HiFiMAN Arya Full-size Over Ear Planar Magnetic Audiophile Adjustable Headphone

Product Information

Don’t get me wrong – I still love the 800’s giant bubble of sound. Sometimes. But I think the Arya is more honest and more accurate, and definitively better at bass. At times when listening to live recordings I’ve found the Arya’s presentation to be so dead-on accurate that I swear it sounded like the musicians were in the room with me. The 800S, to me, always sounds like you are listening to speakers in a room. Really good speakers in a well-treated room, but still it presents to my ears like near-field speakers. The 800’s sound is more lush, more euphonic even, but less real. It could be the tuning implementation responsible for the slight increase in bass presence which I bet was one of HIFIMAN’s goals with this model. They have a focused character overall and seem to have an improved tonality but a tone sweep revealed my set had a slight right channel deficiency and channel imbalance between 7kHz and 7.5. Perhaps this will iron itself out with further break-in time but that was undetectable during listening. Th

everything between 80 and 300 hertz. In this area, we’ve got instruments like bass guitar and the low end of a So far, HIFIMAN has released four distinct iterations of their very popular mid-tier Arya headphone, and each one has small particular changes and improvements in design and tuning implementations. Seriously if they were the same price, I would have gotten the Sony MDR-1AM2 which sells for ~180€ in my country. The Susvara sells for 6999€ The Organic part in the name of the new Arya seems to suggest that it'll sound more "organic" than the Arya SE, and...that's exactly how things are in some ways. TL R - The Arya Organic has all the pros of the SE, but without cons. My audio chain: Alienware laptop USB out > Schiit Bifrost 2 > Topping A90 / Valhalla 2 (w/ NOS Siemens). Both headphones are run balanced from the A90, with a ¼” adapter for the Valhalla.Now, I might come across as crazy but I sense a dynamic driver-like character, albeit a large panoramic one with a similar amount of impactfulness to a dynamic driver but with the speediness of a nano-membrane planar driver. Staging & Dynamics Hi Louis, The Ether 2’s will need more power than the Arya. Also, it is generally warmer and more relaxing through the upper mids and treble. Physically, the Ether 2 is lighter but both are very comfortable. Personally, I think the Ether 2 has the better build quality. I'm realizing that when I listen to live recorded music, I could see how the V2 soundstage seems huge in a favorable way... but the V3 is no slouch! In all honesty, I think the V3 is overall the better headphone- it really is superior in all ways but soundstage... where it simply presents more accurately and ends up being more musical. Below 50Hz, the Arya Stealth curve is relatively linear with no further dB extension so despite being a more physical and robust tuning compared to older models it is not an overwhelming bass response per se. I’ve never considered the Arya to be the bassist of the high-end planar headphones, but it was always clean and elegant. The response of the Organic spends a lot more time delving into these frequencies, offering a more solidified bass tone. There’s more shake and vibration to the lows, resulting in better sub-bass, and more of a theatrical impact. It really matches the scale of sound signature that the Arya has always featured. While the timbre is darkened quite a bit, the clarity is unchanged. You still get clean bass elements from the low frequencies, their resonance is just more pronounced. The Arya Organic also arrives at this timbre with the exact same velocity and precision as many other areas of the sound signature. Mids

Still, the pressure balance is excellent with the pressure strap and articulating pivot joints on the gimbal able to adjust laterally and vertically to get the fit just right. The huge teardrop-shaped or semi-oval cup with matching hybrid pads easily cleared my ears also so you will find no discomfort there also. The midrange has always been nice with the Arya. They’re always very roomy and accurate, with natural propagation and extension. A good reference for most genres. With the Organic, texture comes more into play, with instruments being given greater accentuation. You can feel a strike of each note hit a lot harder, with the same amount of articulation the other versions of the Arya have provided in the past. It seems like an even thinner veil has been uncovered, which gives the Organic an even crisper edge to its sound. Everything has plenty of room to express its tone, making for some colorful performances. Vocals are pushed forward and almost appear directly in front of you. They have exceptional clarity and cut through busy arrangments particularly well. HighsThe Final D8000, Sony MDR-Z1R or the Sennheiser HD820 are faaaaaar superior to the Susvara in every single aspect you could think of and cost a fraction. Isolation is nihil, so much so that you can still clearly hear you cat purring with music playing (true story!). That also applies in reverse and people can hear your music, so the Arya are definitely not headphones to use in offices, libraries and other shared spaces.

