HIFIMANSUNDARA Over-Ear Full-Size Planar Magnetic HiFi Stereo Wired Headphones for Studio&Audiophiles (Black)

In short: Stunning. Fancy, fancy, fancy. Paired with a Topping DX1 mini combo DAC, the sound stage is phenomenal, but where this headset really shines is the performance of the drivers. In ordinary headphones, the "dwell time" is long, a drum strike persists longer than the actual sound you hear with your ears. With these planar magnetics, the dwell time is miraculously short. Every little detail is instantly conveyed to your ears with the most magnificent crispness and clarity.It has a balanced response from the lowest lows to the crispest highs; I find myself hearing new things in my favorite classical music recordings, like the scratchiness of bows across violin strings, and the sudden dynamic changes translate phenomenally. With amateur recordings, I can hear the musicians stamping their feet, shuffling their music and the little noises the audience makes while watching. And when the audio is silent, there's no idle buzzing or input; it's truly silent. The most gratifying experience is listening to piano recordings; everything is so balanced and crisp.This is a kickass headset, but it required me to buy a separate DAC to run it. The open ear design means I can still hear what's going on around me without the claustrophobic feel of closed back headphones; though others can hear what you're listening to if you play it loud enough. I can hear my computer fans through this headset. This is the first headset I've owned that really surprised me, when I was watching a show, a big plot point happened and a whole round table of people murmured in surprise, it actually felt like I was sitting there right beside them. It was freaky.The build quality is solid, most of the headset is metal, but as others pointed out, the earcups don't swivel. I have a big head so I had to max out the length on the earcups for the proper fit, but it still is comfortable and fits the price tag. I still use a backup pair of Cloud HyperX's with swiveling earcups for listening and falling asleep in bed. I will update this review with how these Sundaras hold up to regular daily use. First impressions: I'm a very happy customer.

EDIT: 7/21/2020 I am adding in an edit here. My left speaker seems to dim in volume time to time regardless of how loud or quiet I drive them. I end up tapping on the speaker cup pretty hard, which seems to "do the trick" and the volume normalizes toal match the other cup. I think it has something to do with the membrane in the planar style speaker (google planar magnetic). I would now recommend the Sony MDR-1AM2's over the Sundara's.... The Sony are 50 bucks cheaper (got mine for $290 so 60 cheaper) and they sound better. I dont have to use an eq to retain bass response. The Sony has the highs mids and lows. Again no EQ needed to retain bass response. Surprisingly, even though the Sonys are closed back (Sundara are open back) they still have a sound stage like an open back headphone! They are also super light weight, you forget you are wearing them, while the Sundara are heavy, and you always know you have headphones on. Get the Sony MDR-1AM2, they are better. Get the Sundara if you like to experiment. Supposedly the Sundars got a quiet update with new ear cups as of this year (2020) so you wont know if you are getting the old version or new version which I find to be bull$#@&. If there was a new update, it should get its own new model name. Instead you roll the dice.So, I am a bit of an audiophile. Generally in the car realm, but also for headphones..... To start off, these headphones are spectacular. I was originally powering them off my Sound Blaster ZXR sound card inside my computer, but these headphone's require power to drive them as they are not like typical headphones, so they did not get as loud as I like... Which for others, might be loud enough. So I bought the Schiit Magni 3 headphone AMP, then used my sound cards RCA out (which are low level) to the Magni 3 to amp the signal. Now they are loud as !@#$ which I love. Like many high end headphones, they sound better when you have a quality amp. Without the amp, they still sound good, but they will lack on the low end. Once amp'd, the low end comes right back in. I also use my sound card to add in +12db at 31hz and +10db at 60hz. This brings the bass up a lot and makes them sound like a full range speaker/headphones. The crazy part is, when I have the bass up and the headphones on my head, they are flawless, the moment I take them off, the speakers begin to show signs of rattle from too much bass. But this is a case of open flow vs on your head. Some reviewers have stated that when they move the ear cups slightly away from the head, the bass fills out. All headphones will have a different sound on your head vs open air, all of them. Its just the dynamics of how speakers work withing a confined space (your head being the confined space). The sound ways may go in your ear, but they also come back out, they done continue through your head as your ear is a closed passage.In the car world, the best systems are equalized to neutral. Like many high end headphones, the HIFIMAN lacks in the bass department. So a little EQ really helps. Most reviewers of headphones and home audio gear generally do not have the ability to use Equalization, they have DAC/AMPs which have a pre-defined "flavor" of audio. This ideal is similar to buying car speakers based on how they sound "to you" and "off the shelf". But in the car world, as long as the speakers have similar specs, it doesn't matter how they perform, because you can EQ them to neutral anyway. I can take 300 dollar speakers and 75 dollar speakers in the car world, as long as they both have the same frequency RANGE and power output in RMS, I can EQ both to sound exactly the same.... you literally wont be able to tell the difference, I could literally put one brand on the left side of the car and the other brand on the right side of the car, EQ each side separately, EQ to neutral, and you wont even know that there are two different brands in the car! You can do the same in the headphone world but with limitations. My example will be these HIFIMAN Sundara vs $100 Sony Mdr-Xb950Ap which is their "extra bass" lineup. In this example, the HIFIMAN lacks bass compared to the Sony's, and the Sony's lack the high end (by a large degree) AND have too much bass. Even though I can EQ both, the Sony's just can't hit the high end like the Sundara's can. Some may claim the difference in frequency response, as the Sundara are rated 6Hz - 75kHz, while the Sony's are rated 3hz–28khz, is the reason the HIFIMAN has a better upper range, except for the FACT that most sound cards and even DAC/AMP combo's, will never hit those heights. In fact, some of the best DAC's you can buy only hit the normal 22khz range and then cuts off from there, same with my sound card. Therefore both are being cut off at 22khz, and yet the HIFIMAN sound better on the high end. EQ in some bass, and its good to go. While the sony's, there is no EQing them to the quality of the HIFIMAN.Now the HIFIMAN, I have compared them to my brothers $1500 Sennheiser's.... the 800s reference series, and honestly the HIFIMAN has a very similar sound signature and quality. However, the Sennheiser's are significantly lighter in terms of weight, and the Sennheiser's don't need any EQ to retain bass response. Overall, I feel that I have lucked out, I can deal with the heavier weight, and my PC has the ability to EQ, so all is well.