I believe their goal is to update all of their current oval driver options (their most popular and successful design by far and the one they’ve adopted on all recent releases, including the Audivina) to include the universal features/formats/tunings that have been the most successful and closer to Harman—the Stealth magnet, the nano thickness diaphragm, and the 6dB rise in the bass shelf. Hence the HEK Stealth, the Ananda Nano, and the Arya Organic. They’ve already discontinued the HEKV2 and have slashed the prices on the previous iterations, including the HEKse and the Arya Stealth—I believe these are headed to being phased out, along with all of their non-Stealth iterations. After years of trying out new innovations and assessing their success, I think they’re finally consolidating their lineup to have a signature sound and design ethic.
Now they have an emerging definitive lineup with an identifiable aesthetic over a range of price points. I imagine the Edition XS and HEKse will be similarly refreshed with increased bass emphasis soon, and then we’ll have the Edition XS—>Ananda Nano—>Arya Organic—>HEK Stealth—>pending flagship options. I think this is a great step for their consumers to have a very fine option available for a range of budgets.
Their true flagship lineup (the Susvara and the HEKse) were released in 2016 and 2018 respectively, and since Harman tuning was subsequently “perfected” in 2019 and “reference” tuning (ie, flat, bass rolled off) is becoming less and less the gold standard for the audiophile set (which now thankfully includes devotees of rock and other modern genres and not just stuffy classical listeners), these are glaringly past due for a refresh as well.
I has this confirmed as much during an email exchange I had with HFM recently when exchanging my Arya Stealth for the HEK Stealth (please be aware that HFM customer service will honor any upgrade of your existing cans to a higher tier in their lineup for only the cost of shipping your device to them and a portion of the list price difference). When I wrote to them “I make up with all of these price slashes that we’re in for a major flagship upgrade in the near future?”, they responded “your HEK Stealth is on the way! About that flagship upgrade, you may be on to something there—all I’ll say is stay tuned!” Make of that what you will…