[ezduzit2500]

I ended up trading my V3s, but they played really well with a Monoprice THX 887 and with a Liquid Platinum

I actually liked the v2's with the '887. It was a very "clean n linear" and had better SQ than the A90, IMO. Need to use a DAC that has at least some "character" to it if one is to stay out of the "too sterile" territory - say, an r2r or a multi-bit DAC. I bet it'd be very decent with the Stealths. I'd also wished it had a preamp function at the time. I sent it back when I compared it to my Class AB amps and found it to not have as good spatial presentation as those cheaper but discrete-ish Class AB amps - the Emotiva A-100 and the Magni 3+. I heard great things about the LP with the Arya too.

 

[DeweyCH]

I actually liked the v2's with the '887. It was a very "clean n linear" and had better SQ than the A90, IMO. Need to use a DAC that has at least some "character" to it if one is to stay out of the "too sterile" territory - say, an r2r or a multi-bit DAC. I bet it'd be very decent with the Stealths. I'd also wished it had a preamp function at the time. I sent it back when I compared it to my Class AB amps and found it to not have as good spatial presentation as those cheaper but discrete-ish Class AB amps - the Emotiva A-100 and the Magni 3+. I heard great things about the LP with the Arya too.

Honestly I have yet to find a headphone that the LP doesn't play well with

 

[ezduzit2500]

I think an Arya V2 powered by a speaker amp with a substantial low bass shelf should out perform the Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC in sub bass. I never heard the 1266 Phi TC yet but I cant imagine it getting bassier than this ....

When I had the v2's, I played them through my resistor bypassed Emotiva A-100. 50 watts straight to the headphone jack, which was about 12 watts at the v2's 35 ohm impedance. They sure did perform well then. No such thing as un-dynamic with that amount of power. Certainly the feeling of being "extremely unrestrained", with the main limiting factor being the old JRC ne5532 op amps that were stock in the amp circuits, IMO (they make the amp sound somewhat lean and a little rough sometimes). I still own the A-100 and would love to mod out the ne5532's and to put in TI opa2134's, Muses 8920's, or lme49720's in it's place - if I ever get around to it. It's definitely a versatile piece for it's price.

 

[Smoothstereo]

Just wanted to share my experience with my newly acquired Arya V2. Still breaking them in with less than 5 hours of total play time. Coming from a Sundara, Denon D5200, AQ Nighthawk, Philips X2HR and Focal Elegia , I was expecting to be blown away with the Aryas. But I got to say at this point I am not. Perhaps laws of diminishing return is kicking in.

My gear consists of Schiit stack of Jot2 and BF2 and also have a Black Ice Audio FOZ SS-X tube buffer in between the two Schiits. I'm using an Android phone for my source with ripped wav files at 44.1khz.

At this point, I can say the Arya is at most 5% better in technicalities vs my other headphones. Will see how they change or grow on me.

Replying to my own post as a follow up. I have about 130 hours now on my Arya V2 and here are my observations.

The Arya V2 right out of the box sounded very crisp, clean, pristine and borderline sharp. After some burn in like about the 10th hour, those same songs are less sharp now and only appears on bad recordings.

On my solid state setup (Jot2/BF2), it sounds good. It has the power to make them sing, very good separation, layering, open spacious soundstage, and the aforementioned clean, crisp, pristine, focused presentation. I was surprised that this pairing did not have that much recessed vocal mids that some have reported. Perhaps its a tad more recessed than my Sundara which I was already used to.

What makes the Arya V2 shine even more is putting some tube flavor in the chain. Once I use my tube buffer in between the Jot2 and BF2, the performance jumps up noticeably.

First, it makes the Arya V2 more natural, less dry. Then it adds a bit a warmth and weight to the sound. Bass is heftier, oh that sub bass thumps so well. That treble sharpness I mentioned earlier is now smoothed and softened with the right amount without losing detail.
The vocal mids are a bit more recess ( more on that later) which creates a deeper soundstage. Soundstage width and height also increased. Each instrument and singer have more space between each other. I hear a very 3d spacious soundstage. Overall having tubes in the chain just makes the Arya more analog sounding (in a good way).

