Hifiman Arya Review (headphone)

[wwenze]

enjoyable sound that requires such large drivers often to deliver

Does the size of the driver affect the Harman preference curve?

 

[solderdude]

The preference curve is just a target. That target may be adjusted/updated over time (as it has been in the past) due to new insights and testing.
Driver size, geometry, moving mass, driver distance, driver angle, pads, porting, cups etc do affect the (measured) result.

 

[Mattx]

As @kion explained earlier, Amir weighed them in at 430 g and therefore this is the stealth magnet edition.

I have an older version, and allthough I can be quite sensitive to treble peaks, I have not had issues with the Arya. Overall, one would say they're on the brighter side but without murderous peaks for me.

And lower impedance indicates that too...

Both, thanks though still it would make more sense to me to explicitly state the version in the review.

They're my headphones, they're the newest revision with the stealth magnets. I ordered directly from HIFIMAN's website to make sure I got the latest revision.

Many thanks, (also for providing your headphones to amirm for review) very helpfull !

 

[Nathan Raymond]

Once in place, the tonality was excellent as was the spatial capabilities. You almost felt like the band was miniaturized and your head was placed inside it! Kind of neat the way everything separated to the sides and back of my head (I never get forward projection).

By "forward projection", do you mean frontal localization? If so, have you tried David Griesinger's approach for equalizing headphones for frontal localization?

 

[Tachyon88]

Sorry I forgot to mention a few additional details.

1. Would prefer AKM DACs. Somehow I wasn't really happy with a few ES90xx I had a chance to listen to.
2. I would prefer both DAC and amp to be balanced. From my limited and very subjective experience with Ananda and Topping A50s (which was only half-balanced and I don't have it anymore anyway) it does make difference in sound quality.
3. I will also use the amp with 250 ohm DT 770 pro for guitar practicing / recording.

Thanks

You can find these for good deals used. I like mine with the Arya.

 

[tomtrp]

Nice! FR looks like Sundara + Ananda = Arya

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

Yes, in terms of frequency response after PEQ.
No, if you consider spatial quality is important in the headphone experience. Arya has significantly better spatial quality than Sundara probably due to the much bigger driver and the design of the cup etc, even after PEQed to the same Target (which should lower the frequency response difference before 10khz).
In most recordings, you will find arya sounds more open and expansive. In some recordings like symphonies, Arya's much bigger ''soundstage'' provides much better experience than EQed Sundara/K371/HD650 IMHO.

 

[Skinner001]

Yes, in terms of frequency response after PEQ.
No, if you consider spatial quality is important in the headphone experience. Arya has significantly better spatial quality than Sundara probably due to the much bigger driver and the design of the cup etc, even after PEQed to the same Target (which should lower the frequency response difference before 10khz).

And, much more comfortable than the Sundara, though milage will vary from person to person.

 

[Ezees]

How much power and/or what model do you have in mind?

Any amp that can supply at least 2 watts with 2v or 4v input, IMO (my DAC outputs ~5.4v). I have a Magni 3+, an Emotiva A-100, and a Gustard H20 (I also have a Magnius in the closet). The H20 has the best SQ and it's class A. I'd also look at the Gustard H16 or the Singxer SA-1.

 

[Ezees]

The performance of the big planar driver itself is actually quite disappointing but this headphone has one of the best spatial quality (according to rtings PRTF model and many subjective reviews), so overall acceptable.

That "distortion" that was mentioned was at 114dB, which is really too loud to listen to for any amount of time (same with the Ananda review). Otherwise it has very good distortion performance. It is a great headphone overall.

 

[Ezees]

I voted "Not Terrible" for this one, it's expensive and distortion and frequency response are not awesome. The subjective assessment of good soundstage is a positive though, but a little harder to hang your hat on that. (What's with photographing the earcup upsidedown, a bit unnecessary!)

The "distortion" measurement was taken at an extremely louder volume level (114dB) than one would listen to on a regular basis. The Arya actually has very low distortion and sounds excellent at loud listening levels. 114dB is extremely loud and would damage a person's hearing in less than a minute if listened to at that level for any length of time.

 

[Robbo99999]

The "distortion" measurement was taken at an extremely louder volume level (114dB) than one would listen to on a regular basis. The Arya actually has very low distortion and sounds excellent at loud listening levels. 114dB is extremely loud and would damage a person's hearing in less than a minute if listened to at that level for any length of time.

