[NascentAP]

The other combination worth considering for the v2 is singxer sa-1 with topping d70s.
No I don't have the a90d + ares II so I have nothing to say about their comparison.
Just that the sa-1 and d70s have delivered beautiful music to my ears through the v2.

Yep, I moved onto SA-1 from A90 and the difference was immediately noticeable. Imho, the Ares II synergizes very nicely with the SA-1 only if using balanced connections throughout. I've had this combo for almost 2 years and have not felt the need to upgrade - just enjoying well recorded/mastered music.

I've not had a change to listen to A90D but based on its descriptions, it sounds very similar to the SA-1's characteristics. You probably can't go wrong with either. I've also heard many people say good things about Jot2, which is another popular choice within the same price range (at least here in US).

 

[sS1RuXx]

i'm selling my HIFIMAN ARYA V2, to anyone interested pm me.

 

[holofonze]

Does anyone remember if Hifiman has done any black friday sales on new Aryas? I think they did v2 open box sale last year, just after the stealth v3 released, but not sure about previous years. Since they dropped the price from $1600 to $1300 a few months ago, I’m wondering if they will go any lower for holiday sales.

 

[bagwell359]

Not to dissuade, and definitely not on a mission , just get to the real reason of the phenomena that I have experienced myself.
As the difference cannot be measured in any meaningful way,

Perhaps not known as of now. Do you believe that all of audio is measurable?

but so apparent after some use of the headphones, what is it?
When one of the biggest and oldest HP manufacturers publicly admits it in their FAQ that it's just "habituation effect", what else can it be attributed to?

I find that in all areas that I have delved into that outside of something basic like turning on a faucet and getting water that people love to jump at a simplified and reductionist single cause - > effect way of looking at things.

BTW, what manufacturer are you talking about?

When we hear drastic shift in frequency response, with treble taming down and bass getting tighter, soundstage widening, etc. wouldn't that show up in a measurements. But it doesn't, why, is it because the measurement device lacks emotions and consistent in its reading, or there are some additional forces in place not known to a modern science?

My take on the objective->subjective wars is that there is too much emotional involvement with the perceived standing of the arguments vs the other side.

I started off having lots of subjective inputs, and I bought in. The first bump was the strategies and efforts by my fellow sales folk and managers to manipulate people intop spending more money. Elevator pitch, Elitism, etc.. A bit too slimy for me, I got called on the carpet all the time for being not enthusiastic in selling stuff that I didn't believe in.

At first I found speaker cables, SE RCA's, and reasonable stuff like VTA and room treatments all valid. Started to get involved in blind AB testing, and slowly started to find some of my former beliefs pitched. Like speaker cables. OTOH, I found lots of differences in headphone cables - due to the crapiness of HFM cables vs basic OFC cable screwed together properly. And yeah I did it blind on 3 cans. Wife prepped them wrapped up cables with a weighed down towel so I couldn't feel the various cables - and all with XLR vs XLR since SE sounds and is litteraly weak on my amp.

So the point is that the spirit of open minded inquiry is missing in many involved in this argument. Once one or two arguments are bought into, all the others are adopted - and the battle in support of the ego becomes engaged.

I see you as someone on one side but trying to work things out. This is a good thing.

 

[dermott]

The Oor in not warm!

Jeez, OK. I didn't say Oor was warm, I said that was what I was looking for. I have not heard the Oor, but I have seen many references that it has a slight tilt away from neutral towards the warmer side. I could rephrase my desires to be "looking for something not cool, clinical or analytical". Sometimes it is better to say what you don't want rather than what you do want (?)

Side note - Violectric V222 has now dropped in the US. Might this be a better candidate for a non-cool/non-clinical amp for use with the Arya V2? 2.2 watts enough to wake up the lower sensitivity V2?

 

[Ichos]

Jeez, OK. I didn't say Oor was warm, I said that was what I was looking for. I have not heard the Oor, but I have seen many references that it has a slight tilt away from neutral towards the warmer side. I could rephrase my desires to be "looking for something not cool, clinical or analytical". Sometimes it is better to say what you don't want rather than what you do want (?)