Just to point out the mids being a bit more recessed with tubes is based on my preferences. My tube buffer has a bass and dimensions knob that I can adjust to my liking. If I want more soundstage, I can turn knob to widen the stage which pushes the mids back but creates more depth. Conversely, I can turn knob to narrow the stage, so the mids come forward, more upfront /focused and stage depth decreases in respect. I like it wider hence the mids are a bit recessed compared to my solid state option.

At this point, I think the Arya V2 is at least 10% (if not more) better than my Sundara in my opinion. It pretty much beats the Sundara in almost all areas. However, the Sundara does sound smoother , vocal mids are not as recessed, and has a more upfront presentation, so there is more impact/intimacy. So some folks will like those qualities more.

Will put more hours on the Arya V2 to see if any more improvements.

 

[cycloverid]

Replying to my own post as a follow up. I have about 130 hours now on my Arya V2 and here are my observations.

The Arya V2 right out of the box sounded very crisp, clean, pristine and borderline sharp. After some burn in like about the 10th hour, those same songs are less sharp now and only appears on bad recordings.

On my solid state setup (Jot2/BF2), it sounds good. It has the power to make them sing, very good separation, layering, open spacious soundstage, and the aforementioned clean, crisp, pristine, focused presentation. I was surprised that this pairing did not have that much recessed vocal mids that some have reported. Perhaps its a tad more recessed than my Sundara which I was already used to.

What makes the Arya V2 shine even more is putting some tube flavor in the chain. Once I use my tube buffer in between the Jot2 and BF2, the performance jumps up noticeably.

First, it makes the Arya V2 more natural, less dry. Then it adds a bit a warmth and weight to the sound. Bass is heftier, oh that sub bass thumps so well. That treble sharpness I mentioned earlier is now smoothed and softened with the right amount without losing detail.
The vocal mids are a bit more recess ( more on that later) which creates a deeper soundstage. Soundstage width and height also increased. Each instrument and singer have more space between each other. I hear a very 3d spacious soundstage. Overall having tubes in the chain just makes the Arya more analog sounding (in a good way).

Just to point out the mids being a bit more recessed with tubes is based on my preferences. My tube buffer has a bass and dimensions knob that I can adjust to my liking. If I want more soundstage, I can turn knob to widen the stage which pushes the mids back but creates more depth. Conversely, I can turn knob to narrow the stage, so the mids come forward, more upfront /focused and stage depth decreases in respect. I like it wider hence the mids are a bit recessed my solid state option.

At this point, I think the Arya V2 is at least 10% (if not more) better than my Sundara in my opinion. It pretty much beats the Sundara in almost all areas. However, the Sundara does sound smoother , vocal mids are not as recessed, and has a more upfront presentation, so there is more impact/intimacy. So some folks will lile those qualities more.

Will put more hours on the Arya V2 to see if any more improvements.

I just pulled the trigger on a V3 and will be comparing it to my Sundara as well. I'll be playing around with EQ, so it'll be interesting to hear the differences after reading so much about the Arya now. 10% better for several times the cost seems about what I was expecting!

 

[MardukSonofEa]

It's such a joy to discover new music that sounds like it was made for your daily drivers. I'm getting that now with Mechina and the Arya Stealth. Would describe this band as symphonic industrial death metal, or "what happens if you ask an extreme metal band to make an OST for Mass Effect."



Everything about their music plays perfectly to the Arya's soundstage, speed, texture, separation, punchiness (with a Class A amp or the Stealth version), beautiful orchestral timbre, and
imaging (omg those machine gun like drum fills).

Love these cans so much.

 

[ezduzit2500]

Give them time to butn in before you give up on them (100 hrs or so of pink noise). Mine were very close up and kind of jumbled sounding (ie: not much space, images that were too close to each other) when I first got them but are virtually the v2's now - with more concise imaging and punchier bass.

