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HiFiMan Sundara Headphones $494.23 (Was $549) + Delivery (Free with Prime) @ Amazon UK via AU

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HiFiMan Sundara Headphones $494.23 (Was $549) + Delivery (Free with Prime) @ Amazon UK via AUAffiliate
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Lfriendlyfiend on 16/11/2021 - 09:52 amazon.com.au (869 clicks)
Last edited 16/11/2021 - 10:32 by 1 other user
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First post, let me know what I've missed. Don't often find these cans discounted. Ships from the UK which may deter some people. Needs an amp to reach the full potential of these headphones.

Features
*All New Innovative Headband Design for an Accurate Fit and Increased Comfort
*All Aluminium Ear Enclosure
*Newly Developed Diaphragm that is 80% Thinner than HE400 Series Resulting in a Wider Frequency *Response Faster and More Detailed
*Frequency Response: 6Hz - 75kHz

Anyone got some good suggestions for dac/amps under $1000?

Price History at C CamelCamelCamel.
Electrical & Electronics Headphones HiFiMAN

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Amazon AU
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Amazon UK Store

closed Comments

    • zeomega on 16/11/2021 - 10:24
      +1

      Sorry, so you're saying the output from your PC/laptop 3.5mm is the same quality as a DAC?

      • s1Lence on 16/11/2021 - 22:47
        +1

        for me it was, cant tell the difference between my jds atom dac+ and my asrock mobo

        • zeomega on 18/11/2021 - 21:16

          What headphone are you listening on and what source?

          • s1Lence on 18/11/2021 - 22:41

            @zeomega: i've tried flac and 320kbps files with my dt990, hd58x, m40x, k361, dt770, k702 and shp9500, dac made no discernible difference to me

      • dbmitch on 19/11/2021 - 12:43

        It was a bait guys, ignore him.

    • djmm on 16/11/2021 - 10:57

      Lol

    • DSCRAC on 16/11/2021 - 11:22
      +2

      yeah bruh, its all the same. Think I just found my long lost brother.

    • DanielP2 on 16/11/2021 - 15:46

      Yeh, also these headphones are no better than the $2 ear buds u get at red dot. Amiright

      • Bacons on 16/11/2021 - 17:15
        +3

        you really thought you got him with that one ay?

  • Aildaris on 16/11/2021 - 10:09

    You just missed the Drop THX AAA 789 for $220 USD, but its still at $250 which isnt bad. Pair that with a solid DAC, maybe a mid high end Topping and you should be golden.
    Could also potentially look at the Monoprice Monolith which has a THX AAA amplifier as well as (apparently) a really nice DAC chip. Usually goes for around $500 USD from what I've seen

    • lasterato on 16/11/2021 - 10:14

      Can you please link the monoprice?

      • Aildaris on 16/11/2021 - 10:17

        Seems to be out of stock on Australian Amazon, but I believe they ship internationally
        https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=24459
        https://www.amazon.com.au/Monolith-Desktop-Headphone-Amplifi…

        • lasterato on 16/11/2021 - 10:18

          Any recommendation around this price point with speaker outputs?

          • Aildaris on 16/11/2021 - 10:25

            @lasterato: In this range, you're not going to really find anything that fits that bill unfortunately. You can probably find something, but the headphone amp portion will likely be nowhere as good. This has analog out, so you can pass that to a speaker amp, however, I'm not certain if thats output or passthrough. If its only passthrough you'd need to use the analog input which might give you trouble with some features compared to a USB connection.

            • lasterato on 16/11/2021 - 10:31

              @Aildaris: Do you have a pairing recommendation?

              The Drop THX AAA amp has a nice aesthetic, i might go that. Idk what to do re: DAC either, recommend me that too if you'd like!

              Maybe i just ditch the speakers lol

              • Aildaris on 16/11/2021 - 17:30

                @lasterato: If this is your first DAC and/or Amp, as a few others have suggested, the ifi Zen DAC is a really neat little DAC/Amp combo and is a great place to start. The RCA output you can send to your speakers/speaker amp too.
                From what I've heard, after about $100-150 on a DAC, most of the value starts going towards features and less on improving sound quality.
                If you go the Drop THX AAA route though, that also has RCA passthrough, as long as you're using the RCA in. Pair that with a DAC that has the features you're looking for and you should be golden. But then you have to decide whether you need balanced out, bluetooth, optical in, a remote, etc, etc.

