Hifiman Arya Review (headphone)

[Dz1]

Surprised you haven't posted on the Susvara thread and claim that it's trash compared to your Aune AR5000 . Its distortion figures are at astonishingly bad

I have never tried the Susvara. I don't know if it's coincidence but the Ananda also has high distortion in the same area that the susvara has and that sounds like absolute trash. But I won't vote on the survey of any headphone I haven't tried.

As for the AR5000, I have tried quite a few low to mid range headphones and have found that, so far, nothing sounds better than AR5000.

 

[majingotan]

I have never tried the Susvara. I don't know if it's coincidence but the Ananda also has high distortion in the same area that the susvara has and that sounds like absolute trash. But I won't vote on the survey of any headphone I haven't tried.

As for the AR5000, I have tried quite a few low to mid range headphones and have found that, so far, nothing sounds better than AR5000.

FR wise and no EQing, if you don't like the Arya and Ananda, there's no way you'll like the Susvara (both OG and Unveiled) either since they share similar FR curves if you ever get a chance to demo it. You should demo the DCA headphones since they're quite the opposite of the Hifiman tuning where they sound absolutely clean and tonally preferred per Harman Target curve

 

[BZ22]

What do you guys think about Amir's recommended EQ for the Arya Stealth?
Could it be that his setup adds more warmth and body?

I think it's due to the wide 250 Hz dip and 1630hz peak, for me, it feels like it removes too much body from the sound?? specially on Vocals.
I agree with the dips at 4970 Hz and 8000 Hz to clean up the sound a bit, but there isn't a huge transformation.
I’m asking because he says 'Transformation was incredible. I used the exact same settings on PEACE EQ
Similarly with the Oratory EQ settings, it worsens the sound 10 times more... it’s like mixing in a telephone-effect EQ preset, Really awful.. lol.

I'm currently using these settings on the RME Totalmix 3-band EQ
If anyone has suggestions for improving my 3-band EQ settings, please let me know

 

[Robbo99999]

What do you guys think about Amir's recommended EQ for the Arya Stealth?
Could it be that his setup adds more warmth and body?

I think it's due to the wide 250 Hz dip and 1630hz peak, for me, it feels like it removes too much body from the sound?? specially on Vocals.
I agree with the dips at 4970 Hz and 8000 Hz to clean up the sound a bit, but there isn't a huge transformation.
I’m asking because he says 'Transformation was incredible. I used the exact same settings on PEACE EQ
Similarly with the Oratory EQ settings, it worsens the sound 10 times more... it’s like mixing in a telephone-effect EQ preset, Really awful.. lol.

I'm currently using these settings on the RME Totalmix 3-band EQ
If anyone has suggestions for improving my 3-band EQ settings, please let me know

Maybe you just really like the Hifiman sound - a lot of their headphones follow similar frequency response patterns, so they have a kind of house sound they aim for, maybe you just like that. You can answer that question if you own other headphones that you've EQ'd using Oratory EQ's and if you don't like any of the Oratory EQ's then it's probably pretty safe to say you don't like the Harman Curve for headphones. Albeit when I eyeball your own personalised EQ that you're using then you're getting pretty close to Harman, except you're not EQ'ing up the bass all the way to the curve, which makes sense given you're not cutting any of the 250Hz, and also makes sense given you're not EQ'ing up 1-2.5kHz dip. It's possible to have a balanced sounding headphone that doesn't hit the Harman Curve as long as you trade off the different areas of the frequency response, and it seems that's what you've gone for, but that doesn't mean it's sounding it's best, just that it's balanced as in not too bright or dark. I'm surprised a proper Harman Curve EQ doesn't sound good to you & that you describe it in terms of the "telephone effect" sound you describe - it shouldn't really resemble anything like that. With Harman Curve EQ's just tweaking the bass level to preference is often all that is needed for some people, so you could try that. Otherwise, if your current EQ sounds good then keep using that!

 

[Dz1]

Nice! FR looks like Sundara + Ananda = Arya

Which tells me that one should just stick to the Sundara instead...

The Arya sounds much better than the Sundara and Ananda. The Arya are quite decent sounding headphones but are not my favourites.

 

[Audiobernd]

Got the Arya Stealth yesterday and had the funniest experience. Out of the box, my first impressions were neutral to negative. I heard grain, screechy highs, a disorganized and hamfisted soundstage - it was not good. But after about two to three hours, everything changed. I do have a bit of experience with headphones but I never experienced something like this. After this short period, it was different headphone. No more grain, no more harshness, PERFECT bass, wide and well organised soundstage. Weird. This was either the shortest psycholgical "Burn in" or there was really something physical at work, some driver losening or whatever. Anyhow, I really enjoy the Arya stealth now and even prefer them to my beloved HE6SE.

 

[Soria Moria]

Got the Arya Stealth yesterday and had the funniest experience. Out of the box, my first impressions were neutral to negative. I heard grain, screechy highs, a disorganized and hamfisted soundstage - it was not good. But after about two to three hours, everything changed. I do have a bit of experiance with headphones but I never experienced something like this. After this short period, it was different headphone. No more grain, no more harshness, PERFECT bass, wide and well organised soundstage. Weird. This was either the shortest psycholgical "Burn in" or there was really something physical atn work, some driver losening or whatever. Anyhow, I really enhoy the arys stealth now and even prefer them to my beloved HE6SE. View attachment 413061

You can easily adjust to sound within that time. Can also be factors like choice of music working better with it. Congratulations on the headphone Bernd.

