[Louisiana]

Welcome to the Hifiman business model

But, as much as you are right, Hifiman headphones just sound so good...!

 

[Louisiana]

I wonder if anyone uses Arya Stealth with TOPPING D30 PRO DAC + A30 PRO AMP and how it sounds
tnx

The sound is primarily made by the headphones - I don't think you're doing anything wrong with your Topping combo.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

I wonder if anyone uses Arya Stealth with TOPPING D30 PRO DAC + A30 PRO AMP and how it sounds
tnx

this combo is hard to beat for the price

Having had a chance to audition all three versions of the Arya, I’m fairly certain that the only things that change are the pads and some minor design features (nicer looking magnets!?). The sound though remains the same providing you pair all with the same type of pads.
I think the whole ‘Stealth magnet’ thing sounds like salesmen-talk..this is effectively how companies sell the same stuff..but with a new sticker on top claiming it’s all brand new tech…and of course upgraded immensely compared to the older version…which for all intents and purposes is identical to the new one.
Welcome to the Hifiman business model

For Arya V2 and V3, driver wise physically they're different, so I'm not sure about what you wrote here. I agree the difference in sound is not super huge, but it's there, especially with A/B Comparison.

Stealth Magnet technology itself already implanted in Susvara and HE1000SE since years ago, so they only passed it down to Arya without need much RnD cost.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

All I’m saying is that the new stealth Arya still sounds like the original Arya when the latter is fitted with all new pads. Whether or not the magnets or drivers have been prettied up is rather besides the point when the sound quality is identical (or within the range of what one would expect from different batches of the same headphone at least).
I’d think the difference in pad wear between different Aryas have a much larger effect on sound quality and ultimately account for the differences mentioned in much of this thread.
I figure the Arya is just as susceptible to differences in frequency response with pad wear as any other headphone out there…and especially as pads wear down and deflate a little, the presentation will change because the drivers come closer to one’s ears.

 

[ezduzit2500]

Having had a chance to audition all three versions of the Arya, I’m fairly certain that the only things that change are the pads and some minor design features (nicer looking magnets!?). The sound though remains the same providing you pair all with the same type of pads.
I think the whole ‘Stealth magnet’ thing sounds like salesmen-talk..this is effectively how companies sell the same stuff..but with a new sticker on top claiming it’s all brand new tech…and of course upgraded immensely compared to the older version…which for all intents and purposes is identical to the new one.
Welcome to the Hifiman business model

I don't think that HFM's approach to "revisions" is isolated with them though. Many other companies "reconfigure" their differing products with the same materiel and manufacturing techniques they had previously developed, and that are readily available on-hand or off-shelf. Audeze, Focal, Senn, Beyer, Topping, and many others. They all develop a "base" of materials and manufacturing techniques common to their brand and the different "models" are mostly variations of the "base".

 

[ezduzit2500]

All I’m saying is that the new stealth Arya still sounds like the original Arya when the latter is fitted with all new pads. Whether or not the magnets or drivers have been prettied up is rather besides the point when the sound quality is identical (or within the range of what one would expect from different batches of the same headphone at least).
I’d think the difference in pad wear between different Aryas have a much larger effect on sound quality and ultimately account for the differences mentioned in much of this thread.
I figure the Arya is just as susceptible to differences in frequency response with pad wear as any other headphone out there…and especially as pads wear down and deflate a little, the presentation will change because the drivers come closer to one’s ears.

Mostly on point. Except it seems that HFM's models have a similar sound within the model's "family." I don't think pad wear affects planars as much as dynamics - though I could be wrong.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Any time you change the distance from drivers to ears, it will invariably change up the frequency response/presentation ever so slightly. Planars are no exception here.
You’re right about the whole manufacturing thing though. The new Clear fx is the same as the old one, except for the pads and the new styling. You can get the sound of the old Clear back simply by swapping on some of the original styled pads.
Sennheiser also does this with the 6XX and the 650 but to be fair, they’ve never been disingenuous about the whole process behind and claimed that it was a brand new headphone.
Hifiman are generally more obfuscating when it comes to their new releases.
I still love some of their produce to death, like the Sundara and HE500, but they could be more open about the way they present their business…which perhaps is nigh on impossible when you release so many “new” headphones and want a general ‘mystique’ around your products. Moreover, many customers seem more than willing to breathe life into all these tall tales of the ‘Stealth magnets’.
Oh well.
Anyhoo. My main point was merely to calm down folks who’ve been sitting around with their ‘ancient’ V1 or V2 wondering whether they should make the jump for the V3.
I’d personally save the dough and buy a set of fresh pads. Gets you V3 sound in a jiffy

 

[Dr_Hibbert]

