The HIFIMAN Ananda has long been one of the go-to recommendations for mid-range HiFi headphones. We were more than a little impressed when we reviewed it back in 2021. Since then the company has released the excellent Edition XS, challenging its value in the middle-tier of HIFIMAN’s line-up.
Well, the company just released the Ananda Nano to re-establish its place and refine its identity. With an improved fit, excellent clarity and better bass, it’s an even more fitting headphone for music and gaming alike. Is this the go-to pair of planar headphones for 2023? Find out in this review!
Specifications
- Current Price: $599 (Amazon)
- Frequency Response: 5Hz - 55kHz
- Sensitivity: 94dB
- Impedance: 14 Ohms
- Weight: 419 grams
Welcome back to Golden Ears! This is our semi-regular column dedicated to the world of high-end audio. In this series, we look at premium audio products that all promise a next-level listening experience. But what exactly do you get when you spend a little, or sometimes a lot, more? That’s what we aim to discover, helping you to find out just what’s worth investing in to upgrade your listening experience for music and gaming alike.
HIFIMAN Ananda Nano - Design, Key Features, and First Impressions
The Ananda Nano is positioned squarely in the middle of HIFIMAN’s current line-up. It’s more expensive than the Sundara or Edition XS but a fair bit cheaper than the Arya. Its purpose has been to present that middle option, at launch, between the Sundara and Arya, and did very well there. When I came into the hobby, it was one of the repeated recommendations I received and was told I had to try if I wanted to experience a better taste of “endgame” earlier on in my journey.
The Edition XS, at $100 less, changed that. It sounded great and looked and fit almost identically. The prior place held by Ananda was essentially overtaken by XS, leaving the venerable headphone in a state of limbo. Listening to the two, there were some clear differences, but since it’s difficult for many people to try headphones before they buy, the XS became the go-to recommendation at that price point.
The Ananda Nano is the answer to this conundrum. It takes the classic Ananda design, complete with its over-sized, egg-shaped housing and window-shade open backs, and brings it up with the times. The drivers have received the nano diaphragms of the Susvara (currently selling for $5,999) and the clarity-enhancing stealth magnets found upwards in the company’s catalog.
But let’s start with the basics. When you think of HIFIMAN, the chances are that you also think of planar magnetic drivers. While some models certainly use dynamic drivers, the vast majority of the company’s catalog uses boutique planar magnetic drivers, lending it a unique, high resolution palette of listening experiences.
If you’re new to the world of high-end audio, introductions are in order. Most consumer headphones use dynamic drivers. These are the conical, moving coil speakers you see on most large speakers, shrunken down to a typical size of about 40mm. A planar magnetic driver, on the other hand, is a flat plane traced with conductive filaments, suspended taught between rows of powerful magnets. They’re much larger, typically around 100mm, and their unique design and size allows them to offer vanishingly low levels of distortion, exceptionally crisp presentation, and truly impressive clarity when tuned correctly.
Their design is clearly quite different from a traditional consumer headphone — a flat plane versus a moving cone — and it results in an equally different sound. Their large size impacts how sound waves hit your ears. Size matters, as do the angles at which sound waves hit your ears, when it comes to how natural a pair of headphones sounds. The diaphragm itself is also much thinner, allowing it to move faster, resulting in improved details and texture to the listening experience. The trade-off is that they’re also typically much larger and more expensive, but many, many of the most popular audiophile headphones today use these drivers for a reason. When tuned correctly, they can sound amazing.
The Ananda Nano takes its name from the nanometer-thickness diaphragm used in its drivers. Let that sink in: nanometer thickness. That incredible thinness allows the drivers to move extremely quickly and stop just as fast. When current is applied to the electrical traces, the diaphragm vibrates to create sound well outside the range of human hearing. This wide dynamic range pushes distortion equally out of the range of human hearing, so what you’re left with is a driver that can span from the lowest lows to the highest highs with the utmost clarity.
This design is further enhanced by the use of Steath Magnets. This is another design feature that’s trickling down from the upper echelons of HIFIMAN’s line-up and helps to improve their clarity and dynamic range. Stealth magnets are shaped and arranged to reduced sound wave diffraction, making them “acoustically transparent.”
Sound like a lot? It is. But that is the level of design and consideration that goes into mid-to-high caliber headphones. Every nuance of their design is considered as it related to sound quality and clarity, which is exactly why we recommend going with a great pair of headphones and a standalone microphone versus a gaming headset wherever possible. Even without the support of virtual surround sound, a great headphone almost always outperforms a great gaming headset. This is especially true thanks to its open-back design which leads to a wider, airier listening experience (more on Soundstage in the next section).
HIFIMAN has also reworked the tuning of the Ananda with this release. The sound is much bassier without becoming muddy or bloated. There’s a mid-bass push here that makes bass guitars and kicks sound more impactful. At the same time, the classic HIFIMAN clarity is intact thanks to careful work in the mids and highs. The Nano balances full-bodied bass with exceptionally good detail, making it one of the most mainstream-friendly headphones in the company’s catalog.
HIFIMAN has also reworked the fit of the Ananda, and I think it’s an improvement, though will certainly vary in how its received. Historically, the company’s egg-shaped earcups have all been quite large, which results in a loose fit. It’s good for long-term comfort but was challenging if you also had a small head. At 5’ 8”, I always found them to be a bit looser than I would prefer, though wasn’t especially bothered by that quality.
