Same here. No change in sound, but good upgrade for comfort.
If you are open to using EQ I recommend chronoâs:
Low Shelf at 100hz +1.5dB, Q of 0.7
Peak at 2000hz +2dB, Q of 1.41
Peak at 3500hz -2dB, Q of 2.5
Peak at 7000hz -2dB, Q of 2
Now sporting a brand spankinâ new, super flexible and comfy Hart Audio HC-9 cable and IC-3 adapterâŠ
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I canât remember all my settings, but adding a low-shelf and a peak at 2k are absolute no-brainer yesâs â and I use to be EQ averse. Canât remember the treble adjustments.
The fact that these are relatively moderate gain adjustments is wise too. Some of the severe EQ peaks I see posted in general for headphones on the web shock me. Even when that looks right âon paperâ they never sound right to me.
iâm open to it but i prefer not having to âfixâ a headphoneâs sound just for the sake of simplicity of everyday use.
that being said, after initial first impressions i put some more effort into volume matching when A/B testing with the HE400i. itâs crazy how close they are in terms of overall tonality. the sundara is definately more potent and detailed though. also more punchy/slammy or whatever. itâs like the notes have more force behind them in general. there is also more texture across all frequencies.
i only wish the sundara would be as confortable as the 400i. itâs the only thing that is still making me unsure, if i should replace one for the other. i wonder what this driver would sound like in the he400 type of body.
is the clamp known to ease up after a while?
The clamp was too much for me at first so I kept them on a protein powder container for the first couple months, much better now. Iâve never been a huge fan of the pleather strap tho, Iâve seen some people replace that with a aftermarket (zmf?) piece.
So Iâve had the Sundaraâs for nearly 2 months and love the sound and comfort. However, there is one issue which i should have really thought about before i bought them and that is sound leakage.
Now I know this not a revelation but I was compelled to buy them because of their affordability. But the problem is that when i am using them the whole house can hear what i am listening to and hence i get chastised for listening to music at high volumes and ends up spoiling my audio experience (mainly because I then donât feel comfortable listening to them because of the sound leak).
Therefore, i am looking for a closed-back equivalent (or as near as) to the Sundara. Iâve read a lot of reviews about the Kennerton Magni and that looks promising but costs twice as much so I will need to sell my Sundaras to finance my next purchase (BTW, I already own the Meze 99 Classics, Nad Viso HP50 and Sivga SV006 but looking for next level upgrade to those).
Can anyone in the community provide any advice or guidance in terms of closed back alternatives that match the Sundaraâs but without the leakage?
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Just buy a bunch of Koss KPH30iâs for everyone in your house to use and tell them to mind their own business. 
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I felt that the focal elegia are a fairly similar step up in May ways. Something you can get at around 450 or less. Also neutral bright, fast but has better dynamics and better punch, more realistic timbre for most instruments but worse tonal balance imo. Has a few drawbacks only but might be worth a look
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Thank you @Jose_G I have been looking at the Elegias as well so will keep my options open! Whatâs the soundstage and imaging like?
On my god, okay I though I was crazy! I live alone, and sometimes when I take off my cans to walk away from my PC and leave the music on, I was totally shocked with how much leakage I was hearing. I thought that I was listening way too loud, but it is good to hear that I really wasnât!
I know, theyâre just so soothing when wearing them donât even think about noise leakage. The thing is I need my amp at about 12 oâclock to get them upto the volume level I like and on the ifi zen can thatâs really quite high! My preference is to keep them or at least buy a closed-back equivalent, if one exists.
I am around 10 or 11 oâclock on my Asgard 3. I do agree, you do need to feed them a bit.
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Agreed, theyâre at 10:00-11:00 mid gain on my A90 for regular listening.
In contrast, I drop to low gain for my ElegiasâŠ
Same here.
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Modding a sundara
After owning many dynamic headphones I decided to give a shot to a planar and I bought a Sundara, I was pretty impressed by the tecnical cababilities especially in instrument seperation and basssss, but I tought that maybe was possible squize a little more juice out of it and I started to mod it and I wanna share with you my experince.
Dust filter
The first mod I tryed has been remove the dust filter between the back of the driver and the grill, the result is an increased bass extension and an improved soundstage. Before the mod the bass started to roll off around 50Hz after the mod it starts to roll off at 35Hz and also at 20Hz is louder (basically is almost flat), the mod also affect the upper bass and lower midrange with a slightly boost until 500Hz that gives to the sound a little more body. The soundstage gains some height, depth and is more open. I personally donât really care about possible repercussions in the lifespan of the driver but note that the dust filter is there for a reason and remove it can affect the life of the driver
Blue tack
It consists in seal with blue tack the space between the driver and the can, there isnât a big change in bass quantity just a little more of it and it also gain more impact but the difference is subtle, the biggest benefit is in bass quality, the distortion is reduced as the vibration of the can and it results in a cleaner bass especially at moderate/high volume
Pads
I wasnât really satisfied with the confort of the sundara I bought a pair of Dekoni elite hybrid for hifiman there arenât really big differencies is sound just the region between 4kHz and 7kHz is sligtly more âflatâ the soundstage gains some depth but loses a little of air. In terms of confort are much better the pressure is more even distributed and also the velvet contact surface is softer.
I havenât instruments for measure the changes, in order to evalutate the changes in sound as objectively as I can and not foule myself with vague impressions, I modifyed just one driver per time and I runned some sweeps, played mono samples in just one channel before and after the mod right and left in order to better understand the changes in sound, followed by music listening with both the drivers modded.
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when testing different headphones i always wondered what the factors are that contribute to how soundstage is perceived.
would you say the new pads are deeper than the stock ones? also what is the difference in dimensions of the inner hole where the ear sits. i wonder, if that would contribute to how soundstage feels.
i also personally noticed that, once the clamp on my sundaras eased up, they seemed to sound less closed in. so iâm wondering, if maybe the driver is slightly further from my ear or maybe the seal is different. or maybe itâs all placebo and iâm less distracted by my skull being squeezed.
In my experience 3 things affect the soundstage
Shape round ones sounds more 2d and oval more 3d
Depth bigger it is more the sound is perceived as far away but at the same time it tends to be âflatterâ and more 2d
Material of the pad fenestrated and velour sounds more open and airy leather more closed
The dekoni pads are a little deeper than the stock mainly because are stiffer and this increase the depth of the soundstage about the loss in air probably is caused by the real leather that reflects more the sound compared to the artificial one. I noticed also a little improvement in definition with the dekoni pads (that is not always welcome)
When you loose the seal is pretty usual that the headphone sounds more open. Here some crazy experiment
Another pad I was interested too is the kennerton because is deeper and is a semi fenestrated. Does anyone have experience with it or with others pads?
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(Hart Audio cable on the way)
So I got the XD-05 Basic (500Mw) and it seems to drive them great. Mid gain does the trick.
If I was to have essentially the same dac/amp but with twice the power, 1w either:
XD-05 Pro (single ended)
XD-05 Bal (balanced)
Would I actually notice any difference?
got these and put them on my sundaras too. they are slightly deeper (he400 kinda pads) so my ears never touch the fabric that covers the driver anymore. also nice to leave the stock pads off and fresh in case of resell along the road, although unlikely. no big sound difference i noticed but i didnât really A/B test. i think i might later try to do a non-intrusive mod with magnetic foil so i can swap out different pads quickly and get a better understanding of the difference.
just in case someone is looking for a cheap replacement or doesnât like the shallowness of the stock ones. these seem really nice for the money.
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