Tubewin
1000+ Head-Fier
I see, well can't say I'm surprised given the price difference. Were you able to listen to both headphones and a/b?
HIFIMAN Arya - Arya Stealth - Arya Organic :: Impressions Thread
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hanumanbob
100+ Head-Fier
The hifimans and ZMF have totally different sound profiles and the focals another. It’s impossible to a/b compare if you don’t accept the brand differences in sound qualities. Hifimans can be detailed and open with big soundstage but lack midtone presence for things like symphony orchestras ZMF excels in all areas and is richer. Focals I find excellent but dense. Your music preferences will greatly influence a decision. For example a Focal Clear is all someone might need for ever and other people want more variation and complexity.
And there are people too that are unable to hear differences just like some can't see subtleties in color.
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Funny how he compares this new model so much to the susvara. That is why I sold mine because I thought the v2 was already close enough, but with a sense of bigger bass, sound and larger sound stage.
Tubewin
1000+ Head-Fier
So, it's not that it's "not even close", it's just different? It's not better or worse than the Calderas?
joseluishs
100+ Head-Fier
I think it might just be different than Caldera. Not like straight line better or worse one or the other... Maybe better in some areas and not as good in others.
In my opinion the Caldera plays in different leagues. That is not a contest.
That said, I agree that the Organic is the best Arya so far, HiFiMan nailed it this time. Might just be the best buy for its asking price. Very good indeed, even better than some more expensive headphones. I would still choose the HE1000V2 though as that one sounds more coherent to my ears.
That said, I agree that the Organic is the best Arya so far, HiFiMan nailed it this time. Might just be the best buy for its asking price. Very good indeed, even better than some more expensive headphones. I would still choose the HE1000V2 though as that one sounds more coherent to my ears.
hanumanbob
100+ Head-Fier
ZMF has a much more refined elegant sound. But the aryas might suit you well. It will depend on the music. I find that the Aryas and hifimans in general have a hole in the upper mids but if you listen to v shaped music you’ll love them. Also a $1300 headphone in most instances can never compare to a $3-4 k one. You’ll have to judge by listening for yourself. Better or worse is a. Individual thing
hanumanbob
100+ Head-Fier
The 6xx is a great headphone and is $200 but it can never compare to a $500 then $1000 then $2000 and then above that. Personally I’m fine staying with an Atrium or Verite for $2500 and don’t find a need to spend more. But there are some who find the caldera worth the extra $1000 and that’s great.
But I went from an Arya to an Atrium because I found the difference significant enough for me to pay for.
But I went from an Arya to an Atrium because I found the difference significant enough for me to pay for.
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joseluishs
100+ Head-Fier
I do think that one can compare headphones in the 1K price to the 3-6K price, I have owned in both categories of prices and each one can have ways to be competitive and enjoyable. I watched this comprehensive review in Spanish (my native language) and Dynamic Audio likes better Susvara than Arya Organic but he says that Arya Organic is Hifiman's second best headphone in their line up.
Tubewin
1000+ Head-Fier
Hmm, I tend to agree with you on the price to performance correlation, but like everything there are outliers. I was just surprised that Sajid said it "wiped the floor" with the Susvara's in terms of soundstage and size. And that it traded blows with headphones costing many times more. Not that I would get a ayra right this moment since I just purchased the susvara, but I thought it was an interesting review by Sajid.
hanumanbob
100+ Head-Fier
Soundstage and size are only a small portion of story. You should get a pair add see for yourself. You have 30 days to return them although dealing with Hifimans customer support can be exhausting.
Also most reviewers don’t sit with an item for at least 2 weeks every day to make comparisons which you really need to do.
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joseluishs
100+ Head-Fier
I agree with you. I also have Susvara, I think Sajid exaggerated a bit with "wiped the floor," sometimes he gets emotional but the more reviews you see from him, the more you can get a general sense for what he is describing. Some impressions should be taken with a grain of salt, specially now that he seems not to be doing a direct A/B (apparently).
People say all sorts of things. Just because some YT reviewers have a following, does not mean their opinion is worth more than any of the more experienced members here. On the contrary.
The soundstage might be a bit bigger on the Arya Organic, but the Susvara is a lot more nuanced, refined, detailed with better resolution, more lifelike, more 'organic' if you like and more coherent. Sure you need to invest a lot more into the audio chain with the Susvara. At least around the same what the headphones cost. The Arya Organic runs well even out of the EF400. The Susvara is not 5 times better than the Organic as the price would suggest, but some people are willing to pay 5 times more for the improvements.
