Fit and Comfort

Seen above is the right channel of the HIFIMAN Svanar placed into an artificial ear mold with the included size M double flange silicone ear tip installed. I have average-sized ears, and the ear mold above represents my own experiences well enough as a proxy. Size M silicone tips are my go-to for testing, since foam tips are not included by some brands as was the case here. I also found the double flange tips to work best with the Svanar to achieve what I can best describe as a fit from a set of universal IEMs that resembled what I got with my custom-fit IEMs! Indeed, and this may not be true for everyone, I took the Svanar with me to a local audio meet and every single person marveled at the excellent and deep fit they got. The design works quite well thus in not only comfortably sitting in the ears and ear canals but also positioning the center of gravity just right to not apply any undue pressure after some time despite these being relatively heavy at ~9.5 g each side. I had to remind myself to remove the Svanar every couple of hours for ear hygiene and to take a break from testing and listening to music fed from the Svanar. The cable itself is also thin enough to easily fit around the ears and the lack of memory wiring or pre-formed ear hooks was a plus for me since I could easily route the cable behind my head and feed it down my shirt. The provided silicone ear hook accessories might be useful for others who prefer having the cables firmly in place. Overall I have only positive things to say here and am more than pleased with the fit and seal achieved with the HIFIMAN Svanar.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

HIFIMAN continues to use a single dynamic driver with its IEMs and the Svanar is no different in this regard. However, that's really all which is common between this and other single-DD IEMs on the market, including the several we have reviewed before. You see, coatings and platings are how dynamic driver diaphragms get to be stiffer and more responsive to magnetic flux, which in turn allows for increased dynamic range and potentially lower distortion in addition to allowing companies to use marketing spiel galore. Some typical such examples including DLC (diamond-like carbon) and CNT (carbon nanotube) coatings, and others use Al-Mg or Be plating to achieve the same goal. HIFIMAN goes smaller on its so-called Topology diaphragm technology which aims to control diaphragm distortions via a special nanoparticle coating on its surface. The composition, thickness, and pattern of this coating can help influence the behavior of the driver and the Svanar uses a 9.2 mm full-range dynamic driver using one such Topology diaphragm whose exact details are kept secret. The use of the different metallic acoustic chambers was previously discussed but it comes in play here too by allowing brass to influence the resonance of sound through the chamber inside and ultimately reaching your ears. The HIFIMAN Svanar has a rated impedance of 60 Ω and sensitivity of 100 dB (presumably dB/mW), which makes it slightly harder to drive than your average set of IEMs. Knowing also that these numbers are usually measured at 1 kHz and may well be different in the bass or treble, I would not have minded a 4.4 mm balanced cable option—something you can of course do with an upgrade cable. In practice I had no issues getting the Svanar to its maximum potential by pairing it with a decent portable DAC/amp as mentioned on the previous page.

Frequency Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm-neutral signature with a slightly elevated bass, smooth treble range, detailed mids, and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our reproducible testing methodology begins with a calibrated IEC711 audio coupler/artificial ear that IEMs can feed into enough for decent isolation. The audio coupler feeds into a USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running and the earphones connected to the laptop through a capable and transparent DAC/amp—I used the Questyle M15 here. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/12th setting, which nets a good balance of detail and noise not being identified as useful data. Also, the default tuning was used for testing, and no app-based settings were chosen unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is tested thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the three individual measurements for statistical accuracy. For IEMs, I am also using the appropriate ear mold fitted to the audio coupler for a separate test to compare how the IEMs fare when installed in a pinna geometry instead of just the audio coupler. The raw data is then exported from REW and plotted in OriginPro for easier comparison.


The IEC711 is such that you can't really compare these results with most other test setups, especially those using a head and torso simulator (HATS). The raw dB numbers are also quite contingent on the set volume, gain levels, and sensitivity of the system. What is more useful information is how the left and right channels work across the rated frequency response in the HIFIMAN Svanar. The left channel was separately tested from the right one, and colored differently for contrast. I did my best to ensure an identical fit for both inside the IEC711 orifice, so note how the two channels are basically identical across the entire useful 20 Hz to 20 kHz range! I will point out here that HIFIMAN had sent over a few earlier production run units (not necessarily retail units) of which one set had some channel imbalance, but I only judge based on the retail unit provided and this exceeds expectations and meets the higher standards necessary at the price point the Svanar operates at. Measurements taken after 100 hours of testing, which included these playing a mix of various songs as well as white or pink noise and sine sweeps, showed no difference. There was no perceived burn-in effect thus, and none was measurable, either. The response with the anthropomorphic pinna in place matched the ideal scenario in the coupler extremely well too and this is an indicator of how good the fit and seal was when installed in the artificial ear.


Here is the average frequency response for both channels of the HIFIMAN Svanar plotted against my personal target taken from VSG.squig.link, which also gives you an idea of my personal preferences to better correlate any possible biases. If interested, you can also see how the previous samples measured there, and how this retail unit shows that HIFIMAN was working on getting further bass extension until they got it done for production. As always, the tuning of a set of headphones or earphones does not have to match my target as long as it is tuned with some direction, makes sense, and is executed well. After all, no one set will appeal to everyone, and having different options is what makes this hobby so interesting and hard to quantify. Indeed, the Svanar is a great example of this where it's clearly going for a more V-shaped tuning so the target isn't as valid for direct comparisons and neither is how the two lines are normalized. What you see above is effectively how the Svanar sounds to me so please do read/watch other reviews to relate different subjective opinions to other measurements too.

