[Karister]

How far back do you go with HFM? They have a number of complaints against them on multiple fronts. I hate their cables, pads, pretty much everything but the drivers. Uncomfortable, questionable QA, poorly designed and executed bits outside of the drivers.

Arya is my first HFM HP and my first HP at this price tag. I picked them over Focal Clear and MrSpeakers Ether in Jul 2019. It was faulty and started producing buzzing noise in one channel after two months or so. HiFiMAN offered me replacement and they work fine now. Cable got easily damaged (my fault) as well and I am using custom one. Also, my 2nd Arya has 0.5cm longer headstrap and very loose yoke adjustment mechanism. My first Arya was much better here with much more firm adjustment. So, nothing new here. Sound is amazing but build quality is terrible. I am not going to buy their products again as long as they ignore QA. No matter how good they sound.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Arya is my first HFM HP and my first HP at this price tag. I picked them over Focal Clear and MrSpeakers Ether in Jul 2019. It was faulty and started producing buzzing noise in one channel after two months or so. HiFiMAN offered me replacement and they work fine. Cable got damaged easily (my fault) as well and I am using custom one. Also, my 2nd Arya has 0.5cm longer headstrap and very loose yoke adjustment mechanism. My fist Arya was much better here with much more firm adjustment. So, nothing new here. Sound is amazing bur build quality is terrible. I am not going to buy their products again as long as they ignore QA. No matter how good they sound.

Reading this makes me realize how lucky I am in regards to build quality on my own cans.

I own(ed) 4 hifiman cans, all came with flawless build and still work flawlessly to this day.
Even my 7 year old Hifiman HE-400.

The only negative experience I had so far es my Edition X V2 with a little screeking when turning the right earcup. Nothing that you hear once you have it on your head, but when you move it.

 

[bagwell359]

Arya is my first HFM HP and my first HP at this price tag. I picked them over Focal Clear and MrSpeakers Ether in Jul 2019. It was faulty and started producing buzzing noise in one channel after two months or so. HiFiMAN offered me replacement and they work fine now. Cable got easily damaged (my fault) as well and I am using custom one. Also, my 2nd Arya has 0.5cm longer headstrap and very loose yoke adjustment mechanism. My first Arya was much better here with much more firm adjustment. So, nothing new here. Sound is amazing but build quality is terrible. I am not going to buy their products again as long as they ignore QA. No matter how good they sound.

I'd take the Arya over the Clear as well, and I like the Clear. I like the E2, and if I had that and the Arya, my buying days would be put off a long time.

Cannot argue with your conclusions. Many others say the same thing. I've been lucky it seems with my: HE5-LE, HE-500, MD-4XX, HEX v2, HE5SE, HE6SE. No QA failures, just junky cables, etc. 3 of them were used, so I suppose that filtered out potential bad units.

Good luck.

 

[r343]

I prefer Arya with warmer amp. First ran it with Asus E1 Muses, sound was bit thin and cold, bass had not that much authority.
Then i switched to Lake People G109P which is warm tilted amp, gain is set to high. Lost tiniest bit detail and soundstage but overall sound is more to my liking. Bass came alive, singer moved bit foward, sound is more engaging.

 

[eimis]

@Slim1970 what are your thoughts after listening to Arya then switching to ATH-R70x?

 

[Slim1970]

@Slim1970 what are your thoughts after listening to Arya then switching to ATH-R70x?

@eimis I don't have the Arya's, but I do have other Hifiman headphones. Switching from the ATH-R70x's to any of them you're going to gain a more open and detailed sound across the board. In contrast, it's the warmth and musicality of R70x's that makes them the perfect complementary headphone. The R70x's are a joy to listen too.

 

[Docharsha89]

Hello,
To owners who have experienced other flagships (Ether 2, Empyrean, Verite, LCD-4), does the Arya compare favorably to them. I'm seeking an involving listening experience, although I don't prefer an intimate sound. In this context, does the Arya, hold your attention, despite the apparent wide and airy staging ? Also, would like to know if the Arya sounds optimal, when driven directly from a Chord Hugo 2

 

[SilverEars]

Hello,
To owners who have experienced other flagships (Ether 2, Empyrean, Verite, LCD-4), does the Arya compare favorably to them. I'm seeking an involving listening experience, although I don't prefer an intimate sound. In this context, does the Arya, hold your attention, despite the apparent wide and airy staging ? Also, would like to know if the Arya sounds optimal, when driven directly from a Chord Hugo 2

Some headphones, the headphone out of H2 can be the best and cleanest for it, but this is not always the case or for all headphones. Usually, it's for those easy to drive headphones. It's not necessarily more transparent because you are not using an addition amp or guaranteed to be that way because the internal amp may not be that good for a particular headphone and a real amp is needed.

Transparency doesn't mean, we didn't add another amp section, but a well driven tranducer due to another amp or not can cause better transparency.

Let me point out an example. D9200 sounded very good out of it, but TH900 didn't output much bass. Utopia didn't have much sound stage compared to tube amps, and sounded not at it's best. In general, an external amp can provide a larger sound stage and better driveability. It's DAC section may not always work out for all heaphones and amps either.

 

[Docharsha89]

Some headphones, the headphone out of H2 can be the best and cleanest for it, but this is not always the case or for all headphones. Usually, it's for those easy to drive headphones. It's not necessarily more transparent because you are not using an addition amp or guaranteed to be that way because the internal amp may not be that good for a particular headphone and a real amp is needed.

Transparency doesn't mean, we didn't add another amp section, but a well driven tranducer due to another amp or not can cause better transparency.

