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Two days ago i finally received my first decent pair of open-back headphones after daily driving cheap IEMs for almost a year. The whole setup took a couple of month to put together as i waited for some good deals to popup on a couple of used marketplaces. The initial plan was to get a Topping DX3 pro+ and a pair of HD6xx/HD600, but after learning about the Sundaras i changed my mind. I went for the wider soundstage and supposed wow-factor over the neutral sound of the Sennys because the idea of a "boring" sounding headphone was not really appealing to me, given that i also wanted to use them to watch movies/shows. After reading a couple of reviews i went for the Atom Amp ( which was hard to find here in Italy due to the high shipping cost of a new one) and a cheap Topping D10. I decided to buy a DAC to test myself the dac-improve-sound theory that i often see discussed on forums, and doing some tests i can hear a slight difference from only using the phones/laptops dac.

Overall i'm quite happy with my purchase and i hope that these last at least a decade ( i'm a university student, i've thrown my extra-rent budget of the last 6 months on these lol)

nice and humble setup! i too was contemplating between the sundara and hd6xx. been researching and keep hearing about the “rich mids” of the hd6xx made me pull the trigger since i listen to a lot of songs with female vocalist. and for the sick deal of $199 on drop i hope i made the right choice. once you get a feel of the sundaras i would love a review!

Your shelve needs harmonising

I cannot say that the HD6XX sounds boring at all. I find it intimate and compelling although I prefer Sundara because of the sounds which seem to come from way outside my head.

"hope that these last at least a decade" - in that respect you may have been better off buying the Sennys - I'd happily launch them across the room and expect them to work fine. I cannot say the same for my beloved Sundaras. Just take good care of them, avoid dropping/throwing/ abuse.

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Edit to add : that is a mighty fine 1st set-up, you have good reason to be proud of it. Thinkpad posse represent.

ThinkPad gang

NGL, I was wondering why you needed a DAC and amp for the chus. My stupid ass thought the hifiman box was a desktop pc… I need to get some sleep.

LOL so did I at first

Congratulations, I hope your love of music and gear brings you much joy. Genuinely good setup. Better than mine... for now

Hell yeah Atom + D10, my same combo. Been my daily driver for more than two years with no issue

woah. based music

I just ordered the 6xx and a Topping DX3 Pro+ from Drop. Good enough sale for me to finally make a purchase. Now I’m just waiting for them to arrive…

Linux thinkpad spotted

nice! i was also going to buy the dx3 pro+ but ended up with the fiio k3 to save some money

I have that same DAC and Amp, great combo ! I use it with a fostex THX-00 and a HD8XX

(Incoming people asking you to not use Spotify comments)

I only realized that was a headphone box when I zoomed the picture. Though that it was a desktop as well

> and i hope that these last at least a decade

For your sake I hope they do too but Hifimans from the bottom of the line all the way to the top are not known for their build quality. I went through 2 pairs of brand new Sundaras in the space of a month that both had the same issue before deciding to go with a different brand.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade, it's a good set up. This is just something you should be aware of.

maybe a decade it's not possible but i hope they last a fair bit. What were the failing points on your Sudaras that made you change them?

That thing is incredible for what i paid for it.

The plan was to get the Tidal student plan (6 euro/month) but after doing the digitafeeds abx test i can't hear any difference between 320kbs and lossless so i'm sticking to Spotify.

I wanted to take a clean photo of the setup so i put them i the box becouse i don't have a stand yet lol. I'll probably 3d print one in the future.

Still using my decade old T430 after upgrading it with an SSD, 16 GB of RAM, and a 3632qm since the CPUs were still socketed back then. It's not fast but surprisingly usable and basically invincible. Gotta love it

I recommend Tidal tho, for your setup it should work great. I use both, Spotify for bluetooth and street use since AAC is cap at 256kbs and Tidal for album listening sessions

i'll give it a try, thanks for the suggestion.

Topping D10 and JDS Atom amp was my first stack too! And driving a Sundara as well!

I assume it was weak soldering around the plugs, I never actually found out the cause. For both sets that I had they lost sound in the right ear cup within a weak. And these were supposedly the refreshed design that was supposed to address that issue.

One set was bought through amazon, the other through apos.

You'll notice that there is no protection where the cable plugs into the headphone meaning any little bump or nudge can stress the plug in. This compounds the issue with weak soldering for the connections. Other headphones have a recessed plug that helps protect from this issue.