This is mostly a comfort thing. I have a big head and big ears, the firmness of the foam Dekoni uses makes Sundaras more comfortable for me. I think itās more a personal quality of life issue than a requirement for āeveryoneā.
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Iām just going based off of various YouTube and site/forum reviews. The joys of audio. 
My Sundaraās just arrived. I just have a few short, quick things to say about them.
- They feel much sturdier than I had imagined, which is a good thing. Even the sliders feel really solid.
- The clamping strength on themā¦ Damn! Making my jaw a little uncomfortable already
- Powered via the SE output of my HiBy R5 Saber, they sound pretty amazing literally right out of the box
- The stock cable absolutely sucks. Even after attempting to straighten it, itās still all coiled up in my teeth
- To my amazement, the R5 Saber powers them pretty good and they really shows how good this little DAP sounds
As for the sound, Iām listening to this albumā¦
The second track āNowās The Timeā, not even 30 seconds into it, the bass is playing and off to the far left, a glass plate gets dropped on a table. It was so convincing that it scared the crap out of me. I got up and went into the kitchen to see if one of the cats was up on the counter knocking stuff over. LOL
Nope, it was in the recording.
I can only imagine what these are going to sound like with some proper break-in and proper power behind them, running balanced.
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- I think the Sundara style build feels more solid than hifimanās other two build-styles!
- They do get better over time
- Isnāt the R5 like a watt of power though? Shouldnāt be a surprise
- 4 months in. Itās still shit, hopin Periapt is finishing my order soon!!
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The cans are starting to feel better as far as comfort. Either they are easing up on the clamping, the pads are softening up, or Iām just getting used to them. Haha
Yes, the R5 puts out 1 watt @ 16 ohms balanced, but at 32 ohms, just over 500mW. The Sundaraās are 37 ohms, just right around the 500mW mark or slightly less. In SE, which is how itās running with the stock Sundara cable, I have no idea what itās putting out. Probably 250mW or something.
Yeah, the cable issue is in the process of being taken care of with the order I just put in with Hart Audioā¦ HC-9 cable, XLR to mini-XLR and 4.4mm to mini-XLR adapters.
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I went HC-9 for my Sundara as well, no complaints at all. Picked up 4.4mm with the cable as well as the Desktop Essentials interconnect kit.
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Currently listening to my Sundaraās hooked up to an iFi Zen Can with an aftermarket custom-made aftermarket cable, which is way much better than the stock one and is an absolute steal for the price. Trust me, if you have a balance compatible device then with this cable you will find quite a significant difference to the sound signature in an extremely positive way!
I bought the cable on ebay, the guy who makes them is based in Sunderland in the UK and pretty certain he ships to Europe but not sure about the rest of the world.
If anyone is interested here is the link:
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Iām also a big fan of Hart, great cables, great support, great prices.
Being able to share the interconnects is super convenient. While I havenāt noticed any difference in sound quality when running balanced, itās nice to be able to tap into the additional power of my BTR5.
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Just want to update this issue.
The replacement arrived and everything is working fine. Would like to thanks Taron for solving the issue and i can recomend Headphones.com again. Thank you!
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are these known to be shouty? i have a pair here that i got for 300 b-stock and they are almost a nice step up from my beloved HE400i 2020ā¦almost. i canāt get over a certain peak they have. something in the mids or upper mids keeps jumping at me and makes me flinch and turn down the music. itās a real shame since they have similar tonality to the 400i just a little cleaner and leaner. and there is definitely a step up in so called āintrument seperationā.
but the more different pairs i test the more i get the feeling that having clarity and pleasant tonality at the same time is the real art of making headphones. so many reviews iāve read and watched point out certain peaks with more expensive high end stuff. is that the price you pay for detail?
I had a similar experience with the Sundara before I returned them. They seemed like a slight detail and dynamics upgrade from the 4xx, with a peak around 4 or 5khz that I probably could have gotten used to, but ultimately it just seemed too similar to the 4xx to justify keeping in my case.
honestly, the difference would be enough for me since i know i wonāt be spending any more than sundara new price (350) on headphones any time soon in the future. so it would be kind of my endgame. the 400i are just the first pair that donāt have any of that āhm this bugs me but i could get used to itā. i loved the HD560s for example but they had a very similar shouty thing going on. although the treble was also harsher than the sundaraās very smooth treble.
i noticed on these that the adjustment mechanism has quite some scratch marks on the inside of the headband. looks like this but worse
is that how they look new? if not, how long does it take to get that scratched up?
iām starting to think these might be older than i thought. maybe refurbished with new pads. i might have to try a brand new pair and see, if the stuff i read about a stealth revision is true. i swear i read somewhere that it fixes some mid shout. could be wishful thinking though 
Bought mine new and thatās how mine eventually became. It sucks but everything else about the headphone pleases me. I find them a lot more comfortable than my 58x too. I donāt plan on ever selling them unless I can get my hands on something better, like the HE6se but, like you, I donāt really plan on buying headphones above the $350 price range.
Any tips on replacement pads for the Sundaraās? Should I stick with stock replacements?
I tried Dekoni Suede and choice leather and pretty much every Brainwavz pad and the Brainwavz Hybrid sounded the closest to retail while being a big upgrade comfort wise. Personally i prefer the sound with the Dekoni Suede, seems to make them a bit warmer over all and kind of elevates the bass a bit.
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oh yea, i wouldnāt mind it either. but how long would you say it took to get fully scratched? trying to estimate the age of my used ones.
I went with Dekoni Elite Hybrids, didnāt change the sound in any major way, but are way more comfortable than the stock pads, which is exactly what I was after.
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I bought mine new and they looked like that after adjusting the band one time, itās just part of the design I guess. I wouldnāt say having those marks means its old at all.
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Yeah mine also had these from the start. I think it,s a problem with the anodizing, as it doesnt exactly look like scratches
Iām pretty sure it happened after the first headband adjust and looked like yours after about 3 times of adjustmentā¦ I canāt exactly remember the count but I know it happened in 1 day