Review on 🎧 HIFIMAN SUNDARA 2020 Version: Planar Magnetic Hi-Fi Headphone with 3.5mm Connectors, Black - Enhanced Comfort & Updated Earpads by Marlo Schlachter

The HIFIMAN Sundara stands out as one of the best value headphones under $500 and I think that's absolutely true in terms of sound quality. You won't find any planar headphones, or headphones in general, that can bring such authoritative engineering and elegant and lively musicality under the table for such a (relatively) low price. Let's talk about sound. Its highs and lows are very well extended and have the same fast and crisp flatness. I can see that the high frequencies can be a bit too sparkling and bright for some people, but personally I found that they delivered just the right amount of vibrancy and energy without exceeding the unbearable "Bayer" level. The mids are a bit deep and mostly flat, which I find a bit boring, but its detail is good enough to make up for that weakness at least somewhat. Speaking of which, Sundara's detail sourcing, tooling separation, and visualization are exceptional. They can easily compete with $1,000+ Hi-Fi headphones and I think that's an undeniable achievement by HIFIMAN. Finally, let's talk about the soundstage. Its soundstage is nothing special. You definitely won't remember Sundara from the soundstage. However, it's more than enough to enjoy most genres and it's definitely not its weakness. It has no obvious blind spot and I tended to find direction for most instruments with ease. And here comes the bad news. HIFIMAN has a very poor track record when it comes to headphone quality control and durability. As far as I know, this problem has been taken seriously and partially eliminated, especially on their latest models like the Sundara and Ananda. However, my personal experience did not live up to my (not very high) expectations. You see, the Sundara I received has different pads on each side. One is significantly thicker at the front with a wider but flatter surface (known in the community as the old Sundara pad) and the other is thinner at the front and has a narrower but convex surface (known in the community as the revamped Stealth pad known). . ). Something of a big problem as the mismatch causes not only inconvenience but also channel imbalance. And when a company can't even control the quality of something as easily defined and functionally important as installing the same seals on each side, how can I trust it? them on other parts that might prove problematic in the long run? Then I asked myself, is it really a good value if I have to constantly fear that in a year or two something will go wrong, disappear and/or probably die? If there are alternatives, like the Sennheiser HD 600 series, which admittedly lags behind technically with the inherent weaknesses and strengths of the old dynamic driver design, but have an impeccable track record long enough to pass on to you grandchildren. ? Finally, I encourage readers to ask themselves this question. Imagine that in extreme cases it fails a little later than 1 year of the warranty period. Is $349 still a good price? If you answered yes to this question, then I definitely recommend this product. It will not disappoint you. My answer to that question was no and I return it. I first went for this because a recent HIFIMAN advertisement gave me a bit of confidence in them, which was immediately shattered when I saw the mismatched pads on my pair. I'm honestly giving it 1 or 2 stars, but the Sundara are so good when it comes to headphone sound that despite the lack of HIFIMAN's still terrible quality control, they still deserve at least 3 stars.