Well, for what it's worth, I view distortion as one of the lesser important variables, ie my K702 has quite high distortion in some places yet is my joint favourite headphone with my HD560s. For a planar headphone, I'd expect the distortion performance, particularly in the bass to be better, although it doesn't require much boosting in this headphone which is good. Frequency response is a bit too jagged for me though, and at the high price combined with the not impressive distortion then that was logic for voting "Not Terrible". For my use cases only the 94dB-104dB are applicable (mostly closer to the 94dB side) - due to EQ boosting of bass, but yeah for the mids & treble it would be nowhere near 94dB when I listen to music. (I've theoretically calculated my listening levels based on sensitivity of my headphones and the output of my DAC & headphone amplifier, and my thoeretical RMS for a max peak is not usually above 86dB.)

 

[HRTF_Enthusiast]

I just demo'd this headphone at my local hifi store and was blown away by how terrible it sounded. Absolutely zero midrange resolution and I felt like the treble was going to kill me.

 

[riffmaker]

Hi @amirm! I've two questions:
1. can you describe sound-stageing difference between Arya and you DCA Stealth please?
2. Is tested Arya unit that one with Stealth magnets or older V2 version?

Thank you!

I was wondering about the same (soundstage)

 

[Ezees]

Well, for what it's worth, I view distortion as one of the lesser important variables, ie my K702 has quite high distortion in some places yet is my joint favourite headphone with my HD560s. For a planar headphone, I'd expect the distortion performance, particularly in the bass to be better, although it doesn't require much boosting in this headphone which is good. Frequency response is a bit too jagged for me though, and at the high price combined with the not impressive distortion then that was logic for voting "Not Terrible". For my use cases only the 94dB-104dB are applicable (mostly closer to the 94dB side) - due to EQ boosting of bass, but yeah for the mids & treble it would be nowhere near 94dB when I listen to music. (I've theoretically calculated my listening levels based on sensitivity of my headphones and the output of my DAC & headphone amplifier, and my thoeretical RMS for a max peak is not usually above 86dB.)

Yeah, most any planar has much less distortion than any dynamic HP. I personally don't feel the need to EQ the Arya at all, and can therefore dismiss any "distortion" worries.

 

[Ezees]

I just demo'd this headphone at my local hifi store and was blown away by how terrible it sounded. Absolutely zero midrange resolution and I felt like the treble was going to kill me.

If one isn't used to a different sound signature than the one they're accustomed to, a new HP will sound "different". Especially when one first listens to a "higher tiered" HP but one is used to mainly mid-fi cans and the like. "Horrible" and "zero midrange resolution" doesn't describe the Arya though, IMO. YMMV.

 

[HRTF_Enthusiast]

If one isn't used to a different sound signature than the one they're accustomed to, a new HP will sound "different". Especially when one first listens to a "higher tiered" HP but one is used to mainly mid-fi cans and the like. "Horrible" and "zero midrange resolution" doesn't describe the Arya though, IMO. YMMV.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1217584220152815616

 

[Ezees]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1217584220152815616

Every-thing isn't for every-body. It's just that I've never heard the Arya described as sounding "horrible" and having "zero midrange resolution", except from those whose ideal HP is either an exceedingly bright model or a heavily EQ'd Beats/Bose model or the like. YMMV.

 

[HRTF_Enthusiast]

Every-thing isn't for every-body. It's just that I've never heard the Arya described as sounding "horrible" and having "zero midrange resolution", except from those whose ideal HP is either an exceedingly bright model or a heavily EQ'd Beats/Bose model or the like. YMMV.

Arya treble felt like it was going to kill me

 

[Ezees]

Arya treble felt like it was going to kill me

IDK, I guess everyone's different. I don't get the sharp "murder treble" and sibilance with the Arya like I got when I had the Audio-Technica ATH-M50Xes (when I had them) or the unmodded Fostex T50rp mkiii's when I still listened to them. However, I do have a class A discrete HP amp that - while revealing - is not annoyingly bright or edgy, along with a neutral but not edgy DAC. Those really do mitigate most of the brightest characteristics of both the Ananda and the Arya for me. The chain counts a great deal in how they sound, IMO.

 

[Doodski]

Arya treble felt like it was going to kill me

I would probably thrive on them then. Here's my PEQ settings for my Sennheiser 598's.