                • lasterato on 17/11/2021 - 07:48

                  @Aildaris: I am currently using a Rotel RA-10 for speakers and headphones and it is taking up a lot of room on my desk. I am using a A&K AK-10 as my DAC. Things are fine, they could just be tidier and less clunky. Maybe I go for some nice active speakers instead.

    • OzzzzB on 16/11/2021 - 10:41
      +1

      From Drop, you will have to wait for 2 months to get delivered, mine spent 14 days traveling across US different states after 3-4 weeks wait to get posted

      • mickeyjuiceman on 16/11/2021 - 11:49

        Yeah, they seem to have accessed a "stupid mode" for shipping, there's no doubt.

    • ValuexHunter on 16/11/2021 - 22:56

      Is $250 still not bad while SMSL SP200 is $160?

      • Aildaris on 16/11/2021 - 23:29

        Oh wow, missed that one actually. Thats not bad at all. Doesnt have any RCA out for his speakers, but at that price, can put the rest of the budget into a DAC that can handle that. Even stocked on Amazon for $255 AU which is probably less waiting around than with Drop too. Im definitely not the biggest fan of the slanted design, otherwise definitely a solid buy at this price point
        https://www.amazon.com.au/S-M-S-L-AAA-888-Balanced-Headphone…

        • ValuexHunter on 16/11/2021 - 23:40

          $300 on amazon now, so $60 aud more than drop.

          • Aildaris on 17/11/2021 - 08:04

            @ValuexHunter: I have a checkbox for a 15% off voucher, but not sure if you need Prime for that or something

  • cittris on 16/11/2021 - 10:16
    +5

    I recently got these and love them.
    Using them with a ifi Zen DAC v2

    • Aildaris on 16/11/2021 - 10:17

      Heard good things about this one too! Definitely a good route if you dont want to go crazy on a dac/amp

    • cactusjuice on 16/11/2021 - 10:38

      Yeah +1 on this.

      Its all about finding the right pairing for your headphone tbh. A lot of people will tell you that the Zen DAC V2 is muddy or too warm or doesn't measure well etc, but like its such a capable little DAC/Amp, that would make a great pairing with your Sundara. I personally find the Zen DAC great, not really worried about the measurement. Personally found the E30/L30 DAC AMP a bit too sharp and fatiguing tbh.

    • Pogo on 16/11/2021 - 13:40

      Ditto, have this set up and it is great. That said I came from an Asus Xonar Essence STX, which is a little different.

  • akqrate on 16/11/2021 - 10:20

    IFi zen dac will drive them decently. Or the xduoo xd05 plus. I’ve gone a very long way down this road but the sundara still remains a favourite. A steal at the price.

  • harro112 on 16/11/2021 - 10:27

    i have these paired with the schiit stack including the loki, no complaints. they're pretty light in the bass department without EQ so definitely recommend the loki or at least EqualiserAPO if you want to hear that planar slam.

  • OzzzzB on 16/11/2021 - 10:37

    My 2 cents: topping e50 is among the top of the top for the dac at a decent price. Just Google it and you will know. But yes you won't have the fancy apx.

    • Leighton69 on 16/11/2021 - 18:57

      +1 for the topping e50. I'm running the l50/e50 stack and it's super clean and neutral if that's what your looking for. Reviewers are saying it sounds the same as the much more expensive a90/d90 stack. It was just 15% off at shenzhen audio for 11/11 sales but maybe it will be back for black friday.

  • illz on 16/11/2021 - 10:42
    +7

    Hifiman have previously told me they'd not honour warranty on the Amazon UK listing like they do for Amazon AU.

    They've said the Amazon UK listing is an unofficial seller (last month).

    Thank you for your information. We've checked it with our colleague who's in charge of the UK market. We feel sorry that we never supply Amazon.co.uk with our products so we are not able to verify the origin and authenticity of the SUNDARAs they are selling. The headphones sold by Amazon UK also won't come with our manufacturer's warranty. To protect your purchase, we recommend you buy from our authorized sellers. We have a batch of SUNDARA that is on the way to Amazon's local warehouse, which is estimated to be available for sale in a week or two. Then you could buy it from our AU store with free shipping and without any import tax. Thank you for your kind understanding. Have a nice day!

    • jasswolf on 16/11/2021 - 11:05
      +4

      Exactly, so you'd be dealing with Amazon for after-sales, who would then deal with HIFIMAN, so you'd want to contact HIFIMAN via email for fault diagnosis and send that through to Amazon.