Let me point out an example. D9200 sounded very good out of it, but TH900 didn't output much bass. Utopia didn't have much sound stage compared to tube amps, and sounded not at it's best. In general, an external amp can provide a larger sound stage and better driveability. It's DAC section may not always work out for all heaphones and amps either.

I agree but 35 ohm isn't too much for the H2 to drive. I used to own an AQ Nighthawk, which sounded great with the H2. But I have NIL experience with planars and my H2...regarding the Utopia, H2 has an analytical side to it, I wouldn't call the treble sharp, but it lies on the edge. Any gear which is treble happy on it's own, may not pair well.

 

[SilverEars]

I agree but 35 ohm isn't too much for the H2 to drive. I used to own an AQ Nighthawk, which sounded great with the H2. But I have NIL experience with planars and my H2...regarding the Utopia, H2 has an analytical side to it, I wouldn't call the treble sharp, but it lies on the edge. Any gear which is treble happy on it's own, may not pair well.

How easy something is to drive isn't so straightforward. HE1000V1 was 35 ohms as well, and it was driven better with a dedicated amp that was a bit more powerful than Mojo or H2. There's also the sensitivity of the driver as well or how loud it gets per watts, voltage, or current. TH900 is only 25 ohms, but it takes a good amp to bring out any real bass, and H2 couldn't accomplish that. H2 can sound sharp/edgy under certain circumstances, and on the warm side under another. Like for example, I can tell the H2 is warmer than Mojo when connecting out to my JBL LS305 powered monitors. Also with the Stellia, it's output was warmer than a particular tube amp, which was quite odd. I disliked the slight bloom the H2 caused on the Stellia. On the other hand, it can sound a bit sharp/edgy, so it kinda varies. With the DT770 Pro however, it sounds right out of H2, no thickness caused, but better transparency.

 

[Docharsha89]

How easy something is to drive isn't so straightforward. HE1000V1 was 35 ohms as well, and it was driven better with a dedicated amp that was a bit more powerful than Mojo or H2. There's also the sensitivity of the driver as well or how loud it gets per watts, voltage, or current. TH900 is only 25 ohms, but it takes a good amp to bring out any real bass, and H2 couldn't accomplish that. H2 can sound sharp/edgy under certain circumstances, and on the warm side under another. Like for example, I can tell the H2 is warmer than Mojo when connecting out to my JBL LS305 powered monitors. Also with the Stellia, it's output was warmer than a particular tube amp, which was quite odd. I disliked the slight bloom the H2 caused on the Stellia. On the other hand, it can sound a bit sharp/edgy, so it kinda varies. With the DT770 Pro however, it sounds right out of H2, no thickness caused, but better transparency.

Your observations intrigue me..I always thought the H2, behaved in a certain manner.

 

[ls13coco]

What are the best ways to test for channel imbalance without any addition gear?
The Arya has passed the tests I've tried, but it's still the only headphone that while wearing I can't help but feel the left driver is prioritized while listening.
Getting stumped on if it's just me, or if it's actually an issue.

 

[N0sferatu]

Hello,
To owners who have experienced other flagships (Ether 2, Empyrean, Verite, LCD-4), does the Arya compare favorably to them. I'm seeking an involving listening experience, although I don't prefer an intimate sound. In this context, does the Arya, hold your attention, despite the apparent wide and airy staging ? Also, would like to know if the Arya sounds optimal, when driven directly from a Chord Hugo 2

See my thread I posted a few months ago I'll link it at the bottom of the post. Most amps can drive it fine but it doesn't sound fine out of all amps. My Audio-GD FUN has plenty of punch to push the Arya very loud but it sounds lifeless compared to my Schitt Heresey at lower volumes. Heresey really gives the headphone a lot more dynamics. Anyways, I listened all in the same day the Arya with a lot of other flagship or top tier headphones. Here's the thread...

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/flo...dphones-focal-hifiman-audeze-meze-etc.925554/

 

[dan3952]

I am using the Monoprice 887 with Aryas, and am happy with it. I had heard little difference however between that amp and the SMSL S200 (which I had returned easily on Amazon). I feel that headphone hadn't been underpowered with either one of them. I had replaced one with the other, to give me true balanced capabilities (so I could run HE-6SE without using a speaker amp). The SMSL is one of the few that has the power supply right on the board, a novel design, and you can't beat it for traveling. In some respects, the Monoprice measures better (if you read Amir's lab reports), but it had all been inaudible to me.

I feel that some people don't pay enough attention to the amount of current an amplifier can put out; music isn't a sine wave. But, at least with planar headphones, you get almost flat impedance and phase curves, removing difficult to figure out variables from the equation. My speakers whipsaw all over the place below 100 Hz, even when I use a sub with them. Focal's Clears (which I have owned before and have about the same level of midrange detail as the Aryas), have a resonant peak at 55 Hz.

If I hadn't bought a small Musical Fidelity DAC some time ago, I would be looking at one of the better Topping units. I know that the Chord Qutest is better than either of them, but I haven't come to terms with paying Chord prices for anything (or Mytek prices).

Yea I am contemplating monoprice 887. Topping dacs are great! I think they are coming out with a new su-8 Though

 

[SilverEars]

It looks like HIFIMAN has decided to take the drivers from the $2999 HE1000-V2, put them in the chassis of the Edition X-V2, call it the Arya, and charge $1599 for them. Very interesting!

http://hifiman.com/products/detail/297

Specifications:
Impedance: 35Ω
Sensitivity: 90db
Weight: 404g (14.3oz)

This whole time I never read the OP. It's really HEKV2? I never heard the V2, but V1. If it's true, this is interesting. Didn't know V2 was that much smoother sounding.