[ezduzit2500]

hey I'm quite new here. got my hands on used pair of Arya v1 and unfortunatelly one of drivers is dead. Previous owner tried to repair it, which killed it fully. Looking for someone willing to sell pair with one working driver or just the driver. thanks!

Why don't you contact Hifiman? They've been known to work with owners who have earlier models and have negotiated rather fairly priced replacements for out of warranty Reference products (ie: Ananda and above) - especially if they're in good physical condition without any excessively objectionable dings and/or dents. You may be pleasantly surprised at how fairly priced the charge will be for a replacement set for you. It's worth a shot.....

 

[ezduzit2500]

Yeah that seems to be the running advice. Class A with Planars. I’m looking to grab a Singxer SA-1 or Burson Solosit

I've heard that that is an excellent pairing - read earlier posts in this thread. BTW, welcome to the Arya thread!!!

 

[sev7n14]

Why don't you contact Hifiman? They've been known to work with owners who have earlier models and have negotiated rather fairly priced replacements for out of warranty Reference products (ie: Ananda and above) - especially if they're in good physical condition without any excessively objectionable dings and/or dents. You may be pleasantly surprised at how fairly priced the charge will be for a replacement set for you. It's worth a shot.....

There was a pal posting his ananda died 3-4 months after the warranty period and hifiman charged him like $500 to fix/replace his ananda. However, he decided just to tear the headphone apart to see what was wrong instead. There’s also several dudes said hifiman were quite lenient even when they bought their headphone secondhand. Maybe it’s entirely depending on which representative handles your case lol

 

[Rogue Architect]

I've heard that that is an excellent pairing - read earlier posts in this thread. BTW, welcome to the Arya thread!!!

Well thank you sir. I am thinking I am going to wait until I can go for the Burson as it is supposed to be a great pairing with not only the Arya but also my LCD-3 and Diana V2.

 

[Vijay74]

I'm following the settings per Denafrips website using AISO.

https://www.denafrips.com/win-os

You can set upsampling to no limit, but I have mine capped at 32bit/384kHz. I don't know if it's the AISO plugin, the upsampling, or Audirvana doing some magic. But it somehow adds some "soul" into the music.

I never understood how people complain about the amp, especially the A90 bring lean, analytical, and lifeless. It's basically amplifying the signal you're feeding it. It's one of the most neutral reference amps I've heard.

For some reason I did not find the Burson 3XP to be a great match with Arya V2. It did have much better depth but the whole sound and image seemed off to me. I much prefer the A90D synergistically. The Soloist is a much better match with HEKV2 imo.

Thanks for the link. I checked it and in the process found that my Ares 2 firmware had not been updated! It was 3.09 whereas the latest one is 3.12. Talk of hundreds of "hidden" variables between the two systems! I think firmware update could be the culprit and not the impedance mismatch for not so good synergy between Ares 2 and A90! After firmware upgrade, Ares 2 + A90 sounded bit brighter to the extent of bit irritating. Ares 2 + SA1 sounded mellower and non fatiguing. So have kept Ares 2 + SA1 with Arya.
After upgrades, tried out the combinations also with SA1 with fast switching based A/B comparing (RCA/XLR input switching) while trying to keep volume same (as best as I could):
1. Qutest + SA1
2. RME ADI 2 + SA1
3. Ares 2 + SA1

Surprisingly Qutest, that used to be my favorite DAC till now, performed worst of above three DACs! With fast A/B comparison, turned out, it was giving most compressed/distorted kind output! RME provided most spacious/fuller/uncompressed kind sound but was lacking on BASS impact. Ares 2 provided punchier bass and little forward mids (to my liking) and SA1 ensured to mellow down the sound to make it pleasing and non fatiguing. So finally have settled for Ares 2 + SA1 and started appreciating why most people talk good things about Ares 2!
Next, if possible, would like to try out Pontus + Burson Soloist GT + HeKSE. Fingers crossed!

I think Burson should provide more power only and SA1 should be good enough for Arya. Burson may be good with Susvara. Burson soloist 3XP did not perform well objectively in ASR testing. But would be good to hear subjective views from others.

Thanks!

PS: BTW, I am unable to subjectively differentiate between WASAPI, ASIO and Kernel streaming options! However, keeping it as ASIO as per Ares 2 recommendations.