      At that point, spend the extra $100-$150 and get the new Edition XS via Chinese import, which seems to be incredible value, though it should eventually hit international release.

    • AldoRaine on 16/11/2021 - 11:21
      +4

      100% agree with you. Also, this is not much of a discount compared the the Hifiman Store version sold through Amazon Au. You can get it through the Amazon Hifiman Au store delivered tomorrow (with prime) if you wanted for only for $539.

      The discount here isn't worth it to buy through Amazon UK, wait +2 weeks for delivery and risk the hassle for returns.

      • jasswolf on 16/11/2021 - 17:50
        +1

        Not quite accurate: unless Amazon are fulfilling it, what you're getting when you order is a direct ship from one of HIFIMAN's warehouses in Guangdong.

        It's a priority ship, not first class, so it'll take around 5-10 working days, subject to the Melbourne gateway.

  • Wally Simmonds on 16/11/2021 - 10:52

    Picked these up last month and paired them with a Fosi DAC-Q4. Headphones are decent but the Fosi probably doesn't have enough power to drive them (as mentioned they're pretty bass light and I can't hear any difference between the Fosi's and my onboard audio).

    • jasswolf on 16/11/2021 - 11:07
      +6

      This is why you don't listen to people who listen to HardwareCanucks on audio products, or anything really.

      Dude is a creative who discovered a product marketing niche, not someone clued in on product design or technical analysis.

      You might as well be looking at product shots and manufacturer spec sheets while playing some chill beats from Spotify.

    • aussieprepper on 16/11/2021 - 11:15

      Do you have the usb cable that is power only in?

  • muximus59 on 16/11/2021 - 11:22
    +2

    These headphones are amazing but they are a gamble with build quality. I got mine 3 months ago from Addicted to Audio and the earpads failed.

    • Wally Simmonds on 16/11/2021 - 11:31

      Yeah they feel pretty flimsy

    • wangasm on 16/11/2021 - 12:17

      Yeh they don't feel the best, I replaced my earpads from the start since I preferred velour anyway.

    • [Deactivated] on 16/11/2021 - 13:19
      +1

      Waves

    • MagicalFlyingFox on 16/11/2021 - 17:13
      +1

      Waves

  • DSCRAC on 16/11/2021 - 11:23

    Thanks OP, bought 4 - one for each room.

    • darxtorm on 16/11/2021 - 12:15

      huge if true

  • Flognuts on 16/11/2021 - 11:38

    Fantastic price, these pair well with a warmer dac/amp like a chord mojo or similar.
    Usual Hifiman deal though where you pay for sound quality only, the build and cable quality are not of a $500 headphone. The cable was the first thing I upgraded when buying these.

  • Raj09 on 16/11/2021 - 11:41

    These are so good. I use mine every day since 1 year. Get an ifi zen dac v2. Very good priced amp and dac..you don't have to break your budget to drive these

  • fringe-benefits on 16/11/2021 - 11:41

    Would these be suitable for getting the most out of the new MacBook Pro high-impedance 3.5mm jack?

    • harro112 on 16/11/2021 - 11:56

      planars tend to be low impedance, high sensitivity (which is why they don't play nice with tube amps). so whatever you're plugging them into needs a good amount of juice to drive them, rather than be designed to handle high impedance cans.

      • jasswolf on 16/11/2021 - 18:39

        Low impedance, low sensitivity, high current requirements.

        • harro112 on 16/11/2021 - 22:55

          ugh yeah meant low sensitivity…

    • bindok on 16/11/2021 - 13:39

      I’m interested in knowing this too if anyone has the newer MacBooks and the Sundara

      • happydragon on 16/11/2021 - 17:37

        I have a 2019 MacBook pro 16” and recently got a sundara and atom dac/amp. I failed to find any difference in sound quality connecting Sundara directly to the MacBook headphone jack vs to the atom, so I am considering to sell the dac/ amp stack.

        • jasswolf on 16/11/2021 - 18:40

          If you're plugging the Mac straight into the Atom without an external DAC, you're double-amping, which means all you're doing is hearing what the Mac is doing at a louder volume with whatever colouration the Atom brings.

          That's not going to sound better, just louder.

          • happydragon on 16/11/2021 - 19:19

            @jasswolf: I am using a proper dac/amp stack connected to the laptop USB port.

            • jasswolf on 16/11/2021 - 20:37

              @happydragon: The way you wrote it I figured you were using just the Atom amp, but I take it you were using the full stack from JSD Labs… fair enough.

