[Daiyama]

Nice.
in which way did it change the sound signature?

 

[Dopaminer]

Nice.
in which way did it change the sound signature?

The lambskins are slightly thinner than stock pads, and softer so I assume they're compressing more against my head. As we know, when hifiman drivers are moved away from the ear the bass increases. By lifting the drivers just ever-so-slightly away I can feel the bass noticeably increase. Therefore I think these pads may have rolled off a bit of the bass. However my Arya is brand new and still breaking in, if that applies here.

I'm thinking to use some kind of 1-2 mm thick lightweight material to create kind of riser for these new pads just to keep the driver a little further away from my ear.

 

[Bboy500]

I just want to say how amazing these have been as movie headphones lately. I have not had time to use my atmos home setup recently during the day, and can't use it in my Apartment at night.

life saver having the Aryas. They do every movie I have watched justice and make me feel alright about not using my speakers. That is a hard thing to achieve

 

[angpsi]

@Jjrg good choice. Elekit TU 8200r, Auralic Taurus Mk2, WA22, Oblivion, Questyle CMA 12 are all good candidates in that price range.

Arya needs a bit of juice (power) to get it going and all those amps will drive it to kingdom come.

Of course there are other amps but these are the ones I have sampled and owned.

My son uses Topping D90 and A90 with his Arya. I thought that combination is pretty good too. The Topping combo is bright but Arya is more mellow sounding compared to He1000se. That’s why I kind of like the Toppings and Arya combination but given the choice myself I would pair Arya with any of the amps I mentioned above.

As usual ymmv.

Hey UT! So funny to bump into you on this side of the field, good to see you're ever the restless guy I came to know all these years ago... I'm currently flirting with the Arya to match my Phonitor X and I was just browsing around to make sure I make an informed decision, only to see that your son also caught the bug and that you 're still saving the premium stuff (HE1000se) for yourself! Anyway, just wanted to say hi, and that it's good to see you again after all this time!

 

[Kurome]

Installed the lambskin pads on my new Arya. The slow-rebound memory foam is much nicer than the stiff fast-rebound stock pad.
I used an old plastic folio to make some simple rings, cut the hole square to match the driver, attached with double-sided tape. If I'm still enjoying these pads after a few long listening sessions, I'll get some double-sided adhesive sheets and do a proper job.

Where did you get the pads from?

 

[UntilThen]

Hey UT! So funny to bump into you on this side of the field, good to see you're ever the restless guy I came to know all these years ago... I'm currently flirting with the Arya to match my Phonitor X and I was just browsing around to make sure I make an informed decision, only to see that your son also caught the bug and that you 're still saving the premium stuff (HE1000se) for yourself! Anyway, just wanted to say hi, and that it's good to see you again after all this time!

Oh gosh, Angpsi !!! One of the people I wanted to catch up with again. Miss you mate. How are you? Remember 'Breakfast Club'? Love some of the songs there and you're a fan as shown on your Avatar.

Strangely I've heard both Arya and Phonitor X but not together. I did hear my friend's Phonitor X with my HE1000se.

I latch onto the higher range of HiFiMan only much later in my head-fi journey and I must say that I'm very happy with my He1000se. See the small mini meet I had yesterday at my home with 3 other Breakfast Club members.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-he1000-se.886228/post-16252451

I am having Odyssey, my custom SET amp being built in June. I hang around this thread these days. After Odyssey I'll probably retire or wind down. There's much more to do besides Head-Fi.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/oblivion-ultrasonic-studios.902926/post-16251628

Keep in touch and I should visit you in Greece one day !!!

 

[Dopaminer]

Where did you get the pads from?

Here.
I sent them a message to suggest making them in alcantara.

 

[angpsi]

(...) After Odyssey I'll probably retire or wind down. There's much more to do besides Head-Fi. (...)

Keep in touch and I should visit you in Greece one day !!!

Haha, I distinctly remember you saying that verbatim at least a couple of times! No worries, when you retire and come visit me in Greece just remember to bring your gear along; I will offer it a good home to stay!

 

[UntilThen]

Haha, I distinctly remember you saying that verbatim at least a couple of times! No worries, when you retire and come visit me in Greece just remember to bring your gear along; I will offer it a good home to stay!

If you didn't come back, I wouldn't have remembered Breakfast Club and Simple Minds's song 'Don't You Worry About Me'.

I've given up giving up.... I've stop retiring.

What a cast. They all grow up successful after this movie.



I'm also listening to this song with McChanson's 300b amp and He6se v2. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-he1000-se.886228/post-16254000

 

[dan3952]

I think partly my first impressions were down to 'burn in'. After 20-30 hours on the Arya the treble did smooth out a little bit and the bass filled up. That said, I hear the same characteristics what you just described. Since I am mainly coming from Audeze headphones, Arya bass feels a bit soft and lacks impact in comparison. Audeze headphones are also more dynamic. At the same time I enjoy the spaciousness on Arya and the more neutral and more natural presentation. The Arya is a better pick for jazz or classical as it provides a bigger stage with more natural airiness. On the other hand Audeze LCD-3/LCD-X are better for EDM. Kickdrums on the LCD-X sound full, rounded and visceral while on the Arya they are kind of blunt and dull. Two very different bass presentations. It is strange as I wouldn't say the Arya lacks anything in the bass: it is well-extended, clear and there is good quantity. Just no fullness and impact like on the Audeze. Also, while the LCD-X in theory is a neutral studio headphone, still sounds a bit sweeter than the Arya. Arya is a bit drier. Audeze adds just a few drops of sugar syrup to the sound which can be quite addictive, although less accurate when it comes to recreating the recording. The difference in soundstage size is also very obvious in favour of the Arya.

