Great review! I miss my Elementš¢ eventually might pick up another oneā¦ anyhow welcome to the forum!
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Thank you for checking out the review! And yeah, I love the JDS labs Element. Clean design, nice aesthetic, superb performance. 
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thank you, I really appreciate you taking the time to check it out.
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Great review @Chrono, I must pick up a set of these revised Sundaraās, I really enjoyed the originals.
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With these new earpads he started to seal much more
and with that the bass goes up a little bit. The overall sound became softer and I didnāt feel any other negative effects.
It is not practical and quick to switch between earpads and this impairs a deep perception of that exchange. But an increase in bass and a softening of the sound is noticeable.
(edit: But these effects sound very good to me)
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Yeah youād almost need two sets, one with each earpad - that is, if thatās the only difference. Iām still unsure about that. I know they did change the driver over a year ago, but how many of those older units are still in the pipeline I have no idea. I spoke with another reviewer who recently got a Sundara sent straight from China, and it was what Iām calling the āolderā revision. But it may just be a batch set aside for reviewers. Too many uncertainties to know for sure, but at least in North America, I think most dealers have the one that I recently reviewed.
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I agree! too many uncertainties to be certain.
Just to be clearer, I was referring to Chinese earpads:
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Well that seems promising then. Glad to hear youāre enjoying them.
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Helluva review! I look forward to your future efforts.
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UPDATE: My Sundarasā right driver is making a very audible crinkle-like sound when playing really low frequencies (I was listening to Billie Eilishās āBury a Friend,ā which has a lot of tones in the sub-bass region). I have only had these for 10 days, and they were not making these sounds when I first received them.
This honestly makes me sad. I really love the way these sound, very likely my #1 pick under $500, but I guess build quality and driver lifespan is still an issue with these
UPDATE 2: Theyāre no longer making the sound? I donāt even know what is going on now.
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My HE-560s worked fine for about 18 months. Then they started requiring more power to generate the same volume a couple months ago. Then one driver suddenly died while using them, making a āpffftā sound. I took off the pads and found dozens of deep cracks in the traces for both sides. I have my doubts about whether any HiFIMan product can stand up to regular/heavy use ā their thin drivers result in delicate sound, but generating music creates a lot of stress and heat.
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Itās a shame, really. The sound that come out of these is outstanding, specially at the price point. To be fair, though, 18 months is not too bad. Unfortunately they only have a 12-month warranty, I believe.
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This sounds like typical planar crinkle caused by the seal. This is usually the result of small pressure changes from the interaction between the pad and the side of the head around the ear. Iāve had it so bad on some headphones that I literally couldnāt use it, but it would go away if I had it in a certain position. Interestingly, this is less common for planars that donāt seal as strongly, like the egg-shaped ones (Ananda, Arya etc.).
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@chrono , @Resolve nailed it, I have noticed this at times when listening with my glasses on and moving my head as Andrew said the pressure is changing which allows us to hear the driver crinkle. Itās weird and when I first heard it I thought my headphones were defective. From my understanding itās pretty normal from most planar headphones. Some just do a better job at managing ear cup pressure so you hear it less. Maybe next time you are listening with them be mindful of any movements you made when you hear it. Are you wearing glasses when listening?
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I suppose it could have been just the pressure crinkle. I just thought it was strange because I usually hear that pressure crinkle as soon as I put on the headphone, and when I move my head around, not as music starts playing. It could definitely just have been that, and it would have been the first time I heard it on the Sundara, in any case.
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Itās a known issue with the LCD-2C, at least until the pads soften up a bit. Perhaps thatās happening here?
Itās got to do with something about how pressure zones are created when you put them on. If there are fast changes in the pressure, it makes the diaphragm crinkleāor something like that. Here is the link to an article Audeze posted on their support page: https://audeze.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001045046-Crinkling-clicking-static-sound-when-I-press-on-the-earcup
Iāve had it happen on my LCD-2ās, but itās only when I donāt take off the headphones slowly enough. I thought it could be that, but when itās the pressure thing it usually happens when too quickly putting on/off my planar headphones, or sometimes when I move them around. This time, it was when I began to play music, and it was only with extremely deep tones. It could have been just pressure crinkle, but Iāve never had it happen like that before. Iām still unsure what it was, and itās only happened once.
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Yeah it normally doesnāt happen when you play music, but Iāve had it happen on the Ether 2 whenever I even moved my head slightly (while playing music), so I think it is possible.
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@Resolve just watched your review of the Sundara. I have an early-release Sundara and now youāre telling me about āstealth revisionsā and how much better they sound nowadays. You were convincing enough to the point that Iām buying the ānew and improvedā late modelā¦ as soon as I recoup from the $3,749 I just shed on a Moon DAC to replace my beloved Naim DAC V1 who fell victim to lightning yesterday. If it wasnāt for that Iād already be back from the audio shop I patronize sitting right here at my desk with my new Sundara sitting on my head. The Sundara may be the most affordable phone I own, t itās still one of my favourite. Contrary to the fancy Focals and Audeze it doesnāt require DSP to sound neutral and balanced. Reminds me a lot of the Focal Clear even if the latter is a dynamic and costs 4 times as much. Iāve spent many hours comparing my Clear with my Sundara over the last two years and in the end found the Clear the superior headphone, but not by much. No idea how Dr Bian can pull this off and still make a profit, Iām befuddled.
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