[chargedcapacitor]

Yeah I use SPDIF so no EQ for me. I'll check out some pads, they were good for my Aeons. I don't even want to really get into EQ at this point but I'll keep it in mind.

The loki/lokius has an excellent in-line analog EQ. The last band on the lokius should be almost perfect for what the organic needs.

 

[jody2k]

For DACs, I've only owned my FiiO K9 Pro ESS, but for amps can at least say that at an audio show when comparing the Eleven Audio Broadway (smaller) and Formula S (bigger) amps (and before that a small DAP I think with a mini tube, but rather coarse volume control) which each had a different Abyss Diana MR hooked up, but the same source, after even a cursory volume matching (which is oh-so important) between the two amps which were both plenty adequate to drive the Diana MR loud enough, as far as I could tell, there was nothing to prefer between the amps, each presenting a similar if not identical tonality and largely the same qualities of details and "bigness", such to be expected if they all indeed measured as having the same largely flat frequency response.

With audio, I would rather start with the cheapest possible solutions before "escalating", so trying out EQ first, then maybe earpads, though even before earpads, if this "darkness" you are hearing is in fact rather a case of the amp not driving the headphones loud enough (does it stay dark when you increase the volume (make sure your digital source's volume controls are also maxed), or is your amp already on max volume?), then there is objectively no workaround but to try switching from an unbalanced cable to a balanced cable if the amp supports it (it simply doubles the voltage output, any other effects likely being caused by lack of volume matching), else acquire a more powerful amp. Anyways, at least per https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...hiit-asgard-3-headphone-amp-dac-review.14393/, it is certainly exquisitely neutral, and the headphone output distortion performance is excellent, so I wouldn't expect it to be the cause of the darkness you are perceiving unless it were simply failing to drive the headphones loud enough. As for earpads, which measurably can cause changes in frequency, unless you are adamantly avoiding EQ or are looking for improved comfort, I would rather use a free option like EQ to change my headphones' tonality.

As for EQ recommendations provided that the issue doesn't have to do with amp power, then if your Arya is one of the models predating the Arya Organic (I doubt it is the Organic you are finding "dark"), to address "mud", if that's what you meant by "darkness", if you can get your hands on parametric EQ (PEQ) software, I would place a -2.5 dB peaking filter with a Q factor of 1 centered at 270 Hz; the switch from the Arya Stealth to the Organic theoretically does something similar, but with added bass and upper treble. Then, if you want a bit more clarity or find the midrange a bit "dull", I would add a 4 dB peaking filter with a Q factor of 2 centered at 1.7 kHz to fill the "HiFiMan dip". Then you may want to add a -3 dB peaking filter with a Q factor of 5 centered at 3.15 kHz to smoothen that peak. I am basically describing how to EQ the Arya Stealth toward the headphones.com's Harman target based on the graph below:



I can say for me that when I first turned on the EQ profile I produced from this graph, the jump in clarity was truly like lifting a veil. And if you are familiar with my posts (post #4,665), you would know that the rabbit hole of EQ for achieving yet greater levels of clarity or transparency only continues.

Finally, if the "darkness" you described was rather from a lack of treble, you can apply a high-shelf filter centered between 7 kHz or 10 kHz and play with the gain and Q factor to your preference. A general "ear gain" peaking filter with a Q factor of 1 centered at 3 kHz can also be used to play with how much upper midrange and lower treble (the region naturally amplified by your ears) you want.

Note that whenever you add a positive gain PEQ (or graphic EQ) filter, you must also apply a "digital pre-amp" to prevent that EQ from causing digital clipping. Technically speaking, both digital and analog volume controls are merely performing an attenuation of the signal from reaching its maximum value. With your amp's volume knob turned to the max, it is simply passing in the DAC's full output, whereby the amp will only clip if the DAC is capable of outputting voltages beyond the amp's nominal input range. Likewise, the DAC will only clip if its digital input was clipped in the sense of the signal being boosted beyond the maximum values for digitally representing the signal's loudness. So if you are boosting by 5 dB, you should apply a digital pre-amp of -5 dB or more; on Equalizer APO, you would check that the "peak gain" on the lower left is zero or less. This does require you to run your amp at a higher volume or gain setting or gain, though.

