[PeterCraig]

We can all agree I think that we are here because we love the Arya.

Have a new stealth in the house for a few weeks now, took advantage of the very generous upgrade program. So far so good.

And the customer service was great. I was surprised when I took a look at their warehouse in New York on street view and saw it was a regular house.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Measure soundstaging, imaging, or detail retrieval... Okay, I have to give up when you bring out the dead horse, hahaha.

Are you implying that these characteristics are unmeasurable, just like Pixie Dust?

 

[MKHP]

We can all agree I think that we are here because we love the Arya.

Have a new stealth in the house for a few weeks now, took advantage of the very generous upgrade program. So far so good.

And the customer service was great. I was surprised when I took a look at their warehouse in New York on street view and saw it was a regular house.

Without a doubt we love Arya, I made the greatest madness to buy this, and I can say that I am happy with the madness, after listening to it days and days without rest, I am fascinated with arya stealth, the only thing I could ask for is one more point in the scene without losing presence or detail, and with that I wouldn't even have words to describe them.

Even so, I think he has a good scene and that when he needs it he surprises you with the ability, maybe it's the key, that he is technically capable of doing things without creating harmonic distortion when he shouldn't, which can be more precise, but not for all tastes, in the end each factor has its "consequences" and can be valued as something good or bad depending on the listener.

About the discussions about burning, I don't understand why there are these discussions, what does it really matter? Whether it's placebo, brain burn, or a physical process of relaxation, or all together, if things get better for you, that's all that matters.

In my case, I think they sound better now than the first days, at first I couldn't really know everything I could do, and the sound was somewhat warm for my taste, the basses were very good but they sounded somewhat metallic, nothing bad but It lacked something of naturalness to my taste, and I had more thought of the economic with doubts about whether I really should keep them. At the time of listening and listening they sound better and better, the bass sounds incredible to me now, and the scene feels a little better than the first days in which everything seemed to be a little closer and more intimate in those more distant sounds, as I said now I can't live without these arya, what they have done is a masterpiece, can they be improved? Sure, but I am satisfied and enjoying all the musical styles so much that I am beginning to think that they are not as expensive as I thought.

My brain has adapted, it's logical, and that's the first factor in all this, if others join the cause I can't prove it, but I don't care either and as Peter very well said, we're all here because we love Arya and that's what he wants say that HIFIMAN has done a great job with these HP, the rest are petals in the air.

 

[Xerosnake90]

What's a great tube pre amplifier to pair with Jot2, Bifrost 2 and Arya V2? I don't quite want to break the bank but up to $300 would be doable. Either that or I find a used Liquid Platinum

 

[MKHP]

And just to be clear here, let no one think that arya stealth doesn't have a great soundstage, you just have to try some tracks like this to see how impressive arya stealth's soundstage is, to say just one, there are many others from styx with which you can delight yourself, and many others of course, it is just my grain of sand.

What I mean is that arya stealth can do it, technically she can have a great soundstage, but it's not going to be like that all the time, only when it has to be, and I think that's the big confusion about this whole thing with arya stealth, in the end They are personal preferences on how an hp does things, I just wanted to clarify that this arya stealth does not have a bad soundstage at all.

Styx The Outpost

 

[MardukSonofEa]

Are you implying that these characteristics are unmeasurable, just like Pixie Dust?

Well nothing's theoretically unmeasurable, but AFAIK we haven't figured out how to measure punch/slam, soundstage size, imaging, texture, instrument separation...either these are all one big collective delusion, or audio science still has some work to do

 

[Aetherhole]

Not trying to perpetuate divisiveness in a thread to discuss and appreciate the Aryas, but just a general question of curiosity why wouldn’t burn-in/break-in periods be a thing? Properties of just about anything physical is subject to change due to usage, no? The immediate example I can think of is shoes; it’s suggested to break-in a pair of shoes in order to physically loosen them up. My Vans, Converse, Nike, (insert any other brand) feels different after 100 hours of usage. I don’t think that my body is physically changing or my mind is imagining a change in comfort or performance while the shoes are remaining as rigid/stiff as they were upon buying them. Why wouldn’t this apply to something like a headphone where there are physical components, even moving components on a macro and micro level, as well?

Back to the Aryas… rather, taking a momentary break from the Aryas to discuss them. I am really enjoying the sound they are producing. Still going through a ton of music, also watching movies, and playing games as much as I can and finding so much appeal to the capabilities of the headphones. Now back to listening I go!

 

[MardukSonofEa]

Not trying to perpetuate divisiveness in a thread to discuss and appreciate the Aryas, but just a general question of curiosity why wouldn’t burn-in/break-in periods be a thing? Properties of just about anything physical is subject to change due to usage, no? The immediate example I can think of is shoes; it’s suggested to break-in a pair of shoes in order to physically loosen them up. My Vans, Converse, Nike, (insert any other brand) feels different after 100 hours of usage. I don’t think that my body is physically changing or my mind is imagining a change in comfort or performance while the shoes are remaining as rigid/stiff as they were upon buying them. Why wouldn’t this apply to something like a headphone where there are physical components, even moving components on a macro and micro level, as well?

Back to the Aryas… rather, taking a momentary break from the Aryas to discuss them. I am really enjoying the sound they are producing. Still going through a ton of music, also watching movies, and playing games as much as I can and finding so much appeal to the capabilities of the headphones. Now back to listening I go!

Hear hear! They are truly amazing with their versatility for all genres. I just added a Bifrost 2 to the Arya and Soloist and with this last touch of soundstage and richness, I feel like my setup is now complete for the next couple of years at least. It can't possibly get better than this without spending several thousand more, so no new gear needed, just new music. Feels great.

