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

Product Information

HiFiMAN does not specify the version of the Bluetooth standard used, so I’ll take a guess and say it’s probably 4. The unboxing of the Ananda was a pleasant experience, it comes in a leather like box with a silk lining, inside the box you find two cables one has a L shaped 3. I am a bit torn here because I prefer the presentation of the details on the Ananda and the actual tone of the HE1000se.

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).

In addition, comparison of measurements between different people performing it using different configurations requires fair bit of skill. The details are excellent on both headphones but the Ananda is more up front about them with the Arya needing a little more attention to really appreciate them. I would say that a wired Ananda with an ES100 would be absolutely comparable to the Ananda BT, if not even better (because you can do some pretty nice stuff with the ES100). The Ananda is a great sounding headphone that holds up very well against more expensive competition.

I think that the HE1000se is a more enjoyable listen but the Ananda has more of a “wow” factor with this track. As there are only voices in the track, it makes it easy to focus on those extremely low vocal notes and notice just how the tone and texture are presented. The HiFiMAN Ananda marks something of a midway point in HiFiMAN's climb from the basecamp of the Sundara to the summit of the Arya. Maybe I’m excessively demanding, and that’s entirely possible indeed, but in many ways the Ananda are not really a substitute for the HE-560 that they aim to replace (and which I own and love dearly). While it may not be perfect for modern music like The Weeknd, Post Malone etc, just throw any bass guitar or contrabass at them and you’ll be awarded with a fantastic pace and detail to die for.

This song features a little bit of everything as far as mid centric instruments, along with clear vocals and a great (mid centric) fretless bass behind them, all topped off with some excellent percussion. Soundstage is open and one of the best I've ever heard, its very spacious and equally wide as it is deep not only that the details and separation make the imaging near perfect. I use it mainly for editing string instruments, and it has a great, detailed, rich sound both in high and low register.

Clearly, the company has been working on updating its entire planar magnetic headphone lineup to have stealth magnets inside, so it was only a matter of time before the venerable Ananda got its dues. With this song I again prefer the subbass response of the Arya, with the HE1000se coming in a close second.

But the Anandas don’t work as well for me (or my outside listeners), and my guess is that the issue is that the lack of a swivel makes the seal of the large earpieces on the listener’s head less predictable and reliable.