Sendy Audio Aiva – Magnetostatic Stereo Headphones Review – Lots of wood, but still a fair price and some trouble for the competitors

After all the necessary technical details and measurements, we finally come to the most important: How does the Sendy Audio Aiva sound in the subjective check? We now continue where it sometimes hurts more: namely with the individual listening test across all genres and some games. The Sendy Audio Aiva was diligently played in over days (whether you believe in it or not), so this argument is no longer applicable. I use my Tidal playlists (master) with classical, jazz, rock, electronic music and various vocals (soul, choir music) in the loop.

Bass range

 

Music: The open Sendy Audio Aiva doesn’t even fail at the subcontraoctave, but it does somewhat fail at the delivered level below 33 Hz, which doesn’t deliver as concise results as a closed system without manual tweaking on an equalizer. Nevertheless, the Sendy Audio Aiva plays really deep and, above all, it’s quick-witted and crisp. The huge drivers don’t tend to resonate, which is really pleasing. The contraoctave including the big bass drum is a bit more dominant, but also remains dry as dust and discreet.

Nothing hums or scrapes, not even in the beginning, but it also remains free of ugly resonances. The bass is where it belongs, but may sound a bit too anemic for some. Listening habits certainly play a big role here, but the possible level stability is okay. That’s fine, because even when using an EQ with larger manual bass boosts below 64 Hz, the Sendy Audio Aiva doesn’t run out of steam that quickly. But here you need a very potent headphone amplifier in the low impedance range.

Gaming: For gaming, the grenades could boom a bit louder, but you can still hear everything above the boosted frequency range in parallel, even if you completely overdo it with the level and an EQ, which works really well. The differentiation of the individual sound layers and frequency ranges is phenomenal here and one beats the actually sovereign T1 easily even without foregrounding. It doesn’t sound too dominant without EQ, but still full enough.

 

Music: This area sounds refreshingly natural without being extra fatted and is thus one of the highlights of the Sendy Audio Aiva. The low end never pushes the upper bass towards the mids even at high levels, which really thrills me as a fundamental fanatic. The male vocals are modeled quite full and rich, but also remain completely dry as dust, which almost drifts a bit into the coolness of the analytic. But only almost. The instruments are also tied slightly neutral, but this does not sound unpleasant, because neutral does not mean cold, but rather restrained and not overemphasized.

Gaming: That’s how gaming should be! No one needs the bathtub scuffle and human voices get a rock-solid foundation here. Some will wonder if the voice actors in the game are still the same. This is really striking in places and comes very close to the respective original. The Sendy Audio Aiva is certainly no slouch in gaming at this pitch.

Midrange

 

Music: This sounds fuller than the linear alignment would suggest, but not too warm. Despite a slightly velvety interpretation, many details of the fundamental frequencies remain very close to the original and do not blur into an exaggerated fireside ambience. However, there’s no analytical refrigerator either. This style of playing with the pleasantly warm lower mids is really well done and continues consistently upwards. Female vocals sound at least as confident in the foundation as the male ones. Chapeau, because the T1 is at a disadvantage here as well, even if it has a slightly better resolution from a subjective point of view.

Gaming: The female vowels stay where they belong and always understandable. The fundamental range also has a nice foundation here, on which it can be built up well towards the top.

 

Music: It remains almost linear up to 2 KHz, which is very conducive to the differentiated reproduction. The stage is really wide and the subjectively perceived quality of the spatial resolution is on an extremely high level. Whether you like it that way in detail with a somewhat too large stereo base width remains to be seen, but it actually succeeds quite well with both opponents. From a purely subjective point of view, a large orchestra seems very broadly positioned in the Sendy Audio Aiva, but still well staggered in the depth and still quite plausibly positioned in total. High levels with a lot of sources playing together are not an issue here, because the localization remains given. However, the T1 is a bit more sovereign in the finale furioso, because it can handle a higher sound pressure level. So it is generally a bit louder (and more annoying) in the presence area anyway.

Gaming: Here, the level is not quite as critical; almost everything is as you would like it to be as a gamer. The localization of the sound sources is really above average and even a loud thump in the bass range doesn’t push up to here, but everything stays firmly on the sound floor. Any gaming headset, no matter how well tuned, can only go weeping sadly in the yard.

 

Tweeter range

 

Music: The reproduction remains smoothly unstressed and it rests on the very good and almost neutrally well-modeled mids. The speech intelligibility as well as the quality of the vocals during recognition can absolutely convince. I already wrote: the presence range is emphasized, but not as strongly as with some other headphones in this price range. Personally, I like it except well because it is not tiring.

