Packaging and Accessories

As with most recent HIFIMAN headphones, the Mini Shangri-La ships in a (mostly) plain cardboard box. I was not ready for the size of the box, however—it's massive and lightweight, and I feel HIFIMAN could certainly have chosen a smaller box here. This feels especially true when we see the sticker on the front has a section at the top that clearly seems to have been intended to wrap around the side of the box, as opposed to coming off with inverted text here—not the best first impressions. This does tell us the Mini Shangri-La uses one of HIFIMAN's nanometer thickness diaphragms, and there's another render with other features called out. Product specs are also seen on the side in addition to a tear-off seal that helps keep the contents in place on their way to you.


Opening the box, we see the headphones placed inside a thick foam section with machined cutouts for a snug fit and added protection. The attached cable is separately routed into a compartment in the middle between the ear cups, with a QC sticker found alongside. The inner side of the cover lid has QR codes allowing you to register the product and perhaps even follow HIFIMAN's social media channels for an extended warranty up to two years.


On the other hand, the product box for the Mini Shangri-La amplifier weighs a lot, which makes sense given the amplifier is on the heavier side of things. Here too we are greeted by a plain cardboard box with a wrap-around sticker that works fine now. Product specs and an overview of the feature set are seen on the sides, with the box opening to reveal an accessory box placed in a foam sheet as usual with HIFIMAN's other headphones. This box contains the relevant QR codes to extend the product warranty again, and there's another QC sticker if you wanted to feel better about the product. We also get an AC wall adapter cable to power the amplifier, and this depends on your location—I have the UK version here with the integrated fuse. The amplifier is found underneath with more foam surrounding it, and it comes placed inside a fabric pouch to help keep it pristine and dust-free.