The Ananda Nano is much snugger and has less flex along its suspension headband. I found it easier to achieve a good seal around my ears and they didn’t move once I had them in position. The headband has adjustment notches to accommodate larger users, but larger listeners and those sensitive to clamp force might find it to be a bit too much for their taste. There’s still no pivoting to rest them around your neck but they’re angle adjustable to match the shape of your face. Personally, I found it to be just about perfect. It was snug without being too snug and the all-too-common worry of their sliding off all but disappeared.
Another two quick high points worth mentioning: the new cable and travel case. HIFIMAN now includes a nice hardback travel-case with this set, making it much easier to travel safely with them. The cables are also a big improvement. They’re thick yet soft and rubber-coated. HIFIMAN has been listening, and though there’s still room for improvement to make these cables look more competitive with some of the third-party options out there, they’re more robust and fitting for the cost of the headphones.
HIFIMAN Ananda Nano - Listening Impressions
The HIFIMAN Ananda Nano are a relatively easy headphone to drive, so you won’t need more than a basic dongle DAC to drive these to an acceptable volume (though, as is often the case, they benefit from more power with improved bass response). For my listening, I used a mix of my Fiio KA3 and the Fiio K9 Pro ESS. The KA3 was able to provide more than enough power, so it’s safe to say that you don’t need to invest in special portable gear to take this headphone on the go.
Taken as a whole, the Nano is a warmer, better-fitting version of the original Nano. HIFIMAN clearly tuned these headphones to more mainstream tastes in the low-end. If you listen to rock, pop, metal, or a variety of genres (as well as gaming), the Nano is likely to be a good, full-bodied fit for your preferences. At the same time, they offer good detail retrieval so you can still enjoy a high-resolution listening experience.
Bass: The bass performance on these headphones is very good. Clearly, HIFIMAN has put an emphasis on improving the mid-bass, making these a better fit for modern pop, rock, hip-hop, and gaming versus its more expensive headphones, like the Arya. The emphasis primarily lives in the mid-bass, which is where our sense of wide, foundational bass comes from. It’s great for bass guitars, synths, in-game soundtracks, and explosions, and makes the Nano sound much fuller than the original. The sub-bass still reaches low, giving these headphones good rumble too.
It’s not just about quantity: the quality of the bass is also very good. Planar drivers are fast, and the Nano diaphragm is especially so. The bass here is fast, with clear starts and stops, and high resolution. There’s plenty of detail and texture, so you can dig into all it has to offer no matter what you’re listening to. Impactful, detailed, and well-done.
Mids: The mids sound slightly warm due to the enhanced low end. Male vocalists in particular can sound slightly stepped back because of this but they don’t sound unnatural or veiled. Rising through the spectrum, instruments like guitars have a natural, true-to-life sound to them. While I can’t measure headphones at this point, my sense is that there’s a slight rise in the mid to upper-mids to make instruments and female vocalists cut through a bit more. This is also good for things like footsteps in games, though there’s a warmer touch to these headphones overall that makes such sound cues a bit less biting through the mix. Audible, to be sure, but I found that I had to listen a touch more to pick out where they were coming from when things got busy.
Treble: Even though the Nano is a warmer headphone than the original Ananda, the highs have a nice sparkle to them and a surprising amount of air. Given HIFIMAN’s proclivity toward detail and resolution, it’s not surprising that the highs would be brought up to aid in the clarity they’re able to provide. I didn’t find the headphones fatiguing in the slightest and was able to wear them for several very extended gaming sessions (two seven-hour stretches for work) without any discomfort whatsoever. They really balance brightness with comfort very well.
Technical Performance, Soundstage, and Imaging: The technical performance of the Ananda Nano is very good. As I describe above, the detail retrieval is excellent. You’ll have no trouble picking out fine details, which I always find are enhanced by the planar’s unique timbre. These are very good for high-resolution tracks and game audio, which is typically uncompressed.
When it comes to soundstage and imaging, the results are a bit more mixed. I find the imaging to be quite good with solid directionality and positionality. However, the soundstage is tighter than the original Ananda. It’s not congested or constrained (these are still open-back headphones), but it’s definitely a bit tighter due to the warmer tuning we find here. As a result, instruments and sound sources aren’t as spread out. Layering and detail are still very good, though, so while it’s a more intimate listening experience, I still find it to be very good.
Gaming: The Ananda Nano is a good headset for gaming. Its more impactful bass response makes games more engaging and its accurate positionality/imaging are also beneficial. Compared to the original Ananda, the reduction in soundstage is a trade-off but I still find these more expansive than most gaming headsets, which makes them a good pick for immersion, even if it’s not quite as wide.
Overall Impressions and Final Thoughts
The Ananda Nano is an interesting pair of headphones. When I reviewed the original Ananda two years ago, I found it to be excellent. The value proposition was very good for the sound quality it delivered. Overall, I think the Nano is an improvement in both sound quality and fit, so “Ananda to Ananda,” I would suggest the Nano every time.
But then there’s the Edition XS, which comes in at $499 MSRP ($449 as of this writing), which is another prime contender in this price range. There’s a $100 price difference between them and there’s no mistaking what a great value the XS is in comparison. It features a similar design and great sound quality that’s easily tuned with EQ. If you’re on a budget and can’t afford the Nano, the Edition XS is a fantastic alternative.
Even though the Ananda Nano costs more, it’s also clearly more capable. There’s an immediately noticeable bump in the amount of detail it’s able to render, which gives your games and music extra clarity. As an average-sized guy, I also find the snugger fit to be more comfortable and better sealing around the ears, leading to better bass. For gaming, rock, pop, hip-hop, and other bass-centric listening, it’s worth paying extra for — even if the XS challenges what value looks like in this price range.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes. Articles may include affiliate links from which we may earn a small commission to help support the site. Authors do not earn affiliate revenue or commissions.
