Hifiman Ananda Nano Headphone Review

[Mr Swing King]

Thanks for the review.
I voted fine. Then again I do not equalise and by the looks of it, it’s like a cheaper Arya Organic with that little bass bump or indeed slight depression between the bass and mids.
Anyhoo after having played around with distortion in headphones, it’s obvious to me that testing rigs hear what we really only see unless we’re listening at unhealthy levels or trying to EQ the response into oblivion.
Then again I kinda like headphones sounding different and have never really understood why folks equalise their cans to the same response. Why not just keep one and be done with it? (I know…even after equalisation they don’t necessarily sound the same..but to me that’s like switching up forks at the dinner table in order to heighten the taste)
If I’m having fish for dinner, I’m not seasoning it like a steak and expecting a great big muuuh on my tastebuds.

All that being said, the HE400se is a way better deal…or a HE500 over the used market. I own the HE500 and still feel it is Hifiman’s finest hour.

 

[Robbo99999]

I've only just read this review, and after seeing the frequency response graph I was ready to type that this was one of the better planar headphones that I've seen reviewed here, due to the graph looking quite smooth for a planar along with quite good compliance to target (or easily EQ'able at least). But then I saw distortion graph and mention of many resonances, and then I thought well that's a bit dodgy! Even the blue 94dB line is misbehaving above 600Hz! Hifiman really don't seem very reliable with money spend equalling performance - in fact a lot of their cheaper models measure better, and in that sense the cheap Hifiman's are really quite good value, but that's not where this Ananda Nano is at.

 

[taotone]

The tuning is not utterly horrible. Fine if you don't like the boosted Harman bass, deviation on the pinna gain is just that it starts its climb at 1500 instead of 1000.

But the distortion is certainly an issue.

Not completely broken in ordinary listening so voted "not terrible", wouldn't buy or recommend it though.

 

[Egoist]

I keep rating all of these Hifiman phones as poor for several reasons. First, I think they all look to be made below the quality bar set by their peers in their price tier: Cheap shiny plastics, glued on veneers, crummy headbands, thin pads, and the list goes on.

Next, they're very poorly tuned. Susvara, a $6000 phone is tuned to have no deep bass. And then they add the post 10k peak. For what? Air? No headphone should come out of the box with this kind of tuning. Utterly inexcusable.

Then, they seem to have extremely poorly designed earcups with little if any damping. I guess that's why every one of them exhibits such horrendous group delay. If I'm wrong, I'm certain someone will enlighten me. But I don't think so.

And finally, the true deal killer. Massive levels of distortion, especially at higher power. They seem to play like cheap toys, rather than premium audiophile products costing hundreds or in some cases thousands of dollars.

I continually see their Arya and HE1000 models in all their confused naming variants praised to the skies in headphone circles. Think it would be interesting for Amir to review some of those. I'd be willing to bet half my 401k nest egg (not really) that they suck every bit as hard as the stuff he's reviewed to date.

Hifiman Arya Review (headphone)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Hifiman Arya (2021 edition) planar magnetic open back headphone. It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs US $1,299. This is a very large headphone: It is also on the heavy side: Yet it provided very good comfort. It actually feels...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[solderdude]

Huh, the Ananda Nano has MUCH more distortion at 94dB than this.

I guess my post lacked clarity

That was exactly @InfiniteJester his point.
He used my plots which were not done on an industry standard fixture and at a lower SPL.
Hence my post of the HE400SE measurements done by Amir under equal circumstances showing what InfiniteJester stated that not all hifiman have such (high) distortion.

 

[InfiniteJester]

I guess my post lacked clarity

That was exactly @InfiniteJester his point.
He used my plots which were not done on an industry standard fixture and at a lower SPL.
Hence my post of the HE400SE measurements done by Amir under equal circumstances showing what InfiniteJester stated that not all hifiman have such (high) distortion.

The HE6 also performs well.

Seems to be a lot of variation regarding Hifiman models. One cannot trust any new product from them before taking a look at the measurements.

 

[solderdude]

HE6 sounds 'better' too but... very, very inefficient and heavy in weight.

 

[Grobbelboy]

My Dan Clark E3 daily headphone had much more tamed high frequencies.

Sorry for going off topic but could you perhaps briefly explain why you went for the E3 instead of the Stealth as your current daily driver?

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

I hope HiFiMan, the company reads ASR. This is a poor showing, IMHO and it seems to continue their trend toward producing ever poorer measuring headphones... Seriously what does one gain from an HE400SE? for almost 5 times more (the HE400Se is often around $100)? .
I used to be a HiFiMan fan. No more. Their lineup is confusing: From the $55,000 (!!! !!!) Shangri-La system to the $20 R400 IEM with no consistency in performance along the price line.

To repat: A poor showing if you ask me. Especially in these days of objectively superb $20 IEM .. I know, not apple to apple comparison but ...

Peace.

