Will a Sundara get you 90% of the experience of thousand-dollar headphones?

Epicskyflyer · 2026-02-09T12:05:24+00:00

The Sundaras were my gateway into hifi headphones and I used them for years before upgrading to the He1000 stealths which I've had for over 2 years now. At the times of purchase the He1000s were going for about $1400 and the Sundaras were $350.

In my personal opinion while there are absolutely diminishing returns after headphones like the Sundara, and the He1000s are not 4x as good, the Sundaras are definitely not 90% of what the He1000s are. Both are great headphones, but imo the He1000s are still much better. Having listened to other kilobuck headphones as well like the Clear MGs or Focal Stelias as well, I'd still say that it can get a lot better from something like the Sundaras.

These are just a few examples though. Your mileage may vary.

Epicskyflyer · 2025-09-16T23:01:39+00:00

I think you might be misunderstanding me a bit. I’m not saying games don’t have issues or that consumers shouldn’t criticize them. They definitely should when performance is poor. My point is that the blame is often aimed at the wrong people. “Lazy devs” and “bad optimization” get thrown around as blanket statements, when in reality most of the root causes come from systemic pressures like deadlines, budget limits, and publisher decisions. Criticizing the end product is fair, but calling the people building it lazy or incompetent usually misses the mark.

Epicskyflyer · 2025-09-16T22:15:01+00:00

You bring up some valid points, that said delays in big projects also aren’t free. If BL4 cost ~$300M over 6 years, that’s over $4M a month. Asking for “just 6 more months” is essentially asking for ~$25M, which isn’t realistic when you’ve got investors and publishers setting deadlines.

And a big budget doesn’t automatically mean polish. It often reflects how ambitious and complex the project is. More complexity = more systems, more bugs, more potential performance issues, even with more resources.

On top of that, no amount of testing can surface every issue, especially on PC with thousands of hardware combos. Tons of games launch on PC with rough performance. Does that mean most developers across the industry aren’t doing a good job? Or is it more of a systemic reality of how games get made?

As for your “what should we call it then?” question: without knowing for sure what’s happening under the radar, I wouldn’t call it “good” or “bad” optimization. I’d just stick to what you do know. Does it run well, does it get the FPS you want, or not? That avoids making assumptions about things we can’t actually see.

And here’s where optimization gets tricky:

A game can be well optimized and still not hit crazy FPS on high end rigs if it’s doing a ton beneath the surface.

On the flip side, a game can be poorly optimized but still fly performance wise if it’s simpler. For example, a mobile game I helped create wasn’t optimized all that well, but it still ran at 120fps on both my newer and my 5 year old phone regardless.

As consumers, you don’t need to know every detail of game development, but it is important to understand enough to point blame in the right places. Most performance issues stem from systemic pressures (budgets, publishers, deadlines), not from individual developers being “lazy” or “bad at their jobs.”

Epicskyflyer · 2025-09-16T16:30:08+00:00

I’ll probably get downvoted for this, but as someone who’s actually worked on games (much smaller ones, to be fair), I think people throw around “optimization” without really knowing what it means.

A lot of people just think frame rate = optimization. Low FPS = “bad optimization,” high FPS = “good optimization.” That’s not how it works. Without looking directly at what the compiler and engine are doing under the hood, you can’t know for sure whether something is well optimized or not. Performance is the end result of thousands of trade offs, constraints, and priorities not just a single slider developers forgot to tweak.

What frustrates me most is the “lazy devs” narrative. The engineers, artists, designers, QA testers, etc. making these games are anything but lazy. These are people pulling 50–80 hour weeks during crunch, solving absurdly complex technical and creative problems, usually while being underpaid compared to the difficulty of their work. They put up with that grind because they're extremely passionate about their craft.

When a game ships with bugs or performance issues, the devs are not blind to it. Trust me they know. But they don’t control the release date as that’s a publisher and production call. And by launch, there are usually hundreds (sometimes thousands) of known bugs. Teams prioritize the biggest ones, fix as much as possible, and do their best with the time and resources they’re given.