 

[sahmen]

No mistake made in my book. Keep us posted.

This is a first "reaction," because the very first lesson I am learning about this V3 is how much it requires "burn-in." Out of the box, it sounded like a mixed bag of constipated, overly claustrophobic, and somewhat congested, not to mention rather thin notes, particularly at the top end... On the other hand, I could hear some hints of something "larger" and more spacious behind that mess==e.g. some larger than usual bass notes, knocking the door just behind the "mess," and certain cues "behind" the frontal presentation that seemed to suggest that V3 had something quite special and rather spacious to show me... Keep in mind, that after owning several Hifiman cans, I have learnt how *not* to allow any such first fresh-out-of-box salvos of "sub-par" presentations to faze me easily...

To return to the events of this evening, I have since replaced the initial cable I was using (not stock, which I've not even bothered to unbox as yet) with a bigger gauge one a Norne audio Silvergarde S4 8-wire, and after about 6 hours, my head seems to be immersed in a very spacious holographic field, and the sounds have gained a lot of meat and thickness, especially the bass, which is now showing some occasional rumble, and a lot of swagger, not to mention attitude--The entire sound-field is now feeling rather bold and bellyful! The V3 has excellent detail-retrieving abilities, and feels already like an entirely different beast than it did in the first few minutes (out of the box)... And the vocals, as well as notes from pianos and guitar strings... umm hold it!!

Now Wait a minute!! I promised that this is not going to be a "first impressions" review. I really shouldn't do one yet, because I'm sensing that there is a lot more audio goodness to come... So excuse me while I refuse to get ahead of myself...

Here is some info that does not sound premature to me: is this a keeper? Abso-friggin'-lutely!

And so far, I have been playing it with my rather humble Cayin RU6 dongle hooked up to my Macbook Pro listening to Roon and Amazon HD...Wait till I hook it up to one of the desktop rigs and allow it to "cook" for a few days...

 

[ezduzit2500]

This is a first "reaction," because the very first lesson I am learning about this V3 is how much it requires "burn-in." Out of the box, it sounded like a mixed bag of constipated, overly claustrophobic, and somewhat congested, not to mention rather thin notes, particularly at the top end... On the other hand, I could hear some hints of something "larger" and more spacious behind that mess==e.g. some larger than usual bass notes, knocking the door just behind mess, and certain cues "behind" the frontal presentation that seemed to suggest that V3 had something quite special and rather spacious to show me... Keep in mind, that after owning several Hifiman cans, I have learnt not to allow any such first fresh-out-of-box salvo of "sub=par" presentations faze me...

To return to the events of this evening, I have since replaced the initial cable I was using (not stock, which I've never bothered to unbox as yet) with a bigger gauge one a Norne audio Silvergarde S4 8-wire, and after about 6 hours, my head seems to be immersed in a very spacious holographic field, and the sounds have gained a lot of meat and thickness especially the bass which is now showing some occasional rumble, and a lot of swagger, not to mention attitude--The entire sound-field is now feeling rather bold and bellyful! The V3 has excellent detail-retrieving abilities, and feels already like an entirely different beast than it did in the first few minutes (out of the box)... And the vocals, as well as notes from pianos and guitar strings... umm hold it!!

Now Wait a minute!! I promised that this is not going to be a "first impressions" review. I really shouldn't do one yet, because I'm sensing that there is a lot more audio goodness to come... So excuse me while I refuse to get of myself...

Here is some info that does not sound premature to me: is this a keeper? Abso-friggin'-lutely!

And so far, I have been playing it with my rather humble Cayin RU6 dongle hooked up to my Macbook Pro listening to Roon and Amazon HD...Wait till I hook it up to one of the desktop rigs and allow it to "cook" for a few days...

I like that you're able to have patience as they play in, rather than giving up and returning them after a few days. Those that have simply dismissed them because they didn't sound "the best" when they listened to them brand new have missed out on an excellent HP - like some say with a newly opened bottle of wine, it just needs to breathe a little. Keep us posted, please.

