hyde0000 t1_j9hmiwx wrote on February 22, 2023 at 1:02 AM

Hmmmmm what do you not like or wish to improve upon the Sundara?

What type of music do you listen to and kind of sound do you like?

Also in this hobby it's common to buy and sell gear, if you're not happy with it then sell your current gear and buy a different gear. Though before we go with this you might have to explain what kind of sound you want.

Also the other 3 headphone you listed are all cheaper than the Sundara so it kind of make sense it's lower tier....?

But yeah if there is a store where you can try all the headphones it helps a lot.

For example I don't like neutral sound so 80% of the audiophile suggestions doesn't apply to me LOL. But I know I don't like neutral so I look for non-neutral sound. I feel like if we know what you're looking for then we can steer you to the right direction.

mghazik OP t1_j9j370s wrote on February 22, 2023 at 9:33 AM

The main problem I had a high expectations for the Sundara. I'd consulted here in Reddit before decided to buy HiFiMan. They said Sundara is great for dimensional ambient, electronic, hip-hop and female vocal oriented music. Mostly agree with this advice but still looking a way to make midrange more smoother. I like smoothness of vinyl sound so tube amp might solve that imperfection.

The other 3 headphones I tried mostly out of curiosity to hear correlation between price and sound quality. First couple of hours with HE 4xx I really was thinking to sell Sundara) Now I have no doubt the 300$ headphones are more neutral and overall better.

I'd listened non-neutral V-shaped sound all my life so neutrality now is the breath of fresh air. More so it can be corrected in one way or the other using different type of DAC/AMP gear. I'm afraid I'm looking for a fun headphones completely opposite the Sundara.

hyde0000 t1_j9m0m5k wrote on February 22, 2023 at 10:59 PM

lol I feel I ran into similar issue as you before. There is a difference between "sound quality" and "tonality". Sound quality I'm referring to technical stuff like separation, sound stage, detail......etc. But after all that there is still a tonality preference.

For example if you come from V-shaped headphone then chances neutral headphone will not satisfy your preference. Reddit has the tendency to suggest neutral headphone because it's the "audiophile" thing to do.

But often people forget people listen to what they like and some headphone will do better than others at different genre. So back to what you said, I don't think mid range is Sundara's strong suit, mid range master is like HD600 or HD650. You could.... as you said, fix it by running a tube amp. I'm currently using Lawton TH900 and running a tube amp to fix the mid range and recessed vocal LOL. Also as much as people say all dac sound the same, I find dacs have their sound too. Though you're already using Zen Dac V2 I think that one is already warm dac so you're probably ok. Maybe try a hybrid tube amp.

Don't feel afraid to try "fun" headphones if that's what you like. There are also high quality fun headphones out there. Though I don't listen to electronic or hip hop so I don't know what's the best headphone for those genre unfortunately. Maybeeeeee just maybe, see if you can find a TH-X00 Purpleheart for cheap to try.