[WhenKittensATK]

I ordered Arya Organic, Arya V2, and Edition XS to demo from Hifiman store. After a few hours of listening, here are my first impressions.

My Neutral/Bright Sound Preference: Arya V2 (cleaner more open than Edition XS) > Edition XS (deep bass / fun / intimate) > Arya Organics (not a fan, feels like too much is going on / congested)

Build quality: Aryas > Edition XS (they feel extremely cheap / lightweight).

Comfort: Edition XS (relaxed, no clamp force) > Aryas. Aryas are putting slight clamping pressure above my ears (temple)

Testing Equipment: Monoprice THX AAA DAC/AMP (standalone) and output to Topping A90D.

Conclusion: I think I'm going to keep the Arya V2 and Edition XS. They are different enough. If I could only have one, then Edition XS. My current main headphones are Focal Elex.

Edit: I'll update again once I've had more time. This was only the first day of listening.

 

[morpheus69]

I ordered Arya Organic, Arya V2, and Edition XS to demo from Hifiman store. After a few hours of listening, here are my first impressions.

My Neutral/Bright Sound Preference: Arya V2 (cleaner more open than Edition XS) > Edition XS (deep bass / fun / intimate) > Arya Organics (not a fan, feels like too much is going on / congested)

Build quality: Aryas > Edition XS (they feel extremely cheap / lightweight).

Comfort: Edition XS (relaxed, no clamp force) > Aryas. Aryas are putting slight clamping pressure above my ears (temple)

Testing Equipment: Monoprice THX AAA DAC/AMP (standalone) and output to Topping A90D.

Conclusion: I think I'm going to keep the Arya V2 and Edition XS. They are different enough. If I could only have one, then Edition XS. My current main headphones are Focal Elex.

You really need to break in the Arya's/XS.

 

[Slim1970]

My Neutral/Bright Sound Preference: Arya V2 (cleaner more open than Edition XS) > Edition XS (deep bass / fun / intimate) > Arya Organics (not a fan, feels like too much is going on / congested)

With the Arya Organic's you said there's a lot going and they're congested at the same time? Could you elaborate on this?

 

[kRed]

Fair enough. I haven’t heard any of the Fostex lineup so I can’t speak on that but for me the Arya is just on the cusp for stock tonality being too bright. The Arya tows that line extremely well and I think it’s one of the nicest bright leaning stock tunings out of the HiFiMan lineup. With no EQ I think the current lineup from warmest to brightest looks like this:

HE1000V2
Susvara
Arya Stealth
HE1000V3 Stealth
HE1000 SE

I have to say, I didn't find the HE1000 stealth clearly brighter than the Arya Stealth, and in general an headphone can be bright and warm at the same time.

The Arya Stealth is warmer than the HE1000 Stealth, definitely, not by much but it's clear when you A/B. It's more congested, it has significantly less space and separation, the warm it has clearly impact those qualities IMHO.

While listening back to back to stuff like the legendary du Pre concert with barbirolli (Elgar, precisely) with the HE1000 and then the Arya, the difference was quite audible: the HE1000 was way more accurante and believable with the strings. They had the right amount of presence, with the Arya the seemed too thick.
Going to the Radiohead's Amnesiac ending song, Life in a glass house, also the HE1000 was way more believable with the horns and the separation that tracks need to be 100% enjoyable.

To me they are about at the same level of brightness, it's just the Arya is warmer (and don't push details forward like the he1000).

 

[WhenKittensATK]

With the Arya Organic's you said there's a lot going and they're congested at the same time? Could you elaborate on this?

The Organics felt like someone turned on some kind of DSP to 11 and put you inside of a tiny box. It’s very in your face. I didn’t enjoy a single song on it. I have 30 days to return, but I can’t get into a single song with them on. It’s just not for me. I'll update again once I listen to them some more.

 

[Kevintj604]

I have to say, I didn't find the HE1000 stealth clearly brighter than the Arya Stealth, and in general an headphone can be bright and warm at the same time.

The Arya Stealth is warmer than the HE1000 Stealth, definitely, not by much but it's clear when you A/B. It's more congested, it has significantly less space and separation, the warm it has clearly impact those qualities IMHO.

While listening back to back to stuff like the legendary du Pre concert with barbirolli (Elgar, precisely) with the HE1000 and then the Arya, the difference was quite audible: the HE1000 was way more accurante and believable with the strings. They had the right amount of presence, with the Arya the seemed too thick.
Going to the Radiohead's Amnesiac ending song, Life in a glass house, also the HE1000 was way more believable with the horns and the separation that tracks need to be 100% enjoyable.

