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

Product Information

A few entries later the softness and roundness became less and less and with the Susvara almost reaches HE-6 levels of slam and tactility now (while beating it in every other area). The Susvara is my favorite headphone out of all headphones but unfortunately out of my reach budget-wise. With the Ananda, slow but surely the new Hifiman house sound is beginning to take shape. With a little of the previous Edition X V2 musicality shaved off in favor of a more balanced and dare I say it, slightly more reference type sound the Ananda represents possibly one of the companies most mature offerings to date.

The higher mids are just as present, although there is no immediate drop after the 3kHz mark like in so many other headphones. Usually, if the 3kHz mark is followed by another peak, or if it doesn't roll off slightly, then I get the impression of things being a little harsh. This was an impression I got with the Ananda BT for example. In this case, although the graph shows that the Ananda doesn't really drop off after the 3kHz mark, it just rolls down smoothly (with a small dip around 5kHz), I don't get a sensation of harshness at all. The objective for the Ananda design was to get a headphone that’s easy to drive and HiFiMAN definitely achieved this, as the Ananda can be driven by pretty much anything: even my laptop and my smartphone have enough power to handle it. 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). The takeaway from this is that you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg on an amplifier to get the best out of these headphones. There are some really, really well-made headphones in the market, including goodies from Abyss, Audeze, HEDD etc. But they all have problems. They are either plain heavy, or uncomfortable, or both. The Ananda is built okay when it comes to the finishing and overall feeling, maybe even a bit underwhelming considering the asking price. But you’ll forget about it a second after putting them on your head. Overall, Hifiman has hit the mark with the Ananda Nano in terms of comfort, fit, and design. I would love to see them transition from plastic to aluminum alloy chassis in the future, but it seems that this will remain a potential improvement for another day. Don't expect the bass to rumble down low like a AH-D7000 or the TH-900, the character and tuning goes past the expectations of bassheads. It goes for accuracy, linearity over wow factor. Make no mistake though, it's not like the bass of the TH-900 isn't accurate in context. Not at all actually. The tuning is simply different. The TH-900 grows a lot in presence and rumble the lower you go, the Ananda goes for linearity and does extend pretty well but never goes for the thunder or the furious slam of the TH-900. It does not take away, it does not give but is still leaner in character. it maintains excellent control and details stand out. More so than the Hex V2 which brings us more volume down low and a tiny bit less control, adding to the overall warmer character but also adding to the bass presence.The Bottom Line: The HiFiMan Ananda headphones deliver stunning audio performance, providing a superb sense of space and detail." The Ananda is great and looking purely at sound quality and the level of technicalities it is the best headphone of the Edition X series. Forget about it being a successor of the HE-560 cause it is not. Comfort wise I somewhat feel the Edition X V2 is the better one, so I personally for my head, would love to see the Ananda drivers on the HE-1000 headband. (DIY anyone?)

Headphones: Sennheiser HD660s (Equaliser APO: EQ'd based on Oratory1990 Harman), Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro, Bose qc35 Here I clearly favour the HE1000se over the others. I prefer the looks of the Ananda over the Arya, due to the silver grille, but the HE1000se looks much more elegant in my opinion. The Edition X V2 is the more playful headphone here thanks to more low end. It doesn't impact harder though, the Ananda is slightly less soft here, is tighter and better controlled. Although you can’t use the Ananda BT with a classic audio cable, you can use a USB cable to connect them to a PC, smartphone or tablet. On the plus side (maybe?), you don’t need a DAC and an amplifier with this setup!The Ananda is a great sounding headphone that holds up very well against more expensive competition. It has an open soundstage and high resolution. The bass is tight and deep the highs are nice and liquid. It has a delicious midrange presence. As with all headphones, preference is subjective: If you hate the forward sounding midrange presentation of e.g. the Sennheiser HD650 or the Oppo PM1, you might not be as happy about the Ananda as I am. But for me, having a sweet, slightly pronounced midrange reminiscent of the HD650, but with more resolution, wider and deeper soundstage as well as great bass- and treble extension, is a fabulous thing. In terms of the sound, Focal has an edge in musicality and excitement, while the Ananda is better in terms of raw technical performance. Simple as that. There’s no “right choice” here, it just depends on what you’re looking for.

