These planar magnetic headphones are going for a decent price at the moment. You will need a headphone amp to run these, so factor that in.
CamelCamelCamel.
You also have the audeze maxwell planar magnetics with a built in dac / amp for wireless functionality, and a mic for gaming, about the same pricepoint.
Tonally it's in a good spot, and it's certainly a good closed back, but the Edition XS and a properly fed 6XX/600 walk over it a bit in terms of some technical aspects and overall presentation.
Good sign of things to come - particularly if the Sony Pulse Elite delivers 95% of its ability at less than half the price - but closed back headphones have a lot of barriers to overcome in terms of bass distortion.
Oh you've tried all 3?
Id hope the edition was better, at about 50 percent more retail cost. Add the gap again for the amp/dac decent enough to drive it, and were are not even remotely talking the same price point any more.
The 600 might be, but you're now open back, and not wireless, and still lacking a mic.
Nothing comes close to the audeze for value, sound quality, and practicality at the pricepoint.
The sony pulse elite isnt actually available yet. While they did buy its audeze its a big if.
Nothing comes close to the audeze for value
AKG K371 for $160-$200.
Also, why are you driving home a closed back headphone in a open back deal?
The value of the Edition XS at $550 imported is a reasonable argument to make up against the Sundara, and it's sonically superior to the Maxwell, if not as tonally balanced.
I don't consider the 6XX to be anywhere near the same level as the Sundara. The detail and soundstage of the Sundara are far superior. But headphones are very much about personal preference. I was a bit worried that the Sundara would be too bright and sibilant before I listened to them, but I quickly realised that I really enjoyed the sound. The only thing that I would now consider an alternative is the Edition XS (haven't listened to them), but they do cost more.
6XX comes into its own in terms of resolution and imaging as you scale up gear and ultimately offers a far better centre image than the Sundara, while its timbre is far superior. There's very few headphones that nail vocals and piano timbre, and the 6XX is one of them.
The relaxed listen makes them something that you can use for extended sessions, while the Sundara can have a relatively tight headclamp to go along with their brightness.
I get why you like them, but HIFIMAN have moved on from them pretty quickly in the end, though that's the nature of their R&D.
I agree. The midrange is amazing in the 6XX, but both the top and bottom is missing. This limits my use of the 6XX to acoustic, classical or vocal music. The Sundara I use for everything (including FPS gaming). I very rarely use the 6XX since the lack of soundstage and imaging makes me really uncomfortable (almost nauseous at times). They are both extremely comfortable on my head. But yeah… head shapes and sound preferences are very personal, so your favourite audio gear is something everyone have work out for themselves.
@trippy: I don't have diminished bass or treble extension on the 6XX save for maybe 15-30Hz. Once you're driving them right and its a proper and clean DAC, their imaging and detail is surprisingly good compared to what you start with. They're designed with proper note decay in mind, so anything sluggish or messy in terms of signal variance is going to sound very sluggish on a 6XX.
Headshape really doesn't factor in much beyond comfort/clamp and bass conduction. I don't have a wide head but the Sundara has a strong clamp, which is why they've moved on from the design.
It used to be $400 when on special by Amazon UK.
Tough case to make these days, even if you have a fairly glare free (or warm) source. 6XX and now 600 floating around significantly cheaper, the Edition XS barely more expensive via AliE import, and then you have the Ananda Nano at $799 which is ridiculous value bar the tuning being a touch bright.
This has to start hovering very close to $400, or - more likely - be replaced in the line-up.