice with EVERYTHING! What an amp.
I put in some Amperex tubes today and didn’t notice much of a difference.
TH-610’s. I will be doing a driver tune-up on them tomorrow.
1 Like
Have heard good things about it. Enjoy!
1 Like
You know, besides the clear and the utopia lol
3 Likes
Yeah but who can afford those =P
Don’t forget the gold-diamond-version-things
(kidding, I know it’s just eye candy)
Gotcha gotcha, well I will say that I enjoy the fact that they are planar since it does sound different. But I will also say that I would enjoy it the same if it was dynamic lol. To my ears, I don’t necessarily see the micro detail or more importantly I don’t care about it lol. The nice thing about the sundara being planar I would say is that they sound very light footed possibly due to the speed
1 Like