Hifiman Sundara vs Philips Fidelio X3

This is a planar magnetic over-ear open back headphone that comes in right at around $350. So let's take a look. This review unit was sourced through ...

The moment I took it out of the box and put it on my head, I was blown away by the sound. So clean, detailed, airy, extended, wide and a decent stage. Such a big contrast to all my previous headphones.

Seriously? For me, however, the dealbreaker was comfort. The housings on these things are very large and the clamping force is substantial. No matter how much I adjusted them, the pads on the housings pressed hard on the back of my ears and the bottom rear of my jaw, and I found that I could wear them for much more than thirty minutes before I have to take them off. This may have to do with the fact that the ear cup housings do not rotate at all, they are fixed perpendicular to the headband, and thus there's no compensation for pressure differences from the front to the back of the ear cups against your head/ears

The acoustic strums don't sound overly bright, but they still cut through the mix pleasingly for a solid balance. These are headphones for audiophiles looking for accuracy without things sounding thin or clinical.

Also these are some of the most open headphones ever. If you can hear your music someone 10 feet away can as well. As far as comfort goes they aren't the worst for me. Their pads are scratchy and slightly small, while the headband is just fine

Inside the headband, the seam is very visible. Looks rough to me, honestly. It's still the same comfort strap assembly, though oddly they feel smaller...