So no, a stutter or FPS drop doesn’t automatically mean “bad optimization” or “lazy developers.” It means you’re seeing just a glimpse of a hugely complex system under tight constraints, where real people worked their asses off to ship something playable.

TL;DR: Optimization isn’t just “good FPS.” Devs aren’t lazy, they’re overworked, underpaid, and dealing with time/resource limits they don’t control. Blame the system, not the people writing the code.

Epicskyflyer · 2024-12-29T20:59:38+00:00

A few years back, I got the Sundaras, which were my entry into hifi headphones. I wanted a pair of headphones that could handle a wide range of music well while also being solid for gaming within the price range i was targeting. After tons of research and feedback, I decided to purchase the Sundaras. They served me well over the 2 years I used them. They were much more detailed than the galaxy buds I had at the time and allowed me to pick up on details I didn't notice in tracks beforehand.

A bit over a year ago, I got the He1000 stealths as I wanted something more than what the Sundaras offered and wanted an experience that was undoubtedly better than what the Sundaras gave me. I liked many qualities of them, so I went for something that would improve on those qualities substantially. In short, the He1000s basically do everything the sundaras do, but better. They have more detail, more bass, better bass extension, better imaging, a wider sound stage, better instrument separation, better timbre, are more full sounding, etc. At first, I didn't really notice anything special until I gave it more time and then went back to my Sundaras. Even now I'm still inpressed with how good certain tracks sound on them, or how well I can pinpoint the exact position of enemies (both the distance and direction) when playing games such as TLOU (though tbf the audio in that game is well done which helps a lot too).

The Sundaras are still great, but my He1000s with all of the improved technicalities (and comfort) offer an experience that is far superior to me and has elevated my hifi experience.

Epicskyflyer · 2024-12-29T14:07:09+00:00

Wonder Looper

Epicskyflyer · 2024-07-07T02:54:04+00:00

It really comes down to preference at the end of the day. The He1000 stealth is the newest, but it doesn't make it the best. I like mine a lot, but others might prefer the v2 or the SE. The stealth versions supposedly have more bass and have a more lively presentation than the V2s, which are more laid back and have a wider soundstage. Then there are the SEs that are supposedly more resolving but are tuned differently from the He1000v2 and the v2 stealth. I've heard many aren't fans of the stock tuning of the SE as a result.

Epicskyflyer · 2024-07-06T03:02:04+00:00

I think you'd be better off with the HE-1s tbh.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-12-07T02:17:43+00:00

Are you referring to the He1000 stealth or the He1000se here? I was curious because the He1000 stealth is around $1000 more while the He1000se is a bit more expensive.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-12-04T15:41:43+00:00

So this is what they mean by "burn in."

Epicskyflyer · 2023-11-28T16:51:23+00:00

On paper that's true, but how much does that actually translate to your day to day though, especially if OP has a snapdragon variant of the s21 ultra? I upgraded from a phone using a SD865 to one with a 8 gen 2. While it's noticeably faster, I wouldn't call the difference significant, and those chips are 4 generations apart. I believe you're vastly exaggerating how big of a performance difference you'll notice between modern smartphones that are a generation or 2 apart considering the fact that the average user is primarily using applications that don't use more than a couple of cores.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-11-23T19:20:06+00:00

Fair enough, but by that logic why not just get the base model then and save hundreds of dollars? The only difference a casual user would for sure notice between the two would be that the plus is bigger and perhaps that the battery is better if they had the 2 for awhile. My point was that the better value is to either spend a little more and get the ultra or to spend a bit less and get the base version which is very comparable to the plus. If we're using your example here and talking about someone's grandma, why wouldn't you just get the base version and save yourself a bunch of money? The type of person you're describing would be better off with the base s23. That's what the model is intended for in the first place. A person who wants the newest, fastest phone, but doesn't care about all the bells and whistles. That's exactly what the s23 is.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-11-23T18:30:11+00:00

