Hifiman Ananda Stealth V2 Headphone Review

[Countach]

Surprisingly high distorion for a planar :/

 

[virtua]

Doesn't look too exciting as an upgrade from the non Stealth version. Looks like the group delay and distortion looks better than the previous model, but the coherency between 4k to 9k is not quite as good as the previous model, having a significant dip at 5.5k. Power required to get to 94db is now around double at 183mv vs previous 93mv, but does it at 28 ohm vs 33 ohm. Outside of that they are incredibly similar.

 

[solderdude]

Agree about the matching when it comes to miniature levels,etc,
What it seems is NOT happening is rejection of broken/bad drivers (like the one with the high distortion tested) which is usually one of the hidden costs but unavoidable if you want to make a good quality product.

Yes,the cost could up but the trust would be there.

Yep, that seems to be a problem.

I have a few Hifiman and had other Hifiman models and all had well matching drivers and no broken drivers (yet).
I suspect those that have had this happen are very vocal about it.
Hifiman does not seem to be reluctant to repair though.

I would be really bummed when that happened with a 1k+ headphone though.

 

[isostasy]

After reading the review of and trying the HE400SE does make me wonder why pay more for something like this Ananda? I didn't like the HE400SE because it needed the 2kHz dip lifted, but this is true of all Hifiman headphones so you're not solving that by paying more. What you do seem to get is worse distortion and a treble boost

 

[Aperiodic]

Guess nobody will confuse these with the Dan Clark Stealth, will they...

 

[sealman]

Wow, their website say retail cost is 999.00!

 

[Rhamnetin]

Really looks like a budget model too, doesn't it?

Their lower budget Sundara and $110 HE400se have less distortion and apparent design issues.

They just don't work as headphones imo. No problem with planar speakers but I haven't heard a good PM headphone yet.
Always very bass deficient and with a strange zzzing in the higher regions, which are probably the resonances shown in the graphs.

Although they're expensive, if you want to hear good ones try the DCA E3, Stealth, and/or Expanse. They're some of the best measuring headphones ever, and personally across all the dynamics and estats I've had or demoed, I've never heard highs as clean/linear as in the E3. No bass deficiency there either, they did away with the common flat bass+mid response.

 

[Robbo99999]

Just finished reading the review, not a good sign that the left & right drivers are different re distortion because that's a manufacturing quality issue. I've seen worse frequency responses though and it's not a super expensive headphone, but it's not a budget headphone either, so in my mind it's not quite up to par given the manufacturing quality issue and just passable frequency response, so I didn't vote it the lowest, but not far off! Distortion quite high for a planar but likely not an issue for the fairly low levels that I'd listen at.

EDIT: at the original $999 price they'd be a proper rip off, but my comments above were based on $399. So for $999 I'd be tempted to give it lowest marks.

 

[Robbo99999]

Gave up on planers years ago.

I think they've got some inherent weaknesses. "Fine Grass" (sharp deviations) above 1kHz for most of them, and I'm assuming they're more expensive & troublesome to get right than dynamic drivers. (DCA seems to the best job with them, pretty much eliminating the "fine grass" problem).

 

[_thelaughingman]

For a company known to have decent headphones, Hifiman is plagued with poor engineering and quality control. It's a hard sell to purchase a product from Hifiman knowing that their products don't stand up to a decent benchmark for quality and audio reproducibility. I have divested myself from two Hifiman headphones in the recent past due to poor quality and performance. The performance of these headphones even at this low price point would encourage me to look elsewhere.

 

[Nango]

yes, all the hifiman headphones follow the same general curve

Identically driver built-in no matter which prices?

 

[xaviescacs]

Used to see cheap IEMs with perfect distortion graphs this looks like absolute crap... almost as bad as my AKG 701

 

[Eldus]

Wonder how the Edition XS measures.

 

[solderdude]

Edition XS (2023)

back to HIFIMAN back to measurements home published: June-04-2023 NO SMOOTHING is applied to the shown plots. Most measurement sites have some smoothing applied which ‘irons flat’ sharp peaks and …

diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com

vs some other hifiman:

vs some other headphones:

 

[raif71]

Edition XS (2023)

back to HIFIMAN back to measurements home published: June-04-2023 NO SMOOTHING is applied to the shown plots. Most measurement sites have some smoothing applied which ‘irons flat’ sharp peaks and …

diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com

vs some other hifiman:

vs some other headphones:

about to post your review of the XS... oh well

 

[solderdude]

Really is more of the same. Just slight deviations above 5kHz and 1dB more lows.
At this moment the reviewed Ananda Stealth v2 with the current deal is the better choice....if only for the headband.... those cheap headbands (XS, 400SE) are not comfy for me.

