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Hifiman Arya Review (headphone)

Rate this headphone:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 12 4.0%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 54 18.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 135 45.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 96 32.3%

  • Total voters
    297

abhishek

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PXL_20220428_151848407~2.jpg

Finally unlocked Arya v2 full potential with topping d10 balanced DAC, topping a30 pro AMP
Pure distortion free audio chain, only my ears starts to distorts at high volume.

Came to know that Arya really require minimum 3Watt per channel to fully unlock its potential.
Funny thing is i thought 300mW was sufficient when i brought it
 

A Surfer

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View attachment 204089
Finally unlocked Arya v2 full potential with topping d10 balanced DAC, topping a30 pro AMP
Pure distortion free audio chain, only my ears starts to distorts at high volume.

Came to know that Arya really require minimum 3Watt per channel to fully unlock its potential.
Funny thing is i thought 300mW was sufficient when i brought it
That really doesn't make sense unless you found the 300mW to be too quiet. If the power is unused, then it is unused. As long as the amplifier has enough dynamic headroom to reach the desired playback volume without clipping or other audible distortion any unused power left in the amplifier means nothing. I use a 180W amplifier with my headphones directly powering them from the speaker terminals and I can tell you that when compared to a normal headphone amplifier, I don't hear any benefit from the unused wattage available. What scientific principle are you suggesting is at play with having unused power left available? This sounds like a head-fi theory.
 

Robbo99999

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View attachment 204089
Finally unlocked Arya v2 full potential with topping d10 balanced DAC, topping a30 pro AMP
Pure distortion free audio chain, only my ears starts to distorts at high volume.

Came to know that Arya really require minimum 3Watt per channel to fully unlock its potential.
Funny thing is i thought 300mW was sufficient when i brought it
Did your previous headphone amp only top out at 300mW? Do you know what your max output voltage was of your previous amp after it had your previous DAC connected to it?
That really doesn't make sense unless you found the 300mW to be too quiet. If the power is unused, then it is unused. As long as the amplifier has enough dynamic headroom to reach the desired playback volume without clipping or other audible distortion any unused power left in the amplifier means nothing. I use a 180W amplifier with my headphones directly powering them from the speaker terminals and I can tell you that when compared to a normal headphone amplifier, I don't hear any benefit from the unused wattage available. What scientific principle are you suggesting is at play with having unused power left available? This sounds like a head-fi theory.
I do agree with you I think, as 3Watt should not be necessary for these headphones. But it does look like the Arya are hard to drive, for instance the 300mw would give 100dB:
Arya sensitivity 300mw.jpg
whilst 1000mw would give 105dB:
Arya sensitivity 1000mw.jpg
If you ran a lot of bass boost and listened loud then you might need an amp with 1000mw (1 Watt) of power. But Arya is quite well extended in the bass and only 5dB away from Harman in the bass, so most people probably wouldn't need to boost bass more than +5dB, so I'd say 1000mw would be enough. I know that for my listening levels that 300mw would be enough for me for these headphones. Actually on reflection, it's the voltage part that it's most heavy on, so he may need the extra voltage of his setup rather than the 3 Watts he's talking about.


EDIT: unless the 90dB efficiency quoted in the specs is in the units of 90dB/mw in which case there would be no problem driving the headphones loud enough.....but if it's in the units of 90dB/V then my above screenshots hold true.

EDIT#2: as Static says below these headphones are actually 90dB/mw, so they'll be easy to drive. I agree with your assessment @A Surfer - he probably shouldn't be noticing a significant difference re current output.
2V & 100mw would give 110dB:
Arya 2V.jpg
and 3V and 300mw would give 114dB:
Arya 3V.jpg
 
Last edited:

Robbo99999

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@Robbo99999 neither the Arya v2, nor the Arya Stealth is 90dB/Vrms. Hifiman rates the original Arya at 90dB/mW. Here's what others have measured:
View attachment 204175
Thanks, was just editing my post as you were typing. Well in that case, these headphones should be no problem to drive then.
 

Robbo99999

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View attachment 204180
Since my right ears high frequency sensitivity is less that's why i require more amplification i guess.
Well, if you use EQ to correct for it then you might need towards 35dB negative preamp. Normally I wouldn't recommend people correct for their hearing in headphone EQ's, not unless you use a hearing aid, as we normally get used to our hearing deficiencies through our own everyday experience, so even if you didn't compensate that area using EQ then it might still sound normal - because that's what you're used to in your everyday life. If you do have a hearing aid because of it, or think you should have one, then it might be a good idea to correct your hearing imbalance in your headphones (and then you wouldn't wear a hearing aid when using your headphones).
 

A Surfer

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View attachment 204180
Since my right ears high frequency sensitivity is less that's why i require more amplification i guess.
Theoretically there is the linkage there, but I highly doubt there is any benefit to you from the unused power. You don't selectively get boost in just the frequency region you wish, and just in one ear. Both ears and the total SPL become louder as you play things louder. That doesn't at all negate the fact that if the original 300mW was still adequate for the total SPL you were asking it to produce then that is the whole story right there.

I am not saying it is impossible to benefit from more power, if you listen at ear bleeding levels consistently maybe, but be prepared for further hearing damage. It sounds like more of an assumption that you are making. Now if you told us that your amp is always at 100% volume, or constantly clipping and you still don't find it loud enough, that would be evidence that you would need more power.
 

abhishek

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Well, if you use EQ to correct for it then you might need towards 35dB negative preamp. Normally I wouldn't recommend people correct for their hearing in headphone EQ's, not unless you use a hearing aid, as we normally get used to our hearing deficiencies through our own everyday experience, so even if you didn't compensate that area using EQ then it might still sound normal - because that's what you're used to in your everyday life. If you do have a hearing aid because of it, or think you should have one, then it might be a good idea to correct your hearing imbalance in your headphones (and then you wouldn't wear a hearing aid when using your headphones).
PXL_20220504_151117319.jpg

I tried peace EQ and adjusted right channel high frequency band, sounds balanced now.
Now i no need to crank up volume as before.
 