 

[surfgeorge]

I think an Arya V2 powered by a speaker amp with a substantial low bass shelf should out perform the Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC in sub bass. I never heard the 1266 Phi TC yet but I cant imagine it getting bassier than this ....

Thanks, @Somatic @ezduzit2500 @DeweyCH
I’ll try the speaker amp route since I have a pretty good integrated amp at hand.
(https://www.whathifi.com/karan-acoustics/ka-i180-mk2/review)
I’d never have thought of that, but it will surely show what the Arya can do with power and that will be invaluable in making a decision on the way forward!

 

[Somatic]

Thanks, @Somatic @ezduzit2500 @DeweyCH
I’ll try the speaker amp route since I have a pretty good integrated amp at hand.
(https://www.whathifi.com/karan-acoustics/ka-i180-mk2/review)
I’d never have thought of that, but it will surely show what the Arya can do with power and that will be invaluable in making a decision on the way forward!

Let us know if it changes anything.

 

[Somatic]

Damn. The Open Box deal for the Aryas through Hifiman are Stealth versions if one is from the US. Only EU will get the V2. Im trying to cancel. Looking for V1 or V2.

 

[DeweyCH]

Thanks, @Somatic @ezduzit2500 @DeweyCH
I’ll try the speaker amp route since I have a pretty good integrated amp at hand.
(https://www.whathifi.com/karan-acoustics/ka-i180-mk2/review)
I’d never have thought of that, but it will surely show what the Arya can do with power and that will be invaluable in making a decision on the way forward!

That’s a nice looking amp. Do you know what it outputs via speaker jack or do you have taps?

 

[Smoothstereo]

This is a first "reaction," because the very first lesson I am learning about this V3 is how much it requires "burn-in." Out of the box, it sounded like a mixed bag of constipated, overly claustrophobic, and somewhat congested, not to mention rather thin notes, particularly at the top end... On the other hand, I could hear some hints of something "larger" and more spacious behind that mess==e.g. some larger than usual bass notes, knocking the door just behind the "mess," and certain cues "behind" the frontal presentation that seemed to suggest that V3 had something quite special and rather spacious to show me... Keep in mind, that after owning several Hifiman cans, I have learnt how *not* to allow any such first fresh-out-of-box salvos of "sub=par" presentations faze me...

To return to the events of this evening, I have since replaced the initial cable I was using (not stock, which I've never bothered to unbox as yet) with a bigger gauge one a Norne audio Silvergarde S4 8-wire, and after about 6 hours, my head seems to be immersed in a very spacious holographic field, and the sounds have gained a lot of meat and thickness, especially the bass, which is now showing some occasional rumble, and a lot of swagger, not to mention attitude--The entire sound-field is now feeling rather bold and bellyful! The V3 has excellent detail-retrieving abilities, and feels already like an entirely different beast than it did in the first few minutes (out of the box)... And the vocals, as well as notes from pianos and guitar strings... umm hold it!!

Now Wait a minute!! I promised that this is not going to be a "first impressions" review. I really shouldn't do one yet, because I'm sensing that there is a lot more audio goodness to come... So excuse me while I refuse to get ahead of myself...

Here is some info that does not sound premature to me: is this a keeper? Abso-friggin'-lutely!

And so far, I have been playing it with my rather humble Cayin RU6 dongle hooked up to my Macbook Pro listening to Roon and Amazon HD...Wait till I hook it up to one of the desktop rigs and allow it to "cook" for a few days...

That's a mighty fine cable you got there. I agree, using a nice quality built headphone cable will bring more performance out from the Arya. I am using a Plussound Silver+Gold cable on my Arya and it brings a bit more micro detail, energy, and blacker background, while retaining weight/fullness, bass impact of my UPOCC copper cable.

 

[surfgeorge]

That’s a nice looking amp. Do you know what it outputs via speaker jack or do you have taps?

This amp has 180W into 8 ohms and 300W into 4 ohms. Has excellent transparency, dynamics and control. I‘ll have to be careful with that volume pot…