 

[BZ22]

I installed the Dekoni Fenestrated Pads today and i am really impressed. I can highly recommend them to every Arya Stealth owner, a worthwhile upgrade.
Filling out in the 1-2k range, the highs sound noticeably cleaner, and the overall sound has more room to breathe - More depth, more precise.
And the significant comfort upgrade. Big thumbs up to Dekoni for this

 

[Bow_Wazoo]

Given the current price of the Stealth, I couldn't resist and bought it (again). The Stealth is a fantastic all-rounder. Here is my preset:

 

[Bow_Wazoo]

Does anyone tried a Arya with the TA-66?

Output Impedance is 5.8Ohm.
If I understand correctly, there shouldn't be any significant changes in the FR, since the Arya has a flat impedance curve?!

 

[dusk]

Given the current price of the Stealth, I couldn't resist and bought it (again). The Stealth is a fantastic all-rounder. Here is my preset:

View attachment 417584View attachment 417585

hi! thanks for these settings, I was about to set most of them and really enjoy them, especially the bass boost . I was curious though, I don't know how to set BW (bandwidth) inside roon PEQ. It says it's a Peak EQ, but I only have the option to set the Q value. How would I achieve this? Do I use a Band Pass or Band Stop or can I just enter the BW value into the Q value? Anyone else who knows the answer feel free to chime in. Just got these headphones today for a really good price and am astonished how good they sound (for the price). Thanks!

EDIT!!!!

I figured out it is an octave, and found a calculator that converts BW to Q. Turns out .42BW is 3.42Q

Pro-Audio and Lighting Calculators : dBs, SPL, time, subwoofers, arrays, Hz, DMX ...

Calculators: sound reinforcement (SPL, voltis, dBm, cable, coverage, wavelength, frequency, time, distance, arrays), lighting (DMX) and projection

www.doctorproaudio.com

 

[Montrealer]

I just tried to replicate the wrong orientation on my unit. It is possible to reverse - first you flip the earcup left-to-right, and then upside-down, but it is a very awkward procedure. I imagine this must have happened at the factory

It's relatively common for me with my Arya SM to find myself in such a predicament. I call it the Rubik's Cube Effect. Twist and turn, and eventually everything fell into position and voila! Mission accomplished.

 

[Galke6]

My left pad is damage now and now I want to replace it, which pads recommend me guys? i've read that these cheaps one make a more muffled sound

 

[Damian]

The version that Amin reviewed was the Stealth version right? Mine is the previous to the Stealth, the V2.

I paid like 1200 USD for it back in the day, I'm happy with it and I do apply EQ profiles. Is there much difference with the Stealth after EQ? I don't have a way to audition and tbh I'll be losing a lot of the money I paid for it if I do upgrade it (not sure what would be the selling price being the Stealth "cheap" now.

I'm just wondering if am I missing something spectacular or there is no point to consider upgrading to the new version (or for that matter another headphone). If I buy something else I want a noticeable improvement.

I listen mostly to rock music/vocals and my chain is Soconz QXD1 --> AAA 789 (gain II and volume between 2 and 3).

Thanks!

 

[Soria Moria]

The version that Amin reviewed was the Stealth version right? Mine is the previous to the Stealth, the V2.

I paid like 1200 USD for it back in the day, I'm happy with it and I do apply EQ profiles. Is there much difference with the Stealth after EQ? I don't have a way to audition and tbh I'll be losing a lot of the money I paid for it if I do upgrade it (not sure what would be the selling price being the Stealth "cheap" now.

I'm just wondering if am I missing something spectacular or there is no point to consider upgrading to the new version (or for that matter another headphone). If I buy something else I want a noticeable improvement.

I listen mostly to rock music/vocals and my chain is Soconz QXD1 --> AAA 789 (gain II and volume between 2 and 3).

Thanks!

I've owned the pre-stealth and the organic versions, and yes EQ improves it significantly. I give them a bass shelf and fill in the scoop at 1,5k. However I never got satisfying treble out of these. It seemed to be too full of resonances/sharp peaks. My only option was to use a really wide filter to lower it and all the nearby frequencies down which hurts overall tonality. I ended up deeming both of them low-fidelity and moved on to other headphones.

 

[Damian]

I've owned the pre-stealth and the organic versions, and yes EQ improves it significantly. I give them a bass shelf and fill in the scoop at 1,5k. However I never got satisfying treble out of these. It seemed to be too full of resonances/sharp peaks. My only option was to use a really wide filter to lower it and all the nearby frequencies down which hurts overall tonality. I ended up deeming both of them low-fidelity and moved on to other headphones.

They do sound similar V2 vs V3? Which heaphone you found significally better and what genres you listen to?

 

[Soria Moria]

They do sound similar V2 vs V3? Which heaphone you found significally better and what genres you listen to?

I have had many headphones since then but the only ones I would say are better are the Sennheiser HD560S and the Astro A50 Gen 5 (the other gens are bad). These both have given me the best results of any headphone post-EQ. The frequency response is quite smooth and distortion is low enough to handle my EQ well. Both are lightweight and comfortable. And none of them are super expensive. I listen to genres with very different energies such as super bass heavy music like Skream, or less energetic ambient music like Jon Hassell or prog-rock like Jethro Tull and King Crimson.