Gaming: Exactly the same applies here, the result can also convince in gaming. Perhaps it is also a bit too restrained, but that does not bother me so much when gaming. You already hear more than is really there.

 

Music and gaming: The treble is good, but goes on the big offensive again at 6 to 7 kHz. This creates a certain exaggeration, also known as the so-called “Beyer Peak”. Sibilants and blow-off noises are sometimes very superficial and it slides, albeit less frequently, into something metallic and peaky. If the base tones are still pleasant and full, slightly icy treble air already forms here. The super high frequency plays to the inaudible and is thus also free of any criticism.

Summary and conclusion

Let’s start with the criticism, which is much more concise than the praise. Yes, the Sendy Audio Aiva is a highly interesting headphone, but its stereo impression is almost a bit overly wide. In the perceived center, the resolution is still very fine, which the T1 does not manage in this way. In return, the Sendy Audio Aiva pushes everything that is positioned rather slightly outside a bit further to the edge. This is not even really annoying, but it can definitely be a bit irritating with well-known pieces of music. At least at the beginning, because you can get used to that pretty quickly, too.

Sometimes you just have the feeling that certain sources (especially from the upper mids) are already placed a bit too far out and the Sendy Audio Aiva then works a bit more on the width than on the spatial depth, but this is deceptive. It is not the depth that is too shallow, but the width that is too somewhat voluminous. However, that is whining at the very highest level, rather good for gaming and yet a minor flaw, so the T1 then wins this category, albeit narrowly.

And now we come to the praise and the reasons why I kept this part as a replacement: The Sendy Audio Aiva sits on my head (subjective judgment) despite the high weight simply worlds better. The well-contoured and very well ventilated ear pads, as well as the matching hinge mechanism, are exactly what give me a long-term wearing comfort that I have rarely had before. Add to that the visual and tactile appeal that can really be seen and felt. The plus is then still tonal tuning, which also guarantees me a longer and fatigue-free listening.

Bass is surprisingly deep and crisp for an open headphone. The trebles are raised a bit more in places, but without seeming too peaky. The presence range below, on the other hand, is slightly reduced, but is still sufficiently voluminous and thus even appears pleasantly velvety and soft. In the overall picture, this seems to lower the midrange a bit, which is not the case in reality. It only seems that way, as the measurement curve proves, because bass and treble play up so confidently.

Speaking of treble, the Sendy Audio Aiva plays the treble securely, in places (a bit too) concise, but always agile and properly detailed. Yes, it is reasonably airy, but not too much. And it’s not biting either, even if it’s already neatly pointed in places. Those who like Bach trumpets will find what they are looking for here in any case. without immediately getting a gritty Jericho feel. The resolution is without fault in all areas and the Sendy Audio Aiva actually already plays in the 1000 euro class. It doesn’t quite come close to its big brother Sendy Audio Peacock, but the latter also costs over twice as much. In the meantime I was allowed to listen to it once and I was blown away. Only the price was then still in the way and it became “only” the Aiva. It’s easy to overdo it when it comes to audio.

The Sendy Audio Aiva is upper class and not high-end, just like the Beyerdynamik T1. The trend is really upwards, because in some areas it can even outperform the T1, which costs around 40% more. This also resulted in a 1:1 swap for me, so that I did not lose anything financially. But there are also moments when a symmetrical connection, cleanly finished wood, the best ear cushions I’ve ever had and the good planar drivers put a big smile on your face. Then, at the latest, you can sit back with satisfaction because you haven’t done anything wrong.

And with that, the Sendy Audio Aiva is worth a personal recommendation to me, even if I have to qualify that you have to like this kind of reproduction and sound development. It is, without equalizer, only conditionally a pure fun headphone, you have to be aware of that. But it is suitable for long-term use, anything but stressful and, above all, honest. And as we all know, honesty is the best policy. Let’s call it a super sports car with an undiminished talent for relaxed cruising. This has charm, even if you put the pedal to the metal.

After note

The drivers of such headphones are usually found in very different models, where it goes cheaper, but even more expensive. Only a driver is not the sole feature, because the rest must also be perfectly matched and harmonize well. These are then not only optics and haptics, which (should) justify a higher price, but the acute consequences of driver, shell, damping, ear pads, covers and much more. The smallest nunacs are often enough to decide victory or defeat. From this point of view, the price is high, but also acceptable if you subject a headphone to your own demands and it fulfills them more or less well.