HiFiMAN Sundara Silver

HiFiMAN Sundara Silver

In 2018, HIFIMAN launched the SUNDARA open magnetostatic headphones. Since then, the model has been the benchmark in its price class. Its outstanding resolution, detailed and airy sound, and impressive musicality quickly made it a price-performance hit.

One fly in the ointment, however, remained: the SUNDARA's high-frequency range, which was tailored to Asian users and occasionally sounded overemphasized to European music listeners. HIFIMAN boss Dr. Fang Bian took the criticism on board and considered it in the development of the successor model SUNDARA Silver. Significant changes were made to the damping of the diaphragm, the protective fleece and the perforated grille. As a result, the SUNDARA Silver plays just as openly, but with an even more beautiful sound than its predecessor. This has particular advantages for long-term listeners.

The headband construction and the ear pads with their material mix of artificial leather and PE have been adopted from the SUNDARA. The inner leatherette ring of the ear pads is perforated, which increases the attenuation provided by the foam ring. As with the premium HIFIMAN models, the ear pads taper in the front for ergonomic comfort and are uncomplicated to change.

Included with the SUNDARA Silver are a hard carrying case and a flexible 3-meter connection cable. This is insensitive to microphonics and has an angled 3.5-millimeter plug on the input side. An adapter for 6.35 millimeter jack sockets is included.

Unchanged: The SUNDARA Silver benefits from a powerful headphone amplifier. It sounds rather thin on a cell phone; it only plays up from 0.5 watts at 32 ohms. If you provide 1 watt of power, you can hear what is possible in this price range.

In terms of sound, the SUNDARA Silver raises the bar for the best price/sound ratio again significantly.