 

[Rogue Architect]

Thanks for the link. I checked it and in the process found that my Ares 2 firmware had not been updated! It was 3.09 whereas the latest one is 3.12. Talk of hundreds of "hidden" variables between the two systems! I think firmware update could be the culprit and not the impedance mismatch for not so good synergy between Ares 2 and A90! After firmware upgrade, Ares 2 + A90 sounded bit brighter to the extent of bit irritating. Ares 2 + SA1 sounded mellower and non fatiguing. So have kept Ares 2 + SA1 with Arya.
After upgrades, tried out the combinations also with SA1 with fast switching based A/B comparing (RCA/XLR input switching) while trying to keep volume same (as best as I could):
1. Qutest + SA1
2. RME ADI 2 + SA1
3. Ares 2 + SA1

Surprisingly Qutest, that used to be my favorite DAC till now, performed worst of above three DACs! With fast A/B comparison, turned out, it was giving most compressed/distorted kind output! RME provided most spacious/fuller/uncompressed kind sound but was lacking on BASS impact. Ares 2 provided punchier bass and little forward mids (to my liking) and SA1 ensured to mellow down the sound to make it pleasing and non fatiguing. So finally have settled for Ares 2 + SA1 and started appreciating why most people talk good things about Ares 2!
Next, if possible, would like to try out Pontus + Burson Soloist GT + HeKSE. Fingers crossed!

I think Burson should provide more power only and SA1 should be good enough for Arya. Burson may be good with Susvara. Burson soloist 3XP did not perform well objectively in ASR testing. But would be good to hear subjective views from others.

Thanks!

PS: BTW, I am unable to subjectively differentiate between WASAPI, ASIO and Kernel streaming options! However, keeping it as ASIO as per Ares 2 recommendations.

Nice comparison! I would be curious as well the difference between the SA-1 and the Soloist. While it may be easier to not screw up amp measurements, he has proven himself pretty untrustworthy based on his extremely unscientific method.

 

[Marlowe]

Nice comparison! I would be curious as well the difference between the SA-1 and the Soloist. While it may be easier to not screw up amp measurements, he has proven himself pretty untrustworthy based on his extremely unscientific method.

IIRC, Amir's problem (typical with discrete amps not from an anointed firm like Topping that makes them specifically to ace his tests) was that the Soloist could be made to distort thought he admitted it was inaudible at any listening level short of instant deafness. (OK, I'm being slightly snarky, but not much--that's pretty much what he said.) This is very interesting to me since I'm likely looking for a new amp early next year and the Singxer SA-1 and Soloist 3X basically are the two primary candidates. (I've pretty much ruled out the Topping A90D. While a certain type of YouTube reviewer raves over the A90D, the reviewers I have more trust in have mostly given it lukewarm to negative reviews.)

 

[Rogue Architect]

IIRC, Amir's problem (typical with discrete amps not from an anointed firm like Topping that makes them specifically to ace his tests) was that the Soloist could be made to distort thought he admitted it was inaudible at any listening level short of instant deafness. (OK, I'm being slightly snarky, but not much--that's pretty much what he said.) This is very interesting to me since I'm likely looking for a new amp early next year and the Singxer SA-1 and Soloist 3X basically are the two primary candidates. (I've pretty much ruled out the Topping A90D. While a certain type of YouTube reviewer raves over the A90D, the reviewers I have more trust in have mostly given it lukewarm to negative reviews.)

I have basically come to the same conclusion as you about the A90 plus even those that like it still seem to agree that class A is the way to go for planars. Yeah after ASR’s review of the Abyss Diana he completely exposed himself. He’s all about the science except when he is not. Although I would look at a review from him for an amp much sooner than I would ever give his headphone reviews any kind of respect. Dude doesn’t even know how to properly measure headphones and indignantly so. So much for scientific objectivity.

 

[elee703]

IIRC, Amir's problem (typical with discrete amps not from an anointed firm like Topping that makes them specifically to ace his tests) was that the Soloist could be made to distort thought he admitted it was inaudible at any listening level short of instant deafness. (OK, I'm being slightly snarky, but not much--that's pretty much what he said.) This is very interesting to me since I'm likely looking for a new amp early next year and the Singxer SA-1 and Soloist 3X basically are the two primary candidates. (I've pretty much ruled out the Topping A90D. While a certain type of YouTube reviewer raves over the A90D, the reviewers I have more trust in have mostly given it lukewarm to negative reviews.)

