Hifiman Sundara vs Sennheiser HD 800 S

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 ...

It's just outstanding for the application. On the note of gaming, though, I should probably mention or caution that of the open backs I've tried, this...

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

As mentioned above, these are an investment into your listening experience and the price shouldn't be driving you away. I gave "Comfort" a 4 star rating, as the drivers are quite large and extend way beyond the circumference of the ears (don't let this be your deciding factor, as sound quality is stellar). I might want to add, the "drivers" do not have a sealed backing, and those in your listening environment will hear them easily a higher volume levels.

I bought these headphones in 2020 about 1 and a half years ago and I use them daily at my desktop for about 8-10 hours a day. After the first year the headband completely shattered one day out of nowhere on the left side and I discovered the band made from cheap plastic and fake metal-plastic with the exception of 2 of the 8 pieces of the band. After gluing it together with super glue and trying to work with it, it has repeatedly broken over and over with no solution and now the ear pads it comes with are COMPLETELY destroyed from just daily wear. For 300$ this is 100% not worth it over the Sennheiser competitor options

The ear pads are large, however may interfere if you wear glasses. Remember, this is a headphone for the years to come. People spend $1,500+ on computers that get outdated after a while with a huge price depreciation. 5+ yrs from now these cans will still be worth $1,000+ used as the resale value is incredibly high

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

I think that they all sound good with these, and the Scarlett Solo is the USB-powered amp that I mentioned above that I find more comfortable to listen to. I've contemplated getting a more expensive headphone DAC/amp to try with these, but I haven't found one yet that is universally praised (including Sennheiser's own HDVD800, which seems to be a great amp for these but with a so-so DAC). (*) Conclusion I do like these, but they are one of the rare purchases that I partially regret having made. It's not just the cost of them, but that's part of it

The Sundara has been out for a while, years actually, and there was even a slight revision to it two years ago where they basically upgraded the pad. ...

The HD800S have been around for quite a long while now, as I mentioned, they're an 1800 US dollar flagship from Sennheiser in terms of open backs, at ...