Interesting find, I wanted to add that I think theoretically that could work to make the Arya stealth sounding like the Arya Organic "tone" wise in the EQ. While I admit i'm a big fan personally of EQ hifiman headphones as it can change the sound drastically. Unfortunately I have found out it's not that simple and not everything can be changed trough a frequency response when it comes to match the Arya stealth sounding like the Arya Organic for example, I failed to do so. tonally I could match the arya stealth making it sound warmer like the Organic but there were other factors making the Hifiman Organic sounding "Organic" if you know what I mean. One aspect for example I could not fix in the Arya stealth compared to the organic was the floating, transparent sounding instruments. Arya stealth the guitars are sounding more part of the rest of the instruments while the organic sounded more separate, more "floating around" more transparent and space between instruments if that makes sense. My thoughts are hifiman has probably made some refinements or little changes in the Organic driver magnets making it sound organic. I haven't managed to make the Arya stealth having these "meaty mid" sounding like the Organic can do . Not sure what exactly though but I have spent days adjusting the arya stealth, maybe i'm wrong or I don't have the right equipement to drive the arya stealth. Same case when it comes to the edition XS

 

[nunobrazuna]

I will share my EQ settings (Arya Organic with EF600 Amp/DAC).

I really like the base sound of the Arya Organic, and I only do a gentle EQ in Roon Arc.

Preamp: -2.5 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 25 Hz Gain 2.5 dB Q 0.500
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 120 Hz Gain -1.5 dB Q 2.000
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 270 Hz Gain -0.8 dB Q 2.000
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1800 Hz Gain 2.5 dB Q 2.000
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 5400 Hz Gain 2.0 dB Q 4.000
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 6600 Hz Gain -2.5 dB Q 2.000
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 9300 Hz Gain 2.5 dB Q 3.000
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 13300 Hz Gain -2.5 dB Q 4.000

I compared with other EQ curves, and I always come back to this settings.

Hope this help others to enjoy the Arya Organic more.

 

[shimigg]

What's a good aftermarket cable internals should I go with if I want to maintain the current sound signature of the Arya Organic ?

Ideally I want a mmcx iem cable and an adapter at the end so the whole package is light as possible

 

[MrHaelscheir]

Interesting find, I wanted to add that I think theoretically that could work to make the Arya stealth sounding like the Arya Organic "tone" wise in the EQ. While I admit i'm a big fan personally of EQ hifiman headphones as it can change the sound drastically. Unfortunately I have found out it's not that simple and not everything can be changed trough a frequency response when it comes to match the Arya stealth sounding like the Arya Organic for example, I failed to do so. tonally I could match the arya stealth making it sound warmer like the Organic but there were other factors making the Hifiman Organic sounding "Organic" if you know what I mean. One aspect for example I could not fix in the Arya stealth compared to the organic was the floating, transparent sounding instruments. Arya stealth the guitars are sounding more part of the rest of the instruments while the organic sounded more separate, more "floating around" more transparent and space between instruments if that makes sense. My thoughts are hifiman has probably made some refinements or little changes in the Organic driver magnets making it sound organic. I haven't managed to make the Arya stealth having these "meaty mid" sounding like the Organic can do . Not sure what exactly though but I have spent days adjusting the arya stealth, maybe i'm wrong or I don't have the right equipement to drive the arya stealth. Same case when it comes to the edition XS

One factor could be how producing EQ profiles even from graphs from the same publisher (e.g. headphones.com) can still objectively incur differing frequency responses when those headphones are placed on your own head.

One method I described in my big EQ post (post #4,665) was to have some method with which to quickly switch between headphones while listening to pure tones. For Equalizer APO, you can in your main config file have two "Include" controls referencing each headphone's EQ (or only one if you are only matching one to the other's stock tonality) and then switch between those. You would need to use digital preamps to facilitate volume-matching. With that set up, you can listen to pure tones, e.g. going by every 10 Hz, then 100 Hz, and so on, and adjust the variable-band graphic EQ at that frequency until pure tones sound nigh identical in volume between the two headphones. You can then optionally convert the graphic EQ into a PEQ by producing the filters that in Equalizer APO flatten the graphic EQ into a straight line at least within 0.5 dB, then disable the graphic EQ, then finally invert all the gains of the PEQ filters and adjust the digital preamp. Early in my journey, this was how I was able to transfer a clarity I had come to prefer in my existing Arya Stealth EQ to my Meze Elite's EQ profile, or to transfer the midrange guitar sweetness I came across in my Meze Elite EQ to the Arya. Then one has the matter of experimenting with listening to sine sweeps and pink noise to smooth our treble peaks for a cleaner sound devoid of anything that sounds unnaturally amplified. Sine sweeps can also be used to guide PEQ for correcting channel imbalances in specific frequency ranges, enabling more coherent imaging.

Anyways, when I had first EQed my Arya Stealth toward headphones.com's Harman target, the first thing I noticed was the jump in clarity and to an extent, "image separation" insofar as the somewhat bloated lower midrange had been tamed. As I had hinted in a previous post, it does seem from measurements like the Arya Organic had precisely corrected that lower midrange bloat.