Last edited:

Robbo99999

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View attachment 204492
I tried peace EQ and adjusted right channel high frequency band, sounds balanced now.
Now i no need to crank up volume as before.
That is nowhere near, not even in the same realms of deviation that you showed us earlier on the "hearing test". You were up to 30dB difference in one ear above 5kHz, yet in your EQ you're only boosting 4000Hz & 8000Hz by a measily 2dB, and then you're boosting 16 to 20kHz by 4dB (which you probably can't even hear much above 16kHz unless you're young and haven't abused your ears). Yes, so you're not fully nor at all partially correcting your hearing. It seems to me that you're used to your channel imbalance of your ears, like I was talking about in my last post, so maybe that's why it sounds balanced to you even if you're hardly correcting for anything at all in your channel matching EQ. And that doesn't match with what you were intimating earlier about you needing more amp power because you needed to correct for your hearing - presumably with a 30dB negative preamp.....which you're not doing at all because you're hardly correcting for your ear imbalance. Your posts are not really adding up between what you were saying before with what you are showing now. Either way, you certainly don't need a lot of amp power to allow for that tame ear matching EQ you're showing your pic, because no large negative preamp required with that ear matching EQ.
 

Ezees

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View attachment 204089
Finally unlocked Arya v2 full potential with topping d10 balanced DAC, topping a30 pro AMP
Pure distortion free audio chain, only my ears starts to distorts at high volume.

Came to know that Arya really require minimum 3Watt per channel to fully unlock its potential.
Funny thing is i thought 300mW was sufficient when i brought it
I used to drive my v2's with an Emotiva a-100 fed by a Gustard H20's preamp. The Emo's ~12 watts @ 32 ohms made the Arya v2 an altogether different beast in the bass with excellent, mouth-watering control of the drivers. It was hard hitting and started and stopped on a dime. There's something to be said about headroom.
 

edahl

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I used to drive my v2's with an Emotiva a-100 fed by a Gustard H20's preamp. The Emo's ~12 watts @ 32 ohms made the Arya v2 an altogether different beast in the bass with excellent, mouth-watering control of the drivers. It was hard hitting and started and stopped on a dime. There's something to be said about headroom.
Sounds like touting the benefits of a 12 story building when you're staying in the first floor.
 

solderdude

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The Emo's ~12 watts @ 32 ohms made the Arya v2 an altogether different beast in the bass with excellent, mouth-watering control of the drivers.

The 'control over drivers' and 'started and stopped on a dime' is not there in reality.
There is no 'taking control' as damping of orthos is mostly membrane tension and acoustic damping not electrical damping.

With a sensitivity of 107dB/V and 30 ohm impedance you will need 4.5V (0.7W) to reach 120dB SPL and 9V (3W) when EQ'ing to Harman.
Your ears won't be happy but can understand that it sounds mighty impressive with bass boost and turned up impressively loud.

For normal 'loud' listening levels you will only need about 1V (2V when EQ'ed to Harman) = 0.1W (0.06A)
The 11.9W 'headroom' is not used nor does it guarantee a 'higher quality' or 'different' power.
All connected low output R amps are simply voltage sources, not power sources.
You do not 'push' power into a driver. You put a varying voltage across it and it draws a current depending on the voltage at that moment.
 
Last edited:

Bernard23

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Rather its worth it to you is subjective, but is the Arya 8 times the sound quality? Nope! is it even twice the sound quality? Nope! so from a value perspective its pretty bad. For argument sake, say its 15% better, that small increase could be all the world to you, and you can't put a price on that 15% extra enjoyment.

I owned the Sundara and Ananda (Similar to Arya), and I did my best to compare them here.
This. Every now and again I start to imagine an itch, so I start to scratch a bit, then thankfully come back to my senses and not make another impulse huge £££ purchase. The best value upgrade I've made in many years was to subscribe to Roon, for the PEQ. Ultimately, spending more than I have already isn't going to make a crap band suddenly sound great.
 

Bernard23

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Just caught up to date with the thread. I'm convinced my phones sound worse with each passing hour as I hear the deleterious effects of cumulative UV radiation, dust accumulation and general degradation of the base materials....I'm sure some of the atoms get bored and just wander off to be something else for a change.
 

Ezees

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Sounds like touting the benefits of a 12 story building when you're staying in the first floor.
Not at all. What I found by having that extra power on tap was that the Aryas went from sort of polite in it's bass presentation to ultra-dynamic and powerful - it gave me the impression of limitless bass depth, dynamics, and control. Really a sight to behold (beheard, haha).
 

Ezees

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There's nothing to be said about unused headroom if it's never needed.
Of course the whole 12 watts can't be used or else I'd go deaf and the drivers would be damaged. It's why I used a preamp in front of the Emo to control overall volume levels. The Arya's planar drivers can make use of substantially more power (current, really) compared to dynamics - and as a result they become different beast altogether. Don't knock it till you've tried it. Which of you is an Arya owner??? Try hooking them up to a speaker amp as an experiment then report back with what you find.
 

Jimbob54

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Not at all. What I found by having that extra power on tap was that the Aryas went from sort of polite in it's bass presentation to ultra-dynamic and powerful - it gave me the impression of limitless bass depth, dynamics, and control. Really a sight to behold (beheard, haha).
Which can only mean either your impressions are incorrect or you were actually using more power/ voltage . Or possibly one of the 2 amps is colouring the sound.
 
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