The Arya is a fantastic headphone with a spacious and natural sound. Still great bass for a big open back headphone, but also has its limitations (impact, not a very 'full' sound, lack of dynamics make sound quite soft). Note, that all my observations were done on the RME-ADI2. Hopefully in a few days I will try the Arya on a proper powerful amp, which I think will improve things to a certain degree, but I do not know by how much. I do not think anymore that the ADI2 is not enough to drive the Arya, it is. But probably not to it's absolute full potential. That I will find out in a few days.

I hadn't noticed much difference burning in the Aryas I had (in June 2020), but they had been a discounted open box model, with the number of hours on them, unknown at the time of purchase.

One of the rock songs I like to use to test bass (and I am old enough to remember when the album came out and my Dad had played it for the first time), is U2's, "Mothers of the Disappeared", as it has a constant drone at 60 Hz (Daniel Lanois playing) that I don't find often except with techno music, like Bjork or The Crystal Method. It's a sad song, but I had loved it the sound of it, with the LCD-3s: I have never heard the electronic bass track so cleanly and with that much force. It's sloppy enough with my 12 inch subwoofer (even though it has a servo), that I can't make out the individual notes that I know are there (it's phase shift and a bad room null, like a "black hole" for bass). At about the same time, Robbie Robertson's self titled album had come out, with the bombastic bass at the beginning of the disc (same producer who lives in my hometown) that I wish I had a 15 inch sub for. It's making me feel my age, but both are highly recommended tests with any headphone. Another good test track is The Rolling Stones, "You Can't Always Get What You Want": listen carefully to the last note of the french horn solo: a trombone comes on on top of it, playing only one note. If you can hear both notes distinctly instead of one blended note, you have above average bass reproduction. Anything by The Prodigy, or The Chemical Brothers, would be a good sub bass test. Tonight I have selected Pink Floyd's "In The Flesh" and "The Thin Ice", those two songs have well mastered "totalitarian thunder".

HiFiMan's Aryas had sounded dry to me as well (especially with female vocals). The level of detail was good, but with a slightly hollow, thin, unnatural timbre. They obviously have a diffuse sound field, like Sennheiser's HD800s. The next one up, to my knowledge, is the HE-1000 (for a lot more money), and the next one up from that, the Susvara (for a lot more money again). Fang Bian knows how to fetch a good price for his products through simple capitalism (he knows what competing headphones like the LCD-4 and the Utopia sell for, and makes it so there no other reasonable alternatives in his lineup). I might look at a used pair of HE-1000 v2s if a pair happens to turn up for under $2000. Those also, would lack impact.

I would keep both the Aryas and the LCD-Xs, they complement one another rather well. If circumstances were different for me, I might have done the same. LCD-3s probably sound even more liquid than the LCD-Xs (for more money); I hadn't gotten the chance to A/B them directly. I had found the manufacturer recommendations for power, to be quite good, from HiFiMan and Audeze.

I currently have no conventional headphones, and have got Shanling IEMs instead, and can say that the soundstage, is nowhere as good as with the Aryas or the LCD-3s. I can widen it with JRiver27's DSP. Different tracks are well separated, but across a narrow space (like the nozzles of the product). Resolution is about as good as the Aryas or Focal Clears (for just over $500). Bass is very clean and impactful (though lacking the physical presence of the Audeze). I might be getting used LCD-Xs (if I decide to accept the dark, "I can't hear the upper mids" signature present on the LCD-3s) or Fostex TH-909s to complement them once I can get some money saved up.

 

[dan3952]

Damn shame to read this. I had heard that the V2 has taken care of that 5K peak but it seems they haven’t. HiFiman makes great technically capable cans but they always tend to have issues with brightness 400i, 560, 6SE, HEK SE, etc.

It says that Adorama is selling open box HE-560 v4s for $229: I don't see how anybody could go wrong at that price.

 

[Dopaminer]

Listening to my new Arya . .
I no longer have the HE-6 to directly compare, but I have no memory of it sounding nearly this good. And my Arya is only getting a watt from my M11Pro DAP.

Listening to One by Ahmad Jamal, Beware the Drunken Master by Kaya Project, and Slonecznik by Mikromusic

 

[Flognuts]

Whose gone from Sundara to Arya?

I have a couple of questions

At almost 4x the price here in Australia was it worth it for you?
Listen to everything except orchestral/classical.
Corda Classic and Corda Dac as sources with a MOJO on the move has anyone paired with these?

 

[ThanatosVI]

Whose gone from Sundara to Arya?

I have a couple of questions

At almost 4x the price here in Australia was it worth it for you?
Listen to everything except orchestral/classical.
Corda Classic and Corda Dac as sources with a MOJO on the move has anyone paired with these?

I went from Sundara to the Arya back then coincidentally I also powered them with a corda classic ff. (But with an Oppo Sonica DAC instead of a Daccord)

It was absolutely worth it. The differences are very noteable.

 

[joseG86]

Whose gone from Sundara to Arya?

I have a couple of questions

At almost 4x the price here in Australia was it worth it for you?
Listen to everything except orchestral/classical.
Corda Classic and Corda Dac as sources with a MOJO on the move has anyone paired with these?

Arya is always worth it because you get 2-in-1, default tuning is perfection for classical music, jazz, acoustic etc... And with the right EQ where the bass is a little bit pushed you get an amazing experience with electronic, rap, hip-hop, low frequency based music and let me tell you, Arya is a beast with bass.