Final Audio Pandora VI

In short, without rambling on too much ..... I would appreciate your folks input on this headphone. I'm just getting into the headphone scene. I'm a long time home stereo guy but now with kids studying or going to bed early I believe headphones will allow me to continue listening without disturbing anyone.

Working offshore and living overseas in Belgium, I just don't have the time to source and do my own testing. I will more than likely end up with the Sennheiser 650 and might even snag the 400S.

Cost is not an issue ...but bang for buck is. I don't necessarily have to have the best ....but I certainly do appreciate articulated deep bass, bang on mids and extended highs.

i listen to pretty much eveything exept country & opera .... as long as its recorded well, I'm in.

Thanks for the time ....first post .... .w00t!!!

 

Fit is ridiculously loose in my experience. Note that I heard this phone half a year ago so take my opinion with a hefty grain of salt. Bass-tilted signature, kinda smooth, minor treble funkiness. Suited for Japanese pop music, may not be ideal for acoustic.

 

I personally have absolutely zero experience with this headphone however if you are looking for general advice maybe you should take a look at "The all purpose advice thread" or "Super Best Audio Friends Leaderboard" under the category general meeting place. You can find these under "Leaderboard, Overboard, Gear Advice and Deals"

But personally I would not buy HD650 before hearing it, it's a quite special headphone. Some hate it's signature some love it, it's quite dark sounding. But to be honest if I was going for a bang for buck setup I wouldn't invest too much into DAC/Amp, it all depends on which headphone you end up getting. But I don't feel comfortable giving you advice here so I'll probably pass you on to those threads. However coming from a stereo setup you should probably be looking at as neutral things as possible, maybe K7xx HE-400S, maybe HD600. I don't quite know.

Good luck and welcome to SBAF! (Sorry for not being too useful)

 

Tried it awhile back at Jaben and hard to recommend if you haven't try it yourself. One thing I must say however is that if you plan to use high powered desktop amplifier, make sure you have enough head room to play with the volume as I remembered was fairly sensitve at 105db/mw with 8 ohms impedance which was a turn off for me.

Sound signature wise, like all FAD it has an exaggerated mid forward sounding with a somewhat ok'ish soundstage.

 

I remember liking them quite a bit. Good bass presence (sub and mid), not piercing, mids were a bit scooped. More or less U-shaped but pretty clean and clear. Imaging was not super great though and they were uncomfortable for me. That was the deal breaker. The pads were not great and they were heavy.

This is all from memory though, and I'm referring to the old version. Haven't heard the new Sonorous VI

 

Thank you for all the informative responses. It appears, much like everything else in life, that there are no short cuts.

I've located a few retailers and dealers in the Netherlands .....appears a road trip is in order next time home. Unless someone can point me to good shops in Belgium? Please don't say Alpha as they are not my cup of tea.

 

Hope you got a chance to listen to them. I, myself have been using the Final PH-VI for the last 15 months and I feel it is the best headphone available in the sub $1000 price bracket. You can get it for as low as $400 if you find the right dealer online. If you're still interested in getting them, I will recommend you to go to the 6moons web site and check out Srajan's review of the Pandora Hope VI.

These are certainly exciting times as I am eager to see how the Focal Elear performs against these as the PH VI has one of the most punchiest headphones around with sparkling highs and a massive sound stage.

 

Final VI is very incoherent. The BA is way too in your face, like a nail gun stuck to your head. Highs sounds incredibly detached from the low-end and mids.

HD650 is the best headphone, especially if you consider the technical aspects. The one thing it doesn't do is "articulated deep bass". Also it needs a good amp to deal with its varying impedance curve.

In short, would recommend the 400S with Focus-A pads. Plus it's not that hard to make it sound good.

 

Okay. My experience was the polar opposite of what you went through, as I feel it is a coherent sounding headphone across the spectrum. How long have you been listening to them?

 

About half an hour or so. Couldn't bare much longer. Don't understand the whole hybrid thing, it's not do-able to get it to sound right. Especially in the timing and energy domains to get a homogenous and cohorent sound is just a fantasy.

I really enjoyed the Sonorous III, though. Much better headphone if you ask me. Or even the Heaven VII, really really undervalued BA IEM.

 

Like Xecutor, my experience has also been the opposite of yours. Which pads were you using? I'd guess the Type A pads, based on your comments. Most find the Type B pads to sound superior on the VI's.

 

I second this . If you ask me IV are even worse than VI, both being hybrids . III are more coherent with their classic technology (dynamic driver). Still I found THx00 being superiors

 

Wouldn't know, the standard pads I guess. Thanks, that's good to know. Won't give the VI a rematch though, hehe

 

Another vote in favour of the Hope/Sonorous VI. I can't remember if type A or B, but they have the thicker, softer pads. They're my best headphone I'd say, and go very nice with an A-class amp such as a Schiit Asgard (the post-HeadFi debacle version). But it seems this is another one of those HD650/love it or hate it headphones.

Perhaps we're listening for different things. I like a nice fluid bass with good definition and decays/reverb in the midrange in particular. But that's for another thread.

 

on tellementnomade.org, few guys are really in love with these VI, indeed they all have noticed quite big differences dependings on the pads used.
From my experience I had a Final Audio, not a more recent Sonorous,I believe they are identical except pads