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

Product Information

What is the overall sound like?Fast paced, airy, slightly thin, natural tones, and well-defined bass. The treble is probably the least exciting, but it doesn’t mean that it’s not great. It is vivid, shimmering and refined, with just a hint of spiciness. At the same time, it’s not boosted, since the Ananda is one of the most neutral headphones on the current market. I could say that the treble is transparent and superbly extended, but I have to mention that it has a strong presence in music. While it may be a bit problematic for people that are on the “dark side of the force”, I wouldn’t call the Ananda bright sounding. I loved the Ananda, if I don't have my Stax system, I might buy and build my system around Ananda, and happy to call it an end to the journey. They are that good. Before getting into my completely subjective findings, let’s take a look at the differences on paper of the three headphones.

With everything put together you get a sound that is thin in overall ambience, but yet every single note is full, clear, and with precise separation. Adding clean textured bass within an enveloping field, and you end up with a nice satisfying experience. My typical listening gear daily is Hiby R6 -> Reso Concerro for USB to SPDIF converter -> Schiit Gumby -> DIYT2 -> Stax SR-007 Mk2 Don't expect the bass to rumble down low like a AH-D7000 or the TH-900, the character and tuning goes past the expectations of bassheads. It goes for accuracy, linearity over wow factor. Make no mistake though, it's not like the bass of the TH-900 isn't accurate in context. Not at all actually. The tuning is simply different. The TH-900 grows a lot in presence and rumble the lower you go, the Ananda goes for linearity and does extend pretty well but never goes for the thunder or the furious slam of the TH-900. It does not take away, it does not give but is still leaner in character. it maintains excellent control and details stand out. More so than the Hex V2 which brings us more volume down low and a tiny bit less control, adding to the overall warmer character but also adding to the bass presence.The objective for the Ananda design was to get a headphone that’s easy to drive and HiFiMAN definitely achieved this, as the Ananda can be driven by pretty much anything: even my laptop and my smartphone have enough power to handle it. The very nice thing about it is that the Ananda are planar headphones, so their impedance is constant throughout the whole spectrum and this means that a more powerful amplifier will not give you any difference in sound, contrary to dynamic headphones that can have wild swings in impedance (and, therefore, in power requirements). The takeaway from this is that you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg on an amplifier to get the best out of these headphones. Overall, for my listening preferences (which is textured vocals) the Ananda performs extremely well at it’s price point. I find myself reaching for the Ananda far more in my listening room than other options I have available to me. Now, that could be down to the fact that I am on this loaner tour and find myself compelled to spend as much time as possible with it, but I would like to think that I would happily remove some of my current lineup for these. I have previously owned both the v1 and v2 version of the Edition X, and based on memory I can say that I prefer the Ananda for my listening preferences. 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.

The presentation of the Hifiman Ananda is one that does live up to the price you are paying. They arrive in a beautiful leather covered box, inside a cardboard sleeve, that opens to reveal the headphones in silk lined fitted shape. In the center there is a foam type shape that covers the remaining contents.

Personally I do not share an office, but anyone who does would also have to find a different solution (or very understanding co-workers) because even at very low volumes, they are quite audible on the outside. Travel and commuting are obviously out of the question with the Anandas, well, unless you don’t mind hearing everyone around you and them hearing you. What formats are these headphones best suited for? Everything, but I have enjoyed them most in critical listening and gaming. Are these headphones comfortable? Yes. No squishing of the ears, no tight clamp, no pressure spots, not overly hot. They don’t disappear entirely on your head, but they aren’t uncomfortable in any way. Mounting the headphone on the text fixture was easy requiring almost no manipulation to get proper measurements. However, I noticed a gap on both cups facing forward. There is a depression there. Pushing the cups closer to the side of the rig pushed up the level of the bass resonance you see below but kept the bass roll off essentially the same. So I did not deem it significant.

As stated previously, the cables are a bit weird and funny looking, but they do get the job done. Make sure to consider getting a nice aftermarket cable though, as the Ananda really deserves it. The optimized clamping force, supportive pleather headband, and improved skeleton significantly enhance the comfort level compared to the Edition XS, which I’ve been using daily for over a year. The headphones are incredibly comfortable, and I applaud Hifiman for achieving this improvement without adding any extra weight. What is the general tuning? Neutral. To my ears there is a shift towards a U shaped sound with slightly elevated bass & treble. However, the shift is so small that the headphones are closer to neutral than anything else. I think that by this point I have already made it clear that I am a fan of the Hifiman Ananda, so I will refer to my earlier comment about these being my “Meyer Sound” of headphones. I have no doubt that there are other headphones that excel at specific points, or are just (slightly) better overall, but as we move up in the price range from here, these differences get smaller and smaller and personal preference becomes more and more relevant.Once there, the transformation was dramatic. The headphone tonality was very nice now and sound super open and pleasing. Alas, after a few minutes of listening, I lost interest in wearing these headphones and focused once more on some grunginess. Mind you, it could just be imagined problem but the final outcome was unlike other headphones that I listen to that are nice. I usually won't stop until I have to do the review. Didn't happen here.