[Slim1970]

I don't have any experience with the RME or THX, however in theory lowering the digital volume of the DAC means truncating bits and compressing resolution. The result is usually better doing it the other way around; max digital volume on DAC and adjusting the analog volume on the amp.
I'm not disputing your findings or preference but it has me questioning the quality of the THX volume pot when engaged in the signal path.

Yes, that's the way I normally hook up my DAC to my amp as well.

 

[GoldenSound]

I don't have any experience with the RME or THX, however in theory lowering the digital volume of the DAC means truncating bits and compressing resolution. The result is usually better doing it the other way around; max digital volume on DAC and adjusting the analog volume on the amp.
I'm not disputing your findings or preference but it has me questioning the quality of the THX volume pot when engaged in the signal path.

The rme whilst it does have DSP volume control in 0.5db increments, it also has physical, relay switched reference level options, which by default it will auto select such that you always benefit from the highest possible dynamic range.

These physical reference level outputs are 6db apart, so doing this you're only going to be adjusting volume in DSP by a couple dB, so it's not a problem

 

[GoldenSound]

Remember that the THX AAA 789 clips at the third gain stage when being fed a >2.1V source [Andrew Mason's quote]. 4V is typically the max output voltage from a DAC's XLR outs (vol. set to 100 of course). If you can attenuate your DAC to output 2.1V or less, then yes you should be able to achieve max voltage swing with the THX AAA 789 at the third gain stage [Andrew Mason again].

Yep, keeping the rme reference level at or below +1db when using balanced means the thx will never clip

 

[PoSR77]

Hello again all, thanks for all the advice on amping solutions for me. I'm still looking into tube/tube hybrid amps (though I wonder about their power), but
I got a good deal on a NIB Cayin iHA-6 which has the power and flexibility (and lower price) I wanted so I jumped on it.

Since the single out on it isn't supposed to be great, I need a balanced cable for the Ayra.

Does anyone know of a good cable maker? I definitely don't think cables make a difference in SQ, so I'm really only interested in material quality and durability (and looks). Something like a Blue Jeans quality cable only with better looks would be optimal.

So far I've seen these https://lqicables.com/products/esprit-up-occ-silver-plated-copper and other similar cables, but while I'm willing to spend the money for the material quality/looks, I'd rather keep it under $100 for a cable.

And would I be fine with a single balanced XLR 4 pin or would there be an advantage with getting two XLR 3 pin connections.

Thanks again and I continue to be amazed by the sound quality of the Arya's the more I listen across many genres. Glad I broke my self imposed rule of no more than 1k for a headphone.

 

[Nick727]

Hello again all, thanks for all the advice on amping solutions for me. I'm still looking into tube/tube hybrid amps (though I wonder about their power), but
I got a good deal on a NIB Cayin iHA-6 which has the power and flexibility (and lower price) I wanted so I jumped on it.

Since the single out on it isn't supposed to be great, I need a balanced cable for the Ayra.

Does anyone know of a good cable maker? I definitely don't think cables make a difference in SQ, so I'm really only interested in material quality and durability (and looks). Something like a Blue Jeans quality cable only with better looks would be optimal.

So far I've seen these https://lqicables.com/products/esprit-up-occ-silver-plated-copper and other similar cables, but while I'm willing to spend the money for the material quality/looks, I'd rather keep it under $100 for a cable.

And would I be fine with a single balanced XLR 4 pin or would there be an advantage with getting two XLR 3 pin connections.

Thanks again and I continue to be amazed by the sound quality of the Arya's the more I listen across many genres. Glad I broke my self imposed rule of no more than 1k for a headphone.

https://hartaudiocables.com/

You can email them with any custom color, jack configuration, and length that you want. Prices are very reasonable too.

 

[PoSR77]

https://hartaudiocables.com/

You can email them with any custom color, jack configuration, and length that you want. Prices are very reasonable too.

Yea, they look perfect (and lots of color varieties!). I actually dug around more and found them on my own, but it's good to see someone else has experience with them (at least I'm assuming you do). Thanks!

