Have you tried a different cable? I'm no expert buy maybe it may a lot simpler than the IEMs themselves. I know this happened to an old Shure pair of mine. I had channel imbalance but after that the sound started crackling and I decided to change cable and it solved both issues.

Hope it works for you.

I’m so happy to find in this sub people with similar to my music preferences!

Sharing more? You mean about artists or gear? If gear, then LCD-X pre-2021 with metal571 EQ profile sounds very good, the only headphone that can compete with Variations in pure subjective music enjoyment, and suits my music library better than HiFiman Arya for example

If artists in consideration, then definitely IVE, STAYC, Le Sserafim(all songs are top tier, just amazing)

OMG is so good, that I don't have even words to describe what I was feeling, listening to it for first 100 times, feeling like on drugs but without them

Sorry, but that post about personally my end game, not for r/HeadphoneAdvice

>but man, when I play on them 'NewJeans - Ditto' or actually any NewJeans song or any Red Velvet song or any IU song or any Billie Eilish song, everything sounds heavenly. Female vocals are just amazing, State-of-Art, they shine, they sound like angels from heaven, it's level of HD600 definitely vocal-wise, always smooth, well-extended and never harsh, shouty or sibilant, just pure euphoria, don't know what to say more.

I was going to ask you how you felt about it but after reading this I honestly think I don't need to ask anything more. We have an almost exact taste in music, apparently, and I have been thinking hard on this year only buying one new set of IEMs: the Variations. I think this settles its.

Currently my "best" (subjective) set is the Blessing 2 Dusk but after trying some different stuff I started thinking that the Variations may be my true endgame.

​

By the way, this latest album by NewJeans with Ditto and OMG, I have to say, I think it's just perfect. I have been listening to it on loop for about a month lol.
By the way, since I like a lot the artists you mentioned, would you mind sharing more of what you like? Maybe I may find something new I didn't know existed.

Lightest audeze headphone

I have my zen dac 2 going into smsl sp200 and drop THX AAA ONE. I've moved my topping e50 over to my speaker amp. I think I prefer the e50 to the zen dac.

Most of my headphones listening at the moment has been modded Fostex T50rp. My DT 990 are getting a bit more listening time ever since I did a balanced detachable cable mod. My 6xx are gathering dust.

There is a difference only for power output. 5v adapter provides louder sound. I bought 5$ chinese adapter what more than enough.

Zen Dac v2 is used for 100% with 5v adapter and balanced output but I'm still not sure it's good enough for Sundara.

maybe try getting the Sennheiser hd 660s?

Man i felt the same yesterday when switching to my macbook pro. :( im not sure if it’s just some psychological feeling or it’s real.

Do you know decent IEM? Would you recommend something? I've already have overhyped TRN VX and some low-end KZ.

The ananda’s are really easy to drive. I would say the edition XS are also worth the money at $500, but they’re already so close to ananda territory and the latter is obviously better. There are definitely headphones over $300 that are worth it, it just depends on what you get. Most of them are not really worth the hassle.

Endgame for me is definitely the hd800s. It’s got all the soundstage I’ll ever crave, after eq it’s one of the best sounding setups I’ve ever had besides my higher end speaker setup, and they have resolution that gets close to TOTL stuff. It doesn’t have much bass at all though, but it’s still plenty wooly for everything out there.

What I would recommend is either an open boxed ananda at $600, or try and find a used hd800 for $700-$900. There is no harm in getting the original hd800. It’s brighter sounding, but you can take the same approach as the S version and just eq it and get the same result. Bass is cleaner sounding on those if you want a nice bass shelf. You would hardly take a loss on them, if you end up not liking them. Just because you could sell them for what you paid for them really. But it’s worth investigating. They’re a sandbox for eq because of how massive they sound on a lot of music. There’s plenty of tweaking to be had that suits your ears.

Their literal only weakness is lack of bass and dynamics, which the sundara isn’t exactly known for anyway. But if you want all the soundstage a headphone can offer, those are it. Ananda or OG hd800 would be the best bang for your buck, those are my recommendations.

You don’t need an amp for the ananda, they’re pretty portable. However, you would need a decent dac or amp for the hd800. Nothing crazy. Don’t let anybody tell you that you need a $1000 amp and dac, so long as you have a decently spec’d dac and amp to use, you’re fine

It's all item based audio, and not panned tracks anymore. Basically the same thing

I'm afraid there is a big mistake to try very expensive headphones without any possibility to buy it in the nearest future. May I ask, are you happy?

For headphones It’s a toss up between the Verite and the Aeolus. For IEMs it’s between the Tia Trio and Nio.

No it’s totally different

All the gear were sold without losing money so I tried it for free. Does Ananda or any other headphones over 300$ worth the money? The Sundara provides all detail I can imagine. In addition hi-end headphones are required an appropriate dac\amp or my setup is quite enough?

AKG K612 Pro.

Nope. I hope it's Easter egg from iFi.

Have you considered the Diana TC as it's a mini 1266 and more confortable ? I haven't have the chance to test expensive headphones like you, but my Diana V2 is my best cans for details and resolution, it makes EDM very fun. (Most other expensive headphones I tried is ZMF VO, Hifiman Arya, Audeze LCDXC)

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.

560s is better, no?

I have the 6xx, hd599, AKG k371, akg 702, Audiotechnica mx50, etc. Dt770 is the best of the best to me. I stopped following the audiophile community and started listening to my own ears

You are a man of culture I see

Upvote for NewJeans