              Not a great example of gear, but you should still not be getting a good listening volume out of your laptop. What sampling rate and bit depth was each set at, and what files/services were you using?

              • happydragon on 16/11/2021 - 23:29

                @jasswolf: I usually use TIDAL HiFi Plus, not sure about the technicals but most of them are master quality I think. I am not an audiophile and maybe more trained ears can pick up the differences. Regarding the loudness, I believe it is loud more than enough but I agree if I connect the Sundara's directly to an iPhone I will not get enough juice.

                • jasswolf on 17/11/2021 - 00:20

                  @happydragon: When I mentioned sampling rate and bit depth, I mean the settings for each sound device.

                  You want to push things to at least 24-bit, 48kHz to take advantage of these higher quality sources, but ideally on the stack you're using, you can push things to 192kHz to get a little smoothing going.

        • mickeyjuiceman on 16/11/2021 - 18:41

          That's not usually how you're supposed to use a DAC.

  • raybies on 16/11/2021 - 11:45

    @friendlyfiend I pair mine with a MiniDSP + Topping L30 on Hi Gain.
    I like the L30 bcos I can flip between Speakers (preamp) and Headphones.
    The MiniDSP has a PEQ profile for it.
    The combination is quite outstanding. Previous to that I was powering them with a variety of HP amps but nothing made them shine or in this case rumble quite like the miniDSP HD + L30.

  • PKBeam on 16/11/2021 - 12:19

    Anyone know how good the quality of the bass is?

    I'm considering picking up a pair of planars like these or Edition XS to complement my DT 1990 but I'm not sure if it would be worth the purchase.

  • bohn on 16/11/2021 - 12:36

    Schiit Modi/Magni enough for this and Edition XS?
    or Asgard 3/Modius?

    • trippy on 16/11/2021 - 23:52

      I am running Sundaras with a Modius/Asgard 3 stack. 11 o'clock on the volume dial is plenty loud. Not sure if the Magni works well too.

  • AldoRaine on 16/11/2021 - 13:15
    +1

    I just Hifiman to clarify if they were an authorised reseller and to ask how warranty would work. I linked them the slightly more expensive Amazon AU shipped version for $539 as well to check (as option 1) and THIS deal (as option 2). This was their reply:

    "Thank you for contacting us. Option 1 is the listing of our official store on Amazon.com.au. The price is A$539 including shipping and we will ship from your Amazon local warehouse. The headphones purchased from our official store will definitely come with our manufacturer's warranty and you could also get an extra three-month warranty by registering your headphones through our official website here. https://hifiman.com/warranty
    If you would like to claim your warranty, feel free to contact us through our official Amazon store or here via our support team. We will arrange the RMA procedure for you accordingly and you could ship your headphones back to our warehouse in Australia. If you are not satisfied with your headphone within the 30-day return period, you could simply request a return through Amazon. They will solely take care of it.

    For option 2, we confirm that Amazon UK is not our authorized seller and we are not able to verify the origin, condition, or even authenticity of these products. We regret that our products sold by them won't come with our warranty. In addition, as their product page shows, additional shipping cost/import tax may be applied because it ships from the UK."

    • bindok on 16/11/2021 - 13:40

      They must be making more money from ‘Option 1’

      • AldoRaine on 16/11/2021 - 13:43

        I'm sure that's true too. However considering it's only like $45 more I'd still go with them. Amazon AU delivers in 1 or 2 days (with prime) instsead of having to wait for Amazon UK for weeks.

        Hifiman is also known to have some shoddy quality control so I PERSONALLY wouldn't risk having to return and going through warranty claim issues with Amazon UK

        • bindok on 16/11/2021 - 13:45
          +2

          True, safer to get it from AU. There maybe some deals on Black Friday probably better to wait and get it from a local store like A2A

        • happydragon on 16/11/2021 - 17:45

          Interesting, as I purchased my Sundara from the Hifiman amazon au store back in September and it was shipped from hifiman facilities in China and took about 3 weeks to get delivered to Melbourne metro.

  • shizzle on 16/11/2021 - 14:20

    I just hit up Addicted to Audio when I was about to purchase my Hifiman Deva's last year and they managed to come pretty close to the import price, highly recommend giving this a shot

  • djmm on 16/11/2021 - 16:50

    Compared to DT1990pro?

    • trippy on 16/11/2021 - 23:52

      The Sundaras are planar magnetic. DT1990 pro is dynamic drivers right?

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