Audionoob5000
Member
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2021
- Messages
- 6
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- 12
Placing the hands over the cups seems like such an obvious suggestion in hindsight... I tried it and the difference is huge. With the hands on the cups everything is much more "pushed together" and muddy. I also tried this with the HD558 and it doesn't really make a difference. This matches something else that I observed: The Arya leak A LOT of sound, which shouldn't be surprising as they are open headphones, but the amount of leakage still surprised me, because the HD558 are also open-back, but leak very little.The HD558 was my first good headphone too I loved them and still use and like their successors. Give some time to the Arya, revisit old music you’ve always liked and try something new also, then go back to the HD558 after some days.
It is normal to get used to a specific sound signature, but please do not believe myths like the burn-in magic, even when something changes between a brand new driver and a well used one, it is not something even a well trained human can ear, it is just outside what’s possible, so you now have an alarm bell to listen for someone starts talking about burn-in, cables and different DACs, it is guaranteed that at best is being delusional, at worst is a real fraud, especially if it is a reviewer.
Anyway, what really surprises me in your experience is that, perceived quality apart, you find the planars so similar to the Sennheiser, when I was pretty sure that at least the openness of the Arya should feel very apparent compared to the pretty “intimate” sound of the HD558. Try to place your hands over the cups while listening on both headphones…
I have now listened to the Arya for a couple of days and I think I am beginning to detect differences.