 

[Ahmonge]

Once again, thanks @amirm for your work. I wonder if a review of any model of the Arya range is planned.

 

[majingotan]

Once again, thanks @amirm for your work. I wonder if a review of any model of the Arya range is planned.

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

 

[DSJR]

tnx Amir... my doubts were justified... I have been observing Hifiman's commercial policy for more than a year. I was intrigued by the exaggerated discounts and their products and I was convinced to buy one, but every time I searched for information on Google I found dozens of messages from users angry about the quality problems of the materials. I spent weeks evaluating their graphs to try to understand which headphones had enough bass and were closest to the Harman. One day I superimposed them in a single graph and they were really very, very similar. At that point it almost seemed to me (but that's not the case) that they had taken a single driver model and used it in 5/6 models, changing only the name, the headband or the colour. But only to me does it seem like they are practically identical with differences of 1000 or 2000 euros? I believe that the differences between a driver and the next model are so small that they make the entire price list just a meaningless marketing policy. In the end the differences in sound, if we exclude the inefficient he6 and Susvara, will be truly negligible. This borderline ridiculous discounting also reinforces my thesis. With prices varying by 50/80%. We then add the number of headphones put back on sale after repairs or returns is always very high. It doesn't give me the impression of a company that renews or invests in innovative models but more of a company that is exploiting a model, always the same, which among other things shows a lot of quality problems. Perhaps the value of Hifiman headphones is measured on the Sundara models, 299 euros.... at a discount...

Don't Grado have a similar product hierarchy model, at least lower down? Same basic 'module' dressed with different ear pads and headbands as you go up the range, at least to a point? Clearaudio did this with pickup cartridges too, select from a batch and double the price, select from these and double again and so on...

Just a thought using loudspeakers in this - underdamping the diaphragm may well give a more 'dynamic' and 'airy' kind of presentation, but if conventional speakers are anything to go by, this can cause all manner of resonant issues, boom in the box (OK, not a headphone thing here), but look at the resonances in the group delay plots. maybe it gives an added excitement or 'frisson' but it ain't there in the original recording and I suspect it's highly addictive to audiophiles without much of a clue as to how it should really be (excuse the clumsy words, but I was one once upon a time and do remember the mistakes I made back then, then wondering why my gear choices 'sounded' so wildly different - and worse - from the orchestral concerts I used to attend regularly back then, then later, jazz gigs in a quite intimate setting (the 'Old' Stables at Wavendon, Milton Keynes...)

Does the above make any sense, or have I gone off on a tangent yet again?

 

[Brubaker]

Don't Grado have a similar product hierarchy model, at least lower down? Same basic 'module' dressed with different ear pads and headbands as you go up the range, at least to a point? Clearaudio did this with pickup cartridges too, select from a batch and double the price, select from these and double again and so on...

Just a thought using loudspeakers in this - underdamping the diaphragm may well give a more 'dynamic' and 'airy' kind of presentation, but if conventional speakers are anything to go by, this can cause all manner of resonant issues, boom in the box (OK, not a headphone thing here), but look at the resonances in the group delay plots. maybe it gives an added excitement or 'frisson' but it ain't there in the original recording and I suspect it's highly addictive to audiophiles without much of a clue as to how it should really be (excuse the clumsy words, but I was one once upon a time and do remember the mistakes I made back then, then wondering why my gear choices 'sounded' so wildly different - and worse - from the orchestral concerts I used to attend regularly back then, then later, jazz gigs in a quite intimate setting (the 'Old' Stables at Wavendon, Milton Keynes...)

Does the above make any sense, or have I gone off on a tangent yet again?

Grado makes the most absurd headphones in the galaxy. The most unlistenable headphones without EQ but the brightest and clearest with a very wide soundstage when you EQ them. Only after buying the SR80x and equalizing them did I understand the true power of this frequency correction system. Everyone should buy a cheap Grado, change the pads and EQ it. After this positive experiment I convinced myself to buy a Grado TOTL model... I bought a limited edition Grado "the White Headphone".... a tragedy... 50mm driver, wooden case, super cable... nothing to do. ...it was such an incorrigible headphone that after 24 hours it was already on its way to the seller...the frequency response graph was a meaningless scribble.... Grado is at its best with the economical SR60/80 x models and with a nice equalization.... spending 1000/2000/3000 euros on a Grado is the most absurd thing an audiophile can do... incidentally the SR80x and GW100x equalized and with large pads are among my favorite headphones and they are the only headphones that can match the soundstage of my 800s....