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

Product Information

Alas, many compromises were made in execution of this headphone causing roughness in frequency response in addition to macro tonality issues. That’s because the rise in the upper mids region keeps on going in the lower treble area, where it peaks before it finally starts its descending turn. It’s quite weird, too, so much so that some people may consider it bulky and not fashionable – though one may argue those people are not in target for these headphones. And these are a double-sided magnet design, which -'in theory' are supposed to provide lower distortion. Midrange is shifted towards the upper area and can sometimes sound a bit thin, though there’s minimal sibilance.

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. Here the Arya is a lusher sounding headphone with an emphasis on the lower notes of the guitar whereas the Ananda is very balanced and keeps everything at the same level of presence, making the higher end of the mids seem much clearer. While the ANANDA does not look as extravagant as the HE-1000 type headphones, it features most of the technology from its bigger brethren. On the Arya, I mentioned that I find the fundamental tones of vocals to be more present than their overtones, and in the case of the voice of Isaac “Dickie” Freeman, this can actually work against his voice, so once more I must say that the HE1000se provides the best result with his voice. The headphones are entirely painted black with some accents painted silver, such as the grilles on the earcups.You may remember that I reviewed the Ananda Bluetooth a while ago, so I was impressed to see that the normal Ananda has the same package as HE6SE, rather than the Arya Stealth package. The Ananda gives you all the details up front, presenting them to you in the front row and making sure you don’t miss anything. Hifiman recently moved to a more ”cardboardy” packaging design with nearly all their headphone line-up. It’s quite similar to the one included with the HE6se v2, which I dubbed “[something] that reminds me of a sausage’s skin (a vegan one, with the skin that says “cheap plastic” all over the place).

Ananda has a really natural sound, relaxed, smooth, with a warm and rich midrange that you could enjoy for hours without ever wanting to stop, a deep and punchy bass that goes hand in hand with the midrange, and has a natural balance in relation to it. What you do get from the bigger amps is the special sense of power and control and the better sound stage/spaciousness/ separation. What I really like is the speed and detail of midrange, which makes drums and other percussive instruments quite enjoyable and realistic. HIFIMAN Ananda vs HIFIMAN Arya Stealth (1000 USD vs 1600 USD) - Naturally, Arya stealth is a better headphone, with everything being better than Ananda, minus the package, which is better on Ananda.This is a review and detailed measurements of the Hifiman Ananda open-back, planar magnetic headphone. To be honest, I am not a fan of either of the cable styles, although I feel the Arya version is slightly more to my tastes. The Ananda do manage to make it easier to appreciate those effects but the HE1000se just performs on another level here. Both work well with all music styles, but the more bass the music style has, the more I am leaning towards HIFIMAN Ananda.

The general design is a mix of HiFiMAN's biggest ear cups and one of the more modern headbands in their lineup. HiFiMAN does not specify the version of the Bluetooth standard used, so I’ll take a guess and say it’s probably 4. This third iteration features the Nanometer Thickness Diaphragm, which is based on the reference SUSVARA open-back headphone. That’s the cable that I’m using, as its length is just about perfect to use in a desk scenario listening. I think engineers understand this as well because they are willing to use Ananda technologies to release their first over ear Bluetooth model.What I really appreciate about the Ananda is their detail retrieval, which is quite fantastic throughout the whole spectrum. It also shows with the Ananda, which is built…good, but don’t expect Focal or Audeze level of craftsmanship when it comes to materials and finishing. This unique blend of technicality and clarity is what drew me to planar headphones, not just for music, but also for movie watching. The user reports regarding the existence of the break-in phenomena can be explained as a psycho acoustic effect caused by the fact that human hearing is very good at adapting to new sounds.