For those of you that don’t know me, Sound and Music are a big thing in my life. I have lots of different instruments to bring these things into reality. I have my Sony’s Wh and Wf earphones and headphones. I have the might Blessing 2 Dusk for serious dominating experiences for wired earphones. Then I have the Sennheiser 660s and 58x for wired headphones sound domination the plugs into my 789 THX amp along with my DAC. But before them I had the Sundara’s that I tested out when I have my Schitt Stack amp and DAC. And while still great, the Schitt stack isn’t the same power and options the 789 brings to the table. But I was not able to test this while I had the Sundara’s. I had decided that the 660s were the better choice for me based on the setup I had before I upgraded to the 789 system.
Fast forward to today. I now have the 789 Balance system setup up and the Sundara’s, ….Well, the Sundara’s went on sale for $260 BRAND NEW on Amazon! Now, at MRP of $500 the Sundara’s were still one of the absolute best Headphones out there. They were on sale for $350 when I got them, which was still a great price. But $260 made me rebuy these headphones because I truly left too many things on the table before I returned them before I upgraded my sound system. So I had to get them back and test them with my Balance system and to do that I had to buy a balanced XLR cable to match them as well, just to be sure.
And so with all present and accounted for, what did I discover?
Well, nothing really that I didn’t know before. Yes, the Sundara is still one of the very best headphones on the planet today. Very comfortable, very spacious feeling and imaging and mids are kings in these headphones. The Planars drivers make the reaction and production of sound so fast and pinpoint. And yes by default, without my software EQ, the bass could be a little better. But with my setup and EQ, it lacks nothing. I’ve also always preferred the look of the Sundara and its Packaging. It just screams High quality. You really feel like you buying something pretty special. So that amazing price tag of $260 just had me at hello.
Now onto the real question. Do they beat the 660s? NO! I still say that the 660s are better overall and should be…they cost more. They are easier to drive and therefore you can get a lot more out of them with whatever setup you have. They are very comfortable if not one of the most comfortable headphones in the world today. And yes, still…their vocal game is unbeatable. The Hifiman Sundara does come close but is still not equal. However, having said that, I still feel the HIfiman Sundara at $260 is still the better purchase over the 660s at $499( or a sale price of $399). What this Sundara delivers is nothing short of spectacular, especially at $260. And at this price, I can say this headphone is the Number 1 direction for any audiophile journey over anything under $1000. You will not get a better cost and performance ratio unless you find a used product on eBay, maybe.
Tech-N-Things 