Hifiman Ananda Unveiled

Hifiman’s Unveiled Technology Comes to the Ananda at $549 — Open-Grille Planar With Neo Supernano Driver

By releasing four new headphones late last year, Hifiman has done something very interesting with their complete midrange lineup. These models bring meaningful upgrades in sound, comfort, and build quality across the board, while simultaneously reducing prices on the predecessors they replace — the Edition XS, Sundara, and Ananda have all gotten more affordable as these new models arrived. It is a great time to be getting into headphones with so many compelling options at every price range.

But let’s get into what I have been calling “the beautiful one” in this new lineup, the Ananda Unveiled.

These four headphones arrived together roughly three months ago, and I owe Hifiman an apology for the time it has taken to get these published. That delay was not from disinterest — it was because I was genuinely enjoying living with all four, and the extended period gave me a much more rounded perspective than a standard two-week review allows.

Of the four, the Ananda Unveiled is the one that generated the most comments from people who saw it. My wife — not typically a headphone enthusiast — remarked on how good it looked. The open, exposed driver design is visually striking in a way that few headphones manage, and it turns out that aesthetic choice is also a genuine engineering decision. I kept the magnetic veils fitted during most of the review period partly out of caution — we have a cat — though I believe the veils have minimal impact on sound and are more a protection measure for the exposed driver than an acoustic element. More on that in the measurements section. I tested the Ananda Unveiled primarily through the JDS Labs Element IV and the Topping DX5 II. But first, let’s take a look at what’s in the box.

Unboxing and Packaging

The Ananda Unveiled arrives in Hifiman’s clean outer packaging, with product information and specifications clearly printed on the box panels:

The specification panel is worth a close look, as it confirms the key numbers for the Ananda Unveiled:

Inside, the earpads are packaged separately with protective covers, and the cable accessories sit alongside the headphone. The Ananda Unveiled includes a notable extra over the HE600 and Edition XV — the Magnetic Veils themselves, plus individual carry pouches for each veil and earpad, giving the whole package an extra layer of protection that is a nice touch:

The package contents are: the Ananda Unveiled headphone, a 1.5m 3.5mm headphone cable, a 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapter, earpads (installed), and one pair of Magnetic Veils.

Design, Build Quality, and the Unveiled Technology

The Ananda Unveiled is a striking headphone. The exposed driver — visible through the open grille without the veils fitted — is immediately arresting, and the overall design has a visual coherence and confidence that makes it the best-looking headphone in this four-headphone review group. The side view shows the scale and geometry of the egg-shaped earcups to good effect:

The earcup surface is finished with a textured material that has both a premium feel in hand and a pleasant visual character. The grille work and cup construction are consistently precise:

The Magnetic Veils

The Magnetic Veils are the defining accessory of the Unveiled lineup. They attach magnetically to the outer face of each earcup, covering the exposed driver when you want to protect it from dust, pet hair, or curious fingers. The veils on the Ananda Unveiled use a lighter, more open mesh compared to the versions found on higher-end Unveiled models — a cost-appropriate choice at $549 that still gets the job done. Two views of the veil panels show their design and construction:

The individual carry pouches for the veils and earpads — shown here alongside the headphone stand — are a thoughtful addition that Hifiman does not offer on the more basic models in this lineup:

The headphone stand that doubles as the packaging foam insert is present here too, and the Ananda Unveiled sits on it naturally. An accessory storage stand is also included:

Unveiled Technology and the Neo Supernano Driver

The term “Unveiled” literally means removing the veil. This technology was first applied in the Hifiman SUSVARA in 2024, and the Ananda Unveiled brings it to a far more accessible price point. The reasoning is straightforward: the conventional grille structure of a headphone causes acoustic interference as sound waves are reflected and refracted back onto the diaphragm by the grille itself, diminishing sound quality at the source. By removing that grille — or making it minimal — the driver operates in a cleaner acoustic environment, producing what Hifiman describes as a purer, more unobstructed sound. The result is particularly noticeable in the treble and in the sense of openness and space the Ananda Unveiled creates:

The driver itself is Hifiman’s Neo Supernano planar magnetic design — the same family of technology used across the new mid-fi lineup, with an ultra-thin diaphragm and full-surface drive for low distortion and excellent transient response. At 22Ω and 93dB sensitivity, the Ananda Unveiled is the easiest to drive of the four headphones in this review set, and it opens up well from virtually any decent source.