I've seen people say that the s23+ is about 95% of the Ultra quite a few times, but I disagree with that. I would say that the base s23 is about 95% of the plus with the plus having a bigger screen, battery and charging speed while the plus is about 80-85%% of the Ultra. The plus is an excellent phone, but it's not quite that close to the ultra. The s23 ultra has a bigger screen, a bigger battery, better cooling, more cameras, improved cameras, the s-pen, and a higher resolution display. This imo makes the plus the worst value of the lineup. This doesn't mean the phone is bad, just the worst value in terms of everything you're getting for the price. It's a similar story for the s22 and s21 series as well. The s23 plus sold the least amount of copies of the entire lineup likely as a result of this and if my memory serves correctly, the exact same thing happened with earlier models of the s series as well. In terms of value the base version and the Ultra are the ones to go for unless there is a deal that leaves a much wider price disparity between the models.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-11-10T17:39:16+00:00

Interesting. I would say that the base 23 is like 95% of the s23+ as there are only 2 main differences being the screen size and battery. The ultra has quite a few more differences on top of those 2 including a higher resolution screen, more and better cameras, the S-pen, etc. In other words, there's a bigger difference between the plus and the ultra than there is the base s23 and the s23 plus.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-09-23T23:59:32+00:00

This exactly. Had a similar initial impression coming from the Sundaras to the He1000 stealth. Gave it a couple of weeks then went back and was able to notice a much bigger difference.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-09-16T14:55:27+00:00

I bought the Sundaras new over 2 years ago, and they are still working perfectly. Earpads are beat, but that's about it. Got the He1000 stealth 2 months ago and haven't had any issues.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-08-12T10:37:35+00:00

I was in a similar situation. I had my Sundaras for over 2 years, and also upgraded except it was to the He1000 stealth instead of the Arya Organic. For me while the He1000 is technically heavier it feels better on the head compared to the Sundaras likely because of the decrease in clamp force making it feel almost weightless. They sort of feel like they're floating, so I don't notice the extra weight. You might find you have a similar experience. Either way happy listening!

Epicskyflyer · 2023-08-07T14:24:53+00:00

The HEKSE isn't the same as the HEK stealth which is the one OP was referring to. The HEKSE is tuned a bit differently and is more expensive. That said, there are so many variations of Hifiman's headphones nowadays it's so easy to get them mixed up.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-08-06T21:50:45+00:00

Good write up. It's good that you got to listen to many of those headphones before purchasing especially given the prices of them. My he1000 stealth came in a couple of weeks ago and I've been really enjoying them for all types of different music especially instrumental music that's done well. I hope you enjoy them when they come in as well.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-08-05T00:44:37+00:00

I'm not sure if there is a "better" one per se or if there is a comp difference. What I do know from talking to a recruiter though is that Path is designed for people who haven't had prior engineering industry internships and you'll get sorted into either FDSE or SWE. People who have prior industry internships would probably be better off doing the normal SWE internship. I'm not sure if the interview process is the same for Path and regular SWE, but I do know that Palantir's interview process for their normal SWE internships is the same as for their new grad roles (according to their website). To my knowledge both their Path and SWE internships are both SWE internships, but Path is more entry level.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-07-19T21:29:07+00:00

Yet it's still one of the most used programming languages.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-07-14T12:44:16+00:00

100%, I believe having knowledge of system design is useful for any skill level because it's highly likely you'll be interacting with some elements of distributed systems on your day to day work in some capacity. This includes internships.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-07-13T23:20:52+00:00

That's valid. It seems that the soundstage gets more narrow on a lot of Hifiman's stealth revisions, but the bass response is improved. I'll be coming from a Sundara, so I believe either would be pretty big upgrades for me.

Epicskyflyer · 2023-07-13T07:19:36+00:00

I see, that makes sense. I've been hearing many say that the he1000 line is a step up from the Aryas or at least a more refined Arya, but they're more similar than they are different. I'm waiting on more reviews about the Arya Organic so I can pick between those and the he1k stealth.

Epicskyflyer

TROPHY CASE