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Hifiman Ananda Review (headphone)

staticV3

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Probably depends on the EQ software, on my old one it certainly was louder with EQ on and everything maxed compared to without
Well yes, if you are boosting frequencies, then you should also enable a pre amp accordingly, to reduce the signal strength before processing it, so as to avoid digital clipping. I guess your program didn't do that.
Anyway, that's enough about DSP. Srry for the excursion
 

Chagall

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"free energy?" I guess I really don't understand...
Then again, if I lower the mids/highs and leave the bass where it was, cranking up the volume/gain will be necessary for the same SPL, which might indeed result in "net zero". So maybe I'm thinking too "analogue".

Boosting a certain frequency by 10db and then applaying -10db headroom (if you don't u get digital clipping)
is the same thing as dipping everything else by 10db. But boosting is easier to do because it's just one EQ band.

Both methods will use more power to get the volume as before EQ. Power depends on the headphone and HP amp,
but headphones are usually easier to drive and HP amps have more power relative to amps/speakers.
 

Helicopter

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Probably a silly thought, but still: When EQing loudspeaker FR, one should rather flatten the "hills" than lift up the "valleys", so to speak? Why not likewise with headphones?
Speakers tend to have way higher distortion than headphones so lifting valleys in speaker response is more likely to get distortion out of control.
 

staticV3

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Speakers tend to have way higher distortion than headphones so lifting valleys in speaker response is more likely to get distortion out of control.
Lifting a speaker's valleys vs reducing a speaker's peaks will result in the same amount of distortion, as long as you match the volume and both additive and subtractive EQ settings result in the same frequency response.
A speaker's distortion is purely a function of frequency response and loudness.
Keep frequency response and SPL equal and you'll get the same distortion.
 

Helicopter

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You are more likely to hear the peaks than the narrow valleys so the peaks have a greater negative impact on perceived sound quality.
 

Palfim

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Another Ananda fan reporting in :
It's my favorite headphone, and I own a bunch of sennheisers and akgs alongside, I kind of knew that the easy drivability of the Anandas had to have some kind of a drawback, but these results are still shockingly bad haha!
But comparing side by side , I love it the most and I don't hear any distortions, in fact I find it clearer sounding than my hd650, 660s and akg. I have huge ears though and the sennys are more like on ears for me, while I get the best fit with the huge Ananda cans. I do use heavy subbass eq though, otherwise no eq...I need auto eq peq with my other headsets, but the Anandas sounded wonderful clear from the get go.
Here in Europe its way easier and cheaper to get hifiman planars since they have a warehouse in Poland with alot of open box deals, no custom charges like with he6se, Dan Clarks , drop models etc ...and you get to pay in USD . Payed around 500 USD so around 400 EUR at the time. I was considering the aeon closed ones which had good measurements, but it would cost about double the Ananda .
 

Nango

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Not an engineer but if I had to guess I would say the sheer size of the diaphragm makes breakup modes (and the resulting distortion) harder to control. I sent in my HE6SE but am in no rush to get it sent back but we will see with it and the Sundara if they still can do it but just not with the constraints of this particular headphone.
Just imagine Sundara (ultrathin membrane) makes it even worser than Ananda in terms of distortion and group delay, that could be dangerous for Hifiman to further persist.
 

LoyK

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I am testing some tracks with low sub bass on the Ananda right now and even without EQ it can rumble my head quite a bit.

DR17 track Amir linked in a review (Thanks!).
Take care, this one can really hurt you/your speakers/your headphones.
One of my favorites for having fun with bass and really nice on the Ananda:

With some low shelf EQ these tracks feel like a "subwoofer on my head" and I can´t listen that loud when I don´t want headaches after a few minutes.

I also have to angle the Ananda a bit on my head for proper seal: I move the headband a bit forward towards my forehead. In my opinion the cup swivel is really missing here so that is my main complaint with the Ananda.

Btw.: Meizu Hifi Pro dongle is enough for me to drive them pretty loud and also use EQ/Pre-Gain. Super efficient planar with those big drivers.

Nachtschwaermen
Nachtschwaermen.png

Posterity
Posterity.png
 

phoenixsong

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Just imagine Sundara (ultrathin membrane) makes it even worser than Ananda in terms of distortion and group delay, that could be dangerous for Hifiman to further persist.
They've already done this thinness previously with the HE1000 though, it's nothing new. The HE1000's diaphragm is even larger than the Sundara's too
 

Robbo99999

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Probably a silly thought, but still: When EQing loudspeaker FR, one should rather flatten the "hills" than lift up the "valleys", so to speak? Why not likewise with headphones?
I think the reason for this practice with speakers is that they are not always minimum phase where you have the troughs (especially room modes), so boosting those troughs can be problematical, however headphones are generally always minimum phase across the whole frequency range so you're free to boost & cut all areas. Boosting & cutting makes no difference when it comes to headphones, however sharp boosts or cuts in the high frequencies above 5kHz is inadvisable for different reasons, ie the measurement & your own variation of anatomy can't be trusted accurately enough to do aggressive sharp EQ above 5kHz. Large sharp boosts in EQ can create pre-ringing as I understand, which is a negative phenomenon, so generally if you can help it a smooth EQ Curve is a good EQ curve.....and therefore it helps to choose a headphone that doesn't have really nasty sharp dips away from the target curve.
 
