[Sajid Amit]

Imo the Arya is the best headphone below 2k.

What lead you to the Arya after owning the Susvara already?

I got it as a review unit from a regional dealer. I find that it's sound signature has its own particularities. For instance, it's brighter than the Susvaras, without being overly bright, and the vocals are more forward. I have decided to keep it.

 

[Ninja Theory]

Ayra ordered. Should arrive before Christmas hopefully. Will be fed by a NOS11 and DI-20. I don't see many (or any) reviews on the Ayra revision 2.

 

[iFi audio]

I got in my Ifi Zen Can and WOW what a difference with the Anandas! The soundstage is so much more open and there is a holographic effect that could not be matched straight out of the AK240 even in balanced mode. And I'm not using either the bass boost or 3D effect.
I almost feel that I didn't need to upgrade to the Aryas but I'm pretty excited that I did. Those should arrive by the end of the week or early next week..

Thanks here as well

 

[Flextreme]

Ayra ordered. Should arrive before Christmas hopefully. Will be fed by a NOS11 and DI-20. I don't see many (or any) reviews on the Ayra revision 2.

My subjective review/guide is based on rev 2 and can be found here: Arya's are better than many Arya owners realize...

Apart from a reduced 5khz peak, most rev 1 reviews here on head-fi and youtube are correct/on point for rev 2 in my experience. I especially appreciate the reviews where the Arya is compared to its main competitors like the Heddhpone, hd800s and Audeze. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=arya+hd800s

For instance, I really enjoyed this one:


IMHO some reviews should highlight a little more how well Arya's scale with certain amps and respond so nicely to subtle EQ, but that's it.

 

[iFi audio]

For instance, I really enjoyed this one:

That's a very cool review, thanks for sharing

 

[pdvm]

Arya owner here since two months. I agree with everything said above about these headphones: amazing speed, holographic 3D soundstage, classical music sounds huge, subwoofer-like sub bass. I power it with the single ended headphone out in my iFi Retro Stereo 50 tube amp, some 7000mW if I recall correctly.
They have probably had somewhere between 80-100 hours playing time by now. If they reach some higher stage of musical reproduction at 200+ hours, I'll gladly take it, but for now I couldn't be happier.

What surprised me though, is how well it is being driven by my (original model, 7-year-old) iFi iDSD nano! Sure, with more power comes more slam, but in general dynamics and soundstaging are still really really decent for such a small device.

 

[crystal6tak]

Higher power generally means better control of transients, which is critical for hungry orthos like the HE-6.
Music isn’t steady-state sine waves, the dynamic swings require as close to instantaneous swings from the amp. All things being equal, a higher power amplifier will handle transients better.
There’s no conspiracy and that recommendation also goes for speakers. The recommended power is always much higher than what said speakers need to potentially harm your ears.
Active speakers generally come with very powerful built in amps. The manufacturers wouldn’t use them if they didn’t see the benefits.

Going back to the HE-6, I have tried the most powerful headphone amps with it (SA-31, NFB-27, Master-9, Schiit Ragnarok) which all have gobs of power, yet none of them sounded anywhere as good as power amplifiers.

Now to be clear, the real factor is more so the capacity of the power supply than the actual rated output power: all the FirstWatt amps I tried sounded better than any headphones amps despite the rated power into 50 ohms being much lower than some of them.
Even among headphone amps, the SA-31 sounded worse than the NFB-27, despite being rater for ~40% more power. The latter had a much beefier power supply.

Has anyone measurably found difference with Arya, or other headphones using different amps? I see lots of people here claiming Arya sounds better with higher current but I'm having trouble finding any measurement graph online.

Personally using an Audinist HUD-MX2 DAC/AMP and am wondering if upgrading to a A90+D90 which costs x6 my setup would really make a difference.

