Hifiman Arya Review (headphone)

[Ezees]

I bought mine with 40 hours and have put hundreds on it since and they sound the same. Some guys are talking about the sound changing in basically increments of 25 hours and how they just keep getting better and better....75,100,125,150 ! So then you create a lot of expectations bias and of course it sorta makes something that moves needs to "loosen up" to its operational point, but that is just an assumption being made. Speakers need only just a bit to break in the woofers. In fact my s400 speakers have a recommendation of a few hundred hours, but to me it didn't make a difference.

I don't know about them still improving after 300+ hours but from brand new "initial listen" up to about 100 hours of play are the most significant/noticeable changes. Of course from person to person with the caveat, YMMV.

 

[Ezees]

Your brand new Arya out of the box will sound the same as a "burned in" Arya if the pads are the same wear and considering quality control, that you do get two headphones without channel imbalance and that measure the same.



Don't listen to all that bullshit, you can even see on some chifi Headphones that the burn in period strangely matches your return window on Aliexpress or similar.

I'm aware of the tactic - doesn't fit all cans though.

 

[Ezees]

Sure.
My point was if after 70 hours of playing the sound of the drivers would change noticeably, then probably the sound would be changing even more after more hours. What would stop the change after the drivers reached "the sweet spot"?
Also if physical burn-in was real, why wouldn't headphone manufactures let the drivers burn-in in factory so that the headphones would get to clients with best possible sound?
Those are just a couple of logical questions for me against physical burn-in.

The Arya manual also suggest that couple of hours of listening are needed to reach the best sound, but there is no mention about physical driver change, so my guess is that they are counting on "brain burn-in".

After a time things reach an "equilibrium", where drive level doesn't flex the driver with any more excursion outside of it's normal travel. Of course with greater levels outside of what the driver can handle the driver material will rupture and break. As far as factory burn in, that takes time and time is more money spent on wages. More money spent on wages means that the extra expense has to factored into the retail cost. Some manufacturers do burn in their gears before they pass QC and are shipped, but those are usually on the much more expensive side. Any time not at the retailer or on the market is money.

 

[Ezees]

I always wondered: if headphone drivers somehow loosened up to produce better sound after a couple of hours of listening, how many hours of listening before they loosen too much and start producing worse sound

Depends on too high signal levels over too long a continuous time. All things have a breaking point.

 

[Robbo99999]

@Ezees, you really do talk a look of voodoo with your driver burn-in & the sound of cables/DACS, etc if I remember rightly. We keep telling you none of this happens, but you keep believing it....we can't keep describing why this is the case & why you think these things are true, but once in a while someone will have to say something so newbies aren't unduly influenced with your voodoo.

 

[riffmaker]

Well since brain starts to loose audio memory after around half a second, I can’t imagine how can somebody objectively compare a difference 100 hours apart…

It might be fun experiment for amir to measure a new headphones and then re-measure it after 100 hours of playing. But of course there would be people claiming that there are other aspects than frequency response affected by the burn in

 

[adamjohari]

Hi everyone, I have a Hifiman Arya with a Topping D10s and Drop THX 789. I just learned about Equalizer APO + Peace.
Does installing Equalizer APO improve the sound of the Hifiman Arya? Does one need to use APO when there's already a DAC in place? Thanks in advance, still a noob here.

 

[solderdude]

Does installing Equalizer APO improve the sound of the Hifiman Arya?

It should when you set the EQ correctly. This means the correct config file (or settings) for Arya have to be used.

The DAC and amp are irrelevant.

 

[adamjohari]

It should when you set the EQ correctly. This means the correct config file (or settings) for Arya have to be used.

The DAC and amp are irrelevant.

Thanks. I installed Equalizer APO + Peace. Downloaded the Auto EQ files and tried different versions. Think I like Rtings presets the most. Just want to make sure I'm not degrading the quality or over-enhancing the sound.

 

[Jabinho]

Is it stealth magnet version? It should have sticker at the box.

Is this really the Stealth magnet version or the more original Arya ? Hifiman is selling both version.

 

[solderdude]

Just want to make sure I'm not degrading the quality or over-enhancing the sound.

When the used pre-sets improve the sound you are not degrading fidelity.
Chances are when you are EQ'ing to an EQ based on Harman target that bass could be a bit over-done.

 

[Ezees]

Hi everyone, I have a Hifiman Arya with a Topping D10s and Drop THX 789. I just learned about Equalizer APO + Peace.
Does installing Equalizer APO improve the sound of the Hifiman Arya? Does one need to use APO when there's already a DAC in place? Thanks in advance, still a noob here.

I'd say try your Aryas without EQ first, so that you can get a grip on how they "naturally" sound without enhancements. Then EQ to taste using Harman's or other popular presets. I have the Stealth Edition and I don't feel the need to EQ at all. Of course my ears, sources, and chain is different from yours.

 

[Phoney]

So this review is for the Stealth version? Is the EQ preset still viable for v2? Or should I try to find different EQ preset for v2 specifically?

 

[Tachyon88]

So this review is for the Stealth version? Is the EQ preset still viable for v2? Or should I try to find different EQ preset for v2 specifically?

This is the only version he has measured. Pretty sure the stock FR between all three are extremely close. You can still use it, as its just an aproximation. Check out oratory1990 settings as well. My assumption is that he used a V1, but I use it with my V2.

 

[GaryH]

So this review is for the Stealth version? Is the EQ preset still viable for v2? Or should I try to find different EQ preset for v2 specifically?

Here's the difference between them:

 

[Jabinho]

Here is one opinion about Arya stealth vs the "normal" Arya

 

[Arius]

So is Oratorys EQ for Arya still good for the V3? https://www.dropbox.com/s/nu2bf4le1k87n5v/Hifiman Arya.pdf?dl=0

 

[adamjohari]

Oratory and Rtings are quite close I feel. But both of them had a pre-gain of like -4.9db. Which I felt reduced the loudness too much. I changed that to -3db and it feels good now.

 

[abhishek]

Hello I'm new to this forum
I recently upgraded from sennheiser hd598 to arya.
Using arya v2 with fiio k3 DAC on high gain, TOPPING A50S as Amp On high gain,using 4.4mm balanced output.

Using poweramp player, with 20 band eq with peak of +5.8 Db at 29hz and -8db preamp(to prevent digital clipping)
Volume knob set to 2 o'clock on Amp
Most songs are louder and punchy without any audible distortion.
I can even feel tight and powerfull bass below 10hz.
My question is,will i get any noticeable improvement in audio if I switch to high-end DAC?
And how much power does arya can handle before it starts clipping?

 

[Jimbob54]

Hello I'm new to this forum
I recently upgraded from sennheiser hd598 to arya.
Using arya v2 with fiio k3 DAC on high gain, TOPPING A50S as Amp On high gain,using 4.4mm balanced output.

Using poweramp player, with 20 band eq with peak of +5.8 Db at 29hz and -8db preamp(to prevent digital clipping)
Volume knob set to 2 o'clock on Amp
Most songs are louder and punchy without any audible distortion.
I can even feel tight and powerfull bass below 10hz.
My question is,will i get any noticeable improvement in audio if I switch to high-end DAC?
And how much power does arya can handle before it starts clipping?
View attachment 173018

Changing DACs wont change much if anything.

Reduce your preamp to -6db and see if low gain on DAC and/ or amp will be enough. I doubt it will make much difference either, but just to get a handle on what power you actually need.