[SolarBeaver]

I can tell you with experience that you’ll be able to hear music with this amp, but it will not get you even close to what you would get out of a 6 watt amp like a Liquid Platinum or a 14 watt amp like the iFi iCAN PRO. The way the Arya scales is amazing and you’ll hear it with each step of improvement to your gear. I would say get the Arya anyhow and enjoy the journey with experiencing new gear down the road.

I must say, the build on the Sony amp is like no other, though. Solid build with amazing quality and features but so unfortunate that it lacks the power for the hard-to-drive headphones.

Thanks a lot, that was really helpful!

 

[Jjrg]

I just received my new Arya headphones a couple of hours ago, and I wanted to give my first impressions. I bought these without any prior listening. I made my choice based strictly upon YouTube reviews, and those found here. I own and have used primarily the Grado SR325 for the last ten years or so, and have been quite pleased overall with them, but I was in a position that I could spend some money on something nice for myself, so I wanted to upgrade. At 65, I have moderate to severe hearing loss in the high frequencies, with a reduction in what I can hear above 6khz, and pretty doggone bad above 10khz. I wanted the best possible sound I could get within my budget, since 100 percent of my music and TV sound is played through headphones now. I have a solid Emotiva system with dual XPA series amps, and big floor standing speakers, but I can't play them at the volume level I prefer anymore without upsetting the folks in the neighboring apartment. I have found however, that I can still enjoy headphones at lower, reasonably safe levels that hopefully won't damage my hearing any more than it already is. So here we are.

The Arya cans arrived well packed and undamaged. I noted the build quality was about what I expected based upon the reviews, so that pleased me. As for comfort, I have had them on now for over two hours, and I swear I can barely feel them on my head. I am pleased as can be for their comfort. I have a large melon and wear a 7 3/4" hat, and the clamping force is barely even noticeable. My ears fit nicely into the cavities with no pressure points.

I also ordered a Monolith Desktop THX/AAA DAC/Amp, but it is still on the way. In my excitement I just plugged them right into my Emotiva USP-1 pre-amp to see how they sound without the headphone amp. The source is my computer playing good quality mp3 files with MusicBee and FXSound EQ software. My expectations were not that great. I was looking for an improvement in clarity, detail, less brightness, a bit more warmth, and better bass response. I reckoned the law of diminishing returns would be in full play. Well, I gotta tell ya, the Arya has exceeded my expectations, even without the amp. Now I always hear good mids, a decent soundstage, and good detail with my Grado SR325, although they are bright, and the bass is a bit lacking. I decided to start my listening with the song "Group Four" by Massive Attack, which features one of my favorite female vocalists, Liz Fraser. Her voice is angelic in its pure beauty, and I was just totally blown away. Steely Dan never sounded better. I wanted to test them on a tougher nut, so I put on the first Black Sabbath album, followed by stoner rock band Wo Fat's "Night of the Chupacabra". I was able to detect sounds that I never heard before from among the crunch and growl of the down-tuned guitars, attesting to a nice improvement in detail over the Grado cans playing the same music. The soundstage and imaging, as stated in so many other reviews, is superb with the Arya. The sound is also as others have stated, "big". The only EQ I used was just a small boost of one or two dB in the higher bands to help offset my hearing loss, which tells me these are outstanding across the entire FR. As others have stated, these don't have the slam that others possess, but the bass response is just so smooth and clean, and plenty deep. As for the mids and highs....smooth and clear as well.

In conclusion, I would not regret spending the money for this set even if I did not purchase the amp, so I can look forward to even a bit more improvement in sound I already consider excellent. I am in love with these headphones. They are exactly the sound signature and quality that I hoped I would receive. I don't know how there could be better sounding headphones at the Arya price point or less.

Congrats on the purchase!

 

[iFi audio]

The Arya is probably my next purchase. I currently have a ZMF Verite Closed and that headphone is superb in every facet except 1 which is its weight. Its raw weight of about 480g is a bit too burdensome for my neck.

If I may ask, you reckon you will you keep your ZMFs? Or is it going to be a swap?

 

[shafat777]

The Arya is probably my next purchase. I currently have a ZMF Verite Closed and that headphone is superb in every facet except 1 which is its weight. Its raw weight of about 480g is a bit too burdensome for my neck.

What i m about to say is just my opinion but its sincere.

