Review on 🎧 HIFIMAN Ananda Full-Size Planar Magnetic Headphones - High Fidelity Design, Smartphone Compatible, Comfortable Earpads, Open-Back, Detachable Cable (Black) by Brenda Perry

First TLDR: Hifiman Ananda in a shootout with other headphones I have, they blow the competition away. However, paying twice the price compared to the Hifiman Sundara might not be worth it, giving them an edge for their money. Tested with a variety of music across genres of metal, indie, rap, jazz, and electronic music, the Anandas delivered a much wider soundstage, more detail reproduction, and overall the music sounded cleaner, better, and more powerful than other headphones in my collection. . --- Participants: 1. Hifiman Ananda2. Hifiman Sundara3. Beyerdynamic T1 (Generation 2)4. Fostex T50RP Mk3 (with Mayflower Mod + Mr Speakers Alpha Pads) Songs tested (all lossless): 1. Daft Punk – Giorgio Moroder2. Prodigy - Tag is my enemy3. The Great Cat - Vivaldi's Four Seasons for Violin and Chamber Orchestra4. Warren Gee - Regulate5. Dr. Dre - Nuthin' But AG Thang6. The game "Let's ride" 7. Symbolism - challenge of oblivion8. Sworn Enemy - Pilgrim9. Flesh - Inner Thoughts 10. Plaster - Range Life11. Stereo Lab - Miss Modular12. Cradle of Dirt - Under the Howling Stars13. Psyclon Nine - Crwn Thy Fnicatr14. Marcus Miller - Boomerang15. Nine Inch Nails - Ruiner16. Summoning - Above the Ancient Hills17. Beastie Boys - Shake Your Ass 18. Dream Theater - Scene Seven: I. Dance of Eternity19. Rancid - Daly City Train20. Ataraxia - Cobalt Hardware: PC with Foobar WASAPI output up to 24bit, 192kHz Micca Origin G2 DAC/AMPSennheiser HDVD 800 DAC/AMPHifiman Ananda: These headphones are faster than the competition no matter what genre I prefer. Everything from fast and heavy Death Metal to deep and complex electronics, rhythmic and sub-bass rap/hi-hop and everything in between. While they're nowhere near bass guns, especially in hip-hop/rap, they still manage to thump in your ears and produce a clean and enjoyable sub-bass. Clarity. The Prodigy's "The Day Is My Enemy" in particular, after hearing that song with Anands, everything else sounded dull or closed/flat by comparison. -- Hifiman Sundara: It was hard to find a difference between the Sundars and the Anands, they competed against each other on most songs, except the Anandas excelled on complex/layered songs like The Prodigy and also provided more clarity and detail as crisp instrumentation for complex songs with a wide range of overlapping lows, mids and highs, and Anandas had less sub-bass or roll-off in the lower frequency range, such as B. in hip-hop/rap songs, which allows for a little more physical air movement that creates a feeling in your ears. Overall, I highly recommend the Hifiman Sundara headphones as they offer a similar listening experience to the Anandas. For most of the songs in my tests, you'll have a hard time telling the difference in a blind test and at half the price, unless you believe it's 10-15% extra bass and a slightly wider soundstage on certain genres of music will cost you $350 extra then go for the Anandas otherwise the Sundaras get my full endorsement and recommendation. They didn't impress simultaneously with the Anands and immediately from the first listen and failed immediately in my book. Unfortunately, while they're competitive at recovering detail, they make everything sound muffled and closed, even Sundaras, which cost three times less than them, deliver a much cleaner, clearer, and wider sound with exactly the same reproduction. . I expected more from the brand's flagship headphones. Another area where these headphones fall short is in pushing around. This is just one of the shortcomings of dynamic drivers, where Planar Magnetic headphones can be driven to awkward volume levels and above, while still maintaining clear, Beyerdymanic headphones even with their "Tesla technology" drivers starting to produce a distorted sound which gets worse. Needless to say I'm returning these headphones. I bought these along with Anandas to compare and was planning on keeping the better of the two and it's definitely an instant rejection. - Fostex T50 RP (Modified): Less looking for parts compared to competitors. but the bass cannons! What can I say? If you want planar magnetic headphones at an extremely affordable price (you can get them for $150 or less) and a great one If you want the modding community behind you, you won't find anything better than the Fostex T50s, you can even bang for your buck with the flagship Beyerdynamics courier, up to 3 times cheaper (up to 6 times without modifications). similar soundstage/image, similar overall performance, but I've modified my t50s to be bass guns thanks to Alpha Pads and Mayflower mod settings. - Conclusion: My recommendation, save $350 and choose Sundaras and use $350 to upgrade. your DAC/amp, or buy another pair of headphones for a change. If you don't want a bit more soundstage, big flat speakers, a bit more clarity and bass, then go for Anandas, any of them, you'll get a great listening experience.