Side note - Violectric V222 has now dropped in the US. Might this be a better candidate for a non-cool/non-clinical amp for use with the Arya V2? 2.2 watts enough to wake up the lower sensitivity V2?

Yep, the V222 is more musical and organic than the reference neutral Oor and with 3.5W/50Ω will make your Arya happy.
But ideally you should try both amps in order to decide.
There is also a price difference even without adding the Hypsos which means that you can also consider the V340 or even the V550.

 

[K.J.]

Does anyone remember if Hifiman has done any black friday sales on new Aryas? I think they did v2 open box sale last year, just after the stealth v3 released, but not sure about previous years. Since they dropped the price from $1600 to $1300 a few months ago, I’m wondering if they will go any lower for holiday sales.

I bought my V2 during the $1299 open box sale around this time in 2021, and I do recall that sometime after, the price of the open box V2 dropped to $1099 during another sale.

So if HFM offers OB V3s this year, I'd expect $1099 to be the price given the current discount..

 

[dermott]

I have seen your reviews of the V340 and I believe you will have a V222 review forthcoming too, right?

 

[Ichos]

I have seen your reviews of the V340 and I believe you will have a V222 review forthcoming too, right?

If you are referring to me, I have reviewed the V380² (same amp stage as the V340), the V226 and V550 (this one at Greek language).
And yes, I am waiting for the V222 but I don't have an ETA, I guess that they are busy right now to meet the demand.

 

[Vijay74]

I can relate to your experience. FYI, Ares II is apparently not a good match for A90. I had this pairing driving Arya V2 and was dissatisfied with the sound even before I knew that impedance matching was a thing. Then I read that the pairing in question creates an impedance mismatch, especially if your connection is balanced. Ares II has an unusually high output impedance (2.4k Ohm) and A90's input impedance is also unusually low (supposedly it's also 2.4k Ohm), such that an ideal output to input ratio of 1:10 cannot be achieved. Discussions on this topic is littered throughout various threads in multiple forums. One particular person emailed Topping and apparently, they stated that A90 should not be used with the Ares II. This is exactly the reason why I passed on Fluxlab FA-10; input impedance via balanced is also low at 3.3k Ohm (fortunately, they publish this info on their product website). I'm not an audio electrical engineer so I won't be able to break it down technically (or even why/how the deviation from the 1:10 ratio affects the sound) - just sharing my own experience as well as what I gathered after doing some searching on this topic.

Thanks! Checked on it and found that:

Ares2 output impedance XLR: 1.25 kΩ
Ares2 output impedance RCA: 625 Ω

A90 input impedance XLR: 2 kΩ
A90 input impedance RCA: 10 kΩ

A90D input impedance XLR: 2 kΩ
A90D input impedance RCA: 10 kΩ

Ares2 -> A90 via XLR : 1:1.6 ratio
Ares2 -> A90 via RCA : 1:16 ratio

Ares2 -> A90D via XLR : 1:1.6 ratio
Ares2 -> A90D via RCA : 1:16 ratio

So XLR interconnects between Ares2 and A90 or A90D are not recommended.
Changed my interconnects to RCA and now Bass has lot more punch. However, vocals still seems bit recessed but that could be because now I am used to listen to bit brighter vocals and Ares2 vocals could be termed as natural.

 

[Vijay74]

Not the case for me. Probably comes down to personal preference. Although, you're also comparing a ~$2k DAC to one that's half its cost, so I'd expect it to sound "better".

I tend to prefer R-2R with HiFiMan planars. Helps smooth out the edginess and occasional sharpness. Sounds more natural to me.

Edit: maybe it was an issue with A90 in particular. No problems with the A90D. Bass and vocals sound great to me.

Your interconnects could already be RCA based. But if not, try changing to RCA ones from XLRs and observe (better?) sound changes.

 

[TheR0v3r]

Back to those that care about ringing (def: resonances lasting past 2 ms), step response, and spectrum plots: Please see diyaudioheaven's write up on CSD, then the HFM-560, OG Sundara, and Utopia write up.

Keeping it brief for the disinterested.

Just wanted to say a BIG thank you for your posts on ringing .