 

[iFi audio]

Arya owner here since two months. I agree with everything said above about these headphones: amazing speed, holographic 3D soundstage, classical music sounds huge, subwoofer-like sub bass. I power it with the single ended headphone out in my iFi Retro Stereo 50 tube amp, some 7000mW if I recall correctly.
They have probably had somewhere between 80-100 hours playing time by now. If they reach some higher stage of musical reproduction at 200+ hours, I'll gladly take it, but for now I couldn't be happier.

What surprised me though, is how well it is being driven by my (original model, 7-year-old) iFi iDSD nano! Sure, with more power comes more slam, but in general dynamics and soundstaging are still really really decent for such a small device.

That's very cool feedback, thanks! It's always nice to read about our Retro Stereo 50 used as a headphone integrated device

What surprised me though, is how well it is being driven by my (original model, 7-year-old) iFi iDSD nano! Sure, with more power comes more slam, but in general dynamics and soundstaging are still really really decent for such a small device.

Something tells me you'd like xCAN a lot with Aryas

 

[N0sferatu]

Has anyone measurably found difference with Arya, or other headphones using different amps? I see lots of people here claiming Arya sounds better with higher current but I'm having trouble finding any measurement graph online.

Personally using an Audinist HUD-MX2 DAC/AMP and am wondering if upgrading to a A90+D90 which costs x6 my setup would really make a difference.

Audio-GD FUN (my old DAC/AMP)
Schitt Hersey (AMP) Topping D30 (DAC)

Changing the amp made a significant difference to the point of me selling the Audio-GD FUN. I isolated the DAC (using FUN as DAC and Schitt as AMP) and it sounded excellent.

Arya had volume with the FUN but has no "FUN" (pun intended). It had no dynamics.

 

[Louisiana]

My Arya came today, and this time it works fine, no defects

After a long journey, I finally arrived at my destination today, so to speak.
I had so many headphones at home here, and in the end, it's the Meze Empyrean and the Arya that give me everything I need.
What's missing on my list is listening to an LCD4, and possibly the Susvara.
Strangely enough, I already had HEKSE & HEKV2, neither of which I liked.

 

[Canonlon]

I'm about to take the plunge and purchase the Arya. My only concern is with treble response - I used to own the HiFiMan Sundara and found it harsh in the upper frequencies. Are my worries valid? Cheers

 

[ThanatosVI]

I'm about to take the plunge and purchase the Arya. My only concern is with treble response - I used to own the HiFiMan Sundara and found it harsh in the upper frequencies. Are my worries valid? Cheers

Arya is less harsh than Sundara and Ananda, but still has a pretty pronounced treble.
However the only Hifiman that betters this is the Susvara.

 

[Canonlon]

Arya is less harsh than Sundara and Ananda, but still has a pretty pronounced treble.
However the only Hifiman that betters this is the Susvara.

I dont mind pronounced treble as long as the frequency integrity doesnt fall apart.
Thanks

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Between the Sundara, Ananda and Arya it is the latter which is the brightest of the lot. That’s what I heard whilst a/b’ing the three and also what I see over frequency responses.
If you found the Sundara harsh in the upper frequencies then you’re not going to like the Arya. It’s the exact same tuning save for a better extended bass and a brighter treble.

 

[KenMan85]

It pairs quite well, although this is what I have found:
1. The Roksan K3 and the Cayin SP-30S combo I have makes the Arya SS bigger, draws out more details, and makes the Arya sound sig a tad V-shaped. The Roksan also makes the Arya's treble a tad splashy. The Arya is a neutral sounding HP, so I don't necessarily think that this is the best pairing.
2. On the other hand, the GSX Mini, which is a warm HP, and has a lot of body, is a strong pairing with the Arya. The Arya is NOT thin sounding but it's also not the thickest, so paired with the Mini, the Arya has more body, and sounds very good.
Thus far, I like the Arya more with the GSX Mini, but these are early days with the Arya, so my impressions could change as burn-in occurs.

I could use a bigger ss. It never gets to big and beautiful for me lol. Or too detailed