[robbeacon]

I went to the Tampa Bay Audio Expo this weekend and to my surprise they had a ton of headphones compared to last year. I found a glorious room that had a set of Stax hooked up to a custom amp. They were pretty damn good sounding. Then I put on the Hifiman Arya and they sounded almost perfect for my listening preference. They weren’t overly bright had a nice roll off on the top end and very present low end. I’m a bit of a bass head but not like Sony Extra Bass blow your eardrums. I just find I enjoy more bass than your average audiophile. If I could take the bass presence from the Arya and drop it into the Stax good lord it would be my grail set of cans. Only issue Stax cost more than I want to afford. Honestly the Aryas are as well but I’m heavily considering them. Anyone else feel like they have same listening preference as me and have experience with the Arya and maybe know of a less expensive alternative or is it really like the bang for the buck. I know it has the 1000se driver for half the price. What are your thoughts?

 

[Brainiac9000]

The Arya uses some of the HE1000se technologies, but they're definitely different drivers. The HE1000se is more resolving and more forward and in-your-ear versus the grand spacious airy sound of the Arya. The HE1000se also has a tighter bass response, but the lower bass extension of the Arya still wins out for me. Either way, I own a lot of headphones and have listened to several high-end headphones due to my connections in the hobby and the Arya continues to be my favorite set of headphones. So if you like them, then definitely get them.

 

[bagwell359]

They are really good. They seem to have gotten a lot of nice traits from elder stablemates, yet recast them in a way that's clearly different from them. I'd love to get a few hundred hours on them - because I wonder if there is a little too much life at 5k. Having heard them for maybe 40 minutes in a noisy place I couldn't evaluate for long term fatigue. Best I could describe it was like italics on some music - female vocals is what I was listening too and they all had a smidge of extra definition - like maybe +2 db at 5 KHz, the kind of thing you can EQ, or change the cup position to change. If its actually even there on other samples.

I'm not trying to spook you on them, just hope you can listen more for what you like before setting down the coin. If I could get a used set for about a $1k, I'd buy them and decide for myself - resale would be easy. There are not many used around, but HFM has been quiet for some time. I'm expecting new product, new revs of products, price drops, etc. If not before July - for sure in the Fall.