Any time you change the distance from drivers to ears, it will invariably change up the frequency response/presentation ever so slightly. Planars are no exception here.
You’re right about the whole manufacturing thing though. The new Clear fx is the same as the old one, except for the pads and the new styling. You can get the sound of the old Clear back simply by swapping on some of the original styled pads.
Sennheiser also does this with the 6XX and the 650 but to be fair, they’ve never been disingenuous about the whole process behind and claimed that it was a brand new headphone.
Hifiman are generally more obfuscating when it comes to their new releases.
I still love some of their produce to death, like the Sundara and HE500, but they could be more open about the way they present their business…which perhaps is nigh on impossible when you release so many “new” headphones and want a general ‘mystique’ around your products. Moreover, many customers seem more than willing to breathe life into all these tall tales of the ‘Stealth magnets’.
Oh well.
Anyhoo. My main point was merely to calm down folks who’ve been sitting around with their ‘ancient’ V1 or V2 wondering whether they should make the jump for the V3.
I’d personally save the dough and buy a set of fresh pads. Gets you V3 sound in a jiffy

you seem determined to miss the point. as mentioned above, there are material (and readily seen) differences in design and construction between the v1/v2 and the v3. stealth magnets are not just “marketing”. and moreover, your suggestion that a pad swap will offset any differences in sound is mere speculation and likely false.

 

[MardukSonofEa]

The V2 produces a subtle echo which is especially noticeable with acoustic music, and this creates a lot of the sonic distance perception and accounts for people generally hearing V2 soundstage is wider and V3 soundstage as narrower. I doubt this is a property of the pads as opposed to the new magnets.

 

[ezduzit2500]

Any time you change the distance from drivers to ears, it will invariably change up the frequency response/presentation ever so slightly. Planars are no exception here.
You’re right about the whole manufacturing thing though. The new Clear fx is the same as the old one, except for the pads and the new styling. You can get the sound of the old Clear back simply by swapping on some of the original styled pads.
Sennheiser also does this with the 6XX and the 650 but to be fair, they’ve never been disingenuous about the whole process behind and claimed that it was a brand new headphone.
Hifiman are generally more obfuscating when it comes to their new releases.
I still love some of their produce to death, like the Sundara and HE500, but they could be more open about the way they present their business…which perhaps is nigh on impossible when you release so many “new” headphones and want a general ‘mystique’ around your products. Moreover, many customers seem more than willing to breathe life into all these tall tales of the ‘Stealth magnets’.
Oh well.
Anyhoo. My main point was merely to calm down folks who’ve been sitting around with their ‘ancient’ V1 or V2 wondering whether they should make the jump for the V3.
I’d personally save the dough and buy a set of fresh pads. Gets you V3 sound in a jiffy

I understand your point and agree to some extent. However, all it really takes is to visually look at HFM's newer 'revisions" to see that they've simply done a "nip and tuck" to arrive at the new revision, and that the new one still has the "bones" of the older model. HFM is up-front with it's customers if it's a totally new HP though. I think each Arya version, whether v1, v2, or v3, brings something to the table that is different from the other ones. V1 is the OG with the most expansive staging but also has the too thin-n-bright presentation and the most plasticky timbre of them all with (some say) wimpy bass. The v2 dials down the brightness/thin-ness but also reigns in the extreme expansiveness, and is still somewhat plasticky with less wimpy bass. The v3 is the most natural sounding out of the box, with the best timbre and bass dynamics out of the box - but also has the smallest stage out of the box - which improves substantially with time, IMO. There's something for everyone with HFM it seems, they've got bases covered.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

you seem determined to miss the point. as mentioned above, there are material (and readily seen) differences in design and construction between the v1/v2 and the v3. stealth magnets are not just “marketing”. and moreover, your suggestion that a pad swap will offset any differences in sound is mere speculation and likely false.

My ‘speculations’ come from an honest place. It all starts out by listening to headphones..in this case a/b’ing different versions of the Arya with spare sets of fresh pads..and rapporting back exclusively on what I hear.
To me they sound the same. Pad wear and how this changes up the sound is easy to search for oneself and documented many a places.
As far as Hifiman and their business goes. I’ll let people decide for themselves.
Alright I’m out. I was merely trying to offer an honest opinion and perhaps a little sound advice to people mulling over the V1, V2 and V3 conundrum.
I’m also more of a Sundara man myself. I prefer the more evenhanded uppermids and treble of the little round cupped Hifiman

 

[Reputator]

It's amusing someone would call Hifiman disingenuous about their revisions in the context of the Arya V3 when....it's literally called the Arya Stealth Edition and there are very obvious visual differences in the magnet shapes and structure.

And then you consider that Hifiman is offering a (subjectively) upgraded product for the exact same price as the previous one. That's exactly how we want technology to work. Audeze also makes revisions to their headphones, and actually so do most headphone companies that I've dealt with in my 15+ years in this hobby.

