Closer Examination

HIFIMAN's headphone cables are more miss than hit admittedly but the company has been quietly taking complaints into consideration and updating its stock cables accordingly. Indeed, the new HIFIMAN headphone cable that ships with headphones in the $1000 or under category—as far as I know anyway, could be even higher than that—is arguably the best from the company to date. It's not the fanciest cable with the world, having a simple polymer sleeve over a copper conductor whose details HIFIMAN does not provide. I didn't even need that cable tie to have it to remain coiled, so that's saying something. It begins with a 90° angled 3.5 mm TRS connector headed to your portable source, with an optional 1/4" (6.35 mm) adapter for use with more prosumer equipment. The conductor is inside a single thick sleeve which feels like polyurethane, and heads to a simple splitter for thinner wires heading to the left and right channels. As with all planar headphones from HIFIMAN today, terminations are again 3.5 mm TRS with L/R markings to indicate the channels. No microphonics were felt in use either, and I dare say this cable is good enough for most end users.


The HIFIMAN Ananda is another of those larger teardrop-shaped headphones from the company as with the likes of the Edition XS, Arya, and HE1000se we saw before. What makes this different though is the use of a different headband design compared to them. This particular headband assembly is the same as what comes of the popular HIFIMAN Sundara too and goes with a suspension band that is composed of faux leather. I would have liked to see venting holes here to minimize any hot spots on the top of your head, but it does make for a relatively comfortable experience owing to the wider band that goes up or down to cater to your specific head shape and size. The Ananda Stealth is pretty much all black in color, aside from plastic accents on either side where the headband meets the ear cups and HIFIMAN uses these for branding purposes, to have both the company name and the product name displayed outward in addition to the truncated HIFIMAN logo itself.


The channels are marked on the inside, and the actual headband continues into this plastic housing. A steel band is part of the headband assembly and used for sizing, with several cutouts in the steel the plastic ends slot into. Sizing options are plenty, to cater to heads small and large alike, but in general I'd say most people would end up approximately 1-3 ticks from the bottom. There isn't much play here between the band and the housing, to where you would also notice the paint being slowly scratched off from the extending notches as you move the headband up and down. It's not a smooth motion thus and one that you would want to set and forget.


The reason for that tighter tolerance above is the lack of any tangible horizontal swivel in the headband here. This means the Ananda Stealth has the least rotation in the horizontal axis around your ears of any other HIFIMAN headphones I have personally reviewed to date, although the relatively larger ear cups do help accommodate this lost degree of freedom. It gets all the more obvious when you realize there are two pivot points courtesy the C-shaped yokes/frame for the ear cups themselves to have near-360° rotation around the center. Overall I'd still classify these as a set with relatively good customization options for fit and comfort, but they could certainly be better!


We now get to the teardrop-shaped plastic ear cup HIFIMAN uses with a few other models as well, and the Ananda Stealth is the latest of those. The taller nature of the ear cups and ear pads is meant to follow the form of the ears and contours of the head. These are open-back over-ear headphones, so I would expect a taller soundstage, too. The outer grille has 11 horizontal bars cut into the aluminium, which is given a native silver finish that contrasts against the darker plastic finish on the ear cups themselves. Underneath the grills is a fabric cover that HIFIMAN calls its patented "Window Shade" that is acoustically transparent while also providing protection to the drivers from dust and other potential impurities. HIFIMAN has gone with clips to secure the ear pads, making them user-replaceable when the time comes. These appear to be the same HIFIMAN SerenityPads as on the Arya, with the inner lining and protective cover integrated on the driver side of the ear cup, so the ear pad is hollow. Removing the ear pads provides a closer look at the drivers used here with the fabric coating on the inner side also helping prevent hair from contacting the fragile diaphragm. The ear pads use a composite of a polyester and pleather for the cover, along with medium-density foam filling. The polyester is perforated and supports the sides of the head, but there is no denying that these ear cups and pads extend below the ears and down to the jawline to make for a weird feeling the first few times you wear the Ananda Stealth, which ultimately ends up being more mundane as you get used to the headphones.


On the bottom of the ear cups angled towards the front is where we find small cutouts for the cable connectors from before. These have the cable plugs connect easily, naturally directing the cable away from your body and comfortably setting them down at the splitter on your chest. The HIFIMAN Ananda Stealth has dual 3.5 mm TRS connectors on the ear cups to increase compatibility with aftermarket cables, which is handy if you don't like the stock cable. With the two wires meeting centrally at the splitter and moving to the source, weight balance is still centrally placed. The cable is ~1.6 m long, making the Ananda Stealth less conducive to portable use, despite how its supposed to be easily driven from even some dongles, let alone portable DAC/amps. Seen above is how the headphones look on the provided foam stand with the cable attached, and then I have also taken a family photo of the Ananda Stealth next to four other of the teardrop-shaped HIFIMAN headphones, that showcase also the four types of headbands the company uses—note the vented support band on the HE1000se that distinguishes it from the Arya headband, in addition to the colors of course. Overall I'd say the Edition XS headband is the least comfortable of the lot despite the slight horizontal swivel it has over the Ananda headband (which really is the less expensive Sundara's headband) and you need to step up to the Arya to get the best headband design here.