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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

Rayman30

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New Arya Organic has dropped, wonder how it would compare.

So we now have 4 Arya variations.

Arya V1
Arya V2
Arya V3 Stealth
Arya V4 Organic (Stealth Magnet with Nano diaphragm technology)
 

Bow_Wazoo

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But so does the Stealth.
I have not yet understood where the difference is to the Stealth...
 

Rayman30

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But so does the Stealth.
I have not yet understood where the difference is to the Stealth...

One of these advertisements belongs to the Arya V3 Stealth, the other belongs to the V4 Organic, without the background image would anyone be able to tell?

I emailed Hifiman directly about this, I specifically asked them for diaphragm thickness measurements of all of their egg shaped models. They responded with "This information is not available" I have been very frustrated with Hifiman because of this. If they all have "Stealth Magnet" or "Nanometer Thickness Diaphragm" why not then just buy the cheapest one?


What.png
 

Bow_Wazoo

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By the way, there are also rumors that the Arya Stealth, and the HE-1000 Stealth have the same driver.
I have written to Hifiman.
Answer: "the factory gives us no information about it".

I had both, and am convinced that it is the same driver
 

Robbo99999

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One of these advertisements belongs to the Arya V3 Stealth, the other belongs to the V4 Organic, without the background image would anyone be able to tell?

I emailed Hifiman directly about this, I specifically asked them for diaphragm thickness measurements of all of their egg shaped models. They responded with "This information is not available" I have been very frustrated with Hifiman because of this. If they all have "Stealth Magnet" or "Nanometer Thickness Diaphragm" why not then just buy the cheapest one?


View attachment 289383
By the way, there are also rumors that the Arya Stealth, and the HE-1000 Stealth have the same driver.
I have written to Hifiman.
Answer: "the factory gives us no information about it".

I had both, and am convinced that it is the same driver

I'm not that impressed with Hifiman recently, replacement pads are hard to come by, some QC issues I've heard about, difficulty with support (also evidenced by them not answering your questions properly here), and the fact they have all these revisions where it's unclear what has really changed. They're not doing it right in my opinion, Sennheiser are miles ahead on those particular points for example.
 

Bow_Wazoo

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I can not confirm this.
I bought three pairs of headphones from HiFiman last year. The support was very good. They were flexible and accommodating. I had no problems with QC.
On the other hand, I could tell "funny" QC stories about my Utopia 2022.
Just mentioned in passing...
 

Bow_Wazoo

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Nevertheless, more transparency, openness, and honesty would be very desirable.
That the HE-1000 is just lowered by 1000 € in price, and shortly after a Stealth update gets, and the drivers of the Arya Stealth and HE-1000 coincidentally look identical, and very very similar technical specs have...
If you ask if the drivers are identical, you get the answer quoted above... They should just leave that alone
 

Robbo99999

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Nevertheless, more transparency, openness, and honesty would be very desirable.
That the HE-1000 is just lowered by 1000 € in price, and shortly after a Stealth update gets, and the drivers of the Arya Stealth and HE-1000 coincidentally look identical, and very very similar technical specs have...
If you ask if the drivers are identical, you get the answer quoted above... They should just leave that alone
I don't like their approach at the moment, I think they could benefit in this "ASR Era" by being more transparent, it would help confidence in their brand & products, particularly since customers are becoming more knowledgeable, they want to know what they're getting!
 

Blorg

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One of these advertisements belongs to the Arya V3 Stealth, the other belongs to the V4 Organic, without the background image would anyone be able to tell?

I emailed Hifiman directly about this, I specifically asked them for diaphragm thickness measurements of all of their egg shaped models. They responded with "This information is not available" I have been very frustrated with Hifiman because of this. If they all have "Stealth Magnet" or "Nanometer Thickness Diaphragm" why not then just buy the cheapest one?

They're the same diaphragm branding, the Arya Stealth box has that same gold "Nanometer Thickness Diaphragm" sticker on it. My understanding, that has been the same diaphragm since V1, there are reviews from 2018 referencing the "Nanometer Thickness Diaphragm" and it's also mentioned on the still existing Arya V2 product pages.

The V1 and V2 had the nanometer thickness diaphragm but non-stealth magnets.

The V2 changed the pads moving the mesh from the pads to the cups, and added mesh on the outside of the cups. The mesh was also changed but Hifiman claim this had no effect on the FR and that they specifically measured this to verify. Some dispute this and reckon they sound different.

The V3 added the stealth magnets which did have an audible change. This version significantly increased sensitivity to 94dB from 90dB.

The Organic, as far as I can make out, has metal cups and a build similar to the HE1000, that's the main difference. Sensitivity is the same 94dB as the V3/Stealth, but quoted impedance has dropped from 32Ω to 16Ω. Hifiman quoted impedance is often off. Will have to wait for reviews to see if there is a sonic difference.
 

Robbo99999

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They're the same diaphragm branding, the Arya Stealth box has that same gold "Nanometer Thickness Diaphragm" sticker on it. My understanding, that has been the same diaphragm since V1, there are reviews from 2018 referencing the "Nanometer Thickness Diaphragm" and it's also mentioned on the still existing Arya V2 product pages.

The V1 and V2 had the nanometer thickness diaphragm but non-stealth magnets.

The V2 changed the pads moving the mesh from the pads to the cups, and added mesh on the outside of the cups. The mesh was also changed but Hifiman claim this had no effect on the FR and that they specifically measured this to verify. Some dispute this and reckon they sound different.

The V3 added the stealth magnets which did have an audible change. This version significantly increased sensitivity to 94dB from 90dB.

