Hifiman headphones low prices in Aliexpress - worth it?

[Tan3l6]

HE400SE at ~75€

Sundara (closed back) at ~180€

 

The Sundara is usually above 300€, yet in Aliexpress HiFiMan official store they are now 178€.

I wonder if there might be a catch? I bought my HE400SE in 2021 for 150€+

Links to Aliexpress needed? I'll add the link anyway.

 

The prices seem to go up and down quite a lot it seems. And I'm obviously after lower end headphones. 

[Motifator]

Get HD 25...

https://www.hifivision.com/threads/sennheiser-hd-25-for-music-and-gaming.81636/#post-905250

[Tan3l6]

26 minutes ago, Motifator said:

Get HD 25...

https://www.hifivision.com/threads/sennheiser-hd-25-for-music-and-gaming.81636/#post-905250

Those cost 144€ here. are they really better than the closed back Sundara?

I'm not really very familiar with differences in details of different headphones.

 

In rtings the HE400SE is more highly rated by "neutral sound" - https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/hifiman/he400se

Than Sennheiser HD 25 - https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/sennheiser/hd-25

And I tend to trust rtings reviews. And a good sound is far above portability or other features, even wireless matters little.

[Cocococo]

Short answer: no. 

Long answer: Hifiman have had countless issues with reliability, every headphone they make suffers from the same issue. Aliexpress might be cheaper but your buyers protection is terrible and broken parts likely won't be available, headbands aren't difficult, but you're looking at $70+ for the HE400SE headband, well over $100 for a Sundara headband (sundara closed are garbage btw) and you have no way to replace a driver if one of them gets broken in transit (they need swapping and you'll get horrendous channel imbalance that you can only fix with heavy EQ and output adjustment) 

 

You might get stupidly lucky and get a solid pair, but even then Sundara Closed are only worth buying if you're swapping the Sundara headband onto another Hifiman headphone, as a HE400SE owner they're not worth taking a gamble on, for MSRP you can usually find a deal on some Sennheiser HD560S and they are much better open back headphones.

For Sundara Closed you can easily get AKG K371's or Shure 840A's for less money that also sound much better (Shure has unbelievable customer service, they really stand behind their products, spares are much easier and cheaper to get than from Hifiman) 

[Cocococo]

11 minutes ago, Tan3l6 said:

Those cost 144€ here. are they really better than the closed back Sundara?

I'm not really very familiar with differences in details of different headphones.

Not really, DJ's love the HD25 because they are pretty much indestructible and isolate really well, but they are horrifically uncomfortable (seriously the headband feels like it's trying to reshape your skull) and again, there are better sounding closed backs out there for less money. AKG K371, Shure 840A and Rode NTH-100 to a lesser extent are all much better sounding and more comfortable closed backs (Rode's have an amazing optional boom mic if you need a headset) 

[Motifator]

HD 25 is actually pretty nice... if you feel uncomfy with that double headband, you can always get the Light version for €50 cheaper, and it snags just as fine, almost.