Ananda Unveiled

I demoed these and I was not a big fan of the sound. I preferred Ananda Unveiled and Edition XV from Hifiman. Would love to hear the FT7 with some EQ next time.

Open back headphones are a great place to look of your trying to increase the soundstzge closer to that feel from three speakers. One of the best soundstages in headphones is the Sennheiser HD800S, but those are super expensive. For something more affordable I'd reccomend the Hifiman Ananda Nano or Stealth, you can take that open back sound even further with the "Unvieled" version which apparently increases the soundsage even more as well as ups the performance accross the range, for a more midrange option there's the Hifiman Arya Organic, as well as the Stealth, and Unveiled versions. There's tons of other options in the opening back scene but those are the ones I would personally reccomend having used them.

Its the tuning, theyre made to appeal to a wide variety of people, the sound is "fun", audiophile headphones can feel a bit clinical at times, but its all in what you listen to and what sort of source youre running it through. I have some nice earbuds too, but I love my Sennheiser HD800s and Hifiman Ananda. Those are pretty pricey sets, but I can also highly reccomend the Blue Mix-Fi headphones, they're very "fun" sounding like the Airpods but have a huge amount of detail and excellent bass response, they have a built-in amp and use plannar magnetic drivers, best set under $300 I've heard.

Super detail heavy, did give them a quick try. pretty cool though. are aryas similar? i think xv is probably better from hifiman lineup for me

I own the hd490 and I have the Ananda unveiled, I upgraded to the 490 from a 6xx and I can say they are an amazing pair of headphones. For me the comfort, both from the light weight and the light clamp as well as the pivot of the earcups for me are enough to daily drive them. I also wear glasses and find the pads sit perfectly on my head without irritating my ears. I seen a few complaints about the glasses clamp and ears rubbing, everyone's head is different but I don't experience anything of the sort. I usually forget I'm wearing headphones when I have them on. Also they have quite impressive bass versus the 6xx.

To me the Edition XS and Ananda Nano are absolute steals right now and for a little more money the Arya or Ananda Unveiled could be end game for a lot of people.