[DeweyCH]

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…

I meant to ask what it outputs via headphone jack, not speaker jack. I always have trouble finding that info for speaker amps/receivers.

 

[surfgeorge]

I meant to ask what it outputs via headphone jack, not speaker jack. I always have trouble finding that info for speaker amps/receivers.

There's no headphone Jack. I will have to make an adapter and use the speaker output.
This amp is super pure - just a clean preamp section with power amp, fully balanced

 

[cgb3]

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.

I could have written this review... with the same conclusion.

Bifrost 2>Lyr 3 (rolling a PSVane 6SN7)>Jot 2>Arya 2.

Love the Arya v2. Not selling my Senn HD 800S yet.

 

[sahmen]

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...

Day 2 of V3 burn-in:

I just tried to test the dynamics of the V3 on this track, and not only do I have "dynamics" coming out of my ears, I also find my head being seriously knocked about by some major bass cannons, even though this ain't supposed to be no bass-head music... Still, I think it was a fun ride while it lasted, but excuse me while I shake off some dizziness and stop my eyes from popping out of them sockets .. It does sound much better on Roon/Amazonhd with the V3, of course, better than youtube



Okay, speaking of dynamics, bass cannons, and V3 honeymoons, here's an encore:

 

[Somatic]

No, but I am using the XLR out on my amp now and felt the treble tamped down too. I listened to my treble spike song again with stock tuning and was fine with it. Before it was jusss over the edge for my liking. Also don't have to switch to high gain as much to have decent volume control.

Did you end up keeping your Arya V2s? I ended up selling them several months ago but ended up buying the open box deal on Hifimans website for the V2s. Miss them

 

[Tachyon88]

Did you end up keeping your Arya V2s? I ended up selling them several months ago but ended up buying the open box deal on Hifimans website for the V2s. Miss them

Yes I still have them. How do they sound after the hiatus in comparison to the susvara ?

 

[Somatic]

Yes I still have them. How do they sound after the hiatus in comparison to the susvara ?

I'll let you know. I get them next Thursday. Do you still listen to them?

 

[Tachyon88]

I'll let you know. I get them next Thursday. Do you still listen to them?

Of course. I read so many people buying the same headphone multiple times and I have never wanted to end up doing that, so I keep my headphones for a while to make sure its something I want to keep. To me the HD800s and the arya are the only two headphones that sound like something extra is going on.

 

[cgb3]

Of course. I read so many people buying the same headphone multiple times and I have never wanted to end up doing that, so I keep my headphones for a while to make sure its something I want to keep. To me the HD800s and the arya are the only two headphones that sound like something extra is going on.

"To me the HD800s and the arya are the only two headphones that sound like something extra is going on."

Couldn't express it better. Own them both. Arya's have more balls, HD800S's better mids, and slightly better highs. I've relegated my HD800s phones to classical jazz. The Arya's (v2) are my everyday phones.

I'd like to listen to ZMF's. Maybe an electrostatic phone. I've never heard the Focal mid-high phones.

I think headphone technology may be progressing faster than amp/dac technology.

So few years, so many deserving phones (coupled with a budget).

 

[sahmen]

For what it's worth, I am seriously enjoying this V3 burn-in phase. It is to the point where I do not miss or feel like reaching for either the Susvara, the Abyss TC, or the LCD-5. I am not saying that the V3 is necessarily better than those three... I am actually certain that it is not... All I'm saying is that if, after 3 days of continuous burn in and exclusive V3 listening, I do not feel like I am missing something vital in its sound-scape, i.e. some aspect of the other 3 that the Arya cannot cover satisfactorily, then the v3 must have some really important bases covered... On the other hand, did I already mention that I was seriously enjoying the V3 experience a lot?

The curious thing is that I have still been listening to it with the RU6 dongle so far, without having hooked it up to any desktop rig all this time.

 

[rlanger]

Day 2 of V3 burn-in:

I just tried to test the dynamics of the V3 on this track, and not only do I have "dynamics" coming out of my ears, I also find my head being seriously knocked about by some major bass cannons, even though this ain't supposed to be no bass-head music... Still, I think it was a fun ride while it lasted, but excuse me while I shake off some dizziness and stop my eyes from popping out of them sockets .. It does sound much better on Roon/Amazonhd with the V3, of course, better than youtube



Okay, speaking of dynamics, bass cannons, and V3 honeymoons, here's an encore:

Damn that Manu album is great. Beautiful recording.