The HIFIMAN Svanar should be on your short list of IEMs if you care primarily about bass. This might be the very best bass quality I have heard with IEMs to date, outside of the $5200 Subtonic Storm anyway that is in a league of its own. It's deep, it's punchy, it has that grunt and oomph and all other such flower language you might see associated in audio reviews, and then some. You will notice immediately how dynamic it is too allowing you to discern between louder and quieter tones quite easily—something that helps you appreciate the Svanar without pushing up the volume to endanger your hearing. With the bass extension being better now on this retail unit, and I can only hope this is the same for everything else sold now, there is plenty of sub-bass energy for electronic music aficionados too. Silent disco nights will be fun with the Svanar at clubs, and you can just as well jive to drums and bass guitars too.

The V-shaped tonality means that you do get elevated lower mids and recessed mids thereafter. It can be an issue for those wanting cleaner mids thus where we arguably now have sets as affordable as $15 allowing this. Male vocals are plenty prominent although some instruments take a back seat in favor of others. I noticed this particularly with cello and bass organs in addition to some piano keys. The tuba resonance also felt outwardly high, but I am not sure whether the brass chamber has something to do with this. Indeed, the soundstage as a whole comes off overly diffused to where it can be nice and wide in some places and feel artificially expanded in others. Despite having decent instrument separation, this can play a role in some tricky imaging as well. While I am here complaining, the nature of the elevated upper mids and the peaky lower treble affects timbre to an extent to where some brass instruments had a metallic shimmer to them which is quite unlike what you expect out of a single dynamic driver. Some of this can be personalized to your desire with EQ but still the tonality past the ear gain region leaves something to be desired. Treble extension, or lack thereof, is ultimately a common weakness of single DD sets so I was left wanting some air and sparkle for string instruments and cymbals too. Overall, the Svanar isn't a universally pleasing set but rather one with specific strengths and weaknesses suiting some music genres over others. It's certainly more on the colored and engaging side rather than being an analytical one, yet is plenty of fun to play with.

Comparisons

The natural comparison to make here is the HIFIMAN Svanar against the HIFIMAN RE2000 Pro Gold, especially since the company was kind enough to also provide the latter as we saw on the previous page. It's uncanny how closely the two measure, and I understand the RE2000 Pro Silver lines up very closely too at nearly a fifth the cost! If there ever was a case of how frequency response measurements don't tell the whole story, this is it. The Svanar's bass actually hits harder than it seems to where the upper mids don't feel overly brighter. The same can not be said about the RE2000 Pro Gold which does suffer slightly from a fit issue too despite its smaller size—I wasn't able to get it as deeply in the ears as with the Svanar. The Svanar is better in pretty much every single manner except perhaps on the soundstage front where the RE2000 Pro Gold produces a more realistic sense of space. Still, for the same money and having the same weaknesses otherwise, just get the Svanar if you were choosing between the two. Then comes the tougher part where flagship single dynamic driver IEMs are barely a thing, meaning the Svanar really doesn't have much direct competition. There are the Dita Audio Perpetua, the SoftEars Turii, and the Simphonio Audio VR1 which I haven't heard in addition to the DUNU Luna which is discontinued already. The DUNU ZEN PRO costs less than half as much and is one of my favorite sets for its excellent bass, and I would argue the ZEN PRO has better accessories in addition to a more amenable tuning for most people looking at expensive IEMs. The Svanar subjectively bests the ZEN PRO for bass quality and quantity alike though, so if you mostly care about this metric then the Svanar is the way to go. I am just not sure the price difference merits it!

Outside of single DD sets, the price range the HIFIMAN Svanar operates in has quite a few entries using different driver combinations. I would be remiss to not mention the 64 Audio U12t (review coming soon) which has been selling for a few years now and continues to be the $2000 benchmark in most people's opinion. It's not hard to see why given the smooth, colored tonality that lends favorably to being a great all-rounder set. The apex modules also provide for a customizable bass shelf with the added benefit of a controlled pressure release. The Svanar has a vent on the side to prevent any pressure build-up in the ear canals already and it's one of the very few sets that bests the U12t for comfort and fit too. The U12t can be found wanting in its bass response given the use of balanced armature sub-woofers so the Svanar easily beats it in this regard. I would argue the two have timbre issues to where both even out here, but I'll give 64 Audio the win for vocals reproduction as well as treble extension with its tia driver adding in some sorely missed air with the Svanar. The recently released $1100 U4s might be tougher competition to the U12t than the Svanar though, so this is really a case of you deciding what sound signature you prefer. The same could be said with other similarly priced sets such as the Lime Ears Pneuma and Astell&Kern x Campfire Audio PATHFINDER. Both of these sets have decent bass but wonky tonality issues that means that you need to see if these are more to your liking than the Svanar. I will say that I had more fun with the Svanar despite it being quite different from my music preference though!