The cable included — shown here alongside the adapters and XLR variants for context — is the same functional-but-unremarkable 3.5mm cable as the rest of the lineup. It does the job, but at this price tier a better default cable would be welcome:

Fit and Comfort

The Ananda Unveiled uses the same new composite headband design shared across all four new Hifiman models — smoother adjustment, better weight distribution, and no need for aftermarket comfort straps. At 449g (excluding veils and cable) it is lighter than the Edition XV and sits comfortably for multi-hour sessions. The earpads are generously sized with good ear clearance, and the deep egg-shaped earcup geometry that is the signature of Hifiman’s larger headphones gives a sense of space that contributes both to comfort and to the headphone’s spatial sound presentation:

Sound Impressions

All listening impressions were formed using the JDS Labs Element IV and Topping DX5 II, with no EQ applied. The Ananda Unveiled was used throughout the three-month review period and was the headphone most commented on by visitors.

Bass

The Ananda Unveiled’s bass is clean, controlled, and linearly extended — characteristic planar performance at this price tier, and consistent with what the HE600 and Edition XV deliver in their own ways. The bass does not call attention to itself, which is precisely the point — it simply gives you the full picture of what is in the recording without bloom or mid-bass warmth colouring the presentation. On “Angel” by Massive Attack, the deep synth bass layers carry real weight and texture, extending cleanly into the sub-bass without losing the definition or decay that separates good planar bass from the muddier low end of dynamic drivers at this price.

Midrange

The midrange is open and well-proportioned, with good body and vocal presence. The Unveiled design’s acoustic benefits are perhaps most audible here in what is absent: there is less of the slight veiling or congestion that can creep into headphones where the grille reflects sound back onto the driver. Voices are rendered with natural clarity and no sense of artificial distance. On “Hunter” by Björk, the close-mic vocal sits with convincing presence in the centre image while the layered production elements around it are clearly separated — the kind of spatial midrange organisation that this headphone does particularly well.

Treble

The treble is the Ananda Unveiled’s strongest suit and the area where it most clearly differentiates itself from the other three Hifiman headphones in this group. The Unveiled technology’s removal of grille-induced reflections produces a treble that is notably cleaner and more extended than a conventional grille design would achieve — there is more air and detail retrieval, a more precise sense of cymbal decay and transient attack, but without the edge or harshness that sometimes accompanies elevated high-frequency energy. On “Tamacun” by Rodrigo y Gabriela, the guitar string attack and fretboard percussion come through with exceptional clarity and presence, each strike distinct and well-placed — this is the headphone in this group for acoustic and instrumental music. The treble is more forgiving than the HE600 while being more extended and detailed than the Edition XV, sitting in a natural middle position that suits a very wide range of music.

Soundstage and Imaging

The Ananda Unveiled has the widest, most open soundstage of the four Hifiman headphones in this review set, and it is not particularly close. The combination of the egg-shaped earcup geometry — which Hifiman’s larger headphones have always used to create a sense of space — and the Unveiled technology’s cleaner acoustic environment produces a sound that feels genuinely expansive. On “Born, Never Asked” by Laurie Anderson, the layered vocal treatments and ambient soundscape fill a wide, well-defined space that extends clearly left and right with good front-to-back depth as well. Imaging within that stage is precise — instruments sit in stable positions and do not wander — though I would give the slight edge in imaging sharpness to the HE600, which trades some of the Unveiled’s width for more focused localisation. The Ananda Unveiled is the headphone in this group that makes the strongest case for what open-back planar listening is all about.

