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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

Audionoob5000

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Nov 24, 2021
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The HD558 was my first good headphone too :) I loved them and still use and like their successors. Give some time to the Arya, revisit old music you’ve always liked and try something new also, then go back to the HD558 after some days.

It is normal to get used to a specific sound signature, but please do not believe myths like the burn-in magic, even when something changes between a brand new driver and a well used one, it is not something even a well trained human can ear, it is just outside what’s possible, so you now have an alarm bell to listen for someone starts talking about burn-in, cables and different DACs, it is guaranteed that at best is being delusional, at worst is a real fraud, especially if it is a reviewer.

Anyway, what really surprises me in your experience is that, perceived quality apart, you find the planars so similar to the Sennheiser, when I was pretty sure that at least the openness of the Arya should feel very apparent compared to the pretty “intimate” sound of the HD558. Try to place your hands over the cups while listening on both headphones…
Placing the hands over the cups seems like such an obvious suggestion in hindsight... I tried it and the difference is huge. With the hands on the cups everything is much more "pushed together" and muddy. I also tried this with the HD558 and it doesn't really make a difference. This matches something else that I observed: The Arya leak A LOT of sound, which shouldn't be surprising as they are open headphones, but the amount of leakage still surprised me, because the HD558 are also open-back, but leak very little.

I have now listened to the Arya for a couple of days and I think I am beginning to detect differences.
 

Audionoob5000

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Yes of course there are.
One of them is the belief that 'scaling' is not a myth and that silver cables, somehow, without the slightest objective proof, acts as a tilted up tone control.
I find it interesting to read that the topic of scaling seems to be a point of contention here after all. I also posted a question to Head-Fi regarding the Arya, and got some good feedback echoing what was mentioned here with regards to brain burn-in, but also several comments claiming that my source chain was subpar and I need a better amplifier for the Arya to reach their full potential. I don't really want to believe this, partly because I don't want to spend huge amounts of money on extra gear, but mostly because the opinion which I thought was prevalent here, that differences which aren't measurable also aren't audible, makes sense to me. I am willing to believe that amplifiers can make a difference to the "sound color" by boosting certain frequencies or things like that, but once a certain threshold is reached I don't see why overall (audible) performance should improve anymore.

I picked my DAC/AMP (Topping E50/L50) partly because of the stellar reviews by @amirm, and I hardly ever move the volume knob on the amp past the 10 o'clock position in low gain, so there should be more than enough headroom. That being said, if anyone knows of any reason why they might not be a good choice specifically for driving the Arya, or has a better suggestion at a similar price point, I'd be happy to hear it.
 

Skinner001

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Sep 26, 2021
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I find it interesting to read that the topic of scaling seems to be a point of contention here after all. I also posted a question to Head-Fi regarding the Arya, and got some good feedback echoing what was mentioned here with regards to brain burn-in, but also several comments claiming that my source chain was subpar and I need a better amplifier for the Arya to reach their full potential. I don't really want to believe this, partly because I don't want to spend huge amounts of money on extra gear, but mostly because the opinion which I thought was prevalent here, that differences which aren't measurable also aren't audible, makes sense to me. I am willing to believe that amplifiers can make a difference to the "sound color" by boosting certain frequencies or things like that, but once a certain threshold is reached I don't see why overall (audible) performance should improve anymore.

I picked my DAC/AMP (Topping E50/L50) partly because of the stellar reviews by @amirm, and I hardly ever move the volume knob on the amp past the 10 o'clock position in low gain, so there should be more than enough headroom. That being said, if anyone knows of any reason why they might not be a good choice specifically for driving the Arya, or has a better suggestion at a similar price point, I'd be happy to hear it.
Your instincts are good here. If the headphone gets enough clean power (some being more voltage hungry some more current hungry) then that's all that matters. Going to a different amp to "get the full potential" is just fluffy language.

Amps should not colour the sound. If you do want to colour the sound in a specific way to suit your preferences, that's what EQ is for. Have a nice, clean chain, and EQ to get closer to your preference - which may or may not be the Harman target. The more you listen the better you know what you prefer. For example, I prefer Harman, sometimes perhaps a tad less bass than Harman.

Also, your preferences might change, perhaps be different for different genres or different over time, or just due to mood (e.g. there are times I want to be killed by bass...). If you have a clean chain then EQ is a free and easy way to adjust. If your goal is not to collect stuff, then EQing through buying equipment is just wasteful: monetarily, in terms of time and energy invested.

I think you can rest easy with your L50/E50 stack and enjoy your music/movies/games without much in the way of doubts and regrets.
 

