> the driver itself doesn't make that much of a difference,

It matters for how much distortion is produced.

Yeah, I think I overreacted a little bit.

I actually tried the XS. It is a great headphone except for some very slight artificial "sheen" to the sound. And even though my head was big enough for the band (one click seemed to be the best position), it felt a little loose on my head when I leaned forward or when I moved side to side. So I returned it and got the Ananda, but they sent me the older version, so I returned that as well.

I am just going to wait a little for the dust to settle and probably order directly from HIFIMAN instead of Amazon.

> You are reading far, far too much into these numbers.

Imagine for a second saying this about a car company, or something closer like the specs of an amplifier.

You just painted me a picture of a chaotic company. If they can't properly manage such extremely simple things, why should I not think their headphones aren't made with the same sloppiness? Just slap on there whatever drivers or pads come out of some big random bin.

I suddenly have this uneasy feeling that it is a very suspect company. With all those measurements of the Arya/Ananda/XS being so close, almost within the variation you see between left and right side drivers, I am suddenly envisioning all the drivers coming from the same bin and just getting slapped on whatever egg-shaped cup model is being assembled.

> I suspect this the change from non-Stealth to Stealth, and that they initially didn't update the specs

But they did update the impedance from 25 to 27 Ohms.

You just made me realize the specs of this alleged Ananda V3 are very close to the specs of the XS. Impedance is 16 Ohm vs 18 Ohm for the XS and sensitivity is the same (92dB).

So maybe Ananda V3 is a tweaked XS with the strap style headband?

I guess we shall see soon enough.

ARKK, just another Covid bubble.

Seems to be in a descending triangle, which is not a good sign.

I bought F for very cheap three years ago, but missed the opportunity to sell it at the top of the EV hype bubble. Waited too long and didn't make as much as I could have.

I wouldn't buy it now. Ford always struggles to execute, and even they when design decent cars, they can't deliver on QC.

Thanks for that tip. I didn't realize both Hifiman are about 60% heavier than the 650. And I do see a lot of mixed reviews for the headband of the XS, especially from people who think it is too big for their heads.

The Anandas seem like another alternative to the Edition XS, but for a nontrivial additional $200, and I am not sure how different they sound from the XS and in what specific ways.