HIFIMAN Ananda Nano Open-Back Over-Ear Planar Magnetic Hi-Fi Headphones with Stealth Magnets and Nanometer Thickness Diaphragm

I purchased the Hifiman Ananda Nano recently and was surprised that the $600 Nano is better than my $1900 Hedd Headphone. The Nano is crystal clear and vibrant in the midrange, has a lot of punch and slam on the lower frequencies, and has a clean and bright presentation on the extended high end. The sound stage is also very wide with good imaging. The Nano is also super-efficient, and is easily driven by my transistor radio and portable cd player. But with my desktop setup with a Bifrost 2 dac and a Topping A90 headphone amplifier, the sound was appreciably more refined and resolving. My only complaint is that I think the higher frequencies should be tamed a bit, as I found the extreme highs to be somewhat shrill, bordering on sibilance, and fatiguing. I am also relieved that I no longer have to deal with the incredible weight and clamping force of the Hedd Headphone, while the Nano is very comfortable. The only advantage the Hedd Headphone has over the Hifiman Ananda Nano is that the former is so well built it is virtually indestructible. Well, I lied. The Hedd Headphone also has a superfast driver and the transients are to die for.

After watching endless reviews of headphones in this price range, I decided to pull the trigger on the Hifiman Ananda Nano, and I have no regrets at all. Two complaints I heard from reviewers were that they were overly "bright" and could be uncomfortable to wear because of a too strong clamp, but I didn't get that impression.As for the sound, I was able to EQ any excess brightness away (using Schiit Lokius) and really enjoy the detail and overall neutrality of these cans. If you get any sibilance (I didn't), it's not from the headphones ( I play only vinyl), it's the source. Treble, midrange and bass are accurate, though if you are a bass head, they won't satisfy when it comes to sub bass slam, but the overall balance makes you appreciate the richness of all the sound levels.As for clamp, they were initially way less clampy than my Sennheisers and I found these to get more comfortable the longer I wore them and rate them as the most comfortable headphones in my arsenal.I replaced the stock cord with one from Hart cable, and though the sound improvement was miniscule, it's there.I paid $599 for mine, but they've been on sale recently for $499, so if you are leaning towards buying them anyway, jump on these at that price.

Great headset at a crazy price. Coming from the hifiman sundaras this blows them out of the water. Amazing imaging and wide sound stage. Great for gaming or music. Only complaint would be the headband makes a hot spot after wearing it a couple hours but will probably break in. Running them on a smsl sp200 with a jds labs eldac2. Would definitely purchase again.

I am quite amazed by these headphones. The fit and sound produced from these headphones is exceptionally well done. I own many kinds of headphones and ear buds and I have decided to place these as my daily driver headphone. I've heard many things about these, namely it is somewhere between a side-grade and upgrade from the Edition XS in terms of sound quality. For me, it definitely was an upgrade.In terms of fit, these headphones are very snug. If you don't like a tight fit, these may be hard to wear, but the tight fit helps reduce the fatigue from the weight of the set from all sitting on the top of your head. The snug fit also helps improve the consistency of wearing the headphones. Comparatively, the Edition XS is a far looser fit, but for me the cups tend to want to shift a bit when tilting or turning my head and I had to get a headband cushion to help spread and alleviate the pressure on the top of my head. The Nano cups tilt, but pivoting is limited by the stiffness of the material of the headband. The materials feel pretty good, but isn't quite where I'd call it high end or luxury. The part of the pad that contacts your head is a breathable fabric material, but it is a little coarse and lacks the softness for comfort. I can wear these all day no problem though.As for sound quality, these headphones are tremendously good with my setup.These headphones sound much different depending on what you feed it. I've hooked them up to Ifi's Hifiman version Zen Dac and Can. I've tried them on a Lyr3 with an add-in DAC card, and also the Pietus Maximus, with the two prior connected to the D300 RHOM DAC, and just for curiosity sake, my PC headphone out. I believe to get the most out of these headphones, you'll need to get appropriate amplification. The Ifi zen dac and can hifiman edition sound reasonably good with these and the added xbass/space feature allow for some easy re-tuning. Both the built-in PC headphone jack and Lyr3 produced an airy, thinner, treble focused sound. The Lyr 3 was more dynamic than the PC jack (plus the PC had to be turned 100% to get a decent listening volume) and was a little more warmer with the d300 instead of the add-in dac card. The Pietus Maximus was my favorite, it produced a very warm signature which balanced out the brightness of the headphones.The bass is really good, and with the design of the driver, I can have fun running the EQ hard. The bass produced on these are very well controlled, and is well tuned. I listen to a lot of electronic, orchestral, rock, OST, game music, and these do a fantastic job. With proper amplification, these headphones can produce bass with enough precision that you can mentally see bass notes pan. It's kind of spooky how vividly you can hear the bass. The only thing these headphones don't do is give you the rumble you'd have felt if it was something like a dynamic driver. It could be good or bad, but I don't mind just hearing the bass.These headphones are very bright. They create an exceptionally clear high end and focus on perceived resolution of sound. I find that these create an improved sense of presence, like you aren't really listening from headphones/speakers. Songs that are already bright, like some rock tracks can be unbearable to listen to, without eq, as a result.For me, the Ananda Nano sounds like a refinement of the edition XS. It sounds a little more clear and distinct in the mids and highs, and the bass is a bit less present and a bit more tighter, but the driver is more well put together and is more flexible with EQ. With my edition XS, I can't boost the bass much without hearing distortion, but with the Nano I could put ridiculous amounts of gain in the bass section without problems.I've experienced some issues with QC on these (in addition to the edition XS.) My first set had problems where there was audible distortion. The second set I received works perfectly. Please take that into consideration when purchasing.In the end I found myself to prefer the Ananda Nano over the edition XS and these will be my daily driver for now. At the current price range, I'd wholeheartedly recommend giving these a try. I would not recommend these without an audio setup.

Owned these for a few months now. These are great headphones for openback use. These are pretty bright headphones(which I like) but still have a good tone(mids) and also have good bass but wouldve loved a bit more sub bass. They have a good sound stage but not as good as the new arya organics, but just depends if you want a more initment experience or not. Arya organic does have that sub bass which is not present on these which can be EQ'd. Build quality is good except the right ear slide likes to move up and down on its own when taking off and the paint sort of scratches a bit but I believe that happens with all Ananda's. This doesn't bother me but yea... Also clamp force is a bit tight but it doesn't bother me at all due to not whereing them longer than a few hours at a time. Compared to Arya organic, those are a little more comfortable due to less clamp force but are actually almost too lose. Coming from dt770s as a main driver, these are shiner and have alot more bass and sound stage due to being open back. The Arya organics are just a better version of these if you can pay 2x as much but otherwise, sound and soundstage pretty similar. If you are ok with the little drawbacks, then I think these are pretty good.