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HiFiMAN Arya Stealth, what's wrong?

Noklims

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Nov 22, 2022
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Help me figure this out.
I enjoy listening to music videos on YouTube (80%) or .mp3/FLAC files (20%).
In songs, I value vocals the most. I don’t like low frequencies, especially rumbling, but I love high frequencies.
Before buying the Topping, I always used an equalizer with a straight line from lows at -5dB to highs at +5dB.

Here’s my setup:
  • Topping DX3 Pro+ ($200)
  • Grado SR60 ($100) with earpads similar to the SR325 model.
    The earpads on the Grado irritate my ears, and I want the sound to be even brighter and more transparent, so I bought:
  • HiFiMAN Arya Stealth Magnet ($650)
But I didn’t like these headphones at all:
  • The vocals completely got lost—they’re somewhere in the background, even though vocals are the most important thing for me.
  • HiFiMAN has fewer low frequencies than Grado, but paradoxically, I like Grado’s lows more—they feel more pleasant, even though I don’t like low frequencies in general.
  • HiFiMAN has an annoying rumbling around ~100Hz.
  • .mp3 is said to reduce sound quality, and YouTube is claimed to degrade it severely, but I don’t hear much difference between FLAC and YouTube. My audio chain on the PC is set up with ASIO.
I can’t figure it out:
  • Maybe the Topping DX3 Pro+ just doesn’t fully reveal the potential of the HiFiMAN Arya Stealth Magnet, and I need to buy a better DAC/AMP to make these headphones sound much better? Would the Topping DX7 Pro+ be a good choice?
  • On the other hand, is it worth paying extra if I mainly watch YouTube?
  • Or are these new headphones simply not suitable for vocals, and it would be better to sell them and buy something else? Would the Sennheiser HD 660S2 be a good fit?
 
Last edited:
Well the HIFIMAN house sound has a dip in the midrange around 1.5K. Maybe that is what is causing vocals to not sound like you'd prefer?
 
Help me figure this out.
I enjoy listening to music videos on YouTube (80%) or .mp3/FLAC files (20%).
In songs, I value vocals the most. I don’t like low frequencies, especially rumbling, but I love high frequencies.
Before buying the Topping, I always used an equalizer with a straight line from lows at -5dB to highs at +5dB.

Here’s my setup:
  • Topping DX3 Pro+ ($200)
  • Grado SR60 ($100) with earpads similar to the SR325 model.
    The earpads on the Grado irritate my ears, and I want the sound to be even brighter and more transparent, so I bought:
  • HiFiMAN Arya Stealth Magnet ($650)
But I didn’t like these headphones at all:
  • The vocals completely got lost—they’re somewhere in the background, even though vocals are the most important thing for me.
Arya Stealth has reduced 1-4kHz area where Grado actually boosts this. It is where 'clarity' and 'forwardness' resides.
Relatively the Arya and Grado differ 10dB (thus twice as loud) in that part of the frequency range.

  • HiFiMAN has fewer low frequencies than Grado, but paradoxically, I like Grado’s lows more—they feel more pleasant, even though I don’t like low frequencies in general.
That's personal taste.
  • HiFiMAN has an annoying rumbling around ~100Hz.
Or ... Grado lacks those frequencies and you got used to it (or have a substantial broken seal with Arya)
  • .mp3 is said to reduce sound quality, and YouTube is claimed to degrade it severely, but I don’t hear much difference between FLAC and YouTube. My audio chain on the PC is set up with ASIO.
That's because MP3 is a codec that reduces file size by only 'passing through' what is needed for human hearing and not pass through that what you can't hear anyway.
When compression becomes too much, (music and encoder dependent) and one is trained what to look for it becomes more audible.
I can’t figure it out:
  • Maybe the Topping DX3 Pro+ just doesn’t fully reveal the potential of the HiFiMAN Arya Stealth Magnet, and I need to buy a better DAC/AMP to make these headphones sound much better? Would the Topping DX7 Pro+ be a good choice?
Its not the amplifier nor DAC... its the headphone interacting with your hearing.

  • On the other hand, is it worth paying extra if I mainly watch YouTube?
No, just use a headphone you prefer. Trial and error I'm afraid.

  • Or are these new headphones simply not suitable for vocals, and it would be better to sell them and buy something else? Would the Sennheiser HD 660S2 be a good fit?
HD660S2 also has the 3kHz dip but not with the same effect.
Look for HD600 that would be closer to SR60.
 
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