 

[haasaaroni]

Hear hear! They are truly amazing with their versatility for all genres. I just added a Bifrost 2 to the Arya and Soloist and with this last touch of soundstage and richness, I feel like my setup is now complete for the next couple of years at least. It can't possibly get better than this without spending several thousand more, so no new gear needed, just new music. Feels great.

Love how popular the BF2 -> Soloist 3XP -> Arya combo seems to be, on this thread and elsewhere. I feel very validated

 

[cycloverid]

Not trying to perpetuate divisiveness in a thread to discuss and appreciate the Aryas, but just a general question of curiosity why wouldn’t burn-in/break-in periods be a thing? Properties of just about anything physical is subject to change due to usage, no? The immediate example I can think of is shoes; it’s suggested to break-in a pair of shoes in order to physically loosen them up. My Vans, Converse, Nike, (insert any other brand) feels different after 100 hours of usage. I don’t think that my body is physically changing or my mind is imagining a change in comfort or performance while the shoes are remaining as rigid/stiff as they were upon buying them. Why wouldn’t this apply to something like a headphone where there are physical components, even moving components on a macro and micro level, as well?

Back to the Aryas… rather, taking a momentary break from the Aryas to discuss them. I am really enjoying the sound they are producing. Still going through a ton of music, also watching movies, and playing games as much as I can and finding so much appeal to the capabilities of the headphones. Now back to listening I go!

The analogy between headphones and shoes is actually incredibly consistent when applied to comfort/pad break-in, so I'm surprised you didn't make this connection. These also happen to just be 'desired features' instead of the intended function of these two things.

I think about a planar driver more like a rifle, it does the job incredibly well the first time and degrades so slowly that it will probably break before I can notice the difference. If the driver did in fact degrade as quickly as a shoe, the sound would begin to be noticeably worse after a relatively short time of constant use. Thankfully for us all, it seems to fit the rifle analogy far better than the shoe analogy in a functional sense. Though, like the shoe, you should probably replace your pads somewhat regularly (and they tend to get a bit more comfortable after a short break-in period).

 

[MKHP]

The analogy between headphones and shoes is actually incredibly consistent when applied to comfort/pad break-in, so I'm surprised you didn't make this connection. These also happen to just be 'desired features' instead of the intended function of these two things.

I think about a planar driver more like a rifle, it does the job incredibly well the first time and degrades so slowly that it will probably break before I can notice the difference. If the driver did in fact degrade as quickly as a shoe, the sound would begin to be noticeably worse after a relatively short time of constant use. Thankfully for us all, it seems to fit the rifle analogy far better than the shoe analogy in a functional sense. Though, like the shoe, you should probably replace your pads somewhat regularly (and they tend to get a bit more comfortable after a short break-in period).

From the contact part, like the pads, they are one of the parts that influence the sound, whether in a small amount or not, but it has an influence, and as they adapt to your physiognomy, the sound is changing in some way, I noticed this a lot with my deva, any small movement applied to the pads could instantly notice variations in the sound, especially in the bass.

Therefore, all these things are part of all this "burning" and of course together with the brain, since in this part it is not about comfort, molded or accommodation like the shoe, in this one it is about listening and here rather it is the other way around, your brain is the one that adapts and adapts to the new sound, signature etc.

So in the end there are different factors that are within the same package, it's not just one thing, or at least that's how I understand all this burning.

On the most physical internal part, driver, macro movement or whatever, I do not doubt that this relaxation can influence either, if we see a video of how planar controllers and their magnets work, I do not doubt that there may be some type of relaxation with the use that could have an influence, but of course, this is already more complex and difficult to prove.
As another colleague has said, there are many things that we still do not know how to measure in all this about sound, and it is completely true, so it is not just about numbers and graphs to validate things, since we are not even able to do it yet completely.

 

[Aetherhole]

The analogy between headphones and shoes is actually incredibly consistent when applied to comfort/pad break-in, so I'm surprised you didn't make this connection. These also happen to just be 'desired features' instead of the intended function of these two things.

I think about a planar driver more like a rifle, it does the job incredibly well the first time and degrades so slowly that it will probably break before I can notice the difference. If the driver did in fact degrade as quickly as a shoe, the sound would begin to be noticeably worse after a relatively short time of constant use. Thankfully for us all, it seems to fit the rifle analogy far better than the shoe analogy in a functional sense. Though, like the shoe, you should probably replace your pads somewhat regularly (and they tend to get a bit more comfortable after a short break-in period).

You're rifle analogy is likely better for longevity, but I still feel the shoe analogy is still pertinent in the sense that shoes often don't perform their best brand new. As far as physical comfort and wear though, definitely a more exacting comparison to headphone ear pads!

Speaking of comfort, the Arya is quite, quite comfy! I have taller ears and the large internal space of the Hifiman cups are very, very nice for me. I cannot say that for many others, including my previously owned PM-1 or LCD-GX. These, I absolutely could wear all day. They are very light and the amount of clamp is great. I do wonder about alternate pads a bit, like hybrids, but I currently don't want to change the sound characteristics either.

 

[ezduzit2500]

Are you implying that these characteristics are unmeasurable, just like Pixie Dust?

Yep - just like Pixie Dust...hahaha

 

[ezduzit2500]

Hear hear! They are truly amazing with their versatility for all genres. I just added a Bifrost 2 to the Arya and Soloist and with this last touch of soundstage and richness, I feel like my setup is now complete for the next couple of years at least. It can't possibly get better than this without spending several thousand more, so no new gear needed, just new music. Feels great.

I totally agree. It would take literally thousands more to improve on any version of the Arya - and not in every area of sound either. In that, the Arya is a bargain - relatively speaking.

 

[Xerosnake90]

My open box Arya shipped today! I ordered a non stealth version so I'm curious if that's what I'll get. I don't care so much if it's v1 or v2 as long as it's one of the two