[prymortal]

Hi all im the guy from reddit with the new Arya, more than happy to answer any questions (however im Not going to be taking these apart as i had super bad luck with the Sundara i bought last month breaking on me when i took the pads off to replace them with a pair of Dekoni), please note that i am kind of new to all of this but i'll see what i can do, at the moment im doing some listening with them plugged into various devices, to see how they run.
i should be able to compare them to the HE 400i(2020) , sennheiser HD6xx,58x,595,599,598 but not the sundara as they're boxed up and about to get sent back to the retailer as an RMA. some of the devices I will be checking them with are iphone 12 with apple dongle, Schiit mangi 3 heresy,Fiio m6 Fiio q3, k3, Q1 mark II, ipad mini4/5 pro (2017 10.5), Asus M ITX b550 motherboard, and in a few days a Hiby R5 pro.. If anyone has any suggestions as to what songs i should use please let me know, I was planning on using some songs that i know well such has Nine inch nails Gone, Still. , Tool, Reflection, The Eagles Hotel California, Quake Aftermath. open to suggestions and i hope i can be of some help

Can you get a light, any light & take a picture of inside the earcup/earpad, also 1 as close up as possible. Also of the outside grill with light shining into it? Thanks.

 

[marts30]

Can you get a light, any light & take a picture of inside the earcup/earpad, also 1 as close up as possible. Also of the outside grill with light shining into it? Thanks.

Just saw you're from NZ too, hah. Auckland?

 

[Knee Deep In Epoxy]

Hi all im the guy from reddit with the new Arya, more than happy to answer any questions (however im Not going to be taking these apart as i had super bad luck with the Sundara i bought last month breaking on me when i took the pads off to replace them with a pair of Dekoni), please note that i am kind of new to all of this but i'll see what i can do, at the moment im doing some listening with them plugged into various devices, to see how they run.
i should be able to compare them to the HE 400i(2020) , sennheiser HD6xx,58x,595,599,598 but not the sundara as they're boxed up and about to get sent back to the retailer as an RMA. some of the devices I will be checking them with are iphone 12 with apple dongle, Schiit mangi 3 heresy,Fiio m6 Fiio q3, k3, Q1 mark II, ipad mini4/5 pro (2017 10.5), Asus M ITX b550 motherboard, and in a few days a Hiby R5 pro.. If anyone has any suggestions as to what songs i should use please let me know, I was planning on using some songs that i know well such has Nine inch nails Gone, Still. , Tool, Reflection, The Eagles Hotel California, Quake Aftermath. open to suggestions and i hope i can be of some help

Were you able to test them vs any older Aryas?

 

[Cordies]

Were you able to test them vs any older Aryas?

Nope we're under lockdown here In Canberra, also no stores in this city sell anything like good gear, so i had to buy these online.
last time i was able to try a set of headphones prior to purchase was back in 2019 when i went to sydney for a weekend, which is how i got into this mess
also currently im under quaranteen until i get my results back so ive got lots of time

 

[chrisnyc75]

Well it looks now like instead of them releasing a confusing array of endless new models, they're instead releasing a confusing array of endless same-name models that are different. The least they could do is officially call them Vwhatever and have that clearly indicated on the box and the headphones themselves somehow. At the moment it's as confusing as the Stax SR-007 MK2 which has at least 3 versions which serial numbers can't even determine.

Andrew at headphones.com has been lobbying for headphones to adopt model year annotations like automobiles. That would make this the Arya 2021. It's an excellent idea and makes perfect sense, especially for companies like hifiman & audeze that can't seem to figure out that if they actually market the upgrade revisions they'll sell more headphones.

 

[ezduzit2500]

Is the majority Arya>Ananda from those who have A/B tested them and if price is no object? General music listening, strong stack, lossless.

I own both and I think so. Where Ananda gives you the music's skeletal structure the Arya fills out the music, adding depth, layering, nuance, texture, deeper bass, etc...

 

[ezduzit2500]

Has anyone compared the fit of the Arya to the fit of the Ananda?

I'm a bit annoyed how loose-fitting the Ananda is with a tendency to slide off your head if you move about. Is the Arya (with its increased cup swivel) more grippy and stable on the head comparatively, or is it also a loose fit?

If the Ananda is too loose for you, bend the metal part of the headband more to tighten it up. It is spring metal and will bend. Just don't grab it by the plastic parts of the headband or it may then break at the weaker, plastic pieces. I did when I first got the Ananda, it was too tight so I un-bent it 'til it was comfortable.

 

[dbcampbell]

question: meme empyrean a step up from the Arya or just lateral?

 

[chrisnyc75]

question: meme empyrean a step up from the Arya or just lateral?

It depends on who you ask. If you ask 20 people about the Empyrean 10 will tell you it's the best thing they've ever heard and it changed their life; the other 10 will tell you it's garbage.

 

[Tachyon88]

question: meme empyrean a step up from the Arya or just lateral?

Step up in build quality, but sound is probably lateral/preference.

 

[xllms]

question: meme empyrean a step up from the Arya or just lateral?

Just to share my experience, I tried the Empyrean after reading so much good stuffs online. After hearing it slightly less than an hour in a local Hifi show, i left the place wondering what went wrong. I had a chance to try the Hifiman Ananda, Arya & HE1000se some months later and went home with an Arya. I concluded that Empyrean just didn't work for me, as I did not feel engaged at all. Just a perspective from one of the thousands who tried both Empyrean and Arya.

 

[ezduzit2500]

question: meme empyrean a step up from the Arya or just lateral?

Though I haven't heard them, so much depends on personal preference on whether this, that, or the other HP sounds subjectively better than the ones before it. I'm not at the point that I'm (easily) able to afford the cost of ownership, so moot point in my case. To me, that's why the Arya is a relative bargain/value compared to many other more premium cans, even though the great majority of people wouldn't dream of spending $1.5k on a set of HPs plus associated gear.

 

[chrisnyc75]

Though I haven't heard them, so much depends on personal preference on whether this, that, or the other HP sounds subjectively better than the ones before it. I'm not at the point that I'm (easily) able to afford the cost of ownership, so moot point in my case. To me, that's why the Arya is a relative bargain/value compared to many other more premium cans, even though the great majority of people wouldn't dream of spending $1.5k on a set of HPs plus associated gear.

Very true. I was actually thinking about this yesterday. Arya punches well above its weight, IMHO - to make a clear step up, you have to go all the way to the $3500+ level. On one hand, that speaks very highly of the value Arya brings, but it also begs the question why are there no planar options in the $2k-$3k range? There's Arya at $1600, then the HE1000se at $3500, then Diana V2, LCD4, Empyrean, D8000pro all at $4k. Seems like a big gulf between $1600 and $3500 that someone should fill.

 

[ezduzit2500]

Very true. I was actually thinking about this yesterday. Arya punches well above its weight, IMHO - to make a clear step up, you have to go all the way to the $3500+ level. On one hand, that speaks very highly of the value Arya brings, but it also begs the question why are there no planar options in the $2k-$3k range? There's Arya at $1600, then the HE1000se at $3500, then Diana V2, LCD4, Empyrean, D8000pro all at $4k. Seems like a big gulf between $1600 and $3500 that someone should fill.

Yup. Leaves a lot of open terrain for someone to step in and compete.

 

[dbcampbell]

LCD 3 for $1900? But what else?