I think it’s a perfect pairing to the Sundara. It adds that extra warmth to the clinical planar.

I do wonder myself though if something like the SMSL SU9 MQA will have more clarity and separation.

Huge thumb up for Antifragile and Impurities, they are perfect, also Blue Flame and Sour Grapes from the previous album are chefs' kiss

And XG's last English single album is great. G-idle Tomboy is also a no-skip album

Every chamber has a number of modes. Modes are resonances of an enclosed empty space. A small chamber like the back of a headphone has these modes above 5kHz. A medium one, like a loudspeaker box will have them lower, around 500Hz. A big one like your room will have modes around 50Hz.

These resonances at the back of an earcup will stop the diaphragm from moving at certain frequencies and boost it at other, creating the zigzagging response that you see in measurements.

IF you want to get rid of them, you can damp them with some sound absorbent material or with tuned resonant chambers. At least this is the way loudspeakers are made. Headphone earcups are usually too small for absorption so the only way we deal with this problem is by venting them. That's why we have open headphones.

Bass in headphones and loudspeakers is created by diaphragm excursion. The diaphragm rests on an air spring created by the closed chamber behind it. In headphones there is also a front chamber and the eardrum, but let's ignore it. The air spring opposes high excursion of a diaphragm. In practice it reduces bass extension, but amplifies the frequencies just above that. This is why you rarely get deep bass with closed headphones. They often have a bump around 100Hz and then roll off like it's nobody's business.

Personal responsibility isn't allowed me to buy expensive headphones for no reason. As I wrote in the headline - this is end game, individual. Hope current headphone never won't be broken. Thanks for response.

I might be using improper terminology but I can understand “blob” and Sundaras were more blobby than the 660s in my experience. Couldn’t tell if you’ve used either, but just sharing my opinion.

Clarity might be a better word? When A/B’ing the 660 & Sundara over 2 days, the Sundara sounded a bit muffled in comparison, almost like listening to a speaker in a gymnasium in comparison. Greater instrument/vocal separation in the 660, which pushed me to keep the 660.

Are you only listening to these and nothing else??Cause you know your brain gets used to the sound and it starts to feel boring no matter how good the headphone is.Great tip for everyone in the hobby is to get a few other decent headphones/IEMs with different sound signature and swap around on a regular and all of them will feel fresh and you won't get tired of your end game gear...

You will get new headphones as soon as you can afford new ones. That means these aren’t endgames.

And that’s how I met your father…

Coconut audio made the best cables ever, like only €5000 for a power cable? That's a great deal!

I'm being limited yourself by digital records from vinyl

Yeah, iFi's Zen lineup has plenty of useful features. Sometimes true bass is too much for me, overall depends of music genre. Hip hop or ambient music sound right with true bass. I read Zen Can xbass is way better, less impactful.

Do you use balanced connection of Zen Stack? Some youtubers say Zen Stack provides a bit thin, not very dynamic sound, it's could be an issue with planars. I think I'm struggling with very neat sound of Zen Dac, so SH8s has more "body" on the entire range of frequency.

About EQ, I hate it, it's awkwardly for daily using alongside other headphones with risk to get dirty sound. I'd tried EQ presets for Sundara and wasn't enjoyed.

audeze mod

Defeats the whole purpose of open back doesn't it ?

New Audeze??

You can look at the frequency response, it is ~10dB below Harman at 4kHz. That's pretty muffled to me.

Or compare with the HD6XX which you own. That, to me, is just about perfectly tuned in the mids. It is not the most technically proficient headphone in existence, but the mids tuning, for my preference, is on point. The LCD-X is WAY recessed, comparatively.

https://crinacle.com/graphs/headphones/graphtool/?share=Harman_AE_OE_2018_Target,HD650_S2_(2020)(fresh_pads),LCD-X(2021)

You can like this and find it warm, dark, relaxed, smooth, all this stuff. I find a -10dB chasm in the upper mids to sound muffled, and I correct it with EQ. It's a great headphone... after EQ.

Anyway, more just making the point you don't NEED to go to >$1,000 to get to "significant improvements". The Edition XS can be total end-game, I have several >$1,000 sets and it competes at that level despite costing much less. I'm not saying the LCD-X is bad either, I wouldn't have bought it if I thought it was bad. I bought it for the bass, and it delivered on that, it has the best bass of anything I have. But it needs EQ to fix the muffled upper mids, IMO.

I wouldn't call them misinformed considering they've listened to both the Sundara and 660S. The 660S stands out from the rest of the 6x0 lineup as it has a good (read: wider) soundstage and decent imaging.

I haven't listened to a Sundara in a while but if my memory serves me well, I'd call the mid range on the 660 crispier (vocals sounding muted and lack of slam were the reasons I upgraded). Depending on what you listen to, I could see how someone could come to that conclusion.

I think the Zen DAC is great for my Ananda! That TrueBass button gives it some tight, punchy and rumbly bass because it is a planar driver. I would think that it's the same for the Sundara. A straight DAC without a feature like that is probably not going to make huge difference, at least, not for the amount of extra money spent. It's just a digital decoder. For me, that bass button is my favorite feature and it is particular to the Ifi Zen DAC. I even double the effect with the Zen Can bass boost sometimes. That's way too much bass for certain headphones, but not for the Ananda. The Ananda is not tuned for a lot of bass but it is plenty capable of playing some of the most satisfying bass I've ever heard, if you have the right setup. It's different from using EQ, too. The bass button only adds low end without sacrificing the higher frequencies. When you mess with EQ it effects the other frequencies. It's also very easy to push the button and shut it off, if you want to. Some tracks I only use the bass on the Zen DAC. Others I like to double it up with the Zen Can. I'm not sure what particular area you feel is lacking with the setup you have, but if you think it's lacking bass maybe you should try out a Zen Can amp with the Zen DAC. I really love that combo for the specific bass effect that I cannot replicate on any other setup that I have tried, on the particular headphone I have. I'd like to know if there are other systems that do the same thing, actually. Since the Sundara is a planar brother of the Ananda I would be surprised if it didn't perform similarly on the Zen Stack.

I don't know if people in this space buy gear totally based on aesthetics to the point of disregarding performance, but aesthetics still plays an important role. I think it's totally normal for aesthetics to play a significant role in buying decisions. You should buy something that makes you smile when you look at it.

If you're not happy, then it's not end game

LCD-X “muffled?” We all have different ears. I have the 2021 version and “muffled” is not a word I would use to describe them.

Balanced and detailed come to mind when I think of the LCD-X. Also, great bass when powered with a good amp.

I haven’t tried the Edition XS yet and doubt there are any more Hifiman headphones in my future. Too many build quality issues with previous sets from them.

ZMF, DCA, Focal and Meze 109 Pro all need sampling first. But I get it $500 - $1500 for headphones is a lot of money and not everyone can afford that.

Are you able to use the provided filters with the azla tips?

bros head finna turn into tyler1

xD

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