[yeboyi]

I received my Arya Stealth. It's very punchy and crunchy headphone. Soundstage doesn't seem big and airy. This is a forward and engaging type of sound. I'd say Edition XS have bigger more spacious soundstage.
Speed is impressive. Ananda and XS sound flabby in comparison. Arya is tight, precise. Driver have strong grip.

The fit and the build significantly better than Ananda and XS in my opinion.

Very nice headphone.

 

[Contrails]

I received my Arya Stealth. It's very punchy and crunchy headphone. Soundstage doesn't seem big and airy. This is a forward and engaging type of sound. I'd say Edition XS have bigger more spacious soundstage.
Speed is impressive. Ananda and XS sound flabby in comparison. Arya is tight, precise. Driver have strong grip.

The fit and the build significantly better than Ananda and XS in my opinion.

Very nice headphone.

If you stop eating crispy chips while listening to music does the crunchiness stop?

 

[TheRH]

Is the SPL Phonitor SPL SE enough to power the Stealth edition?

 

[Ichos]

I received my Arya Stealth. It's very punchy and crunchy headphone. Soundstage doesn't seem big and airy. This is a forward and engaging type of sound. I'd say Edition XS have bigger more spacious soundstage.
Speed is impressive. Ananda and XS sound flabby in comparison. Arya is tight, precise. Driver have strong grip.

The fit and the build significantly better than Ananda and XS in my opinion.

Very nice headphone.

Stage might not be the most holographic among the TOTL headphones but imaging and ambience communication are superlative.
Give the headphone at least 100 hours of use and then get back to us!

 

[TheRH]

How is the bass/sub-bass compared to a 2021 Rev. of Audeze LCD-X? And how much sound leakage do they have?

 

[Sproketz]

Posting a link to this mod I did for Arya Stealth here in case it can help anyone else.

I experienced uncomfortable eardrum pressure that made me need to equalize my ears when listening to the Arya Stealth. This was caused by tracks with low bass, and would happen even if I was listening quietly. After researching a bit, I found this is not common but is experienced by some others with front sealed/unported planars.

I modded some ports into my Dekoni pads and now have zero issues. This completely fixed it, with the only audible change being a very subtle strengthening of bass in the sub-bass region when the ports are uncovered. I could only detect this using flat bass test tones and it is ultra-subtle. The rest of the sound remains unaltered to my ear.

Aya Stealth Dekoni Pad Bass Port Mod

 

[prymortal]

Who is running the Aryas Balanced vs Single Ended ?

Balanced. Just coz the system is

 

[yeboyi]

If you stop eating crispy chips while listening to music does the crunchiness stop?

Seriously i never used this word before for describing a sound but Arya SE have this weirdly engaging treble making my teeth itching. So crunchy! lol.

Stage might not be the most holographic among the TOTL headphones but imaging and ambience communication are superlative.
Give the headphone at least 100 hours of use and then get back to us!

These egg shape Hifiman's really have some adaptation period. Things will definitely make more sense in terms of mapping things in the soundstage after 100h. The first obvious trait is the speed, precision, relatively energetic and punchy sound.

When i say soundstage, i generally mean the distance of things to my ears. Arya is definitely more forward than say XS. Also the XS have an elevated upper treble above 10k which makes things sound more open. But in terms of holography and imaging, i believe your wording is just right.

 

[ezduzit2500]

Arya stealth, should I upgrade from topping e50/l50 stack? If so what players are in the game. When I was shopping around I couldn't make heads or tails of the amp DAC stuff. Was gonna get magnius modius but didn't wanna wait 6 weeks so I just said **** it and got what I got. Now the dust has settled and I'm ready to learn more about amps and dacs. Looking for the arya equivalent where it's like 85% of stuff that costs 5x.

My usual sugestion: A discrete Class A balanced amp with at least ~2W on hand to deal with any and every dynamic peak or bass drop. Discrete because of the discretes I've heard and owned they were spatially superior to IC/THX based amps in the same price ranges or higher that I tried side by side at home (3D, timbre, holography, trailing edges of notes, realism, etc). Balanced because of separation and more power output. 2W or better because though the Stealths are easy to drive, they still require a fair amount of current for the best bass quality (plus, future-proof for other harder to drive hps). Of course, this is my opinion, others may differ. Hope this helps. Oh, P.S. - don't be averse to shopping the used markets for high or upper mid-range amps for great deals on well taken care of pieces (I bought a ~$950 amp used for $475 all in, no scratches).

 

[ezduzit2500]

Who is running the Aryas Balanced vs Single Ended ?

Balanced always...more separation, more power, more engaging.

 

[tradyblix]

I received my Arya Stealth. It's very punchy and crunchy headphone. Soundstage doesn't seem big and airy. This is a forward and engaging type of sound. I'd say Edition XS have bigger more spacious soundstage.
Speed is impressive. Ananda and XS sound flabby in comparison. Arya is tight, precise. Driver have strong grip.

The fit and the build significantly better than Ananda and XS in my opinion.

Very nice headphone.

Ya gotta wait. Soundstage will open up. I didn't believe it either but it's true

 

[haasaaroni]

My usual sugestion: A discrete Class A balanced amp with at least ~2W on hand to deal with any and every dynamic peak or bass drop. Discrete because of the discretes I've heard and owned they were spatially superior to IC/THX based amps in the same price ranges or higher that I tried side by side at home (3D, timbre, holography, trailing edges of notes, realism, etc). Balanced because of separation and more power output. 2W or better because though the Stealths are easy to drive, they still require a fair amount of current for the best bass quality (plus, future-proof for other harder to drive hps). Of course, this is my opinion, others may differ. Hope this helps. Oh, P.S. - don't be averse to shopping the used markets for high or upper mid-range amps for great deals on well taken care of pieces (I bought a ~$950 amp used for $475 all in, no scratches).

Good point on the used amp selections! Some good deals to be had out there for sure. Anyone on this thread try an Arya with the Ampsandsound Forge (or any of Justin's amps for that matter)? Any impressions with that pairing?

 

[rlanger]

Finally had a brief (20 min.) listening session with the Arya Stealth and was pretty blown away compared to my Sundara, even only through my Mojo 2.

Guess I gotta start putting the pennies aside.

 

[Ichos]

Balanced always...more separation, more power, more engaging.

There are single ended designs with the same traits

 

[tradyblix]

It depends on the amp. some amps, like the TA-ZH1ES for example, don't have enough power single ended in their designs. It's not a thing where balanced is always better. SE is fine in many applications.