The Late Review: HiFiMan Ananda in 2022 | Review & Assessment

[OfficialTechSpace]

Intro

These headphones arrived on my doorstep back on the third of December in 2021, and I've been daily driving them ever since. I meant to release an in-depth review shortly thereafter, but quickly got overwhelmed with other things. I must congratulate myself for coming back to finish the review though 

 

 

Setup & Justification

The Ananda was released on June 4th back in 2018 (at least, according to amazon) for a listed MSRP of $999. This price was too arguably high then, and WAY too high now. HiFiMan took notice to that though and made price cuts, making it a more viable in-between for the Sundara and the Arya. Nearly 4 years have passed since then though, how is it holding up? Well let's take a look. For starters, they're commonly available open-box or second-hand on retailers like headphones.com for as little as $559. That price makes it a lot more attractive for the money, and in the $500 space there's objectively less to compete with in terms of competition of this stature.

 

Sound

Stock response                                                                                                        EQ'd and corrected response

[1:24] -Top & Low-end extension

>Sub bass extends well, and remains present while not overwhelming the rest of the mix. Well separated, textured, near equilibrium with where the rest of the midbass and midrange frequencies reside (only a few dB of variation down to ~40Hz).

>Upper treble extends exceptionally, but is not overly airy nor exaggerated. This same characteristic reigns true for most of the treble response. They exhibit very little in terms of peaks to the trained ear, but might sound a little hot at first pass to anyone stepping up from a darker tuning. Cymbal crashes depending on intensity can be a tad underwhelming with this set at times. For ex. from the point of 40 secs into the song ‘Now or Never’ by Godsmack, there’s not a lot of weight or body behind the Cymbals. This surprised me at first listen, because that’s not how I’m used to it playing back. Light use of this instrument can fare well, although heavier crashes tend to drag on an otherwise positive response. Treble is sharp, and precise but not too grainy or otherwise harsh. S’s and T’s aren’t overbearing, and not necessarily a concern here. Mostly good things.

[2:18] -Tonality

>Balanced response, benefitting from its extension. Mostly neutral from 60Hz onward to 1k, with a light roll-off below 60Hz. Leading into the lower treble above 1k, the Ananda inherits HiFiMan’s typical late rise into the eargain region. This is barely anything to raise pitchforks over as it doesn’t bring to light a particularly noteworthy detriment to the overall tonality. 

[2:39] -Separation

>Distinction between instruments is solid, but the distance between them is still apparent and appears better isolated in higher quality recordings (not surprising).

[2:48] -Detail

>Tangible, focused, and satisfactory in supply. Won’t leave you asking for much more, and there are some subtle nuances that they are able to pick up on quite well. Definitely not in-your-face detail, but it is present and I do think you’re still getting what you pay for at this pricepoint despite there being a few sets that may otherwise stand in front a tad. Not a ‘detail whore’ per-se.

[3:07] -Resolution/Resolving ability

>Stepping up from a headphone like the HD58X from Sennheiser (like I did) there was instantly a grander sense of resolution. If that headphone was a (forgive my metaphor) 720p display, the Ananda is 1440p and what feels like at least 2 sizable leaps above.

[3:24] -Imaging

>Stands out wonderfully even across the center stage, with very good lateral definition. I certainly don’t think anyone will be disappointed with the imaging of this headphone, and it plays back remarkably well on tracks like ‘Letter’ by Yosi Horikawa. From the point of about 9 seconds onward when the pencil hits the paper, you get a very clear sense of the locational data being presented, and I’m sure it’d woefully surprise any houseguests you lend a chance to try the Ananda.

[3:47] -Soundstage

>Spacious when the music calls for it, but still within your grasp. Very honest representation of stage, and not unnatural. Presentation also appears large in scale due to the sheer mass of the drivers and their open design complementing each other. I’ve forgotten I was wearing these on a couple occasions and mistaken them for my studio monitors for a brief period (~about 30 seconds).

[4:06] -Timbre

>Not as natural sounding as a dynamic, but it is a definitive step forward from previous and earlier generation planar magnetics. Not aggressively dry, and not overly unnatural.

[4:18] -Candor (weight of the driver and excursion relative to sounds)

>Rather polite for what it is. An 80x50mm driver is a lot less intimidating in practice than the numbers would have you believe. We can thank the weight of the driver itself for that. Sounds come effortlessly, with minimal excursion, and it’s relatively easy to drive. At high gain on my SMSL SP200 I find myself barely pushing past 10 o’ clock for a reasonable listening level. For that added punch (if I’m feeling a bit crazy) 3 o’ clock seems to be its happy place. The Ananda stands very true in its candor for these reasons, only losing points in its dynamic ability.

[4:50] -Dynamics

Not the most dynamic headphone in this category, but that’s typical for a planar. Most dynamic drivers in the high-end will beat it out anyways. It still does an exceptional job, and I certainly won’t dock-it any points for not being the best, it has its place. There’s a strong punch in the low-end when driven with the proper power, but it misses out in the higher regions as stated. Although, the typical planar magnetic sense of speed is obviously apparent, and that does work in its favor.

 

End

In conclusion, the HiFiMan Ananda is still a great headphone in 2022. Maybe not at MSRP, but it's questionable at the sale price and a solid recommendation open-box or second-hand. I'd wholeheartedly recommend this headphone to anyone who likes what I described, it's not a bad can in current-time.

 

Video review (if you're too lazy to read lol):

Purchase here

https://www.headphones.com/products/hifiman-ananda-open-box

 

Measurements here:

https://crinacle.com/graphs/headphones/hifiman-ananda/

 

EQ Settings:

 

**side-note: this review was written before the release of the new Edition XS, a near competitor at a similar pricepoint. Build is slightly different, and has no comfort strap.

[dizmo]

Off topic, but what do you think of the Timeless?

[OfficialTechSpace]

38 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Off topic, but what do you think of the Timeless?

I've heard people refer to it as a closed-back Sundara, but I don't see any resemblance. Drastically different tonality, with the only stand-out similarity being the driver type. Well tuned, very technically capable for the price, and probably my favorite IEM up until the $300+ range. I will say though, they can be a smidgen sharp at times when playing back my library. Fairly balanced on my SMSL SP200, but needs a bit of discipline on my xDuoo XD-05. For whatever reason they play back a little treble-forward on the xDuoo.

[dizmo]

12 hours ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

I've heard people refer to it as a closed-back Sundara, but I don't see any resemblance. Drastically different tonality, with the only stand-out similarity being the driver type. Well tuned, very technically capable for the price, and probably my favorite IEM up until the $300+ range. I will say though, they can be a smidgen sharp at times when playing back my library. Fairly balanced on my SMSL SP200, but needs a bit of discipline on my xDuoo XD-05. For whatever reason they play back a little treble-forward on the xDuoo.

Ahhh yeah that's what I've seen a few comment on too, a touch on the bright side. Looks like I'll save up for some Variations, or maybe the Midnights. I've heard they're quite good as well.