Mids: Hiroyuki Sawano – OldToday (01:25-01:52), vocals are a bit more forward on the HD560S and slightly better tonality (brighter) but shoutier and timbre is better on the Sundara. Instrument tonality and timbre are a lot better on the Sundara. More detailed on the Sundara but due to the brighter tonality, the HD560S is cleaner. The main change is however the fact that you now have to extend the headband. Due to a very strong grip you can’t do this while wearing the headphones and you have to take them off and adjust them with both hands. That’s alas not ideal. Nor is the fact that this mechanism is stiff because the metal parts press hard against each other, causing scuff marks to appear over time as one adjusts the headphones multiple times. A somewhat easier, softer mechanism would be greatly appreciated. As a verification, I asked my son to come over and without looking at the measurements and EQ, listen to the headphone plain and then with EQ I had built above. After about half hour of listening he said there was no sub-bass and the there was something missing in the sound. With EQ he found the sound to be much improved causing him to say he likes it. So good correlation with my findings. This can make S’s sound a bit unnaturally lispy in recordings that are already predisposed to sibilance, and it can give cymbals an extra sheen. Mids: Hiroyuki Sawano – OldToday (01:25-01:52), vocal tonality, detail and clarity are a lot better on the Sundara and also more forward and less shouty, timbre is slightly better on the R70X but overall naturality is better on the Sundara. Instrument tonality and timbre are better on the R70X but cleaner, more detailed and more clarity on the R70X.

The user replaceable angled cut ear pads are made from a combination of microfiber and leatherette with memory foam inside. The Sundara’s sound is not entirely free of errors, and some listeners will be repelled by a tone they might consider too polite, too boring, or too effeminate. The Sundara’s bass is unobtrusive in what can be a good or a bad way. While not as indulgent and textured as some of its planar siblings (Audeze comes to mind), it is relatively well-extended, fast, tight, and neutral – the Sundara is not a muddy headphone. When called to perform, the Sundara can provide a nice, reverberant thump, but it will always be a very clean thump, perhaps even a polite one. In this set, everything is mainly about our preferences, because the sundara will sound less entertaining, a bit more technical. The quality of the sundara itself is also better in my opinion. Instead of plastic, we have high-quality metal elements. Deva pro, however, wins with a more bass and entertaining form, and great functionality of bluemini which gives us a really ready-made solution in the field of amplification and DAC for our headphones.The Sundara can reach adequate volume levels through portable devices but they still sound underpowered. The EQ Score is designed to MAXIMIZE the Score WHILE fitting the Harman target curve with a fixed complexity.

Hiroyuki Sawano – Scapegoat (00:57-01:17), Vocal and instrument tonality is a lot better on the Sundara with more micro-details, similarly clean but more refined on the Sundara overall. Timbre is similar. There’s some emphasis on treble which is mostly concentrated between the lower area and the middle one; this, together with the good extension, gives treble a primary role in the scene. Treble is in fact forward in the mix, up to the point that the overall signature is bright. This emphasis is however devoid of peaks, so it is not fatiguing or harsh. The aforementioned extension makes treble airy and sparkly enough. The level of detail is rather good and one can even hear some micro-details, though those are an exception more than the norm. HiFiMAN Sundara ComparisonsHiFiMAN Sundara vs HiFiMAN HE-560: the HE-560 are a more balanced version of the Sundara. Bass is more extended and a bit more present, but it stays out of the way in the same way. It’s a bit faster and more detailed, but it has less physical impact. Midrange is more balanced, though it still is slightly bright; it’s a bit more detailed. Treble is much less emphasised, so it is much less fatiguing than the Sundara’s while also being a bit more airy. In general, the HE-560 are more detailed and more neutral than the Sundara. They also offer a similarly wide soundstage, with some added depth, plus more accurate imaging and slightly better instrument separation. I hope it becomes more of a tool for artists rather than something that replaces art,” he added. “It’s a philosophical question at the end of the day: are we ready, as humanity, to embrace art that isn’t human at all? Is that something we’ll find appealing? Or will it be something that really doesn’t sit right?” The included cord is short and comes with right angle connector. It has a nice (silicon?) insulator. It did not seem microphonic to me. So how does the Sundara sound? Without much to anticipate I can already say that I have never heard such a good tonality for under 500 € in headphones. That surprised me more than positively. It plays very coherently from the bass up to the treble. In the process, it follows the Harman curve with the exception of a linear bass (magnetostatic typical) and a drop below 50 Hz. Due to the linear bass, the mids run about 3-4 dB below the Harman curve from 1.5 Khz up to the highs to achieve a coherent presentation. If I listen to a HD820 in comparison, I immediately notice a clear difference open vs. closed. The 13 Khz boost also contributes to the Sundara sounding very open, much more open than an HD820 and also more open than an LCD-2, for example. Living in Glasgow, Scotland but born and raised near Milan, Italy, I got the passion for music listening as a legacy from my father and my grandfather.