Hifiman Ananda Review (headphone)

[Fernando]

I tried it and I am not getting warm with it. It sounds a bit muffled/dull/honky to my ears.

What came to my mind:

On your screenshot your review Ananda looks more like the version on the left or?
My guess is that the material outside the drivers can have some impact on the high frequencies?
View attachment 123651

Anyone knows if Hifiman also changed the pads from older Ananda to newer ones?

Are there different versions of ananda?

 

[Resolve]

I tried it and I am not getting warm with it. It sounds a bit muffled/dull/honky to my ears.

What came to my mind:

On your screenshot your review Ananda looks more like the version on the left or?
My guess is that the material outside the drivers can have some impact on the high frequencies?
View attachment 123651

Anyone knows if Hifiman also changed the pads from older Ananda to newer ones?

Well this certainly is interesting. I expect the 'New' one has been around for some time now though since even back when I interviewed Fang Bian he mentioned something about a change to the dust cover, and that was in early 2020.

 

[bracko]

Great review as usual. Thanks! @amirm have you tested Sennheiser HD600? I can see the sensitivity rating for HD600 in your chart.
Cheers

 

[cursive]

I tried it and I am not getting warm with it. It sounds a bit muffled/dull/honky to my ears.

What came to my mind:

On your screenshot your review Ananda looks more like the version on the left or?
My guess is that the material outside the drivers can have some impact on the high frequencies?
View attachment 123651

Anyone knows if Hifiman also changed the pads from older Ananda to newer ones?

The one Amir reviewed had the old style pads, the change isn't to the shape or materials of the pad though. The new Ananda has a dust cover attached to the driver itself, where the old version had the dust cover attached to the pads. On the old one if you took off the pads, you could see the raw driver. I reached out to hifiman awhile back when I was having issues with the first set of pads, and they said that was the only change on the newer version. They didn't mention a change to the mesh on the back as in your pic.

"The next advancement to the UltraPad, where the inner pad mesh is absent having moved to the cups on the latest model HIFIMAN headphones. They are compatible with all drop shaped cups as found on the Edition X, Ananda, Arya and HE1000 series. "

old new

You can see they still have that overly flat front edge though, you can see how thin it is and doesn't properly match the seams either especially on the new pad. Seems like some could be more misshapen than others, even when new, but this is where that air gap comes from. I'd love to see a flat pad instead of angled like they have. Unfortunately doesn't seem like any after market pads have come out for this shape of headphone either.

 

[luft262]

I love these reviews! Thanks! Just a suggestion, but what about distortion at lower levels, say 85 or 75 dB? I don't usually listen to my music super loud in order to protect my ears and anything over 100 dB is definitely louder than I would probably go. Thank you!

 

[amirm]

Great review as usual. Thanks! @amirm have you tested Sennheiser HD600?

Good eye. My son measured it. Will post it soon.

 

[amirm]

Just a suggestion, but what about distortion at lower levels, say 85 or 75 dB?

Testing at lower levels causes noise to intrude into the measurements. Would need to build a quiet chamber which I could do but just don't have the space for it.

 

[Rayman30]

Interesting test results.

I have the Ananda and EQ'd them using the AutoEQ filters based on Oratory measurements as a base, then I tweaked those filters according to my preference over multiple listening sessions to arrive at my preferred setting, as I feel that some of the published filters are heavy handed. I also ignore any filters over 15k as I probably can't hear it anyway. I do the same for my other headphones.

I really enjoy the Ananda and it is so different to my default desktop cans (Focal Clear). I tend to use the Clear during the day with heavier material and settle into a comfy chair with the Ananda for late night listening.

Could you share your EQ Settings with us? id be interested in trying them out.

Right now I am back on the fence with the Sundara vs. Ananda. I am memorized by the soundstage of the Ananda, but there is a cohesiveness to the sound, and a fun energy the Sundara has that has me tapping my feet. I am either going to sell off the Sundara or the Ananda, because they both have similar DNA, so its its redundant to keep both imo. If only I can have both cans in 1 lol

 

[olimon0]

Right now I am back on the fence with the Sundara vs. Ananda. I am memorized by the soundstage of the Ananda, but there is a cohesiveness to the sound, and a fun energy the Sundara has that has me tapping my feet. I am either going to sell off the Sundara or the Ananda, because they both have similar DNA, so its its redundant to keep both imo. If only I can have both cans in 1 lol

For me the Ananda is the clear winner here. Compared them many times. The bass was the biggest difference for me (besides Soundstage). On the Ananda there are Songs where it reaches really deep and i cant hear and feel that depth on the Sundara.

I think you like the lighter (faster?) presentation of the Sundara. Maybe this comes from the smaller earcups (in which the diaphragm is smaller and easier to drive. Does this make sense?! Just came to my mind)
Have you tried the HE6se? A guy on Youtube said that the Sundaras signature is more like the one from the HE6se.

 

[Deleted member 27694]

I tried it and I am not getting warm with it. It sounds a bit muffled/dull/honky to my ears.

What came to my mind:

On your screenshot your review Ananda looks more like the version on the left or?
My guess is that the material outside the drivers can have some impact on the high frequencies?
View attachment 123651

Anyone knows if Hifiman also changed the pads from older Ananda to newer ones?

Impact on high frequencies that is audible or that can be measured? I believe that one of the weirdest thing about the hp community in general is the belief how little revisions or age (burn in worn pads etc) are impacting the sound. But since this is audioScience:

I just ask is there any scientific proof?