 

[AudioSceptic]

This is a review, listening tests, equalization and detailed measurements of the Hifiman Ananda Nano headphone. It was kindly purchased by a member for testing and costs US $499.
View attachment 361210
The Nano looks attractive although the feel is not that of luxury. It is a bit light. The forward part of the pad is quite a bit thinner and I had a bit of difficulty mounting it on my GRAS 45CA test fixture. The suspension headband is not adjustable but was comfortable enough for me. But again, causes some difficulty in measuring as it would not let the cups go lower.

Hifiman Ananda Nano Headphone Measurements
Let's start with our usual headphone frequency response tests and comparison with our desired target:
View attachment 361211
As noted, we have good compliance over an important range of frequencies. Above and below we have some deficiencies. There is quite a bit of wiggliness in the response. Relative response shows variations that should be relatively easy to EQ:
View attachment 361212

Distortion response is disappointing especially for a headphone with such large drivers. It should be cruising but it is not due to many resonances:
View attachment 361213
We have seen this type of problem in Hifiman Ananda as well but it is worse here. Company really needs to start measuring this and find and fix the source of these. I think some don't see these issues because they apply too much smoothing in frequency response and distortion tests which hides much of the problems here. Absolute distortion measurements despite being smoothed more, still is problematic:
View attachment 361214

We could tolerate bass distortion but having lower treble distortion could cause more more audible issues.

Group delay is not pretty, likely due to those internal resonances:
View attachment 361215

Impedance is low and flat:
View attachment 361216

Sensitivity is better than average, making the Nano an easy headphone to drive:
View attachment 361217

Hifiman Ananda Nano Listening Tests and Equalization
Immediate impression of the headphone is one of rather flat sounding with some exaggeration of high frequencies. Definitely listenable but substantial improvements can be had with EQ:
View attachment 361218
That bit of bass boost really balances the response, taking the headphone from cold sounding to pretty nice. The other filters are also critical in opening up the spatial qualities while taking away some of the high frequency harshness. Is the distortion audible? I don't have the reliably way to determine that subjectively. I can tell you that the highs really stand out. Is this harmonic distortion? My Dan Clark E3 daily headphone had much more tamed high frequencies. This could be due to lack of distortion, better frequency response, or both.

Power handling was excellent and I could get the headphones quite loud with my RME ADI-2 Pro at quite attenuated volume positions. Cranking up the levels momentarily, didn't result in any clipping or odd behavior. I think this is due to good low frequency distortion measurements.

Spatial qualities were quite good. I would give them B+.

Conclusions
Out of the box, the Nano is not to my liking as someone who wants to hear and feel low frequencies. These large drivers have incredibly ability to deliver on that but they keep getting released with flat bass response. Combine this with some uneven high frequency response and you have the makings of something I would not buy. A bit of EQ nicely transformed the sound, creating impressively fidelity across my list of reference tracks.

Per above, I can't recommend the Hifiman Ananda Nano as is. With EQ, it becomes a good headphone, albeit with potentially some impact from high distortion/resonances in high frequencies.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Those high distortion peaks are right in the range where our hearing is most sensitive. No excuse for that really, is there?

 

[FrantzM]

HE6 sounds 'better' too but... very, very inefficient and heavy in weight.

The HE6 is objectively better. And yes You are right .. incredibly inefficient . It is my daily driver BTW. One of the best deal in high quality non IEM ear-speakers.

Peace.

 

[InfiniteJester]

Hi

I hope HiFiMan, the company reads ASR. This is a poor showing, IMHO and it seems to continue their trend toward producing ever poorer measuring headphones... Seriously what does one gain from an HE400SE? for almost 5 times more (the HE400Se is often around $100)? .
I used to be a HiFiMan fan. No more. Their lineup is confusing: From the $55,000 (!!! !!!) Shangri-La system to the $20 R400 IEM with no consistency in performance along the price line.

To repat: A poor showing if you ask me. Especially in these days of objectively superb $20 IEM .. I know, not apple to apple comparison but ...

Peace.

At least, the HE400se are awesome. I really wanted to upgrade them, but that doesn't seem possible (inside Hifiman line product, I mean). I thought that the Edition XS would be a jump in quality, then I read the distortion graphs and I gave a hard pass to them.

 

[KiyPhi]

Thanks for this review.
Definitely "not terrible" as far as measurements tell.

How much of that may be due to difficult mounting on test head ?
Isn't that impacting mostly low frequencies?
Or could a non-perfect fit also be the source of some resonances?

It's unfortunately a lot to do with their design choices for this headphone. They have other headphones with other design choices that perform much better. You'll find flat bass on all of their open back headphones since a closed front volume and open back volume creates a flat bass. They'd have to add filters to get a boosted bass.

I suspect the distortion is due to break up modes with this driver. It's a bit funny as they claim the design is supposed to cause less distortion.

 

[MacClintock]

I keep rating all of these Hifiman phones as poor for several reasons. First, I think they all look to be made below the quality bar set by their peers in their price tier: Cheap shiny plastics, glued on veneers, crummy headbands, thin pads, and the list goes on.

