[Flextreme]

In my personal experience, Arya's become 'sweeter' over time. I experienced harshness, especially with my otherwise lovely SMSL SP200 amp. After weeks of ownership, I suddenly realized treble seemed less harsh. I honestly can't say if this is mental burn in or physical, but my observation was without doubt. Then, after i got the Topping A90, the highs became sweet and more detailed: not lower in volume, but less distortion, which was fatiguing sometimes. The A90 completely eliminated my need to EQ the moderate 5K Hz peak Arya is known for.

Long story short: burn in is most likely not finished for you, Hifiman recommends 150 hours. Do it at reasonably loud volumes, alternate dynamic music with pink noise overnight. Also, some amps (like my SP200) clearly sounded more tiring/harsh.

 

[jincuteguy]

Hello,

I auditioned the old Version of the Arya a few weeks ago.
I got the new version last week. I wanted the new version, because of a slightly warmer sound.
But I think the newer version is harsher and I have to skip a lot of tracks that. I didn’t hear the old version for long.. but i can’t remember skipping any title because of brightness. I gave them a burn in time for around 80 hours.

how do you check whether it's the old or new version? thx

 

[Kashen2020]

In my personal experience, Arya's become 'sweeter' over time. I experienced harshness, especially with my otherwise lovely SMSL SP200 amp. After weeks of ownership, I suddenly realized treble seemed less harsh. I honestly can't say if this is mental burn in or physical, but my observation was without doubt. Then, after i got the Topping A90, the highs became sweet and more detailed: not lower in volume, but less distortion, which was fatiguing sometimes. The A90 completely eliminated my need to EQ the moderate 5K Hz peak Arya is known for.

Long story short: burn in is most likely not finished for you, Hifiman recommends 150 hours. Do it at reasonably loud volumes, alternate dynamic music with pink noise overnight. Also, some amps (like my SP200) clearly sounded more tiring/harsh.

same here I use shciit stack 3 and now waiting A90/D90. at first arya was very harsh in high volumes and magni 3 from what I read is bosting treble and make the sound harsher. but now I feel the harshness is noticably decreased and I can increase the volume more it still present but not like before. I think burning decrease the harshness.

But something also I noticed the bass is weirdly decreased the punchiness and sub bass I don't know it is really decreased or my ears just got used to it and need more dynamic energy I hope new A90/D90 with balance cable will increase it more.

 

[sennfan83261]

how do you check whether it's the old or new version? thx

The easiest way to tell them apart is that the older version had a wire mesh-like material covering the rear of the diaphragms. The new version replaced the mesh with a cloth material that is less see-through than the mesh. Also, the earpads of the new version no longer have dust covers since they have been moved to the earcup frames. With the old version, if one removes the earpads, one can easily inspect the diaphragms. Diaphragm inspection is not as easy with the new version with the dust cover draped over it.

I described other differences here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-arya-impressions-thread.890421/post-15755609

 

[jincuteguy]

I'm so tempting to get the HD800S just so I can compare with my Arya. I'm not sure if it's worth the time and money though. There's no way that HD800s will sound better than the Arya right?

 

[Flextreme]

And now waiting A90/D90.

Beware, both devices also seem to need IMHO serious burn-in, the D90 took longer (a week of continued playback of mostly pink noise & dynamic electronic music) than the A90 (3-4 days). This is my subjective observation, but I could directly compare them to my existing AMP and DAC, and both devices opened up over time, sounded less dry and more musical/lush. This burn-in may sound like BS to some, but the Arya is ridiculously revealing. I was also skeptical at first about burnin, but multiple times I noticed solid state equipment to sound dry/dull at first with my Arya's, e.g. my A&K Kube Kann DAP also needed time to 'sing'.

I am looking forward to your findings! Really hope you will like this combination as I do.

 

[Flextreme]

I'm so tempting to get the HD800S just so I can compare with my Arya. I'm not sure if it's worth the time and money though. There's no way that HD800s will sound better than the Arya right?

Why would you want do this? Are you not happy with the Arya?

I do not own the HD800S, heard them only once, so my opinion is not founded on personal experience. It is impressively comfortable and detailed headphone, that deserves its praise in the headphone community, some adore the HD800s. But if you google Arya HD800S comparisons, many/most will tell you the Arya is more musical, more balanced, less peaky highs, much better organised soundstage and imaging in height and depth, and way better/more sub-bass.