Should be very easy to do a blind test between old and new Anandas, Sundaras, HD 6xxs or DTxxxs...

 

[bracko]

Good eye. My son measured it. Will post it soon.

HD600 is probably the best

 

[LoyK]

Impact on high frequencies that is audible or that can be measured? I believe that one of the weirdest thing about the hp community in general is the belief how little revisions or age (burn in worn pads etc) are impacting the sound. But since this is audioScience:

I just ask is there any scientific proof?

Should be very easy to do a blind test between old and new Anandas, Sundaras, HD 6xxs or DTxxxs...

Difference in different pads or for example worn in and fresh pads can easily be measured. For example Crinacle provides some measured examples of this on his site. (Or Focal pad rolling in the headphones forum.)
Also a change in dampening materials or different dust covers can be measured with high precision testing equipment.

There are two big questions though:

• Can you hear the difference?
• Is the difference bigger than general variation between units/drivers?

Another note: Blind test is actually not easy because you can easily feel the difference of different pad-shapes/material/headbands. EDIT: I misunderstood that - yes between old and new revisions a blind test should work. But you need both revisions at the same time and use the same pads on both to elimate pad variation. So it is not that easy to do such testing.

@Resolve : I have listened to that interview and it was super interesting, thanks!
The old dust cover was there in early examples people posted ( I checked old pics on head-fi) and also in the original press release for the Ananda you can see it. My guess is that they changed it at about the time the Ananda-BT was introduced.

 

[Deleted member 27694]

Difference in different pads or for example worn in and fresh pads can easily be measured. For example Crinacle provides some measured examples of this on his site. (Or Focal pad rolling in the headphones forum.)
Also a change in dampening materials or different dust covers can be measured with high precision testing equipment.

There are two big questions though:

• Can you hear the difference?
• Is the difference bigger than general variation between units/drivers?

Another note: Blind test is actually not easy because you can easily feel the difference of different pad-shapes/material/headbands.

@Resolve : I have listened to that interview and it was super interesting, thanks!
The old dust cover was there in early examples people posted ( I checked old pics on head-fi) and also in the original press release for the Ananda you can see it. My guess is that they changed it at about the time the Ananda-BT was introduced.

my point was: is it audible or just measurable? in your example of change for the ananda (dust cover) it should be very easy to do a blind test. and in general i think it should be possible. But afaik it is talked about a lot but there is no scientific proof. There were a lot of measurements for the Ananda afaik most claimed: look what a brilliant hp (rtings eg). Amir is the black swan so to say....

 

[crinacle]

my point was: is it audible or just measurable? in your example of change for the ananda (dust cover) it should be very easy to do a blind test. and in general i think it should be possible. But afaik it is talked about a lot but there is no scientific proof. There were a lot of measurements for the Ananda afaik most claimed: look what a brilliant hp (rtings eg). Amir is the black swan so to say....

Worn versus fresh HD6X0 pads (measurements and analysis here)​

 

[Deleted member 27694]

View attachment 123775
Worn versus fresh HD6X0 pads (measurements and analysis here)​

yup for pads there is an obvious problem, but i think it is not always that extreme. Your worn pad looks like it was worn for 20 years on a daily basis. the posters example was a dust cover for ananda and there are a lot of other non pad subtile changes from one revision to another that people claim have an impact on sound.

 

[somy]

I enjoyed my Ananda very much
I did prefer the warmer Sundara though, but I have big ears so only Ananda fits
I compared Ananda and HD660S, and I like how the piano sounds in Ananda much more.

 

[CTRLM]

Could you share your EQ Settings with us? id be interested in trying them out.

Some of the AutoEQ numbers are very specific when it comes to frequencies and Q values - Q 2.99? LOL

For the most part I've left them alone and only altered the gains with an exception being the first filter. The AutoEQ number is 18Hz and Q 0.41 but my Toneboosters plugin only goes down to 23Hz. Here are my settings...so far:

23Hz +3.0 dB Q 0.50 PK
209Hz -1.0 dB Q 1.06 PK
568Hz -2.0 dB Q 2.99 PK
975Hz -2.6 dB Q 7.04 PK
1617Hz +3.0 dB Q 2.30 PK
2200Hz +1.1 dB Q 0.57 PK
3216Hz -3.4 dB Q 2.32 PK
10293Hz +2.4 dB Q 3.71 PK
12466Hz +1.6 dB Q 1.65 PK

You could probably discard 50% or more of them but to me the four adjustments in red are the main frequency areas to EQ.

 

[bberns22]

The resonances and distortion characteristics of thin film planers do not surprise, or, really worry me. Back in dinosaur days I owned full panel electrostatic and large ribbon speakers (Martin Logan CLS & Carver Amazing). While exhibiting a lot of non-linear behaviors they still managed to produce exceedingly excellent sound, with detail and ambiance retrieval no cone dynamic speaker could match. The real limitation is going to be absolute high SPL's. They simply cannot match the dynamic range and slam of a conventional moving cone.

It is all a matter of what compromises you want to live with.

 

[Rayman30]

Here is my own take on your EQ

A little bassier, and a little warmer, missing some subbass rumble though.

 

[CTRLM]

Here is my own take on your EQ

A little bassier, and a little warmer, missing some subbass rumble though.

View attachment 123792

I'll give it a try