Next, they're very poorly tuned. Susvara, a $6000 phone is tuned to have no deep bass. And then they add the post 10k peak. For what? Air? No headphone should come out of the box with this kind of tuning. Utterly inexcusable.

Then, they seem to have extremely poorly designed earcups with little if any damping. I guess that's why every one of them exhibits such horrendous group delay. If I'm wrong, I'm certain someone will enlighten me. But I don't think so.

And finally, the true deal killer. Massive levels of distortion, especially at higher power. They seem to play like cheap toys, rather than premium audiophile products costing hundreds or in some cases thousands of dollars.

I continually see their Arya and HE1000 models in all their confused naming variants praised to the skies in headphone circles. Think it would be interesting for Amir to review some of those. I'd be willing to bet half my 401k nest egg (not really) that they suck every bit as hard as the stuff he's reviewed to date.

I agree with the general judgement and would never spend big money on a Hifiman headphone, but there are exceptions worthy to be mentioned, like the Sundara, the HE400SE and the HE-6.

 

[Bleib]

The distortion makes me wonder why this was even released, it's pretty much out of control. It's another thing if it was a cheap 50 USD headphone but this is 10 that price.
Just flood the market so that people buy...something?

 

[Rayman30]

So then what are the "Nano" diaphragms are actually doing? all the marketing, all the promises of "faster" and more detailed audio, only to be objectively worse in almost every conceivable way. How does the Arya do fine, but then despite using a similar housing, and likely made on the same assembly line, end up being so different in performance. I am thinking they are hand binning the best drivers for their higher end models.

 

[solderdude]

The diaphragms may well be many nano meters thick, the traces on it are not and weigh a lot more than the thin and extremely fragile membranes.
When one realizes that T50RP drivers use 1000x thicker membranes (flexible PCB material) and with some EQ these already sound nice one wonders what the thin membranes are about. If it were electrostatic it would be a really light membrane.

Given the sound quality of the HE-6, which have a much thicker diaphragm one may indeed ask themselves what the benefit is other than the claim of thinner membranes.
'Fastness' in music is in the 6-10kHz range which most headphones can do. It looks like it is more of a gimmick and trying to suggest the thinner the better.

I have built electrostatic speakers (about 35 years ago) and experimented with mylar of various thickness but never could hear (nor measure) any differences between the membranes. Of course the limiting factor here were the transformers....
In the end something in between was easiest to use (make conductive and tension it)

 

[jkasch]

Hard to fault a company whose flagship product is one of their cheapest.

 

[InfiniteJester]

Given the sound quality of the HE-6, which have a much thicker diaphragm one may indeed ask themselves what the benefit is other than the claim of thinner membranes.
'Fastness' in music is in the 6-10kHz range which most headphones can do.

The thing is that something like "Stealth Magnets" seem to be doing really good on the HE400se and, of course, on the Dan Clarks (I don't know how similar the technology really is beyond the name):

But the "neo supernano" of the Edition XS and the "nano" on this Ananda seem to be there, as you said, just for marketing reasons. Regarding THD they are an absolute joke, if not an insult to the buyer.

I would like to see how the H6se V2 performs. Did they destroy that model also? Is the issue only present in the oval models? It is caused by resonances induced by the form factor? Is there any formal statement by Hifiman regarding their pathetic performance when it comes to THD?

EDIT: I found this, I don't know how reliable this website is:

One moment, please...

 

[Mr. Haelscheir]

I notice that these Planars from Hifiman always have had bad distortion figures. In any case, coming from the original Ananda I've heard this and it sounds fine to me. Great review as always.

Figure 3 in https://www.head-fi.org/threads/totl-disappointments.925164/post-17949397 (post #936) shows the best I've measured from HiFiMan so far (note that due to my cheap 11-month-old HT-80A SPL meter having been off by quite a fair bit, my "100 dB" figures are actually closer to 96 dB with my latest SPL calibration methodology), though they definitely have QC issues with the construction of their drivers, possibly particularly worsened at least as of November of last year. Nonetheless, as bad as these distortion figures for the two November-QCed replacement units in that post look, said distortion was barely noticeable in practical listening.

For those disparaging HiFiMan, I would vie that for some, there are definitely quite the gains to the experience of such huge ear pads mind customs ones like by NTRAX Mod Design for an even greater amount of space, at least from a comfort, openness, and immersion perspective (larger pads incur a larger 1 kHz to 3 kHz dip). I've also found the transients on HiFiMan planars to be particularly incisive, though such is probably mainly noticed when playing Dirac impulses at levels far louder than you would find in practical music, probably simply revealing the driver's nonlinearities. For me, after experiencing large planar presentation, there is no going back, whereby there probably really are quite the technical compromises to offering this technology at a lower price point; one trades off a harder to control driver for a presentation very few headphones can compete with. Otherwise, I do very much hope for them to be able to refine the "HiFiMan egg" platform for achieving more competitive distortion performance.