HiFiMan Sundara

Years running, the headphone we hand to anyone who asks where to start with serious open-backs: even-handed planar tuning, an all-metal headband that shrugs off daily use, and a price that has never needed apologising for.

It does everything respectably and nothing offensively — which sounds faint until you shop this bracket for a while. Budget mixing, first hi-fi listening, long work sessions: same recommendation.

At 32 Ω and 94 dB it plays properly from a laptop; a modest desktop amp adds low-end grip rather than volume. Fully open, so the room hears everything. When the pads eventually flatten, we stock the Pali replacements.