MrHaelscheir
100+ Head-Fier
I guess I'll contribute and share here some threads covering recent frequency response measurements: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones...a_organic_measurements_bk_5128_headphonescom/, https://forum.headphones.com/t/hifiman-arya-organic-official-thread/21830?u=resolve
I personally enjoyed my Arya Stealth best with fine-tuned EQ as documented here (post #4,665), EQ affording exceptional clarity and maybe even an increased sense of space without compromising the tonality of the 1 kHz to 2.5 kHz region which I prefer to fill toward Harman/diffuse-field ear gain. For me, the switch from the Arya Stealth's stock tonality to EQing close to Harman (including some tweaks done by ear) is the closest thing to sonically "lifting a veil" instead of sounding "congested" and "noisy".
For the latter link, one can compare the GRAS measurements further down with those for the Arya Stealth in https://headphones.com/blogs/reviews/hifiman-arya-stealth-vs-arya-v2.
Theoretically, the bass quantity or extension shouldn't be all that different, but the upper bass and lower mids are tamed a bit closer to Harman which I've personally found enhances clarity and separation when EQing; I also suspect that it might actually be the taming of said upper bass and lower mids and its effect on people's choice of listening level that may be contributing to the sense of "more bass" despite the measurements; everything is relative. Otherwise, it's mostly very similar other than its being brighter in the upper treble and top octave, though like I had found with the Meze Elite, on real ears, you might actually with pink noise or sine sweeps hear a lack of peaks and hence the described "smooth treble". Otherwise, I have been quite skeptical of many subjective claims, else am less susceptible to described headphone phenomena, my having only really been truly wowed by surprising EQing results, or by exceptional recordings.
As for soundstage, I personally feel such as being predominately affected by the size of the earpads (e.g. I find the Meze Elite with hybrid pads very comparable to the Arya for "bigness" of sound), the rest being subjective effects of frequency response. For example, I agree that in some recordings, the 1 kHz to 2.5 kHz dip can contribute to a sense of distance, but to me, it sounds artificially applied as opposed to being true to the recording. I would also advise some form of volume matching lest one conflate "louder" with "bigger". My Jabra Elite 85h can sound huge when playing very loud and textured tracks, but I agree that the relative smallness of the pads detracts from the experience or interferes/"intersects" with the perceived imaging of some tracks like those by Yosi Horikawa.
Personally, an upgrade from the Arya Stealth to the Arya Organic or anything higher would only be worth it if the 4 kHz resonance among others is tamed such that transients (e.g. single-sample Dirac delta impulse) are both exquisitely sharp (The Arya Stealth's is currently the sharpest I've heard even compared to the Meze Elite, DCA Expanse, Final Audio D8000, and 2022 Focal Utopia, whereby I wouldn't be surprised if the Arya Organic does indeed sound sharper; I have yet to hear estats), but also exhibiting cleaner and faster decays; e.g. I've so far heard the cleanest decays out of the DCA Expanse and Final Audio D8000, but they didn't feel as sharp or incisive as the Arya with its thinner diaphragm. Likewise, any peaks when EQed away should be stable and not change position the next time you put the headphones on; theoretically, this enables the consistent EQing of smoother frequency responses such that no peaks or dips could mask any details in the recording; ideal tonal balance is sought after nailing that down. Furthermore, when listening to sine sweeps around said resonances, the image of the pure tones should not shift left and right, which theoretically hurts imaging accuracy. At least one fellow here (post #4,313) reported the HE1000se as having the same issues I had identified in the Arya Stealth. These are issues I did not find with the Meze Elite despite having similar ear apertures.
Otherwise, if you don't have an Arya yet, sure, absolutely, the Arya Organic is an exceptional iteration which also compared to the Arya Stealth now uses a metal frame previously only found on the HE1000 and up. Once you hear huge planar presentation, there's no going back. Otherwise, for those already with Aryas, I highly recommend exploring the capabilities of good EQ implementations like Equalizer APO and trying out filling dips and EQing away peaks, whereby I've found that the results in clarity and cleanness of sound could be astounding.
EQ recommendation:
I've attached an Equalizer APO PEQ profile for the Arya Stealth, though it should also be compatible with the Arya V2. "HiFiMan Arya V3 PEQ.txt" would go into Equalizer APO's "config" folder, whereby within that file, you would turn "HiFiMan Arya V3 - GRAS - neutral reference V1_1 - PEQ - export.txt" on and off for A-weighted volume-matched A/Bing.
To import the settings into another PEQ implementation like Roon's, transfer the filters within "HiFiMan Arya V3 - GRAS - neutral reference V1_1 - PEQ - export.txt" except for the digital preamp one (unless you wish to recreate the Equalizer APO volume-matched A/Bing case, whereby you need to switch between having no digital preamp when the EQ profile is enabled, and a -4.6 dB digital preamp when the EQ profile is disabled):
I personally enjoyed my Arya Stealth best with fine-tuned EQ as documented here (post #4,665), EQ affording exceptional clarity and maybe even an increased sense of space without compromising the tonality of the 1 kHz to 2.5 kHz region which I prefer to fill toward Harman/diffuse-field ear gain. For me, the switch from the Arya Stealth's stock tonality to EQing close to Harman (including some tweaks done by ear) is the closest thing to sonically "lifting a veil" instead of sounding "congested" and "noisy".