The more accurate approach would be to acquire in-ear microphones like I had done in https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mez...official-thread.959445/page-344#post-17743502 (post #5,152), whereby as demonstrated in https://www.head-fi.org/threads/in-...frs-are-indeed-identical.970202/post-17801518 (post #61), you would use your own in-ear measurements of the target and actual frequency responses and then fine-tune accordingly. The main disadvantage of this is that some in-ear microphones like these ones from Earfish can have a tight fit and be rather uncomfortable to wear for an hour. If the pads are identical, then the only remaining difference I might expect could be in the perceived transient quality from playing http://pcfarina.eng.unipr.it/Acustica-samples/Dirac.wav loud, which I believe relates to the phase response.

For both of the above, you may have to produce separate EQ profiles for each driver (Equalizer APO supports this with the channel selection feature) if you want the most accurate results, though for the first method of using your own ears in place of microphones to do the matching, it can suffice to compare the loudness using the combined pure tone sound from both ears.

@shimigg After having taken measurements myself as in https://www.head-fi.org/threads/in-...c-headphones-frs-are-indeed-identical.970202/, I am more inclined to vie that probably any non-defective aftermarket cable would preserve the Arya Organic's sound signature perfectly, so choose whatever meets all your other criteria like lightness or looks. In this case, you are rather concerned that a new cable (e.g. mainly for convenience purposes) might detract from your current cable's sound. In that regard, it is up to you at the time of receiving your cable whether you are inclined to believe the cable you chose will or will not detract from the Organic's original sound, regardless of what others say.

 

[Hyperion ATX]

For DACs, I've only owned my FiiO K9 Pro ESS, but for amps can at least say that at an audio show when comparing the Eleven Audio Broadway (smaller) and Formula S (bigger) amps (and before that a small DAP I think with a mini tube, but rather coarse volume control) which each had a different Abyss Diana MR hooked up, but the same source, after even a cursory volume matching (which is oh-so important) between the two amps which were both plenty adequate to drive the Diana MR loud enough, as far as I could tell, there was nothing to prefer between the amps, each presenting a similar if not identical tonality and largely the same qualities of details and "bigness", such to be expected if they all indeed measured as having the same largely flat frequency response.

With audio, I would rather start with the cheapest possible solutions before "escalating", so trying out EQ first, then maybe earpads, though even before earpads, if this "darkness" you are hearing is in fact rather a case of the amp not driving the headphones loud enough (does it stay dark when you increase the volume (make sure your digital source's volume controls are also maxed), or is your amp already on max volume?), then there is objectively no workaround but to try switching from an unbalanced cable to a balanced cable if the amp supports it (it simply doubles the voltage output, any other effects likely being caused by lack of volume matching), else acquire a more powerful amp. Anyways, at least per https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...hiit-asgard-3-headphone-amp-dac-review.14393/, it is certainly exquisitely neutral, and the headphone output distortion performance is excellent, so I wouldn't expect it to be the cause of the darkness you are perceiving unless it were simply failing to drive the headphones loud enough. As for earpads, which measurably can cause changes in frequency, unless you are adamantly avoiding EQ or are looking for improved comfort, I would rather use a free option like EQ to change my headphones' tonality.

As for EQ recommendations provided that the issue doesn't have to do with amp power, then if your Arya is one of the models predating the Arya Organic (I doubt it is the Organic you are finding "dark"), to address "mud", if that's what you meant by "darkness", if you can get your hands on parametric EQ (PEQ) software, I would place a -2.5 dB peaking filter with a Q factor of 1 centered at 270 Hz; the switch from the Arya Stealth to the Organic theoretically does something similar, but with added bass and upper treble. Then, if you want a bit more clarity or find the midrange a bit "dull", I would add a 4 dB peaking filter with a Q factor of 2 centered at 1.7 kHz to fill the "HiFiMan dip". Then you may want to add a -3 dB peaking filter with a Q factor of 5 centered at 3.15 kHz to smoothen that peak. I am basically describing how to EQ the Arya Stealth toward the headphones.com's Harman target based on the graph below:



I can say for me that when I first turned on the EQ profile I produced from this graph, the jump in clarity was truly like lifting a veil. And if you are familiar with my posts (post #4,665), you would know that the rabbit hole of EQ for achieving yet greater levels of clarity or transparency only continues.

Finally, if the "darkness" you described was rather from a lack of treble, you can apply a high-shelf filter centered between 7 kHz or 10 kHz and play with the gain and Q factor to your preference. A general "ear gain" peaking filter with a Q factor of 1 centered at 3 kHz can also be used to play with how much upper midrange and lower treble (the region naturally amplified by your ears) you want.