I mean....it's been discussed at how loud he listens to things to the point that it could be damaging

 

[Tachyon88]

I mean....it's been discussed at how loud he listens to things to the point that it could be damaging

I bet every single person hear listens to 94db peaks.

 

[Rogue Architect]

I bet every single person hear listens to 94db peaks.

Big difference between the way our brain deals with short peaks as opposed to consistently listening that high and having peaks even higher.

 

[ezduzit2500]

There was a pal posting his ananda died 3-4 months after the warranty period and hifiman charged him like $500 to fix/replace his ananda. However, he decided just to tear the headphone apart to see what was wrong instead. There’s also several dudes said hifiman were quite lenient even when they bought their headphone secondhand. Maybe it’s entirely depending on which representative handles your case lol

They've been pretty fair to me . I had a problem with a slightly out of warranty Arya (~1 month or so) and they replaced it with a new set, no problems. I guess it's different if you can provide a previous receipt and order number vs coming in with no documents....again ? You'll never know if you don't at least try.......

 

[ezduzit2500]

Well thank you sir. I am thinking I am going to wait until I can go for the Burson as it is supposed to be a great pairing with not only the Arya but also my LCD-3 and Diana V2.

Please keep us posted. I surely don't need another amp, but I've been sort of itching for the Burson sound, LOL (ie: I have a still excellent sounding Gustard H20 now)......

 

[ezduzit2500]

Thanks for the link. I checked it and in the process found that my Ares 2 firmware had not been updated! It was 3.09 whereas the latest one is 3.12. Talk of hundreds of "hidden" variables between the two systems! I think firmware update could be the culprit and not the impedance mismatch for not so good synergy between Ares 2 and A90! After firmware upgrade, Ares 2 + A90 sounded bit brighter to the extent of bit irritating. Ares 2 + SA1 sounded mellower and non fatiguing. So have kept Ares 2 + SA1 with Arya.
After upgrades, tried out the combinations also with SA1 with fast switching based A/B comparing (RCA/XLR input switching) while trying to keep volume same (as best as I could):
1. Qutest + SA1
2. RME ADI 2 + SA1
3. Ares 2 + SA1

Surprisingly Qutest, that used to be my favorite DAC till now, performed worst of above three DACs! With fast A/B comparison, turned out, it was giving most compressed/distorted kind output! RME provided most spacious/fuller/uncompressed kind sound but was lacking on BASS impact. Ares 2 provided punchier bass and little forward mids (to my liking) and SA1 ensured to mellow down the sound to make it pleasing and non fatiguing. So finally have settled for Ares 2 + SA1 and started appreciating why most people talk good things about Ares 2!
Next, if possible, would like to try out Pontus + Burson Soloist GT + HeKSE. Fingers crossed!

I think Burson should provide more power only and SA1 should be good enough for Arya. Burson may be good with Susvara. Burson soloist 3XP did not perform well objectively in ASR testing. But would be good to hear subjective views from others.

Thanks!

PS: BTW, I am unable to subjectively differentiate between WASAPI, ASIO and Kernel streaming options! However, keeping it as ASIO as per Ares 2 recommendations.

+1 for synergy!!! I wouldn't worry about Amir and the ASR crowd - we don't listen to graphs nor sine sweeps - and the great majority of the ASR detractors haven't even ever heard the gears actually being reviewed to make informed judgements on the merits of said SQ. Rant over, LOL....

 

[Rogue Architect]

Please keep us posted. I surely don't need another amp, but I've been sort of itching for the Burson sound, LOL (ie: I have a still excellent sounding Gustard H20 now)......

Yeah it is between those two but I am also very curious about the Bottlehead S.E.X. and the Feliks Echo MKII. Although I may have to sell my Aryas to make it work. Although I am looking in to trading my Dianas for an LCD-5 so I am still waiting to determine where I am going to land with headphones before I decide which amp to go with. Plus if I go LCD-5 the amp pairing isn't near as important.