They’re my neutral for those things, so I can’t really give you much of a description. The Sundaras are perceptibly more open and more pinpoint when compared in a back-to-back listen, but I don’t notice the Blues being narrow or vague.

At the end of the day, they’re just a better looking T50 that comes with Dekoni pads.

In a word? Comfortable.

They’re easily the most physically comfortable-to-wear headphones I have first-hand experience with. I can have these on all day without thinking about it.

The sound signature is warm, think basshead easy listening. They’re not the most analytical/detailed headphone, but not in any sort of distracting way, it’s just the corners are a bit rounded off. To get super subjective, it’s like after you have that first hit and the world keeps it’s saturation, but the edges calm down a bit.

I HATE how they sound with the Oratory EQ settings. Just ruins their sound (in contrast, using the Oratory EQ settings on Sundaras make them easily 10% better across the board). I don’t know if it’s a case of the Blues not taking well to EQ in general, or just those settings not working with the driver/enclosure/resonance/snakeoil/etc/etc.

I think they’d be a potential upgrade for someone who likes the sound of Portapros with Yaxi pads.

Sundara is the best sound quality that meets my financial tolerance. I bought open-box from a reputable seller, so Hifiman QA issues were minimized. Takes to EQ super well if I ever get bored of their stock signature.

I don’t really get into the whole “these headphones are for this genre” thing. I listen to everything with all my headphones. What drives which one I use is based more on the context in which I’m listening and my mood at the time. Sundara is for focused listening, Blues are for more relaxed, all-day background music, XM4s are for yardwork and flights, Space Travels are at work and other places where I need to keep situational awareness.

You’re going to have to be a lot more specific as to what you mean by “good” and what qualifies for you as “budget”. Also, if you’re looking for closed back or open back, wired or wireless, overears or iems…

I’d recommend posting this, with that added info, over in r/headphoneadvice

To anybody who actually cares (and whose opinion I care about enough to warrant explanation), I just explain how each pair has a different use and why that pair is better for that use than any of the other ones.

Has anyone taken a pair of these and converted them to open back? Are they a different driver than the regular Sundara?