As someone who has owned the Arya, currently owns the big brother of the Arya, the HE1000se, and also owns the Verite Closed, plz do not sell the VC. And plz do not sell your VC for an Arya of all things. The arya is not in the same level as the VC. Far below it. Its light, yes. Its detailed, yes. It lacks bass, yes. It lacks the dynamics of the VC, yes. The VC is better? Yes. If you want airy highs, crisp mids, then go for the Arya. If you want all the above with punchy bass, unreal instrument separation, soundstage unlike any other closed backs, then plz hold on to your VC. IF youre worried about he weight of the VC at 480g, then the arya wont be much lighter. On the other hand, if you can, get your hands on a pair of pilot/co-pilot pads and that will mitigate most of the issues with your VC. My vc weights 535g and i would put in on my head over most of my other headphones any day. Another benefit of the vc is the ability to pad roll and get different sound signature from the same can.

These are jsut my opinions, again. You may feel different, and thats okay. If you look at all the headphones in my sig, ever wonder why the VC is at the front of the list? Because its the best and my favorite of them all. I sold my arya after 2 weeks of use.......

Best

 

[sennfan83261]

IF youre worried about he weight of the VC at 480g, then the arya wont be much lighter.

The Arya weighs 387g, which is almost 100g lighter than the 480g+ VC's. This makes a world of difference when it comes to weight-based comfort. The other factor is whether the shape of OP's head will be amenable to the fit of the Arya's. I had to replace my stock pads due to some reason that the cushioning of the stock pads that came with my Arya v2 were firm and didn't give, even when stored in the storage box for some time. After obtaining the Arya v1 pads and cutting out their dust covers (Arya v2 has theirs already covering the driver), the cans finally became comfortable.

As for the VC, I listened to that on top end gear at a meet that had almost all of the TOTL cans available for listening, and my impression (mirroring that from others that were there) was that it was nice. It didn't blow away what I already had at the time (including the Arya v1) and it certainly didn't make yell out "take my money!" Then again, meet conditions and all.

Also, the Arya needs time to settle into its final sound. I bought my Arya v1's used (it was the previous owner's daily driver for a few months) and liked it right off the bat. The Arya v2's that came to replace my broken v1's (my accident), caught me surprised at how different it sounded initially (less holographic imaging, rough treble). After a few weeks rotating it in and out from my listening sessions, the sound of the v2's settled quite nicely (holographic imaging returned and the treble smoothed out), but the v2's still sounded slightly different from the v1's (less Helmholtz resonance(?) from the bass, less recessed mids, less peaky treble).

 

[N0sferatu]

What i m about to say is just my opinion but its sincere.

As someone who has owned the Arya, currently owns the big brother of the Arya, the HE1000se, and also owns the Verite Closed, plz do not sell the VC. And plz do not sell your VC for an Arya of all things. The arya is not in the same level as the VC. Far below it. Its light, yes. Its detailed, yes. It lacks bass, yes. It lacks the dynamics of the VC, yes. The VC is better? Yes. If you want airy highs, crisp mids, then go for the Arya. If you want all the above with punchy bass, unreal instrument separation, soundstage unlike any other closed backs, then plz hold on to your VC. IF youre worried about he weight of the VC at 480g, then the arya wont be much lighter. On the other hand, if you can, get your hands on a pair of pilot/co-pilot pads and that will mitigate most of the issues with your VC. My vc weights 535g and i would put in on my head over most of my other headphones any day. Another benefit of the vc is the ability to pad roll and get different sound signature from the same can.

These are jsut my opinions, again. You may feel different, and thats okay. If you look at all the headphones in my sig, ever wonder why the VC is at the front of the list? Because its the best and my favorite of them all. I sold my arya after 2 weeks of use.......

Best

How's the bass compare to the Denon/Fostex stuff? I used to own the Denon AH-D7000 and the Fostex TH900. Those are notorious for their bass. A tad of EQ on the Arya and I don't miss the Denon/Fostex since the Arya is superior to them in soundstage, mids, highs, etc.

You got me thinking about the Verite to add to my collection....

 

[shafat777]

How's the bass compare to the Denon/Fostex stuff? I used to own the Denon AH-D7000 and the Fostex TH900. Those are notorious for their bass. A tad of EQ on the Arya and I don't miss the Denon/Fostex since the Arya is superior to them in soundstage, mids, highs, etc.

You got me thinking about the Verite to add to my collection....