 

[sennfan83261]

I'm so tempting to get the HD800S just so I can compare with my Arya. I'm not sure if it's worth the time and money though. There's no way that HD800s will sound better than the Arya right?

They're different. IMO, the HD800S handles classical music better than the Arya. Since I do listen to a lot of classical (along with other genres), having an HD800S is worthwhile to me. Arya is still very good for classical and better than the HD800S in other genres (e.g. electronic, indie, pop, classic rock, oldies, etc.). Just my 2c.

 

[Kashen2020]

Beware, both devices also seem to need IMHO serious burn-in, the D90 took longer (a week of continued playback of mostly pink noise & dynamic electronic music) than the A90 (3-4 days). This is my subjective observation, but I could directly compare them to my existing AMP and DAC, and both devices opened up over time, sounded less dry and more musical/lush. This burn-in may sound like BS to some, but the Arya is ridiculously revealing. I was also skeptical at first about burnin, but multiple times I noticed solid state equipment to sound dry/dull at first with my Arya's, e.g. my A&K Kube Kann DAP also needed time to 'sing'.

I am looking forward to your findings! Really hope you will like this combination as I do.

Ohh thx for this info If you didn't tell me that I could be soo dissapointed If I tried it and experience not expected results. I was at first afraid to buy this combo because some people said it is bright but saw some comments from arya owners who enjoyed this A90/D90 with it and encourage me to buy it.

 

[musicasmedicine]

I honestly think this whole v1 vs v2 thing for sound is a bit crazy and subjective. I don't think HFM would do a silent revision that changes the sound, especially significantly enough to hear the difference. Either version is great and Arya is a wonderful headphone.

 

[Mediahound]

I honestly think this whole v1 vs v2 thing for sound is a bit crazy and subjective. I don't think HFM would do a silent revision that changes the sound, especially significantly enough to hear the difference. Either version is great and Arya is a wonderful headphone.

They did though. Only they said it didn’t change the sound.

 

[Fegefeuer]

They always did revisions. HE-6 2x, 5LE 2x, HE-4 wx, HE-400 3 times etc.

As you can see, even back then

 

[jincuteguy]

Why would you want do this? Are you not happy with the Arya?

I do not own the HD800S, heard them only once, so my opinion is not founded on personal experience. It is impressively comfortable and detailed headphone, that deserves its praise in the headphone community, some adore the HD800s. But if you google Arya HD800S comparisons, many/most will tell you the Arya is more musical, more balanced, less peaky highs, much better organised soundstage and imaging in height and depth, and way better/more sub-bass.

Yea you're right, Im not gonna get the HD800S then. I think Ary's bass from Planars are just enough to use it over the HD800s.

 

[Dramlin]

I honestly think this whole v1 vs v2 thing for sound is a bit crazy and subjective. I don't think HFM would do a silent revision that changes the sound, especially significantly enough to hear the difference. Either version is great and Arya is a wonderful headphone.

In the interview he chose his words carefully when talking about the revision. I'm paraphrasing, but he said that the sound quality didn't change, but there was a slight change in the FR curves. I take that to mean that they know very well that sound signature changed, but it wasn't so dramatic to make the Arya's sound too different from what they were before. Whatever the sound change is, they deemed it acceptable. That said, until someone is able to compare the old & new models in depth we are trusting that the change was minor, and won't upset new owners.

I have been burned before by a silent revision, but not by HFM. I bought the Meze 99 Classics after there was a flood of positive reviews. Right about that time Meze decided to change the pads to be much larger than the original, and it really messed up the overall sound. Bass levels went way up, becoming muddy and overtaking the mids and highs. As far as I recall Meze never acknowledged the change, and then just silently fixed the issue a year+ later by starting to include the smaller pads again. I can't say I'm familiar with HFM's past model revisions, but I haven't seen any backlash when it was reported that the Ananda's & Arya's were changed, so I'm guessing HFM has a good track record with revisions.

 

[Phoebus7]

I need advice on using Arya with either S.M.S.L SP200 or drop THX 789, I heard from several reviews that Bass impact and resolution is better on SP200 but it's too harsh in treble with Arya which is has already bright treble, while THX789 is warm sounding but losses out on bass impact and resolution.
So it's a dilemma which one to choose I have slight treble sensitive ears so any advice ? I will be using Arya with Hugo 2, or should I look for Schiit or Audio GD?