Hifiman Sundara vs Sony MDR-Z1R

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 ...

These are fantastic. They'll give you that They are in many ways a more relaxing all-rounder than Other headphones I have here except maybe the mr. Sp...

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

My final words on how I graded the Sony MDR-Z1R: Comfort - five stars. No getting around it. Value for money - two stars. These should be go-to headphones for an audiophile like me and for the price tag

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

What does matter for me in regards to a headset? Here is my checklist: A. Comfort - tick. These are easily the most comfortable headphones next my Senni HD800S. B

I’ve had no issues with “build quality” at all. Nothing has loosened and there are no “glued on” parts falling off. The non-swiveling cans are a non-issue to me. I’m using these to listen to music without waking someone down the hall or next door, not to be a DJ in a club somewhere

I know people here were trashing them, but I think they're worth the cost given these aspects, their build-quality/repairability, the ease of use across multiple devices (with no dac/amp required), the utility for phone calls and meetings, great battery life, and superior ANC (that doesn't give me headaches). They don't replace my desktop primary working headphones, but you bet your ass they're my clean-the-house, water-the-plants, on-the-go, and mindless chatting headphones.