Robbo99999

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I find it interesting to read that the topic of scaling seems to be a point of contention here after all. I also posted a question to Head-Fi regarding the Arya, and got some good feedback echoing what was mentioned here with regards to brain burn-in, but also several comments claiming that my source chain was subpar and I need a better amplifier for the Arya to reach their full potential. I don't really want to believe this, partly because I don't want to spend huge amounts of money on extra gear, but mostly because the opinion which I thought was prevalent here, that differences which aren't measurable also aren't audible, makes sense to me. I am willing to believe that amplifiers can make a difference to the "sound color" by boosting certain frequencies or things like that, but once a certain threshold is reached I don't see why overall (audible) performance should improve anymore.

I picked my DAC/AMP (Topping E50/L50) partly because of the stellar reviews by @amirm, and I hardly ever move the volume knob on the amp past the 10 o'clock position in low gain, so there should be more than enough headroom. That being said, if anyone knows of any reason why they might not be a good choice specifically for driving the Arya, or has a better suggestion at a similar price point, I'd be happy to hear it.
That's a really good DAC/Amp setup, I don't think you'd ever need anything better - that is optimised already, it's a transparent audio chain & with enough power!
 

watchnerd

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You sound like me in the beginning. I think its expectations. You expect something to be so night and day especially for the price and how much people embellish their impressions. However its all nuanced and ALL headphones are overpriced, IMO. I was exclusively listening to my lcd2c and still pretty new to audio when I bought HD800s. As soon as I put the HD800s on I thought....sounds like a headphone.....I didn't even noticed the soundstage until after I listened to the HD800s exclusively for a few weeks and then went back to the lcd2c, then it was a massive difference. Now I can't unhear it. Bought a Diana v2 and after almost a year I never thought it sounded that much better than HD6xx. Got an arya and immediately could tell the how great the bass is and the soundstage was 2nd to the HD800s. In fact the arya doesn't make me want to listen to the HD6xx anymore, I never got that feeling with lcd2c and diana v2, both sold now.

IMO, you should listen to one headphone exclusively for a few weeks at least and then go back to the other headphone. I listen to everything with oratory1990 eq too just FYI.

I've been thinking about getting a pair of Beyer DT770 Pros because I want some high impedance closed cans.

It's an old headphone now, so I read old reviews.

Reviews from 15 years or more ago talk about how awesome it is, how it's suitable for pro monitoring, and (like today) how to EQ it to make it better.

Yet by today's standards it's shockingly cheap at $135!

Headphone price escalation has been ludicrous over the last decade.
 

Paolo

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Feb 23, 2021
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I am willing to believe that amplifiers can make a difference to the "sound color" by boosting certain frequencies or things like that, but once a certain threshold is reached I don't see why overall (audible) performance should improve anymore.
You may be an audio noob, but you don’t think as one. Welcome to the party :)
 

GaryH

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To you maybe. To me, no. Potato, potato; swsw, sdsd... What rubs you the wrong way about what I perceive
I'm not doubting what you perceive. What you're repeatedly failing to realize is that sound perception does not only comprise of hearing, but everything else the brain does before you arrive at a perception that have nothing to do with the physical sound, including innumerable subconscious cognitive biases. You're assigning causes to your perceptions that have no plausible audible basis in the physical reality of electronics and transducers (e.g. headphone 'burn-in'), and ignoring the reality that these perceptions are colored by another cause - sighted cognitive biases.
 

watchnerd

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I'm not doubting what you perceive. What you're repeatedly failing to realize is that sound perception does not only comprise of hearing, but everything else the brain does before you arrive at a perception that have nothing to do with the physical sound, including innumerable subconscious cognitive biases. You're assigning causes to your perceptions that have no plausible audible basis in the physical reality of electronics and transducers (e.g. headphone 'burn-in'), and ignoring the reality that these perceptions are colored by another cause - sighted cognitive biases.

My system sounds better when I place a photo on top of my amp of boobs.
 

Ezees

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He's actually half agreeing with you though - that it takes time to get used to a different sound signature - that's brain burn-in. He's just saying that this is the real reason for your experience rather than driver burn-in. And he's right, the brain burn-in is many orders more significant than any driver burn-in that could happen. If you've ever flipped between different headphones or experimented with different EQ's then you'll know how easily your brain can adapt to a new sound......that's not to say you can't optimise the sound, just that your brain will get used to something with enough exposure, and that is brain burn-in.
Yup, understood that. I'm on my first week or so of having a new set of Arya Stealth Editions. I agree on it taking time to get used to a new sound signature. But I also have noticed - at least for the Arya and Ananda - that they take a few weeks to really play in. These planar diaphragms are different in operation and behavior than the average dynamic HP, drivers that won't necessarily have a play in period. This is my 3rd Arya (including my traded in v2's and one that had a channel imbalance), I've had all of them to change over time, ~50 - 75 hours . No worries though. I'm having a ball of a time with my still playing-in planars, class A amps, discrete op amps, and Cu and Ag cables. Haha. Have fun and happy listening.
 

