The name similarities were too great to ignore. I have a small menagerie of Hifiman headphones and while I’ve written about them individually at length here and on Head-Fi, I’ve never gotten a picture of the full setup. So here they are: from left to right – Shangri-La Jr, Sundara, and R7DX. The Sundara was acquired in early March 2020, and it’s still working fine, though the right earpad has started to tear in some places. Not bad for a Hifiman, eh? The SGL Jr was bought in mid-February 2022, and the R7DX was from late May 2022. Three different driver types (electrostatic, planar, and dynamic), 3 different earpad types, 3 different headband types, and three-ish different earcup shapes. I do admire a company having breadth and variety in their designs.

Sound-wise, all three are cut from the same cloth. Bright and airy sound all around. The SGL is the brightest but also the smoothest sounding, the R7 is the roughest and peakiest of them, while the Sundara is in the middle. SGL has the best comfort by far. All three are commendable headphones to me.

For source gear, the FiiO K9 Pro (AKM) handles DAC and regular amp duties, with XLR out to the CCS-modded Stax SRM-006tS. The 006tS is a new acquisition to replace my 006tA that died at a headphone meet last year. I spent some time and effort to repair the old amp, but I wasn’t able to find out what was wrong. So I bought another unit from Mjolnir Audio.

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As for Hi-Fi Rush the game, it’s a quirky, fun game. It’s at its core a 3rd person rhythm-based melee combat game, where you time your actions to the all-pervasive beat, mixed with some platforming in a linear adventure game. Visually, it’s cel-shaded, so it looks a lot like Borderlands, and its overall tone is quite similar to the newer Borderlands games (BL2+) too. Unsurprisingly, given its Japanese development studio, there are a few elements present that are more common in Japanese games – the one I noticed is that in conversation segments, there’s the large box at the bottom of the screen displaying the dialogue that’s being spoken alongside a 2D head render of the speaking character. My wife is playing Fire Emblem Engage these days, and dialogue sequences in that game have the exact same element. Curiously, while the game is titled Hi-Fi Rush, the start menu entry (I have the game from PC GamePass) says “Hibiki”, which seems to mean “echo” in Japanese and might be the internal title.

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Kicking ass on beat

I see Hart cables. Loved them at first on my Sundara but had to swap them out because the thingy where the left and right cables meet is placed too low down, and it would catch on the edge of my desk when I lean forward to prop myself back up after slouching in my chair. Then it would rip one or both sides of the cable off from the Sundara.

After 4-5 times I couldn't stand it anymore. But it attests to how well built those things are. If I ever set up a dedicated listening couch I'm going back to those cables.

Both of my Sundara pads started peeling off this month at the underside and the left pad seam also opened up, showing the green foam inside. Bought it in Jan 2021 so the pads lasted 2 years. Although I swap out my headphones every couple of months, so I'd estimate actual use at around 1 year or so. It seems like 1-1.5 years is how long these pads generally last before they start tearing and peeling.

Currently using the Dekoni Elite Sheepskin for HiFiMan HE Series, makes the sound quite a bit warmer (hopefully I'm using the right terminology), which is fine really since I tend to reach for the TrueBass button on my ZEN DAC when I'm on my Sundara. I get no urge to go for the bass boost with these Dekoni pads.

You're probably aware already, but if not, you could request through their custom shop to get the split part higher up.

I am actually not aware of that! Not gonna order another one though, the shipping is so expensive since I live in Taiwan...will keep that in mind though. Thanks!

I haven't had that issue with the Hart cables, but they are a bit microphonic to me. The interchangeable amp-side connectors are so good though. I wish more cables used that system.

Since my Sundara is well out of warranty at this point, I may explore the Dekoni pads when the earpads well and truly flake out on me. It might help fix the comfort too. I find that with the lack of lateral earcup swivel, it often presses too hard on my cheekbones and that makes them uncomfortable. Like I wore these today for about 30 minutes, and I'm now massaging my cheekbones because they got sore. Other days, I can wear the Sundaras for hours, so it's just wildly inconsistent in comfort.