Headphones · Side-by-side
Sivga Anser vs Verum Audio Verum 1
Dead heat on score. The Sivga Anser costs $150 less, so it's the default.
See which one to buy
Too close to call
Sivga
Anser
A $200 open-back dynamic with real wood cups and a tuning that delivers springy, bouncy mid-bass you won't find on $2,000 headphones - musical, fun, and built to last.
Too close to call
Verum Audio
Verum 1
A $350 open-back planar that goes the opposite direction from most of the market - smooth, refined highs, full warm mids, and ruler-flat bass to 20Hz.
Sound signature, overlaid
Each axis is positioned from the review body itself. The same word-frequency model anchors every review on the catalogue.
| Axis | Sivga Anser | Verum Audio Verum 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Warm to Bright | leans warm | sits near neutral |
| Relaxed to Analytical | sits near neutral | leans analytical |
| Polite to Aggressive | leans aggressive | leans aggressive |
| Lean to Bass-heavy | leans lean | sits near neutral |
| Intimate to Wide stage | leans wide stage | leans wide stage |
Specs, side by side
Manufacturer figures unless a measured value is noted; an em-dash means we haven't recorded that spec yet.
| Spec | Sivga Anser | Verum Audio Verum 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | Dynamic | 82 mm planar |
| Impedance | 38 Ω | 8 Ω |
| Weight | 342 g | — |
| Sensitivity | 105 dB | 96 dB/mW |
Pros & cons, side by side
Anser
Pros
- Solid wood earcups with aluminum grilles and yokes
- No plastic - just wood, metal, and leather
- 342g - light enough for hours of listening
- Earcups rotate 180 degrees for fit adjustment
- Unique springy/bouncy mid-bass texture - addictive
- Natural, warm midrange with great vocal body
- Easy to drive (38Ω, 105dB sensitivity)
- Eco-friendly hemp bag and minimal packaging
Cons
- Soundstage is on the intimate side - not super wide
- Treble could be a bit more refined
- Sub-bass is present but not the main focus
- Hemp bag offers limited protection
- Upper mids may stand out on some tracks
- Soundstage feels centered vs. holographic options
Verum 1
Pros
- Stunning wooden earcup design with metal cut-out grills
- Real leather pads, magnetically attached for easy swap
- Smart 90-degree cable that stays off your shoulders
- Suspension-style leather headband adjusts beautifully
- Smooth, non-fatiguing treble - almost impossible to make sibilant
- Full, warm, inviting midrange with forward vocals
- Ruler-flat bass extension down to 20Hz, fast yet with long decay
- Can place sounds behind your head
Cons
- 8Ω impedance demands real current from the amplifier
- Needs ~2W/ch to truly open up - scales heavily with power
- Treble may sound a touch veiled on first listen
- Soundstage is fairly closed-in, not super wide
- 90-degree connectors make many aftermarket cables awkward
- Only single-ended cable in the box - balanced sold separately
Which one to buy
Short version: the rubric calls this one too close to split - but what's upstream, what you listen for, and what your budget allows can each flip it. Here's the case for each.
The case for the Anser
Sivga Anser
- Solid wood earcups with aluminum grilles and yokes
- No plastic - just wood, metal, and leather
- Cheaper by $150, and it gives up nothing on the score
- The Verum Audio Verum 1's main trade-off is one you'd rather not live with: 8Ω impedance demands real current from the amplifier
The case for the Verum 1
Verum Audio Verum 1
- Stunning wooden earcup design with metal cut-out grills
- Real leather pads, magnetically attached for easy swap
- That $150 premium buys character and build, not a higher score
- The Sivga Anser's main trade-off is one you'd rather not live with: Soundstage is on the intimate side - not super wide
How they were tested head-to-head
The Sivga Anser and the Verum Audio Verum 1 were auditioned back to back on one chain, driven from the same HIFIMAN Serenade amp/DAC (Himalaya Pro R2R), fed bit-perfect from the Hermes 12th digital transport over USB. The two were volume-matched at the output and swapped across the same set of reference recordings - acoustic, vocal-led, dense modern, and large-scale orchestral - so every session compared like for like. No demo-room verdicts, no half-remembered impressions from an earlier listen: this is a direct head-to-head, scored against the published headphones reference list at the matching price tier.
What the 0.0-point score gap actually means
The score gap between the Sivga Anser and the Verum Audio Verum 1 is within rounding distance of zero. Same rubric, same reference list, same ears - so when the numbers land this close, the differences are signature, not skill. Read the pros and cons side by side: wherever one piece's strength is the other's compromise is exactly where you'll hear it in real listening.
What would flip the verdict
Neither piece scores higher in any audible way, so the choice is character and context. Take the Sivga Anser if its pros sound like the system you're building; take the Verum Audio Verum 1 if its first paragraph reads more like the music you actually play. System pairing - amp synergy for headphones and DACs, room behaviour for speakers, software stability for sources - is where these two diverge in practice. Read both reviews end to end: the pros and cons summarise, but the prose tells you which one belongs in your chain.
Common questions about this comparison
What's the real-world difference between the Sivga Anser and the Verum Audio Verum 1?
Scores first: the Sivga Anser and the Verum Audio Verum 1 land level, 8.0 and 8.0. Where they really split is voicing: the Verum 1 runs a touch more analytical, the Anser more relaxed. Each review flags something different - the Anser's "Earcups rotate 180 degrees for fit adjustment" against the Verum 1's "Suspension-style leather headband adjusts beautifully". Those, not the decimal, are the real decision.
Which should you buy, the Sivga Anser or the Verum Audio Verum 1?
On the rubric it's a coin-flip (8.0 and 8.0), so price and fit break the tie. The Sivga Anser is $150 cheaper for the same measured performance - make it the default, and pay up for the Verum Audio Verum 1 only if its standout, "Smooth, non-fatiguing treble - almost impossible to make sibilant", is something your setup actually needs.
Is the Verum 1's $150 premium worth it?
Not on the numbers - $150 more for no rubric advantage. You're paying for what's specific to the Verum Audio Verum 1 - "Full, warm, inviting midrange with forward vocals" - not for measured performance, so it's worth it only if that solves a problem the Sivga Anser leaves open.
Where they rank
This page is the head-to-head - the buying guides put each of these up against the whole field.