 

[Viper Necklampy]

Please, someone can tell me how much they are good for gaming? Not the online competitive shooters, with game chats and that utter s**t
But games, simply, those games who are under-rated as a medium. Also they comprehend music at their best so..
I was wondering, as i did find Lcd-3 really MEH for gaming, spacial and openness intented ; Sundara was much better to me really.. So, i owned for a little He1000V2 and HE1000se, i find V2 as my preferred headphone i tried, even for gaming purposes, but SE presented less width and more 3d coherency in staging with the better depth, but at my young ears the Tonality wasn't that energetic and too soft, more distortion and a bass bump, better for music i would say, for gaming i prefer utter trasparency and Simply IMMERSION.
Does Arya makes have the total transparency like V2, does it have a balanced signature, does it sound really 3D and that great for games, because i know they use same drivers as V2 but little worse magnets, what is the role of magnets in sound? Would V2 be too much Overkill for an amping like Thx aaa 789 + Topping D90? Would be Arya too?
What is life, what is love, really the driver size is bigger than Ananda, so it will sound with more 'height' on videogames, and i guess finally is much better in almost all regard to Ananda in games (Staging, imaging, transparency..)? But Ananda is really much lower price so so that is appealing.
I'm sorry for the confusive asking Jus' wondering if this is the ultimate gaming HP in some regards..

 

[r343]

Its great gaming headphone, only bested by HD800 from what i tried.Open stage, pinpoint imaging/separation and not recessed treble.

Doom Eternal was pure enjoyment soundwise with Arya.

 

[SilverEars]

OK, here goes. It seems like most good+ planars are flat to about 1 kHz (give or take 1 db or so, until the bass drop-off). But after that its rockin' roller coaster. Many drop in the upper mids, after that it varies.

The better HFM's I know well - HE500, HE6SE, HEX v2 combined - all have peaks and valleys of impact to the music from as low as 1.6 kHz up to 16 kHz. They all seem to have more depth than average, but, that's somewhat obtained by drops in certain freq areas. The mids aren't the same, I'd give them all 9.5's however. I run an amp thats a fairly neutral below 3 kHz and a bit brighter above. I have run these on one of the greatest amps I know - the Pass X-150, a SS with a consistent slightly warm sound (2nd order HD a bit higher than most). That didn't make any big change to the mids. You could grab a $20k Jadis tube amp and get more changes, and more colorations too.

My advice, if you have access to Tidal/UAPP, spend the $3 bucks (or whatever it is) to buy the tone boosters parametric EQ. Then you can use already established guidance to set the EQ for your headphone (two big problems with those settings IMO - pumped up bass and only paying attention to freq response - and not at all paying attention to areas of ringing (big issue for HFM). Also, not taking into consideration your own cans being different from the tested ones. As brilliant as the Hi-Res files sound, going out of bit perfect to pick up the EQ almost always finds me picking the EQ'd cuts over the bit perfect ones - in terms of what sounds better.

I had a 10 band Soundcraftsman EQ, which I sold in 1978 (any changes of more then 3 db from band to band was clearly audible - in a bad way). After that until 3 weeks ago - I had the typical audiophile opinion on EQ's. Well, I have 2 adjacent settings on one HFM can that are 11.4 db apart, and it isn't audible. I spent the $3 bucks and lost my prejudice - and saved potentially thousands of dollars trying to monkey around with a different amps or DACs that has colorations that happen to match one of two of my cans better than what I have.

I've played with them a lot, on lots of music. The mids of the 3 resemble each other more than they did, When Joni should sound spare on "hissing of summer lawns" she does, when she should sound warmer like on "for the roses" she does. They all retain strong personalities - its not like Stepford Cans.

3 weeks from bored skeptic to having audio as good as the 15 ips days of the 80's on my ProAc EBS's and later my Koetsu Rosewood Signature and Verity Parsifals - and it might be better.

Tonebooster is great on UAPP if anybody is interested in using the phone as the streamer. Which makes a lot sense given the UAPP can connect wifi and stream music from Tidal bit-perfect or from NAS (your PC can be setup to be NAS). Phone runs on battery. Streamer LPS nervosa is taken care of.

One issue with Tonebooster is the ui being on a small phone screen. Can be frustrating to use.

$3 is chump change compared to the parameteic EQ software offered for windows. I like the Roon one the best, but I'd have to buy overpriced softare to use it.

