HIFIMAN ANANDA Over-Ear Open-back Planar Magnetic Headphones, wired-Black

Product Information

With regards to amplification, the Ananda sure scales with the amplifier, but seems to not require a lot of power – which is a good thing. I did not test it, but would be surprised if the Ananda will not sound great from a good portable amp.

The pads are quite soft, the sides are leather, while the surface that touch your ears are alcantara i think? they are comfortable and I don't have problems using them for 2 hours and more.The Aeon Flow was notably harder to drive than the Ananda and much more source sensitive. Big planars are rarely a good match with tubes, but the Aeon seems particularly poor where as the Ananda actually paired well with the Valhalla2/Bifrost MB combination. The Aeon can sound a bit clouded with pairings it doesn’t care for and is probably best paired to neutral to a bit dry/cold solid state gear. The Ananda on the other hand doesn’t seem to care what feeds it and while it scales with better gear, it showed the ability to handle sources as diverse as the Cayin N3, Burson Fun, Oriolus BA300s, Valhalla2, SSMH, and Millett Nu-tube Hybrid. Midrange is ever so slightly warm but clean and pronounced. The Mids have good emotion and while not totally neutral the do have a neutral quality about them I found them rich and very tastefully done, vocals had a natural tone and sat somewhere just behind the instruments yet remained clear.

Although you can’t use the Ananda BT with a classic audio cable, you can use a USB cable to connect them to a PC, smartphone or tablet.” This song is mildly compressed to my ears, there is some imaging there but the song does not benefit from the soundstage of the Ananda that much, because due to its compression or how it was recorded, it seems to be leaner in the mid range, the Ananda with this song might place the mids a little to recessed, resulting in having to turn up the volume a bit to get satisfactory vocal volume. The Sundara is more engaging and cohesive with this particular song, likely a result of the way the song was recorded. I'm currently looking to upgrade my current headphone setup (Sundaras with a JDS Atom AMP+ and SMSL SU-6). I've currently EQ'd my Sundaras to add a slight bit more bass to them, and while I like the technicalities of planars and definitely want to stay in this region, I want something with a larger soundstage, better imaging, and better resolving capabilities.

Extra Features & Battery Life

Here we have another one of those comparisons that at first glance doesn’t look to be well thought out. I’ll admit I did this one based on the soundstage of the two being similar (a huge complement to the Ananda in and of itself). The headband construction is mostly metal, clamping force is medium. They are very open design, so will leak a lot of sounds!

Generally Ananda bests the Edition X V2 in technicalities but is drier and more stoic. The Edition X V2 counters with romanticism and character.Planar magnetic drivers, unlike the conical moving coil speakers found in most consumer headphones, are flat planes traced with conductive filaments, suspended between rows of powerful magnets. This design results in low distortion levels, a crisp presentation, and impressive clarity. They provide a sense of spaciousness and great clarity, which I’ve consistently observed in Hifiman’s offerings. Regardless of your audiophile preferences – whether you’re a basshead, a treblehead, or a reference lover – Hifiman’s headphones are bound to impress from the first listen. This unique blend of technicality and clarity is what drew me to planar headphones, not just for music, but also for movie watching. The Bottom Line: The HiFiMan Ananda headphones deliver stunning audio performance, providing a superb sense of space and detail."