Comparisons

The Ananda Unveiled sits alongside the HE600, Aune AR5000 MK2, and Edition XV in this comparison shot — the group of headphones that formed the core of the past three months of listening:

Against the Edition XV in direct comparison, the two headphones make an interesting pair. The Edition XV is better for long-session listening with any genre and has the more forgiving treble; the Ananda Unveiled is better for soundstage, imaging, and for music where treble detail and air are priorities. Both are excellent and the choice between them depends more on what you value than on absolute quality:

Specifications

Measurements

The stock L/R channel matching — shown here with the voile/veil applied — tracks very closely, confirming good unit consistency and driver matching:

A comparison of the averaged veiled response against the left channel veiled measurement shows how consistent the result is across positions:

Against the Harman OE 2018 target, the Ananda Unveiled shows a clean, linear bass region and a mature, balanced midrange, with treble that is more extended than the Edition XV but still well-controlled — reflecting the Unveiled technology’s acoustic benefits in the high frequencies:

The direct comparison with the previous Ananda generation shows the tuning evolution clearly — the Unveiled has a more refined upper-frequency presentation and the benefit of the grille-reflection reduction in the treble region:

Plotted alongside the HE600 and Edition XV, the three new open-back Hifiman headphones tell a coherent tuning story — the Unveiled sits between the more energetic HE600 treble and the more relaxed Edition XV, with its own character shaped by the open grille design:

Against the Hedd Audio HEDDphone D1, the Ananda Unveiled’s wider soundstage character and cleaner treble extension are visible in the measurements, contrasting with the D1’s warmer, more midrange-focused response:

Two further comparisons with the Harman target alongside the FiiO FT and Verum 2 give a sense of where the Ananda Unveiled sits in a broader competitive context:

One measurement worth including for the record — the Ananda Unveiled with glasses. As with many Hifiman egg-shaped headphones, wearing glasses introduces a small bass boost from the modified seal. For spectacle wearers this can actually be a welcome characteristic, adding a touch more low-end weight to an already clean bass presentation:

And for completeness — and a moment of honesty — a measurement of the Ananda Unveiled with the Magnetic Veils fully applied. The veils are a protection accessory, not an acoustic one, and the measurements confirm this clearly: the response with the veils fitted is noticeably degraded compared to the open configuration. The Unveiled is designed to be listened to with the veils removed. Interestingly, the measurements did prompt an idle thought — the wide open back of this headphone might be an interesting platform for hobbyist 3D-printed dampened enclosures that could turn it into a closed-back; a modification that no one seems to have tried yet but that the unusually accessible driver might make possible:

Distortion performance is clean and consistent across the frequency range:

Rating Explanation

The Pragmatic Rating of 5 reflects a headphone that delivers genuinely special performance at $549. The Unveiled technology — first seen on the flagship SUSVARA — trickles down here in a meaningful way, and the combination of wide soundstage, clean treble, and precise imaging makes this the most technically distinctive of the four new Hifiman models. The Price Rating of 5 follows naturally: getting the Unveiled experience at this price is excellent value, and the headphone earns its position as the aspirational step up from the Edition XV.

The Features Rating of 4 reflects the magnetic veils and carry pouches as a welcome extra, offset by the same ordinary cable found across all four models and veils that are noticeably lighter in construction compared to higher-end Unveiled models — appropriate for the price, but visible against the headphone’s overall quality level. The Measurements Rating of 5 is well-deserved: the frequency response is mature and balanced, the Unveiled technology’s acoustic benefits are measurably real, the distortion is excellent, and the channel matching is tight.

Conclusion

The Ananda Unveiled is the most visually striking headphone in this group, the one with the widest soundstage, and the one that most immediately demonstrates what Hifiman’s Unveiled technology is trying to achieve. At $549 it brings a flagship acoustic concept to a broadly accessible price point, and the result is a headphone that looks extraordinary, sounds excellent, and is comfortable enough for daily long-session use.

If you are moving up from an Edition XV and want something with more air, more staging, and a visual design that is genuinely worth looking at — this is the obvious next step. If you are an audiophile with a small collection already and want something a little different and a little special, the Ananda Unveiled is an easy recommendation. It is, without question, the beautiful one.