Ezees

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Placing the hands over the cups seems like such an obvious suggestion in hindsight... I tried it and the difference is huge. With the hands on the cups everything is much more "pushed together" and muddy. I also tried this with the HD558 and it doesn't really make a difference. This matches something else that I observed: The Arya leak A LOT of sound, which shouldn't be surprising as they are open headphones, but the amount of leakage still surprised me, because the HD558 are also open-back, but leak very little.

I have now listened to the Arya for a couple of days and I think I am beginning to detect differences.
The Aryas do change over a few weeks time, IMO - sometimes very noticeably, YMMV.
 

Ezees

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I'm not doubting what you perceive. What you're repeatedly failing to realize is that sound perception does not only comprise of hearing, but everything else the brain does before you arrive at a perception that have nothing to do with the physical sound, including innumerable subconscious cognitive biases. You're assigning causes to your perceptions that have no plausible audible basis in the physical reality of electronics and transducers (e.g. headphone 'burn-in'), and ignoring the reality that these perceptions are colored by another cause - sighted cognitive biases.
Deeper and more detailed bass and less "new headphone" harshness after a week of playing the v3 Aryas.
 

GaryH

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Deeper and more detailed bass and less "new headphone" harshness after a week of playing the v3 Aryas.
Your personal brain burn-in impressions are of no relevance to anyone else, because they are specific to you and your subconscious cognitive biases only, and have zero physical cause in any changes to the headphone.
 
Last edited:

riffmaker

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Dec 20, 2020
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Your personal brain burn-in impressions are of no relevance to anyone else, because they are specific to you only, and have zero physical cause in any changes to the headphone.
I always wondered: if headphone drivers somehow loosened up to produce better sound after a couple of hours of listening, how many hours of listening before they loosen too much and start producing worse sound :)
 

Carlo2AC

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I always wondered: if headphone drivers somehow loosened up to produce better sound after a couple of hours of listening, how many hours of listening before they loosen too much and start producing worse sound :)

I don't know about planars, but dynamic drivers do change but it is something that happens in a long time and the difference in sound should not be perceptible, things like pad wear are more notable
 

riffmaker

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I don't know about planars, but dynamic drivers do change but it is something that happens in a long time and the difference in sound should not be perceptible, things like pad wear are more notable

Sure.
My point was if after 70 hours of playing the sound of the drivers would change noticeably, then probably the sound would be changing even more after more hours. What would stop the change after the drivers reached "the sweet spot"?
Also if physical burn-in was real, why wouldn't headphone manufactures let the drivers burn-in in factory so that the headphones would get to clients with best possible sound?
Those are just a couple of logical questions for me against physical burn-in.

The Arya manual also suggest that couple of hours of listening are needed to reach the best sound, but there is no mention about physical driver change, so my guess is that they are counting on "brain burn-in".
 

Carlo2AC

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Sure.
My point was if after 70 hours of playing the sound of the drivers would change noticeably, then probably the sound would be changing even more after more hours. What would stop the change after the drivers reached "the sweet spot"?
Also if physical burn-in was real, why wouldn't headphone manufactures let the drivers burn-in in factory so that the headphones would get to clients with best possible sound?
Those are just a couple of logical questions for me against physical burn-in.

The Arya manual also suggest that couple of hours of listening are needed to reach the best sound, but there is no mention about physical driver change, so my guess is that they are counting on "brain burn-in".

Your brand new Arya out of the box will sound the same as a "burned in" Arya if the pads are the same wear and considering quality control, that you do get two headphones without channel imbalance and that measure the same.



Don't listen to all that bullshit, you can even see on some chifi Headphones that the burn in period strangely matches your return window on Aliexpress or similar.
 

Tachyon88

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I bought mine with 40 hours and have put hundreds on it since and they sound the same. Some guys are talking about the sound changing in basically increments of 25 hours and how they just keep getting better and better....75,100,125,150 ! So then you create a lot of expectations bias and of course it sorta makes something that moves needs to "loosen up" to its operational point, but that is just an assumption being made. Speakers need only just a bit to break in the woofers. In fact my s400 speakers have a recommendation of a few hundred hours, but to me it didn't make a difference.
 

Ezees

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Your personal brain burn-in impressions are of no relevance to anyone else, because they are specific to you and your subconscious cognitive biases only, and have zero physical cause in any changes to the headphone.
There is also cognitive bias in the opposite direction - willfully disregarding nuances in SQ/presentation because it's outside of one's personal philosophy and/or personal experiences. Either direction is possible.
 
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