17% of 352 verified HiFiMan Sundaraowners don't recommend it, and 4 describe specific problems — based on real owner comments from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
For balance: 53% recommend it. This page collects the complaints so you know what you're signing up for — read the full owner report for both sides. How we score
“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.”— Trumpkin95 on Reddit
“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.”— ric0shay on Reddit
“I honestly don't love them, though they are widely considered exceptional for mid-fi. They feel cheap, the headband on my pair broke.”— Whatever801 on Reddit
“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.”— Smugsie on Reddit
“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.”— tnick771 on Reddit
“the standard tuning is easily my least favorite tuning of the 30-40 different headphones I’ve had the pleasure to listen to”— bojangler69420 on Reddit
“Mine desintegrated after 3.5 years of use, I ended up replacing the whole headband and yokes for an aftermarket one.”— PomPomTiramisu on Reddit
“I was always super underwhelmed with them, I thought they sounded super flat with not many redeeming qualities.”— DepressMyCNS on Reddit
“In my opinion, not really. My first audiophile headphone was the sundara and I didn’t find it very impressive.”— fantseepants on Reddit
“I'm basically afraid to use my 1 year old Suns due to cutting out on channels depending on how I'm positioned”— starmartyr11 on Reddit
“I couldn't make my old Sundaras have the same stage size, detail retrieval, dynamics, etc as the HE1000SE.”— MrLycans on Reddit
“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.”— drwafflefingers on Reddit
Not complaints — practical notes from owners that didn't affect the score.
“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!”— DanTe_Evo on Reddit
“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).”— jsp_varta on Reddit
“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!”— GG_Chrono on Reddit
“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.”— SilentIyAwake on Reddit
“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.”— mjstealey on Reddit
“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.”— ad19970 on Reddit
“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.”— BrunoArrais85 on Reddit
“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)”— ThatsPurttyGood101 on Reddit