Note that whenever you add a positive gain PEQ (or graphic EQ) filter, you must also apply a "digital pre-amp" to prevent that EQ from causing digital clipping. Technically speaking, both digital and analog volume controls are merely performing an attenuation of the signal from reaching its maximum value. With your amp's volume knob turned to the max, it is simply passing in the DAC's full output, whereby the amp will only clip if the DAC is capable of outputting voltages beyond the amp's nominal input range. Likewise, the DAC will only clip if its digital input was clipped in the sense of the signal being boosted beyond the maximum values for digitally representing the signal's loudness. So if you are boosting by 5 dB, you should apply a digital pre-amp of -5 dB or more; on Equalizer APO, you would check that the "peak gain" on the lower left is zero or less. This does require you to run your amp at a higher volume or gain setting or gain, though.

Thank you for this

 

[Denosha]

Not sure if this has been answered before in this mega thread but i couldn't find anything using a search. Anyway, here goes.

I have an Arya V2 and it's been great. But in the super hot & humid climate we have here in Singapore, the pleather on my headband strap has all but disintegrated. I've had to peel off the cracked pleather till the bottom of the strap is totally "bald" now.. Has anyone had any luck getting replacement headband straps? I've tried searching, contacting distributors, etc but nothing so far.

 

[Lightspeed12]

Not sure if this has been answered before in this mega thread but i couldn't find anything using a search. Anyway, here goes.

I have an Arya V2 and it's been great. But in the super hot & humid climate we have here in Singapore, the pleather on my headband strap has all but disintegrated. I've had to peel off the cracked pleather till the bottom of the strap is totally "bald" now.. Has anyone had any luck getting replacement headband straps? I've tried searching, contacting distributors, etc but nothing so far.

Aliexpress & Ebay have them listed.

 

[ahmonge]

Not sure if this has been answered before in this mega thread but i couldn't find anything using a search. Anyway, here goes.

I have an Arya V2 and it's been great. But in the super hot & humid climate we have here in Singapore, the pleather on my headband strap has all but disintegrated. I've had to peel off the cracked pleather till the bottom of the strap is totally "bald" now.. Has anyone had any luck getting replacement headband straps? I've tried searching, contacting distributors, etc but nothing so far.

I replaced the damaged headband strap of my Ananda by contacting Hifiman customer service. First I was referred to the Spanish distributor of their products, Zococity, who offered to do the job, but I had to buy the replacement directly from Hifiman China and, once in my possession, send it together with the headphones to Zococity where they finally did the strap replacement.
This process would have been simpler, faster and cheaper if Hifiman had an official technical service in Europe, but unfortunately this is not the case.

 

[Voohoo]

What's a good aftermarket cable internals should I go with if I want to maintain the current sound signature of the Arya Organic ?

Ideally I want a mmcx iem cable and an adapter at the end so the whole package is light as possible

I just got this Meze Audio 99 Series balanced cable for my Arya Organic. It's very lightweight and reasonably priced. Comparable to the cable for my Moondrop Kato IEMs, maybe even lighter, and you don't have to deal with an adapter. It's been a nice experience so far with this cable because all my other cables are long and braided-sheathed and more noticeably tug on the headphones a bit. In contrast this Meze cable disappears. It can be found on Amazon as well. Unfortunately there's no 3.5mm option.

 

[shimigg]

I just got this Meze Audio 99 Series balanced cable for my Arya Organic. It's very lightweight and reasonably priced. Comparable to the cable for my Moondrop Kato IEMs, maybe even lighter, and you don't have to deal with an adapter. It's been a nice experience so far with this cable because all my other cables are long and braided-sheathed and more noticeably tug on the headphones a bit. In contrast this Meze cable disappears. It can be found on Amazon as well. Unfortunately there's no 3.5mm option.

I have the same exact cable , I guess it's the best option

 

[Hyperion ATX]

I use the Hart Audio Cables modular system and it’s great too.

 

[vucanes]

I joined the club. Pretty comfy. First impression. More clamp force than the HD 800s but deeper ear pads so my ears barely touch the driver filter mesh. Bright sound if not eq. Better bass than 800s. Does not have the same wide sound stage as 800s but fairly good.

 

[Voohoo]

I have the same exact cable , I guess it's the best option

Yeah I can't imagine needing a lighter cable. Glad to have saved you from continuing down the headphone cable rabbit hole. I was NOT okay with the prices of the cables I was considering haha. I'm very happy I found the Meze cable. Love the look of the smoked, clear TPU sheathing and I appreciate it doesn't have an ugly, clunky Y-splitter like all the boutique cable makers seem to have.

 

[stmayhem]

Hello all
Is it worth getting HE1000 Stealth? It came down in price quite dramatically (just over £1100 in UK). I own Arya Stealth but keep on wondering if I'm missing anything. Would HE1000 be any improvement in sound? I am quite happy with Arya, but want to waste money on upgraditis...