The bass is there bro. Its all there. The thump, the punch, the control. All there. Right now, I am using a rather treble and mid heavy tube setup on my Elise. Even then, the VC punches hard. So much so that I had to roll pads to tame the bass a little. But dont get me wrong, its very controlled, tight and not at all bloated. Once I connect it to my GSX-min, then it becomes a bass cannon, all the while maintaining the same smooth vocals with crisp, clean treble. Benefit of owning the VC is that you can literally configure it to be anything you want via, tubes, pads and amps. Right now I am only 3rd config using my Elise and I have two more sets of tubes on the way. Its gonna be a busy Christmas this year.

Let me know if you have any other question via PM or hit me up in the VC thread. Dont wanna take up thread room with other headphone talk.

 

[cycloverid]

How's the bass compare to the Denon/Fostex stuff? I used to own the Denon AH-D7000 and the Fostex TH900. Those are notorious for their bass. A tad of EQ on the Arya and I don't miss the Denon/Fostex since the Arya is superior to them in soundstage, mids, highs, etc.

You got me thinking about the Verite to add to my collection....

I'm curious what makes the Arya reportedly better in the bass rumble department than the Ananda? Given they have the same shape, is it just the driver that makes the difference? I asked the guys over on the Ananda thread and a couple people reported that EQ'ing the bass doesn't add much in the way of a satisfying rumble.

 

[KenMan85]

Just do it! You won't believe your ears

What did you find to be benefit of using a speaker output

 

[SolarBeaver]

Finally decided to go for Arya, which I have a nice deal for.

Also purchased A90 Amp and will be using Sony wm1z DAP (DMP-WM1 FE cfw) as a DAC for now.

I have a great hi-end pure silver custom made balanced cable for my MDR-Z1R HP, which I'm planning to use with Arya, so my question is will this cable fit Arya well enough, I mean pure silver is kind of makes the sound more detailed and bright, which is great for Sony MDR, but I'm not sure if this is a good thing with supposedly already kind of bright Arya (correct me if its not)? I guess warmer sound of Sony DAP will somewhat negate it, but still not sure if I'm fine or should I be looking into something like occ copper.

Would really appreciate any feedback on this

 

[N0sferatu]

The bass is there bro. Its all there. The thump, the punch, the control. All there. Right now, I am using a rather treble and mid heavy tube setup on my Elise. Even then, the VC punches hard. So much so that I had to roll pads to tame the bass a little. But dont get me wrong, its very controlled, tight and not at all bloated. Once I connect it to my GSX-min, then it becomes a bass cannon, all the while maintaining the same smooth vocals with crisp, clean treble. Benefit of owning the VC is that you can literally configure it to be anything you want via, tubes, pads and amps. Right now I am only 3rd config using my Elise and I have two more sets of tubes on the way. Its gonna be a busy Christmas this year.

Let me know if you have any other question via PM or hit me up in the VC thread. Dont wanna take up thread room with other headphone talk.

Sent you a PM to not derail this thread. Thanks!

I'm curious what makes the Arya reportedly better in the bass rumble department than the Ananda? Given they have the same shape, is it just the driver that makes the difference? I asked the guys over on the Ananda thread and a couple people reported that EQ'ing the bass doesn't add much in the way of a satisfying rumble.

Never heard the Ananda so I couldn't tell you. Search my name in this thread I put up some good EQ values if you use Windows PC as a source to test out on the Hifiman headphones.

 

[SBranson]

I’ve convinced myself to upgrade from the Ananda to the Arya. My source will be my AK240 and I was looking at the ifi Zen Can as an amp to keep costs down. I like the ease of the 4.4mm input to use with my 4.4 adapter on my AK. And the 4.4 headphone jack is handy for my cable. Any advice whether this would be a good choice.
Specs at Headphone

• 6.5mm out: 1600mW @ 32ohms / 98mw @ 600 ohms
• 4.4mm out: 1150 mw @ 32 ohms / 385mw @ 600 ohms

 

[Ripper2860]

As one that went from Sundara to Ananda to Arya, I feel quite confident you will be happy with the move. Be sure to give it ample time to break-in. HF suggested 150 hours.

 

[iFi audio]

As one that went from Sundara to Ananda to Arya

So... you're steadily progressing towards Susvara one set of cans at a time ?

 

[Sajid Amit]

So... you're steadily progressing towards Susvara one set of cans at a time ?

One of the best paths to audio nirvana, IMHO, @Ripper2860 !