To me they are about at the same level of brightness, it's just the Arya is warmer (and don't push details forward like the he1000).

Sounds like we're hearing them the same way and my impressions on the brightness to warmest lineup seem accurate. To be clear I don't think the HE1000 Stealth is a bad headphone. I just prefer the HE1000V2 and Arya Stealth over it.

 

[szore]

You really need to break in the Arya's/XS.

My Arya v3 has almost 250 hours on it and it gets better and better

 

[tradyblix]

I got my HE1000se tonight and I have to say I don't think that it's brighter, (it's still very neutral and hifiman like) but the fact it's more accurate with especially things like high female vocals can present as close to fatiguing on higher end gear. Especially if you don't have a warm Solid State or high end tube amp to warm it up, ie, if you take "cold" equipment like the Hugo2 directly out of it's jack. It's still really pleasant and nothing like the edginess of dynamic driver Utopia or HD800's peaky issues that many are familiar with now or have heard of. Let's not forget, HD800 was the top can 10 years ago and reigned for a while. Until Utopia came out. And it didn't hold the crown long.

Kevin may disagree with me and he does have more experience with headphones like Final D8000 apparently, but this continues the trend for me that "percieved more detail" has a price to pay. But it's still Arya-like in it's "fatigue to really high detail notes" profile. I definitely would prefer moving from incisive neutral to warm on hugo2 if i was doing something long and not caring about ultimate detail or "seeing what it can do" like tonight. Having said that I'm listening to a 90s album right now on green filter which is white basically, or only cuts off frequencies I can't hear (it's for DSD really) and its quite enjoyable.

The best analogy I can think of is Icarus, you don't really want to increase detail to pain levels.

So I think I would say - Arya owners - still an amazing headphone... worth every penny... if you really like it and want to upgrade there's an upgrade there but I would hesitate to say it's actually worth you know, 1000 dollars. Even tho HE1000se used to be 3499 in the bad old days of bespoke summit-fi, I think it's much better priced at 1999 and I would say it might even be better to get it cheaper than that if you can (used. refurb, open box, slight cosmetic defect, etc).

Having done this rodeo ride to the 3-5 thousand dollar can level a few times now I just don't think most headphones are worth that price at that level today. Even tho manufacturers can get away with it. Especially now in 2023 when you consider the graveyard of "surpassed" cans like LCD3, LCD4, LCD5, Abyss, Diana, Empyrean, Raal Requisite (the first one), Stax, The weird one offs that never made it in the market like some hifiman electrostats, (Jade II or whatever it was) the Honeycomb system of 2016, etc. Most priced at 4-5k for years in the mid teens. These Hifimans are at far better price levels now compared to that. Up to 2k different.

I almost got the HE1000 stealth which some may prefer, but I saw the chart and it looked peaky in the high end, although I have to admit it has a more harman like bass response at the low end than the SE does.

Also for people that might be interested. The Magnets on the HE1000se are clearly different than the ones on Arya Stealth (V3). They are bigger. the "stripes" when you look inside the cup are wider and less of them. Just thought some of you might enjoy that detail. The build is a bit better as well, no plastic on the cup, it's larger and the "wood strips" feel different. Headband assembly is mostly identical except black paint/anodization, but it's also tilted at a different angle (Arya Stealth is more straight up to the cup). There is more aluminum on HEKse. I know when looking at external photos on similar type headphones (like Grados, Hifiman, Audeze, etc) it becomes easily to rationalize it as it's "the same thing with something cosmetic different" but it's not the case (with these 2 anyway).

 

[kRed]

Sounds like we're hearing them the same way and my impressions on the brightness to warmest lineup seem accurate. To be clear I don't think the HE1000 Stealth is a bad headphone. I just prefer the HE1000V2 and Arya Stealth over it.

You know, I have an ZMF Aeolus which sounds like a jar of honey in comparison to the Arya Stealth… it’s definitely not bad to like a warmer presentation and, maybe, less forwardness in details.

To be honest, I’m developing a theory about a correlation between listening volume and treble tolerance. I used to be a bit treble sensitive, then I learned to listen at lower volume (I’m also not that young, so I don’t hear like 19khz or 20khz) and it’s all good now. If I want to just bang my head and relax I reach for the Aeolus (and the VC I guess, they will be here next week).

I confess when I want to hear trash music, I fire up my BT senn pxc 550 mk2… they just don’t have details, so you can enjoy that music!

