Bought a pair of $250 headphones.

They are Hifiman Sundaras. The listing also pictures a balance cable with it, so score. That's a $30-$40 cable. I can also tell by the warranty card that it's the 2020 revision hell yeah.

I'm weary of not having an amp and I'm even more weary of their build quality. They have a rep for being fragile. But my Sennheiser 599s broke and I want a step up.

I have those. I like them. Mine came with a busted cable tho but fortunately had another one that came with my Arya. So just used those.

BTW I think sundara with +5.5 db eq in the bass is endgame material.. it like a super sennheiser hd600 IMO. I just wish the sundara had a better fit on my small delicate head .

Ratchetrockon posted...

I have those. I like them. Mine came with a busted cable tho but fortunately had another one that came with my Arya

BTW I think sundara with +5.5 db eq in the bass is endgame material.. it like a super sennheiser hd600 IMO.

Oh sweet, I'll remember that. I don't have an amp either which I know I'll have to correct, any recs?

Very nice.

You are looking for a headphone amp?

ai123 posted...

Very nice.

You are looking for a headphone amp?

I am, it'll be till after the holidays until I can afford one, but I'd love suggestions.

WrestlinFan posted...

Oh sweet, I'll remember that. I don't have an amp either which I know I'll have to correct, any recs?

I have a Topping DX7 Pro and its been great.

WrestlinFan posted...

I am, it'll be till after the holidays until I can afford one, but I'd love suggestions.

Have a look at the iFi Zen.

(The suggestion above mine is better, but a lot more expensive).

WrestlinFan posted...

Oh sweet, I'll remember that. I don't have an amp either which I know I'll have to correct, any recs?

Idk the most recommended amps these days. I did my shopping back in 2019. I ended up with a rme adi 2 dac which has a built in amp. It powers the hifiman sundara pretty well. Never felt like I needed more power. I also bought an asgard 3 amp which i hook to the rme adi 2 dac. Its several times more powerful than the rme adi's built in amp but haven't really required the extra volume. So I haven't used the asgard 3 in some time.

At one point I hooked up my Arya to a speaker amp. Because of the hype surrounding Hifiman's reaching a new level of sound with several watts of reserved power or some other bs. Didnt hear a difference.

I'm sure most people online might still recommend the current Topping amps and dacs. I remember the topping l30 amp and e30 dac being highly recommended in some budget oriented circles.

Doing a quick check i see there is a version 2 of the topping l30. Also a version 2 of the e30. They should be more than enough for the sundara.

Review of the amp:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-l30-ii-review-headphone-amp.36027/

And of course ppl have diff views on amps. I'm on the skeptical side of the pricier $1000+ amps and dacs bringing about a huge difference in sound that isn't shown in current measurements. Id rather just use software eq to change the sound of headphones than test out various amps/dacs.

Ratchetrockon posted...

Idk the most recommended amps these days. I did my shopping back in 2019. I ended up with a rme adi 2 dac which has a built in amp. It powers the hifiman sundara pretty well. Never felt like I needed more power. I also bought an asgard 3 amp which i hook to the rme adi 2 dac. It's like twice more powerful than the rme adi's built in amp but i haven't really required the extra volume. So I haven't used the asgard 3 in some time.

At one point I hooked up my Arya to a speaker amp. Because of the hype surrounding Hifiman's reaching a new level of sound with several watts of reserved power or some other bs. Didnt hear a difference.

I'm sure most people online might still recommend the current Topping amps and dacs. I remember the topping l30 amp and e30 dac being highly recommended in some budget oriented circles.

Doing a quick check i see there is a version 2 of the topping l30. Also a version 2 of the e30. They should be more than enough for the sundara.

Review of the amp:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-l30-ii-review-headphone-amp.36027/

And of course ppl have diff views on amps. I'm on the skeptical side of the pricier $1000+ amps and dacs bringing about a huge difference in sound that isn't shown in current measurements. Id rather just use software eq to change the sound of headphones than test out various amps/dacs.

I appreciate the write up and thanks for the other suggestions. I will check them all out.