53% of 352 verified owners recommend the HiFiMan Sundara, based on real owner verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
4 owners report specific problemsin troubleshooting threads (setup, firmware, or hardware faults). These are capped in the score above so a problem-report thread can't dominate it — read them under the Doesn't recommend filter below.
The headline score reflects owners (Reddit, enthusiast forums), independent lab tests, blogs with no affiliate links, and YouTube owner-comments when they line up with owners. is shown for perspective but kept out here — hover the i for why.
“Absolutely the Sundara gives you way more than its price suggests clean planar bass, great detail and a neutral tuning that honestly captures most of what people love about higher end cans.”
“Sundara is bad for comfort but so is the 6xx. Neither should be the choice for that or sound but if the 2 sundara does almost everything better other than having issues with ringing.”
“I think the. Sundara is super overrated. It's fine, nothing special, has some quirks/problems that many better headphones in and above its class don't.”
“They won't break. I've got a opair of the 2020 Sundara's and a recently purchased set of Arya Stealth. They're both perfect. Sound wise and build quality too.”
“2 failed units here... yes of course I'm gonna be vocal about it, it's like a gamble, buying a headphone SHOULDN'T be a gamble. But my 3rd unit has been running strong for 4 months so far.”
“Put them on normally, I heard a crack and I saw the break on the first picture, afterwards that devolved into what you see on the second picture.”
“For me the sundara sound Natural, I get less of the headphone experience and more of a speaker experience. For me they are balanced, relaxed and natural”
“I have both the hifiman sundara and sundara closed, these were replaced with my Audezes. They sound good for the price you can get them today but I like my audezes more.”
“The clamping force was insane and would give me pains in my jaw and headaches within 30 minutes. Pitty, as I really liked the sound from them.”
“Amazing headphones. Curious to know what parameters of the eq you adjusted. To me, Sundara sounds pretty neutral, maybe could use a little more bass.”
“I honestly don't love them, though they are widely considered exceptional for mid-fi. They feel cheap, the headband on my pair broke.”
“The Sundara is a good set of cans, but if you want kilobuck performance, you either have to be willing to shell out the cash or find deals via sales or the used market.”
“I would say pretty much yeah, especially because from what I hear they also take really well to EQing and have great comfort for their price range”
“When I listen to fleetwood mac or pink floyd, I am perfectly happy with the stock sound of the sundara. But when I want to listen to rap it just sort of... falls flat”
“I didn't like the Sundaras on the day I got them, and I didn't like them 3 months after so I ended up selling them to someone else.”
“I did NOT like mine to the point where I returned them. They were very airy and didn’t have the depth of sound I was looking for.”
“I EQ'd mine and it still sounds great, plus the bass response is still far more accurate than other headphones I've had at that price point.”
“Sundara definitely has a brighter qualities that are more fun to listen to but during a long work/craft session, I definitely ended up preferring something like 6xx.”
“I own the Sundara along with a few multi-kilobuck headphones and I think the Sundara is like 80-90% of what the flagships are, depending on what qualities you're looking for and what is present in the tracks you listen to.”
“Sundaras are better for analytical music listening, yet suck at positioning, have a smaller soundstage, the bass is a lot less detailed, dynamics are slower.”
“the standard tuning is easily my least favorite tuning of the 30-40 different headphones I’ve had the pleasure to listen to”
“Mine desintegrated after 3.5 years of use, I ended up replacing the whole headband and yokes for an aftermarket one.”
“Overall, the Sundara have better bass. I feel that it is more present over the anemic 560S’ bass response, and it is faster and quicker.”
“Personally I like the XS better but there is a significant difference in tuning and I can totally see someone liking the sundara better based on preference.”
Practical notes owners raise — setup, quirks, and issues to watch for. They don't say whether the person likes the product, so they're not counted in the score, but they inform the pros, cons, and who it's for.
“Seems like average wear tbh. Also, I recommend the audeze style headband. The one you selected has weird yokes making it hard to mount on the sundara specifically (though possible)”
“I have a 2nd pair after the 1st one had a dead left driver on arrival, You and I are on the same boat but I've been on this ride for 8 and half months now? Let's hope it stays good!”
“Haven't heard the Pandas, but the two are completely different headphones for different use cases. Sundaras are big, heavy and definitely not portable (not to mention open-back).”
“I appreciate a fellow listener sharing their experience with the Sundara, and I’m glad to see that my take on it is one that other users can relate to. Thank you for reading my review!”
“230mW @ 32Ω from your ZEN Air DAC will be plenty for the Sundara. Edit: This also means 84mA RMS for the "It needs more current" people. Which is also enough for the Sundara.”
“An OTL design isn't necessarily the best amp design for lower impedance headphones like the Sundara (37 ohm) or Meze 109 (40 ohm) though, and you'd likely be underwhelmed by the results.”
“I know that the Schiit have a slightly different sound signature though not sure on the Fulla or Hel, but I'd guess the differences we here really comes down to perception in particular.”
“Has the Sundara fixed all the QC issues? That's another thing that Sennheiser is good at. You can still find Headphones from the HD6 line from 15-20 years still working fine.”
“Have you replaced the cable? I had a problem with cutting out too until I replaced it. Plus sometimes I have the slight impression that there might be a channel imbalance...”
“Their fairly easy it does get to a reasonable loud volume on my lg v30 at high impedance mode and on my one plus 5t but do benefit from an amp like the atom or schiit heresy”
“I have heard Sundara might be best for my case because EDXS and FT1Pro have a more pronounced 2KHz dip that will (somewhat) relegate the electric guitar to the background 🤔”
“It's not bad imo, since it seems they've got a lot of use. I had an sony xm3 that literally broke in two. My sennheisers are brand new but I barely use them, so it depends.”
“I’m surprised no one mentioned the Edition XS’s. I had the sundaras as well for a while, EQ’d and all. My buddy got a pair of XS and they are certainly a step up in every regard, noticeably.”
“Amazing price. They should be highly detailed and soundstage/seperation. But the bass is very flat and dry and the mids are recessed. So it will probably sound bright and thin in comparison.”
“I just got these headphones a couple of days ago and was looking at balanced cables. Any recommendations? I'm pretty new to the hobby, so it's all a little overwhelming!”
“just like they say online, depends on the persons ear and preference, but I wanted to post my feelings in case someone else out there was looking into the same upgrade.”
“I run mine out of my laptop, it's fine. Not hit any boundaries due to power. The mediocre quality of the built in dac is audible compared to my dedicated ones though”
“I know an amp isnt necessary now but I have heard reveiwers say that the sundaras work better with a more powerful amp. my plan is to get the dac first then the amp.”
“As for the power requirements, people not familiar with headphone specs often conflate impedance with sensitivity/efficiency. I wouldn't blame this on the product.”
“Yeah but the roll-off after 40hz is very steep with a small boost just before this due to the little trick Hifiman have done with the resonance frequency on these”
“It depends on your personal taste, comparison of headphones, music/quality, amp and so on. You can't truely say yes or no. You have to try it out for yourself.”
“Hi, I know this post is somewhat older but do you have any recommended EQ settings? I'm coming from the X2HRs and these feel a lot more comfortable for my head”
“It's a very unusual characterisation that the Ananda Nano has similar treble to the HD650, it's definitely a bright headphone (as are most Hifiman open backs). in the treble you get a bit of extra air,…”
“G6 decent amp, great dac Schiit hel, better amp, great dac The Hel is a bit better when it comes to its amp, not sure how hard the Sundara's are to drive.”