 

[tradyblix]

It's really not all about details i think. There comes a tradeoff.

There's a few artists music, mostly independent artists, Grouper comes to mind where their music is so low-fi and has detail hidden way down low where it really is exciting to hear it at an analytical level, but man warm headphones are pleasant. Nobody really wants Ice Picks, like, ever.

 

[Kevintj604]

You know, I have an ZMF Aeolus which sounds like a jar of honey in comparison to the Arya Stealth… it’s definitely not bad to like a warmer presentation and, maybe, less forwardness in details.

To be honest, I’m developing a theory about a correlation between listening volume and treble tolerance. I used to be a bit treble sensitive, then I learned to listen at lower volume (I’m also not that young, so I don’t hear like 19khz or 20khz) and it’s all good now. If I want to just bang my head and relax I reach for the Aeolus (and the VC I guess, they will be here next week).

I confess when I want to hear trash music, I fire up my BT senn pxc 550 mk2… they just don’t have details, so you can enjoy that music!

Heheh. I like the jar of Honey analogy. I’ve owned three different Aeolus units and all three present music in such a warm, non fatiguing way. It’s a super enjoyable headphone but it’s essentially the polar opposite of all of the HiFiMan lineup.

From a detail standpoint Aeolus comes nowhere close to an Arya and the jar of honey example is a good one in this case. VC is the same way. I love both Aeolus and VC but ultimately I sold them in search of more detail.

In ZMF’s defense people aren’t buying them for detail and resolution as the entire lineup doesn’t focus on those attributes at all with Caldera being the exception.

It’s about trade offs and if you’ve got a couple HiFiMan’s and a couple ZMF’s you’ve got the spectrum covered so you can listen to a wide range of music with very different presentations.

 

[Junglebook3]

I can't comment on Susvara (or the others in your list, except LCD4, which was never a big detail headphone AFAICR). I Never heard it (or them) and Susvara is not on my radar because of it's absurd 6,000 MSRP. Most of the headphones I've had (Utopia, HE1000se apparently, HD800s) that people said were detail monsters, were all bright. (even Arya Stealth can be getting towards bright-ish sometimes, although to me it's more neutral most of the time. I don't have fatigue issues with it on my rig).

I never said there wasn't one, single, summit-fi headphone that didn't meet that pattern, only that in general it's a pattern. Certainly it was a pattern with the headphones that we were talking about leading up to my comment about it. Now, you've apparently heard or owned every single high end headphone in existence and know them intimately, so who could compete with that ? Okay then, so it's only headphones that I bought that are bright I guess. I stand corrected.

You seem fixated on winning arguments with multiple people by one-upping them and going super far off topic. (this is the Arya thread)... you've been argumentatively talking about HD800s, Susvara, HE1000se, Random other headphones you own, Manufacturers that don't cater exactly to your tastes, people that EQ are idiots, "I'm going to tell you what you should like" and bonking people on the head with your "I win, I know better, I know everything, I've heard everything" comments, for the last 2 days straight. Nobody wants to hear that. Especially not in the lowly Arya thread. Maybe that stuff plays well in the Summit-Fi snob threads. I suggest you can it. No pun intended.



We know. That's okay.

You can get Susvaras open box for $4,000 FWIW.

 

[Kevintj604]

You can get Susvaras open box for $4,000 FWIW.

Sure. You can buy a Sus for $4000 but you’ve still got a huge problem on your hands to drive them. It’s a super expensive problem to have as well.

I’d rather stick with one of the egg shaped HiFiMan’s and have more options for source equipment.

 

[Junglebook3]

Sure. You can buy a Sus for $4000 but you’ve still got a huge problem on your hands to drive them. It’s a super expensive problem to have as well.

I’d rather stick with one of the egg shaped HiFiMan’s and have more options for source equipment.

Eh, I think people overstate how difficult Susvaras are to drive. A $200 DAC/Amp combo will get them plenty loud. I use a Ferrum Erco ($1,200 on the used market last time I checked) and they're fantastic.

 

[morpheus69]

Eh, I think people overstate how difficult Susvaras are to drive. A $200 DAC/Amp combo will get them plenty loud. I use a Ferrum Erco ($1,200 on the used market last time I checked) and they're fantastic.

It's not about loud, it's about quality. If you can get the impact of the music at a low volume, then you have an AMP that is driving (has the current) your headphones properly. Loudness just fools you into thinking it sounds good. If you have to turn it up loud to hear (or pretend to hear the detail) then your AMP isn't enough.