The Organic, as far as I can make out, has metal cups and a build similar to the HE1000, that's the main difference. Sensitivity is the same 94dB as the V3/Stealth, but quoted impedance has dropped from 32Ω to 16Ω. Hifiman quoted impedance is often off. Will have to wait for reviews to see if there is a sonic difference.
All these mini updates are bad news, people need to know they're getting a stable product & also so they can be EQ'd effectively - it would be ok if they showed you how the measurements change from one version to the next though, but I'm assuming they don't do that.
 

Blorg

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All these mini updates are bad news, people need to know they're getting a stable product & also so they can be EQ'd effectively - it would be ok if they showed you how the measurements change from one version to the next though, but I'm assuming they don't do that.
At least Hifiman actually rebrand the headphones and call them V1, V2, V3/Stealth, Organic. You do know what you're actually getting with Hifiman, you know if it's an Arya V2 or an Arya Stealth or an Arya Organic. Unlike for example Audeze where they don't tell you and aren't even consistent batch to batch.

Besides this though, they just aren't that different.

Oratory has profiles for the Arya and Arya Stealth, but I used the OG Arya EQ before he did the Stealth one, they are very similar. In Oratory's measurements the Stealth is just generally smoother. For that matter I used his Arya EQ on the Edition XS before he measured that and it sounded good.

Crinacle's measurements also show very small variation:
1685707908807.png

In general with Hifiman, Oratory's EQs sound right from the get go. Even if they are not from the exact same headphone!

By contrast, my experience with the LCD-X 2021, even applying Oratory's EQ directly, it was definitely off, and I had to tweak it quite a bit to get it sounding right. Audeze don't even have batch-to-batch consistency. I don't have a measuring rig for over-ears, but I do for IEMs, this is my Euclid vs Precog's (he uses the same coupler as me and our measurements generally match). Oratory's measurements are different from either. No way could I have EQed this off other people's measurements.
1685708106038.png

Hifiman by contrast is bang on and very consistent. I mean look at this, these are five totally different headphones and they are more consistent than Audeze is between two different instances of the exact same headphone.
1685708720561.png


I don't think it's a problem that they make small incremental improvements to their headphones, when they clearly label the revisions, and usually also drop the price while they're at it.
 

staticV3

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Blorg

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Robbo99999

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At least Hifiman actually rebrand the headphones and call them V1, V2, V3/Stealth, Organic. You do know what you're actually getting with Hifiman, you know if it's an Arya V2 or an Arya Stealth or an Arya Organic. Unlike for example Audeze where they don't tell you and aren't even consistent batch to batch.

Besides this though, they just aren't that different.

Oratory has profiles for the Arya and Arya Stealth, but I used the OG Arya EQ before he did the Stealth one, they are very similar. In Oratory's measurements the Stealth is just generally smoother. For that matter I used his Arya EQ on the Edition XS before he measured that and it sounded good.

Crinacle's measurements also show very small variation:
View attachment 289751
In general with Hifiman, Oratory's EQs sound right from the get go. Even if they are not from the exact same headphone!

By contrast, my experience with the LCD-X 2021, even applying Oratory's EQ directly, it was definitely off, and I had to tweak it quite a bit to get it sounding right. Audeze don't even have batch-to-batch consistency. I don't have a measuring rig for over-ears, but I do for IEMs, this is my Euclid vs Precog's (he uses the same coupler as me and our measurements generally match). Oratory's measurements are different from either. No way could I have EQed this off other people's measurements.
View attachment 289753
Hifiman by contrast is bang on and very consistent. I mean look at this, these are five totally different headphones and they are more consistent than Audeze is between two different instances of the exact same headphone.
View attachment 289755

I don't think it's a problem that they make small incremental improvements to their headphones, when they clearly label the revisions, and usually also drop the price while they're at it.
It's interesting that a few of their different models all measure quite similar. I still don't like all the revisions they do though, even though it seems they mostly let the consumer know by calling it V2 or whatever - I'd like them to actually provide the measurement differences, not that many headphone companies do that, but if you're gonna keep churning out V1 / V2 / V3 / etc then it would be useful if they provided those frequency response details to avoid confusion.
 

Soria Moria

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I just bought the Arya Organic, and I'm a former pre-Stealth Arya owner. It's definitely an improvement over the regular based on my listening impressions. Treble sounds more subdued (but still a bright sounding headphone IMO). I think I hear a peak at around 7 000 kHz and 10 000 kHz when using tone generator. Comfort is the same as the regular Arya meaning good to me. I love how it looks since I've always been jealous of the wood trim on the models above Arya. Excited for measurements to come out so I can make a nice EQ profile!
 

Robbo99999

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I just bought the Arya Organic, and I'm a former pre-Stealth Arya owner. It's definitely an improvement over the regular based on my listening impressions. Treble sounds more subdued (but still a bright sounding headphone IMO). I think I hear a peak at around 7 000 kHz and 10 000 kHz when using tone generator. Comfort is the same as the regular Arya meaning good to me. I love how it looks since I've always been jealous of the wood trim on the models above Arya. Excited for measurements to come out so I can make a nice EQ profile!
I personally like their "Window Shade Technology":
Arya Window Shade.jpg

;)
I hope it ends up measuring well, as you being an early adopter!
 

Soria Moria

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I personally like their "Window Shade Technology":
View attachment 305971
;)
I hope it ends up measuring well, as you being an early adopter!
Thanks.
I hope so too. Don’t actually like buying headphones that haven’t been measured but I demoed it in a silent space for close to an hour and I liked it.
 

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Svperstar

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Will they sell you a replacement headband for the Organic?
 

Svperstar

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The store where I bought it from? I don't know. Why are you asking?

I mean Hifiman and in general not just you. I tried to get a replacement headband for my pre-Stealth Arya, I was told by Hifiman that they do not sell replacement headbands. Instead I bought some stuff to pad/protect the headband and hopefully it lasts forever and doesn't break.
 
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