Primarily how easy it triggers my tinnitus, and with long listening sessions I had sensitivity that even lasts a few days. (hyperacusis?)
Never had this before with other headphones but that’s most likely something down to my ears.
Tonality wise it is on the right track, just sounds a bit thin and distant in the midrange. But extends rather linearly in the low-end and high-end. Most things sound how they should but the treble can be a bit aggressive in a few tracks, these are all things that can be EQ’d out easily though.
I’ve had the Clear and HD800S before, been a while so take my subjective comparison with a big grain of salt.
Compared to the Clear it is more linear, sounds a lot bigger, and extracts more detail out of the music. The Arya does sound a bit softer in the bass region, mid-range is less forward, and is a bit less tonally balanced compared to the Clear.
The HD800S is a more difficult comparison, the HD800S sounds wider, but less deep and tall if you will. Detail extraction is very similar, the Arya presents it in a more relaxed manner whereas the HD800S spreads all the details out wide and then shows them with surgical precision. Stock tuning of the HD800S is arguably a bit worse and the bass isn’t as linear or visceral as the Arya but after EQ I found the HD800S to be a fantastic headphone, a bit light on the bass still but you can get used to that.
Hope that helps.
