Hifiman Sundara: The Unexpected Happened

Hey everyone,

Of all the headphones from @hifimanofficial, this is the one that takes upgrades the best, and by a scary margin
Hifiman Sundara, open back

A while back, one of the guys sent me his Sundara for an upgrade.
I already knew how it performs and where it’s weak, because I’d tried it before.

I thought about which cable to use, I mean which metal.
I settled on what I see as the king of metals for audio cables, OFHC
Oxygen-free high conductivity
copper.
The version I use comes tinned from the factory, so it’s tin plated, and in my experience it’s the best.

I also wanted to do something I very rarely do because it’s expensive:
doubling the wires. Instead of one wire per contact point, I use two, twist them together and make them longer, because the longer they are, the bigger the effect. I went with 15 cm, which I see as the ideal length.
It doesn’t crowd things, especially since the space inside is small and tight.
I installed it and started the first tests to make sure the drivers were working.

Thank God, they worked with no problems.

I started putting the headphone back together, and I took the grill out on purpose. I suspected it was behind the sound wall problem this headphone has, and that it was messing with the stage depth, the holographic image and the layering.

Then I thought, let me try the grill from the HE400se,
which is 3D printed.
Thank God, it fit like it was made for it.

I started listening and the change was shocking.
It went from a neutral headphone you get bored of after a while to an emotional, musical one.
The most shocking part
was the stage. It was like a different headphone 🤯
It got deep, and the holographic image, layering, bass, air and note weight all improved.

Then I figured it was time to change the pads. I tried a few and settled on these
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c4CZNVoT

And the result was beautiful.
I can say now that after the upgrade, it’s a complete headphone in every sense of the word,
and it’s very hard to beat, even at twice the price.

What the new pads added:
more note weight, better bass in quantity, density, depth and presence, and it got more musical. Any harshness in the sound was gone, depth improved even more, and it got more comfortable for long sessions, with a lot less clamping pressure on the head.

If you want to buy it:
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3fvha8X

Its price at the time of writing is 164$ = 615 riyals
and here’s a 20$ discount code, valid until 2026/2/23
RMDN05
so the headphone comes to 540 riyals (= $144) after the discount.

The upgrade is available through this link
https://iem-world.com/ar/eQgBzGX
To get the same upgrade I did,
I added it to the options, and the wire doubling can be applied to any headphone listed on the same link.

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Some of you might be torn between it and the HIFIMAN Edition XS
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c4bgSfkF

With the XS you really need to switch to Velvet pads
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c4rvFcR5
+
remove the grill
and upgrade the internal wiring,
available through this link
https://iem-world.com/ar/ABrDORq

Here are a few points. See what suits you and pick based on them:
Sundara
– Much higher resolution
– Clearer details
– Cheaper
– More precise imaging

Edition XS
– Wider, deeper stage
– Better holographic image
– More comfortable for long sessions
– More musical

And on both of them, if you want more sub-bass,
you can order the Bass Tube through the links above.

In the market

No listing for this product right now.

Alert me when listed