Fiio FT7 vs Hifiman Arya Organic

[RomfordNavy]

Well, had a good listening session today and here are a few thoughts:

• Fiio FT7 - quite clinical, vocals sounded 'dry'
• Meze 105 - much warmer midrange but maybe lacked the spacial seperation and overall range of the Fiio, also very tight clamping force
• Audeze MM-100 - similar to the Meze, lacking the detail and overall range of the Fiio
• Hifiman Arya Organic - beautiful vocals but big hole in the treble (2khz?)
• Hifiman HE1000 Stealth - Hifiman have fixed the hole in the treble here but the result is just way too bright, they make even the FT7 sound warm and not so analytical
• Dan Clark Noire XO - seemed to lack punch and dynamism, not as impressed as I thought I would be with them

For me I think it is now down to either FT7 (but dry vocals) or Arya Organic (but sounds like a hole in the treble somewhere). As someone who doesn't like digital equalization my thoughts turn to whether either of these could be solved/improved with a passive filter.

Any thoughts?

 

[staticV3]

As someone who doesn't like digital equalization my thoughts turn to whether either of these could be solved/improved with a passive filter.

Yes. @solderdude for example designs (and sells?) analog correction filters for headphones on his website: https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/

 

[solderdude]

I use it with this filter:

Which does the following (using the fabric pads) at the expense of 3dB sensitivity so becomes 107dB/V

I like it a lot this way.
(Read the plot as if it were a speaker on axis, so horizontal line is 'neutral'.)

 

[RomfordNavy]

I use it with this filter:

Which does the following (using the fabric pads) at the expense of 3dB sensitivity so becomes 107dB/V

I like it a lot this way.
(Read the plot as if it were a speaker on axis, so horizontal line is 'neutral'.)

Any thoughts on whether that would make a difference to what I describe as the 'dry' vocals.

 

[Peterinvan]

Well, had a good listening session today and here are a few thoughts:

• Fiio FT7 - quite clinical, vocals sounded 'dry'
• Meze 105 - much warmer midrange but maybe lacked the spacial seperation and overall range of the Fiio, also very tight clamping force
• Audeze MM-100 - similar to the Meze, lacking the detail and overall range of the Fiio
• Hifiman Arya Organic - beautiful vocals but big hole in the treble (2khz?)
• Hifiman HE1000 Stealth - Hifiman have fixed the hole in the treble here but the result is just way too bright, they make even the FT7 sound warm and not so analytical
• Dan Clark Noire XO - seemed to lack punch and dynamism, not as impressed as I thought I would be with them

For me I think it is now down to either FT7 (but dry vocals) or Arya Organic (but sounds like a hole in the treble somewhere). As someone who doesn't like digital equalization my thoughts turn to whether either of these could be solved/improved with a passive filter.

Any thoughts?

Implement analogue tone controls rather than DSP. I can fine tune the tone for each track if needed:

 

[solderdude]

Any thoughts on whether that would make a difference to what I describe as the 'dry' vocals.

Try it with equalization.

 

[Rayman30]

To bad you can't try the Arya Stealth, its less bright than the Organic.

 

[zonk]

I use it with this filter:

Which does the following (using the fabric pads) at the expense of 3dB sensitivity so becomes 107dB/V

I like it a lot this way.
(Read the plot as if it were a speaker on axis, so horizontal line is 'neutral'.)

Which headphone test fixture are you using for your measurements?
And which target curve do you prefer?

 

[RomfordNavy]

To bad you can't try the Arya Stealth, its less bright than the Organic.

I have heard others say that but to me the Arya Organic was actually lacking in a bit of treble, I find it difficult to believe others find them to be over bright.

 

[Selkirks]

I have heard others say that but to me the Arya Organic was actually lacking in a bit of treble, I find it difficult to believe others find them to be over bright.

Video with measurements.

 

[solderdude]

Which headphone test fixture are you using for your measurements?
And which target curve do you prefer?

Nothing conforming to any standards and my own target, which I prefer.
A horizontal line is (my) target.

 

[RomfordNavy]

Difficult to explain but seems what I was hearing appears to be different to what others have reported, I wonder if there are manufacturing differences it was just that particular pair of Arya Orgainc but:
They definately had a slight lack ot treble, of perhaps slight dip in the treble somewhere, when compared to the HE1000 Stealth and even a little less that the FT7. Biggest problem with the FT7 for me was the 'dry' sounding vocals, the Organic was much better in that regard with much more natural vocals.

 

[RomfordNavy]

@solderdude have you got a passive circuit which could filter out that 2khz dip in the Arya Organic?

 

[solderdude]

The biggest issue is the treble peaking IMO which needs a wide filter (centered around 9kHz -5dB)

Below the filter that would fill-in the 2kHz dip and lowers the treble to acceptable levels.
This all at the cost of 4.5dB in sensitivity. Also the amp now 'sees' 26ohm instead of 16ohm.

 

[luxethereal]

The most natural sounding (out of the box) Hifiman is the Edition XV, but I do EQ it slightly.

 

[Cantor set]

Difficult to explain but seems what I was hearing appears to be different to what others have reported, I wonder if there are manufacturing differences it was just that particular pair of Arya Orgainc but:
They definately had a slight lack ot treble, of perhaps slight dip in the treble somewhere, when compared to the HE1000 Stealth and even a little less that the FT7. Biggest problem with the FT7 for me was the 'dry' sounding vocals, the Organic was much better in that regard with much more natural vocals.

I used the Organic for two years. I definitely could not agree with the “good vocals” comment, as female vocals sounded pretty much the worst I have heard from any decent headphones.

As for the treble, it is a combination of the Organic being peaky and how your pinna interacts with it. For example, although most FR measurements show a huge, sharp dip around 10 kHz, it is not there for me. When I do a sine sweep, I hear a large dip from 7.5 to 9 kHz. Unfortunately, this is caused by my pinna, and I hear it with most large headphones, usually around 7–8 kHz. It is not there with some smaller headphones, and it is also not there with IEMs.

If you have a big head like me and a powerful enough amp, you can give the Moondrop Cosmo a try, possibly with a pad swap, since you are against EQ. I cannot comment on the FT7, as I have not tried it.

 

[RomfordNavy]

The biggest issue is the treble peaking IMO which needs a wide filter (centered around 9kHz -5dB)

Below the filter that would fill-in the 2kHz dip and lowers the treble to acceptable levels.
This all at the cost of 4.5dB in sensitivity. Also the amp now 'sees' 26ohm instead of 16ohm.View attachment 531970

Not sure I would want to lower the treble excessively as to my ears they, at least the ones I tried, were not especially bright. Just looking to relatively raise up the 1.5-2khz dip. Would this work with output from my SHMCI C60 which is then run through a Douk U5 Pro?

 

[solderdude]

The treble part that is lowered is not brightness but sharpness.