For the latter link, one can compare the GRAS measurements further down with those for the Arya Stealth in https://headphones.com/blogs/reviews/hifiman-arya-stealth-vs-arya-v2.
Theoretically, the bass quantity or extension shouldn't be all that different, but the upper bass and lower mids are tamed a bit closer to Harman which I've personally found enhances clarity and separation when EQing; I also suspect that it might actually be the taming of said upper bass and lower mids and its effect on people's choice of listening level that may be contributing to the sense of "more bass" despite the measurements; everything is relative. Otherwise, it's mostly very similar other than its being brighter in the upper treble and top octave, though like I had found with the Meze Elite, on real ears, you might actually with pink noise or sine sweeps hear a lack of peaks and hence the described "smooth treble". Otherwise, I have been quite skeptical of many subjective claims, else am less susceptible to described headphone phenomena, my having only really been truly wowed by surprising EQing results, or by exceptional recordings.
As for soundstage, I personally feel such as being predominately affected by the size of the earpads (e.g. I find the Meze Elite with hybrid pads very comparable to the Arya for "bigness" of sound), the rest being subjective effects of frequency response. For example, I agree that in some recordings, the 1 kHz to 2.5 kHz dip can contribute to a sense of distance, but to me, it sounds artificially applied as opposed to being true to the recording. I would also advise some form of volume matching lest one conflate "louder" with "bigger". My Jabra Elite 85h can sound huge when playing very loud and textured tracks, but I agree that the relative smallness of the pads detracts from the experience or interferes/"intersects" with the perceived imaging of some tracks like those by Yosi Horikawa.
Personally, an upgrade from the Arya Stealth to the Arya Organic or anything higher would only be worth it if the 4 kHz resonance among others is tamed such that transients (e.g. single-sample Dirac delta impulse) are both exquisitely sharp (The Arya Stealth's is currently the sharpest I've heard even compared to the Meze Elite, DCA Expanse, Final Audio D8000, and 2022 Focal Utopia, whereby I wouldn't be surprised if the Arya Organic does indeed sound sharper; I have yet to hear estats), but also exhibiting cleaner and faster decays; e.g. I've so far heard the cleanest decays out of the DCA Expanse and Final Audio D8000, but they didn't feel as sharp or incisive as the Arya with its thinner diaphragm. Likewise, any peaks when EQed away should be stable and not change position the next time you put the headphones on; theoretically, this enables the consistent EQing of smoother frequency responses such that no peaks or dips could mask any details in the recording; ideal tonal balance is sought after nailing that down. Furthermore, when listening to sine sweeps around said resonances, the image of the pure tones should not shift left and right, which theoretically hurts imaging accuracy. At least one fellow here (post #4,313) reported the HE1000se as having the same issues I had identified in the Arya Stealth. These are issues I did not find with the Meze Elite despite having similar ear apertures.
Otherwise, if you don't have an Arya yet, sure, absolutely, the Arya Organic is an exceptional iteration which also compared to the Arya Stealth now uses a metal frame previously only found on the HE1000 and up. Once you hear huge planar presentation, there's no going back. Otherwise, for those already with Aryas, I highly recommend exploring the capabilities of good EQ implementations like Equalizer APO and trying out filling dips and EQing away peaks, whereby I've found that the results in clarity and cleanness of sound could be astounding.
EQ recommendation:
I've attached an Equalizer APO PEQ profile for the Arya Stealth, though it should also be compatible with the Arya V2. "HiFiMan Arya V3 PEQ.txt" would go into Equalizer APO's "config" folder, whereby within that file, you would turn "HiFiMan Arya V3 - GRAS - neutral reference V1_1 - PEQ - export.txt" on and off for A-weighted volume-matched A/Bing.
To import the settings into another PEQ implementation like Roon's, transfer the filters within "HiFiMan Arya V3 - GRAS - neutral reference V1_1 - PEQ - export.txt" except for the digital preamp one (unless you wish to recreate the Equalizer APO volume-matched A/Bing case, whereby you need to switch between having no digital preamp when the EQ profile is enabled, and a -4.6 dB digital preamp when the EQ profile is disabled):
- PK: peaking filter
- HSC: high-shelf filter
- Fc: frequency center in Hz
- Gain: filter gain in dB
- Q: the Q factor
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cirodts
Headphoneus Supremus
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just comes in the arya stealth, i like it much better than my clear mg
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