Pros: Great soundstage and imaging, near neutral performance with a couple elevations for increased musicality. HIFIMAN Ananda + Astell & Kern SP2000T (100 USD + 2500 USD) - The overall pairing between Ananda and SP2000T is superb, with excellent depth and impact, but also that organic, smooth midrange that SP2000T is known to offer. This pairing has one of the best overall dynamics and impact that you can expect to squeeze from Ananda using a portable music player, the only other DAP that's close to this presentation being also an Astell & Kern, the SE180. Overall, Ananda has a huge soundstage, but with excellent instrument separation, and great overall punchiness, to the point where you sometimes forget you're wearing a headphone, and think you're right there in a concert hall, when listening to a live piece. Ananda leaks a bit, similar to how Arya Stealth and Arya, and even Ananda Bluetooth leak, and they all have pretty much about the same amount of passive noise isolation, around 10 dB. You won't be able to blast metal in a library, but you won't wake the neighbors or someone sleeping in a different room if you pump volume in Ananda. You need some power to get them loud, so I would not skimp on the source, and I would go for desktop amplifiers where possible, like Violectric HPA V340, Burson Funk, or Keces S3. This headphone is a little bit bright with elevated upper-mid (less bright than HD800). Soundstage is good (i think it is about as good as as DT880's).Note: The measurements you are about to see are preformed using standardized GRAS 45CA headphone measurement fixture. Headphone measurements require more interpretation than speaker tests and have more of a requirement for subjective testing as a result. In addition, comparison of measurements between different people performing it using different configurations requires fair bit of skill. So don't look for matching results. Focus on high level picture. Listening tests are performed using RME ADI-2 DAC and its headphone output. Driven out of Hiby R6 and Magni 3, I felt that Ananda and HD800 are within the same class, they deliver the same resolution and details, imaging is better on HD800, but the warmth of Ananda is easier to listened to. My use for the Ananda will be to have it at home to use when I can sit in a quiet space and get lost in the music. There are times when I will prefer a warmer signature, something more focused on bass, etc., those depend on my mood but the Ananda is something that I think will form a very valuable part of my home headphone set up. It should be noted that I have absolutely no affiliation with HIFIMAN, I am not receiving any incentive for this review or to sweeten things out. I'd like to thank HIFIMAN for providing the sample for this review. Every opinion expressed is mine and I stand by it. The purpose of this review is to help those interested in HIFIMAN Ananda find their next music companion. If you are seeking absolute detail retrieval, deep thumping bass or a wide open soundstage, there are other designs that could do it better, but if you want something of everything, the Ananda will do it for you.

I'd like to consider the Ananda as the more tonally "correct" headphone in most areas but the compulsive striving for "correctness" and linearity makes it a bit too stoic at times. It's as if it wants to take control at all times and not let go and sharpens up top to emphasize its own character even more, it's actually overshooting. This sharpening stands out as this very peak I mentioned. That's where the Ananda's "in control" slightly loses its grip and its overall character certainly makes this peak stand out more. The Edition X V2 would definitely let this peak go more unnoticed if it had it. As we hit the lower mids, which are probably the most important part to me, the transition is perfect, in my opinion of course. Instruments, be them electric or acoustic, have a wonderful body and warmth to them, without the overall sound becoming warm. Sometimes I will be going through my test list and something will strike me, making me listen to it over and over again, that has been the case more than a few times. For example, with the intro of the song “All Your Love Turned to Passion” by Sara K., the warmth and body of the guitar is great but it does not affect the reverb and overall tonality of the intro. The contents are very similar except for the cable included with the Arya. In the case of the Arya, the cable is fabric covered rather than the silicone tube style cables included with the other two, although the Arya only includes 1 cable instead of 2 with both the Ananda and HE1000se. In my opinion, Hifiman has managed to tune the Ananda to perfection, they sounds lovely, I can listen to them for hours and hours without any fatigue. It's just sounds right and relaxing. When you listen to them you don't really care about the quality of the recording, or how good the string sounded (really good by the way), you just enjoy the music and let it flow.... So, all of that was to put what I am about to say in context. The Hifiman Ananda are my Genelec/Meyer Sound of headphones.The enhanced build quality also seems to suggest that this new form factor will be here for some time also in a lot fo the newer Hifiman headphones. Possibly not all given the Arya has the old headband edition but a substantial majority at least. You do lose a little in terms of absolute fit but the large cups seem to negate any battles nicely for a sweet spot on your head. At the beginning of the sound section of this review (although this has become so long they should probably be called “chapters”), I mentioned the words “end-game”. I just want to point out that “end-game” is something that is dependent upon each person but, to me, it means that you have found something that you don’t need to improve. In my case, the detail and definition of the Ananda is enough for me to not need to look for anything better, but that is something personal and only relevant to me. That also doesn’t mean that I won’t still be looking anyway.