Hifiman Ananda Review (headphone)

[staticV3]

I like the treble energy of the Oratory EQ, but I added the 40 Hz bump that Amir added, makes it have more low end presents.


View attachment 123459

You made a small mistake. Filter 6 is supposed to be a "Low shelf filter (Q as Slope)" not "Low shelf filter (Slope in dB)".
Using the Graph window in Peace you can see the difference between the two types and also that Q as slope is the correct one to choose according to oratory's PDF.
If you have a .txt file, simply change "Filter 6: ON LS" to "Filter 6: ON LSC".

 

[staticV3]

For easy comparison, I've collected every PEQ profile available on AutoEQ, oratory's reddit list, and this thread into a Zip to use with EQApo + Peace GUI.
A few notes:

• Preamp values moved from txt content to file name to accomodate switching presets without a change in volume
  ->set preamp to -7dB or thereabouts to avoid clipping for all files. Set preamp to -0dB and use your player's volume control instead if you want to toggle EQ on/off without a change in volume.
• a bunch of empty filters added to each file to avoid "leftover" filters still being active after import (for those using >10 filters in Peace)
• numbers added to each preset for easy referencing
• empty folder "bin" added to Zip to sort out the lemons

It would be great to hear back from some owners regarding which EQ preset sounds best!

 

[Rayman30]

For easy comparison, I've collected every PEQ profile available on AutoEQ, oratory's reddit list, and this thread into a Zip to use with EQApo + Peace GUI.
A few notes:

• Preamp values moved from txt content to file name to accomodate switching presets without a change in volume
  ->set preamp to -7dB or thereabouts to avoid clipping for all files. Set preamp to -0dB and use your player's volume control instead if you want to toggle EQ on/off without a change in volume.
• a bunch of empty filters added to each file to avoid "leftover" filters still being active after import (for those using >10 filters in Peace)
• numbers added to each preset for easy referencing
• empty folder "bin" added to Zip to sort out the lemons

It would be great to hear back from some owners regarding which EQ preset sounds best!

Awesome! thanks static!

 

[WLVCA]

I own Hifiman Anada headphones and have tried various EQ settings with them.

To my ears the settings show in post 92 of this thread by Maiky76 produced the best results.

No meaurement gear here so I'll note my opinion is subjective.

 

[vlad335]

I'd love to see the Hifiman Arya reviewed. Ever since I got them they are pretty much all I listen too besides periodically getting on my LCD2 .The LCD2 & Arya are kind of opposites.

Opposites in what way?

I bought the HE-400S in 2015 and didnt like them a whole lot at the time. They sat in a cupboard here mostly until I got on a recent headphone kick. I have purchased and returned Sundaras, Dt-770, K371's. I also bought and kept HD-58x. The 400S are better than them all by a wide margin on a headphone amp. (ADI-2 FS)

Found out I like Planars, a lot! Love the sub bass and bass on the Hifimans. They seem to have lower distortion than all the headphones I tried as well. those two parameters along with separation are what i am looking for.

I am thinking I need to go up above $1000 for an upgrade. The Audeze and Arya are on my list.

 

[solderdude]

Love the sub bass and bass on the Hifimans.

HD400S:

 

[Cahudson42]

@vlad335

Instead of $1000, Could you gamble on trying the new HE400se at $149, and return if you don-t like them?

A bit of PEQ on your ADI-2 FS - and who knows?

Andrew/Resolve over at Headphones.com seemed surprisingly positive on them in a forum posting:


https://forum.headphones.com/t/hifiman-he400se/12129

 

[vlad335]

HD400S:

Oh, I should have specified. subbass AFTER EQ. its there in spades and doesnt distort easily.

Actually these headphones take EQ better than any I have ever owned. Without EQ, they are worthless hence why I didnt like them very much in 2015 as I didnt have the capability with Equalizer APO and Wavelet for portable.

 

[Coraje]

I've skimmed through this post. Is the general consensus that the Ananda doesn't measure well because of the air gap? It's crazy that I read on head-fi comments from years ago on how it is crucial to get a good seal with these headphones, and how the slam/punch gets a bit better. Do you think it's difficult to get a proper seal when wearing them?

 

[hmscott]

I've skimmed through this post. Is the general consensus that the Ananda doesn't measure well because of the air gap? It's crazy that I read on head-fi comments from years ago on how it is crucial to get a good seal with these headphones, and how the slam/punch gets a bit better. Do you think it's difficult to get a proper seal when wearing them?

It will depend on your own physical dimensions. For myself I have a large tall head so the long tall cups fit just right. If I lay down I have to push forward the headphones every so often to recenter my ears with the center of the planar emitter, the Ananda slides back when I am laying down due to their weight, but I still don't lose seal.

You'd need to try them to know how they fit on your head in your use cases.

I bought my Ananda from headphones.com with 365 day returns, so make sure to find out the return policy where you plan to get yours.