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HD 600 is way cheaper and better. Only advantage of the Ananda is drivability. But for 400-500 you can get plenty of power. For me Amir did a good job in putting things in perspective and he did stick to his data and own impressions and he did for sure know that his findings would stir controversy.
 

Rayman30

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HD 600 is way cheaper and better. Only advantage of the Ananda is drivability. But for 400-500 you can get plenty of power. For me Amir did a good job in putting things in perspective and he did stick to his data and own impressions and he did for sure know that his findings would stir controversy.

As an owner of the Sennheiser HD650, I have to respectfully disagree. I love my Sennheiser for vocals, but thats it, the Ananda has substantially more soundstage and imaging, an almost "holographic" sound signature, essentially its going from a broom closet to a concert hall, and its more detailed to boot. I would say the Sundara are also better in this regard, but hey... thats just my opinion.
 
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As an owner of the Sennheiser HD650, I have to respectfully disagree. I love my Sennheiser for vocals, but thats it, the Ananda has substantially more soundstage and imaging, an almost "holographic" sound signature, essentially its going from a broom closet to a concert hall, and its more detailed to boot. I would say the Sundara are also better in this regard, but hey... thats just my opinion.
:) I have both Ananda and H600 I really prefer the HD 600. But maybe my taste is odd because also prefer my etymotic er2se over my HD 600.
 

Robbo99999

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HD 600 is way cheaper and better. Only advantage of the Ananda is drivability. But for 400-500 you can get plenty of power. For me Amir did a good job in putting things in perspective and he did stick to his data and own impressions and he did for sure know that his findings would stir controversy.
As an owner of the Sennheiser HD650, I have to respectfully disagree. I love my Sennheiser for vocals, but thats it, the Ananda has substantially more soundstage and imaging, an almost "holographic" sound signature, essentially its going from a broom closet to a concert hall, and its more detailed to boot. I would say the Sundara are also better in this regard, but hey... thats just my opinion.
I've got the HD600 and a HiFiMan HE4XX, so I can certainly understand how the Ananda (being HifiMan) could have better soundstage, the HD600 is the worst headphone I have for soundstage, as it's all in your head and not wide or expansive at all.....whereas the HE4XX has better soundstage than all my headphones apart from the K702. That's why the HD600 is my least favourite headphone, but it is the best headphone for me without EQ because it's just so darn accurate, there's not much that needs to be done with it with EQ. The Ananda would also be able to deliver better bass when EQ'd than the HD600....bass & soundstage the Ananda would win, and they're two very important things in my eyes.....I'm sure HD600 would win in all the other areas though.
 

KiyPhi

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Just imagine Sundara (ultrathin membrane) makes it even worser than Ananda in terms of distortion and group delay, that could be dangerous for Hifiman to further persist.
I happen to have already had mine measured and it did quite well in distortion.
Here is a gallery with the resulting measurements. Mine is the older version but the main change was the earpads so the distortion should be applicable to the newer ones.
 

welsh

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I think what many people forget is how hard it is to nail down planar magnetic headphones that don’t have distortion and behave decently. Look at fostex t50rp for case study, they’re lauded by many but they have many deficiencies that the modding community fixes. Gist of it for me is planar technology is hard to refine even if they were to try.
Some years ago I embarked upon modding the Fostex T50RP. plasticine, cotton wool, even heavy damping material used when fitting speakers into car doors. I flatter myself that I ended up with respectable planar ‘phones, on the cheap. But by god they needed power to make them sing!
 

cursive

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I happen to have already had mine measured and it did quite well in distortion.
Here is a gallery with the resulting measurements. Mine is the older version but the main change was the earpads so the distortion should be applicable to the newer ones.
Do you know what output level these were measured at? Looks pretty darn good, but I'm assuming that's 94dB or under, which again is still plenty loud.

Just imagine Sundara (ultrathin membrane) makes it even worser than Ananda in terms of distortion and group delay, that could be dangerous for Hifiman to further persist.
The Ananda and Sundara both claim to have their latest "NEO supernano diaphragm." 80% thinner than previous designs, and between 1 to 2 microns thick. So I think they're the same in that aspect, other than shape. Really just marketing speak though, hard to know if a diaphragm that thin is truly beneficial in any way, or provides truly audible benefits.
 

KiyPhi

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Do you know what output level these were measured at? Looks pretty darn good, but I'm assuming that's 94dB or under, which again is still plenty loud.
If I recall, it was 90dB @ 700Hz that he measures at. For further info, it took 175.4 mV to reach that volume level meaning 105.12 dB/V for voltage sensitivity. Power sensitivity was 92.34 dB/mW.

The one thing I am curious about is that the HE6SE Oratory measured was significantly more sensitive than the original HE6 at 96dB/V if I recall. I set up two Topping A50/D50s stacks and matched the voltage so they should have both been at 90dB but the HE6SE sounded significantly more quiet. I am hoping to see if maybe my HE6SE are closer to the original HE6 in sensitivity. If this is the case, there may have been a stealth revision with less gold in the traces to increase sensitivity or something. I know mine was from one of the first runs that came with the speaker amplifier adapter and suede pads. I sent that to Amir as well but I think it is just a resistor box so I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't measured. No idea on the pads as I never used them.
 
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