There's been some that have claimed in this thread that the Arya Stealth gives you some of the qualities of the Susvara, at a fraction of the price and amplification requirement. You then have the newly launched Edition XS which has been getting a lot of positive buzz and has the potential to give you a portion of that higher-end sound at $500 (this is a comparison I'd love to make). Overall what we're seeing is a headphone company that is aggressively refreshing it's entire product range to give more performance at every price point, putting additional pressure on their competitors. They've actively chosen NOT to rest on their laurels, and we aren't used to seeing the headphone market get this competitive and see this much technology advancement like we've been seeing in just a last couple years.

 

[ezduzit2500]

It's amusing someone would call Hifiman disingenuous about their revisions in the context of the Arya V3 when....it's literally called the Arya Stealth Edition and there are very obvious visual differences in the magnet shapes and structure.

And then you consider that Hifiman is offering a (subjectively) upgraded product for the exact same price as the previous one. That's exactly how we want technology to work. Audeze also makes revisions to their headphones, and actually so do most headphone companies that I've dealt with in my 15+ years in this hobby.

There's been some that have claimed in this thread that the Arya Stealth gives you some of the qualities of the Susvara, at a fraction of the price and amplification requirement. You then have the newly launched Edition XS which has been getting a lot of positive buzz and has the potential to give you a portion of that higher-end sound at $500 (this is a comparison I'd love to make). Overall what we're seeing is a headphone company that is aggressively refreshing it's entire product range to give more performance at every price point, putting additional pressure on their competitors. They've actively chosen NOT to rest on their laurels, and we aren't used to seeing the headphone market get this competitive and see this much technology advancement like we've been seeing in just a last couple years.

Well put.

 

[NtraX]

Then again, putting rounded magnet can call stealth magnet, I don't see why can't changing custom pads would not upgrade the sound (naming your own revision) too.

I'm selling custom pads if anyone interested. Thanks for your support.

 

[dleblanc343]

There seems to be a lot of distrust, or at least, confusion and perhaps even denial in how the Arya SE sounds different/ better than its previous counterparts.

For the fella saying the stealth magnets is a gimmick and just pad swap - just lol, please don’t be silly and talk if you don’t know what you’re talking about. Sure pad life probably does make a larger difference, but you can’t fully discredit the stealth magnet.

For those who are more visual, imagine the magnets on V1 and V2 being the rear wing on a sports car, and the sharp edges causing refraction of air to create a certain sound wave or channeling of air, potentially interfering from a perfect unobstructed flow.

In the case of the “stealth magnets”, the rounded magnets are essentially allowing for a less disruptive flow of air, more seamless throughout the “grid” of magnets, creating less wind turbulence (or in the case of sound, less echo and distortion of sound) as the waveguides are flowing through in a less jagged way.

I owned the Arya v1, and one of my critiques of it were that it sounded too twangy, and etched, and you could detect cleary its planar “graininess”. It sounded like energy was not getting dissipated quickly enough in the treble and lingered too long, creating a bright and fatiguing sound.

What I am experiencing with the Arya V3 right now is quite smoother sound indeed in the upper midrange and low treble, yet more air comes through in the 10kHz and up - yet is sounds noticeably more natural and less twangy. Brighter up top, yet less fatiguing, likely because we are eliminating some crosstalk in the refraction of airflow from the improved magnet structure.

Surprisingly, the dynamics here seem to be the greatest improvement, which nobody talks about. My time with the Arya V1, whilst also owning all modern Eggyman headphones simultaneously, was short lived. It clearly lacked the finesse, refinement and most importantly dynamic contrast off the HE1000’s and especially Susvara.

Against all expectations, the Arya SE has actually impressed me. I’ve been a bit disinterested with HiFiMAN product as of late, but figured these might be fun to try, and must give credit to the company - this is likely their best release since Susvara. I think I would pick Arya SE over any iteration of HEK, and that includes the legendary HEKv2. I could definitely not say the same for ARYAv1.

If I had to score some HiFiMAN planars on 10, it would go like this:

Susvara: 9.6 (Best headphones I’ve heard not called HE1)

HEKse: 9.2 (watch out for the deadly treble though, and less natural timbre

HEKv2: 9.1 (best “overall” of its series, but thinnest bass and macro dynamic contrast. Widest stage)

Arya SE: 9.1 (Probably HiFiMAN’s best tuned headphone for a generalist/ play whatever you want type headphone. More punchy that most if not all)

HE1000v1: 8.9 (Analog and thick in its bass and mids, very diffuse with terrible depth image projection “left/ right sounding”. Does bass incredibly well in timbre and decent on impact. Treble is a bit sloppy, but less bright than V2)

Arya v1: 8.4 (Very good HD800 planar alternate for spaciousness + more low end, but at the end of the day it’s a bit too bright and troubled in its treble. As opposed to HD800 pierce at 5.5-6kHz, what we have here is worse in that its got a graininess and coarseness to its treble (think radio static, white noise) - it lacks finesse and effortlessness and the treble remains sustained with audible distortion. Otherwise very nicely tuned if not for the technical limitations)