I should mention that I'm tending toward wearing the Ananda most of the time lately, as they are my most comfortable headphones. All of my other headphones were fine before I got the Ananda, but now on most of my headphones I notice my ears touching inside the pads/cups, whereas before I wore the Ananda I never really noticed - so be warned - the Ananda's may spoil you for other "tight" fitting cup / pad designs.

 

[Svperstar]

I am thinking I need to go up above $1000 for an upgrade. The Audeze and Arya are on my list.

The LCD-2 feel dark and closed in, the Arya are more spacious and bright.

 

[vlad335]

@vlad335

Instead of $1000, Could you gamble on trying the new HE400se at $149, and return if you don-t like them?

A bit of PEQ on your ADI-2 FS - and who knows?

Andrew/Resolve over at Headphones.com seemed surprisingly positive on them in a forum posting:


https://forum.headphones.com/t/hifiman-he400se/12129

Thank you!
I bought these and will give them a go. If they have the great bass response as the 400S with EQ I will keep these and play around with modding. One of the things i heard is removing and/or replacing the outer grills has a profound effect.

 

[vlad335]

Thank you!
I bought these and will give them a go. If they have the great bass response as the 400S with EQ I will keep these and play around with modding. One of the things i heard is removing and/or replacing the outer grills has a profound effect.

Ok. I got these here and they are good. Real Good. i would venture to say these are the best $150 headphones in the world.

First order of business was to dump that abomination of a cable. I bought this along with the headphones as I know from experience Hifiman makes some bad wires. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H6L7NT6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

Swapping between the two I can hear a difference in sound quality.

Are these better than my 400S. No, but real close. They actually are a tad bit smoother in the midrange to me. The 400S are a lot more sensitive and have more slam in the bass (with EQ) Also, on high power mode on my RME ADI-2 they tend to compress when the volume is cranked really loud. Never heard a headphone do this before and it isnt actually unpleasant. Just a weird effect.

Compared to the Fostex TP60RP I bought a couple weeks ago there is no contest IMO. the 400SE mop the floor with them and are 1/2 the price.

 

[randomusername]

Nah, perfectly confirmes my experience with the BT Ananada - rubbish. No bass energy and hot, itchy treble. They also have QC issues with the aluminium ribbon crinkling, bulging and breaking.
Many hours later I still found them unlistenable (fatiguing) and so I sold them.

Ananda BT have completely different (and significantly smaller) drivers, so they could not be compared.

 

[martin900]

Do they? I thought they were identical. Got any photo's?
This 'might' be the Ananda BT's driver: https://www.soundphilereview.com/reports/report-canjam-london-2019-more-headphones-4241/

 

[randomusername]

Do they? I thought they were identical.

I had bt version, and then wired and they sounds completely different
You can even spot the difference in stock photos

 

[danny87]

It would depend on the efficiency and impedance of the headphone.
A clipping amplifier is quickly spotted on headphone measurements by tons of higher order harmonics.

To reach 114dB SPL in Ananda not much power is needed only 1.1V (0.04W) so a 0.1W amp would have no issues.

The HE6 for instance needs 12.6V = 3W for the same SPL so requires a lot more power. Obviously 0.1W is not going to do this.

I just want to say thanks for this post. In another forum I see people are recommending at least 2w for the Ananda (which is a lot) and I was just worried I might need to upgrade my amp and whether there is even a science behind the 2w required. This post has calmed my nerves.

 

[solderdude]

These 'recommendations' stem from the fact that some planars are quite inefficient.
The Ananda can easily be driven from a phone but when boosting bass to Harman levels and playing impressively loud 2V is needed (0.2W).

 

[danny87]

These 'recommendations' stem from the fact that some planars are quite inefficient.
The Ananda can easily be driven from a phone but when boosting bass to Harman levels and playing impressively loud 2V is needed (0.2W).

My Topping DX3 can get about 700mW, so I guess my main concern should be about damaging my hearing first rather than not enough power for the Ananda. On a separate note, I'm usually a lurker here, but I find many of your posts in the pasts have been very helpful to beginning audiophiles like me. So thanks!

 

[solderdude]

I had bt version, and then wired and they sounds completely different
You can even spot the difference in stock photos

from headphone guru:

The biggest question now arrives; talk about the driver, and what changed between the ANANDA. Given the luxury of having both the ANANDA and ANANDA-BT side by side, if you were to give a look at the driver and compare between the two, they would almost ‘seem’ different. I asked Dr. Fang Bian and he noted to me that the reason it appears different is rather due to the driver frame that holds things in place. Between the two, the “shape of the frames are different because there are a PCB and battery in the earcup” He goes on to note that the actual diaphragm “shape and size are identical”. However, it is not a one for one identical driver, he notes that they have slightly increased sensitivity of the driver by “increasing the conductivity of the conductor coating layer without changing the thickness or material” and thanks to this the ANANDA-BT should sound almost identical to the wired ANANDA.