I really enjoy eq:ing my headphones but have increasingly become frustrated over an inability to adress issues I’m hearing. Thanks to your posts I’ve learned that using only FR as a reference has it’s limitations. l read the write up on Diyaudioheaven and now have a better understandning of how ringing impacts the sound.

PS. It also explains why I’ve bought and sold the non-stealth Hifiman Anandas several times, loving the tuning but getting frustrated over the sound every time .

 

[bagwell359]

Andrew, you seem to be on a mission to dissuade those of us who've experienced new headphone burn-in, that we are totally imagining the whole thing, that it's simply our brains adjusting to the new sound.

I have no doubt that there is some truth to what you're saying, but at the same time, I also have no doubt that what I'm experiencing has way more to do with the headphones "breaking-in", and whether that means the ear pads forming to my head, or the membranes of the drivers stretching a bit, or whatever, I'm firmly convinced that what I'm hearing is mostly the headphone "burning-in", and not just my brain adjusting to the new sound, mainly, because I'm not giving my brain a chance to get used to the new sound.

I'll listen to the new headphone just long enough to hear that it's congested and without highs or lows, and then take it off and let it play for a few hours and come back and listen again, and by golly, it's IMMEDIATELY apparent that it's opened up and is beginning to "get it's legs". I didn't let my ears (or brain) have time to adjust, I simply let the headphone "burn-in".

I know this won't have any impact on your thinking, but I feel it's important to provide some kind of balance to your opinions. Carry on : )

It's a land mine situation. There are placebo effects, suggestability, and ego. I've seen it and I've been sucked in by it at times.

I certainly have a hard time endorsing people that say everything is measurable - take a look at my post last night on the OG HE-6 thread vs. a FR graph that is being held as proof that the 6 screw sounds the same as the SE v2.

I have heard many times vast differences in RCA cables that are not insulated. But change position of the cable and/or equipment and the sound changes. Even moreso while I might have found the "best" RCA in one environment it's not necessarily transferable to another. Same thing with power cords. So, it's Russian Roulette with no clear hierarchy. When I discovered balanced cables all seemed the same on various equipment in various settings I was sold. As for power cords I did have one that seemed to be as good or better than others. Why get on the merry go round seeking an illusory best? Audio nervosa is a real and present danger.

I ask people to avoid the poles, and try each piece with as little bias and objectivity as possible. For instance the rare times I go into a shop I don't want the biasing of a salesdroid in my ear. "What an epic bass", "the most transparent mids ever". How about ****. Also ASR dumps on the new Raal due to measurements and appearance. Some objectivity - not.

Most people find it hard not to be on a side and thus quiet the mind from excess stress. They are not the questers. Sheep don't discover, they just walk on ground already laid out. Thus people fervently glued to one side may have gotten there with an open mind, but I'm afraid the odds are against it.

 

[PoSR77]

Any thoughts on how the Cayin iHA-6 amp would pair with the Arya V2? Looking for warmth and power, but hoping to not have to spend $2K on an Oor

For Arya V2, I can't recommend a better combo than A90D + Ares II. A90D is neutral sounding amp, but the Ares II will add some warmth, body, and life into the music.

Still one of the best systems I have heard and built to date. Brings a smile to my face with each listen.

I believe @PoSR77 has the Cayin iHA-6 IIRC.

Thanks to SemiAudiophile's mention of me, I saw this post and my view (which I offer for any help it may be) is that the Cayin iHA-6 is powerful, but definitely not warm. I'd say it's on the cold/clinical side of neutral, especially in the highs that I find problematic. Its technicalities (stage width, dynamics, black background, slam/impact, speed, layering and separation, etc) are the best of all my headphone amps however.

I prefer warm-neutral amps (or those without fatiguing highs), which it seems the Oor is, and I've basically decided on it (waiting for any possible holiday sales). I think it will provide the technicalities I want with more of the timbre I seek.

 

[SemiAudiophile]

Your interconnects could already be RCA based. But if not, try changing to RCA ones from XLRs and observe (better?) sound changes.

That's interesting...I am currently using balanced XLRs and they sound fantastic to me. I can give that a try though and switch to RCAs. Will report back if I hear any difference.