A breakthrough core technology developed by HiFiMAN, it’s the first of its kind in headphone applications. Working with this advanced material is extremely challenging, but the successful incorporation of this film as the Arya’s planar driver is the cornerstone of its remarkable sound. Advanced Asymmetrical Magnetic Circuit It takes a few hours for Arya to break-in. In the beginning It needed 110 on the volume dial, after a 9-10hrs it was playing at the same level with 92~95 on volume wheel. [DX220 with AMP8EX module]If you start playing an well recorded high quality acoustic live concert, everything turns into an weird and unauthentic sounding mess. But apparently there are people who like these for whatever reasons I can not understand. Certainly not because they play instruments and/or know how they sound in real live. There’s nothing really new with the design of the Arya Stealth, and the metal and high grade plastic built headphone features the typical shape of earcups and headband as we have seen many times before. Certain high-end elements lose some of their airier properties but retain a great amount of shine. Their timbre seems a bit less delicate this time around, and instead covers the sound signature in a layer of subtle brightness. They never felt fatiguing, but certain frequencies had a lot more piercing elements for a much hotter treble overall. Summary Bass:The low tones are musical and elastic, and their slightly warmed tone perfectly complements the overall sound. With the EF600, the dynamics of the low tones revealed the enormous technical possibilities offered by the latest aria. Compared to the edition XS, the bass is more natural, linear and much more developed. The low tones have a lot of air and look great with contemporary music, which further enhances the excellent musical experience. The bass is elastic and really fast, showing all the benefits of planar headphones and their full potential. However, these are open headphones, but they have no problems with either the quality or the quantity of low tones, presenting a very high and good level.

Hifiman designed the Arya’s high-quality metal headband with extra strength and a special high-grade plastic for lightweight comfort and rugged durability. I find it to be a very comfy headband, and it allows you to perfectly position the headphone on your head. The side pressure is perfect, the top of your head pressure non-existing. The Arya Stealth weighs just over 400g, but as the pressure is perfectly spread, it together with the soft perfectly sealing earpads (pleather + polyester, not velour) and asymmetrical ear cup shape, makes using this headphone a pure joy. Even for long listening sessions. Living in Glasgow, Scotland but born and raised near Milan, Italy, I got the passion for music listening as a legacy from my father and my grandfather.Arya was driven easily by the AMP8EX module from my DX220. This makes my protable rig complete. Worthy buy as I am not going to upgrade to Susvara/HE1000SE/HE1000V2 any time sooner. It is the best compromise at the moment. Next stop would be the ribbon station :D It’s still a very spacious sound, with floaty imaging and great separation. There is a lot of air showcased in between each individual element, which helps bring out the layers into a more dimensional headspace. The wrap-around goes beyond stereo limits, but the imaging is just brought into a tighter space than in past iterations. However, the width still establishes a great scope, helped by the height of the imaging. Everything about it is still distinctly within HiFiMAN’s usual presentation, just with a few tweaks that bring in subtle changes. Low End Once you go desktop, the Arya Stealth scales really well without any noticeable clipping. Feed it more power and that bass response just hits deeper and the treble gets even more control. Frequency Response Comparison to Sundaras - If Sunadara's are 1080p then Arya is 4K. I approximate them to be 38% better than Sundaras. There is more energy but there also seems to be a better sense of balance within the bass region and no area is bloated or anemic.