 

[Somatic]

Same build quality except for the following:

magnets: v1 - painted over; v2 - unpainted (exposed)

rear grille cover: v1 - mesh; v2 - ~speaker cloth
comment: I thought I read somewhere that the paint was flaking off the magnets of some of the large earcup models, so Hifiman decided to leave them unpainted. I was under the impression that there was more to the paint than aesthetics, like better protection for the magnets against corrosion. Anyways, the speaker cloth does a better job of covering up the exposed magnets from view but not necessarily from the elements.

earpad dust cover: v1 - on the earpad; v2 - in front of the ear cup chamber.
comment: The v1 configuration allowed one to access the ear cup chamber, which is sometimes necessary to remove a hair strand that managed to find its way in there and cause driver buzzing. The v2 does not allow that anymore since the dust cover is now over the earcup chamber. Still, one can probably remove the dust cover from the v2's pretty easily and use the v1 earpads. However, that will likely void your warranty. The v2 design does allow for greater depth for those with large/wide ears.

earpads: v1 - ultrapads (w/ dust cover); v2 - harmony pads (w/o dust cover)
comment: Now, this could be just personal experience, but the harmony pads that came with my v2's were considerably stiffer than the v1 pads, which made the v2's unbearable to wear after ten minutes or so since the lack of give made my jaw ache. When I wore them for over 30mins and took them off, my jaw ached for the rest of the day. In contrast, I wore my v1's almost daily, hours at a time, without any issues due to the softer ultrapad cushioning. I don't know if it was product variance with the harmony pads that came with my v2's since there are plenty out there who seem to have no problems with these pads. After more than two weeks, the v2 pads weren't getting any softer. So, I obtained a new pair of ultrapads, cut out the dust cover, and used them with my v2's. The new ultrapads were considerably more comfortable than the harmony pads that came with my v2. After swapping out the harmony pads for the ultrapads, the comfort level of the v2 returned to the same level as my old v1's.

yokes: v1 - metal?; v2 - plastic
comment: I do not remember if the v1's yokes were metal, but I strongly suspect that the v2 yokes are plastic since they feel and ring differently from the yokes of my HEXv2, which are definitely metal.

I hope this info helps!

Do you remember which version ultra pad you used? Thanks

https://www.headamp.com/products/hifiman-ultrapad-v2

 

[sennfan83261]

Do you remember which version ultra pad you used? Thanks

https://www.headamp.com/products/hifiman-ultrapad-v2

Yes, those are the ones. I remember thinking about cutting out the dust cover from the ear cups, so that my v2 will look like the v1 with the ultrapads. Eventually, I decided to cut out the dust cover from the ultrapads from your link. For some reason the foam used for the ultrapads are considerably less stiff than then foam of the Arya v2's stock harmony pads. All of the ultrapads that I've tried so far use the same plush foam, 5 different pairs: Arya v1, HEX v2, HEKv1 (included by seller), Ananda (tour model), and the pair ordered for Arya v2.

 

[Somatic]

I would say this is only manufacturing deviation. I have 3 pairs, one ultra pads and two serenity and all have little different shape.

Yes, those are the ones. I remember thinking about cutting out the dust cover from the ear cups, so that my v2 will look like the v1 with the ultrapads. Eventually, I decided to cut out the dust cover from the ultrapads from your link. For some reason the foam used for the ultrapads are considerably less stiff than then foam of the Arya v2's stock harmony pads. All of the ultrapads that I've tried so far use the same plush foam, 5 different pairs: Arya v1, HEX v2, HEKv1 (included by seller), Ananda (tour model), and the pair ordered for Arya v2.

Perfect. I’ll order some as well. I find V2 stock pads too stiff. Is this the only pad alternative for the Aryas? Nothing else thicker and plushies at the moment?

Edit: any reason for taking off the dust covers?

 

[migo]

Perfect. I’ll order some as well. I find V2 stock pads too stiff. Is this the only pad alternative for the Aryas? Nothing else thicker and plushies at the moment?

Edit: any reason for taking off the dust covers?

A few pages back is posted/presented by member another aftermarket alternative. I've cut that mesh out, there is no need to have two dust protections in place I think. Sound was the same with or without double mesh for me.