 

[SilverEars]

Please, someone can tell me how much they are good for gaming? Not the online competitive shooters, with game chats and that utter s**t
But games, simply, those games who are under-rated as a medium. Also they comprehend music at their best so..
I was wondering, as i did find Lcd-3 really MEH for gaming, spacial and openness intented ; Sundara was much better to me really.. So, i owned for a little He1000V2 and HE1000se, i find V2 as my preferred headphone i tried, even for gaming purposes, but SE presented less width and more 3d coherency in staging with the better depth, but at my young ears the Tonality wasn't that energetic and too soft, more distortion and a bass bump, better for music i would say, for gaming i prefer utter trasparency and Simply IMMERSION.
Does Arya makes have the total transparency like V2, does it have a balanced signature, does it sound really 3D and that great for games, because i know they use same drivers as V2 but little worse magnets, what is the role of magnets in sound? Would V2 be too much Overkill for an amping like Thx aaa 789 + Topping D90? Would be Arya too?
What is life, what is love, really the driver size is bigger than Ananda, so it will sound with more 'height' on videogames, and i guess finally is much better in almost all regard to Ananda in games (Staging, imaging, transparency..)? But Ananda is really much lower price so so that is appealing.
I'm sorry for the confusive asking Jus' wondering if this is the ultimate gaming HP in some regards..

You want more trble than SE? It's odd to me when you say young ears at the same time. I thought SE was kinda bright. My impression is Araya more balanced tonally, but maybe darker for those preferring the HEK brightness?

 

[Karister]

Please, someone can tell me how much they are good for gaming?

I frequently use them for gaming and have no issues. Sound is really good and they are not fatiguing even after several hours. By gaming I assume Windows so you can always install APO equalizer which can do wonders to sound.

Would V2 be too much Overkill for an amping like Thx aaa 789 + Topping D90? Would be Arya too?

You have a very good AMP (and DAC) which is more than enough for Arya and HEK. What might be interesting for you is next month release of Topping A90. It is HP AMP matching your D90 with with amazing specs. But it's just about great look of Topping combo in your case. You already have awesome HP AMP.

I recently got my Aryas and I really love them. However, on the bottom of the right ear cup there is a bump from the socket, which is correct. However, on the left ear cup there isn't the same bump from the socket. It's more of a flat surface. Fortunately it doesn't affect the sound.

Hifiman said that this was a "structural tolerance".

This company never stops surprising me. Their products really are expensive (at least some of them). Sound is truly spectacular. Customer Service is really good. Comfort is good. And they cannot get build quality right. When I got my 2nd Arya (warranty replacement), headband was 5mm longer than my previous one. I really hope some day they fix that. One day I will need/want to get a new HP. And I am really afraid of this day because it is going to be a fight with myself. I will want HiFiMAN again. They are so convenient and sound great. But will I get squeaking one? Or with loose yoke adjustment? Or flattened earpad? Come on HiFIMAN! It's over $1500 product. You can do it properly! There are a lot of Chinese audio companies that offer products that smell quality.

 

[bagwell359]

I frequently use them for gaming and have no issues. Sound is really good and they are not fatiguing even after several hours. By gaming I assume Windows so you can always install APO equalizer which can do wonders to sound.


You have a very good AMP (and DAC) which is more than enough for Arya and HEK. What might be interesting for you is next month release of Topping A90. It is HP AMP matching your D90 with with amazing specs. But it's just about great look of Topping combo in your case. You already have awesome HP AMP.


This company never stops surprising me. Their products really are expensive (at least some of them). Sound is truly spectacular. Customer Service is really good. Comfort is good. And they cannot get build quality right. When I got my 2nd Arya (warranty replacement), headband was 5mm longer than my previous one. I really hope some day they fix that. One day I will need/want to get a new HP. And I am really afraid of this day because it is going to be a fight with myself. I will want HiFiMAN again. They are so convenient and sound great. But will I get squeaking one? Or with loose yoke adjustment? Or flattened earpad? Come on HiFIMAN! It's over $1500 product. You can do it properly! There are a lot of Chinese audio companies that offer products that smell quality.

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.

Of course the 3 cans I listen to the most are HFM, but it is important to know what is what when you fork over the money. Fortunately they also discount prices heavily towards the end of the life cycle, and used prices are usually pretty good.

 

[hotsnacx]

gosh I really loved my aryas performance I just don't think they paired very well with my desktop setup. m500 and sp200 they were really cold to my taste.

 

[Viper Necklampy]

gosh I really loved my aryas performance I just don't think they paired very well with my desktop setup. m500 and sp200 they were really cold to my taste.

I tried m500 and sp200 but i hated them and returned, i liked more topping d50 and thx aaa 789, really, they sounded not that good..

 

[hotsnacx]

I tried m500 and sp200 but i hated them and returned, i liked more topping d50 and thx aaa 789, really, they sounded not that good..

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