[Hifiearspeakers]

Okay, but I'm rather new to the headphones side of the audiophile world, and don't have a lot of experience with many of the popular headphones out there. I've had a pair of He400i headphones for a couple of years, and have owned a pair of Oppo PM3s, and briefly owned a pair of Anandas. I love the planar sound.

The Arya sounds similar in frequency response to the He400i, but with much, much better bass, and a far more open sound stage. They are basically neutral from extremely low to extremely high frequencies, with no one area of the frequency response standing out. They are the first planars I've heard that actually have satisfying bass.

The midrange is smooth and neutral. I found the mids on the Ananda too forward. Instruments such as saxophones and female vocals were quite forward, and sounded great, due to an emphasis in the upper mids and lower treble, but that emphasis carried over to classic rock recordings, making them sound piercing - frankly, the Ananda just didn't work on classic rock for me. Those same instruments and vocals are more recessed on the Arya - more balanced. I imagine some might not like that.

I'm 57, and can't hear beyond about 10 KHz, but the treble I can hear is smooth and again, balanced. There are no sharp peaks, tizziness, or jagged sibilance.

For me, these are end-game headphones, especially for the classical I listen to most. They have a pleasant, accurate, smooth, balanced sound that is easy to enjoy with any type of music. I'm picky, and I have no real complaints. They are big, and I don't see them fitting anyone with a smaller head. I'm over six feet tall, and have the band adjusted to the second notch from the smallest setting. I love the headband design. It's really comfortable.

Mark at HiFiMan confirmed that the drivers in the Arya "owe a lot" to the drivers in the HE1000 and HE1000-V2. The drivers in all three of those headphones are the same size, as are the magnet structures - 65 X 100 mm. That's larger than the drivers in the Ananda, Sundara, and Edition X, and I think that explains the better bass and balance. The magnets themselves may be slightly redesigned, supposedly for the better. Rumor has it that the Arya was originally going to be called the HE1000X, which would make them basically the third version of the HE1000 - and for $1,600, that is a huge statement. I'd love to hear an honest comparison to the He1000-V2.

Mark also told me that, if I ever decided to upgrade, I would be wasting my money unless I moved up to at least the HE1000se...

That was beautiful! You sell yourself short. That helped a lot. Thanks!

 

[Skycyclepilot]

That was beautiful! You sell yourself short. That helped a lot. Thanks!

Wow, thank you!

 

[kid vic]

Okay, but I'm rather new to the headphones side of the audiophile world, and don't have a lot of experience with many of the popular headphones out there. I've had a pair of He400i headphones for a couple of years, and have owned a pair of Oppo PM3s, and briefly owned a pair of Anandas. I love the planar sound.

The Arya sounds similar in frequency response to the He400i, but with much, much better bass, and a far more open sound stage. They are basically neutral from extremely low to extremely high frequencies, with no one area of the frequency response standing out. They are the first planars I've heard that actually have satisfying bass.

The midrange is smooth and neutral. I found the mids on the Ananda too forward. Instruments such as saxophones and female vocals were quite forward, and sounded great, due to an emphasis in the upper mids and lower treble, but that emphasis carried over to classic rock recordings, making them sound piercing - frankly, the Ananda just didn't work on classic rock for me. Those same instruments and vocals are more recessed on the Arya - more balanced. I imagine some might not like that.

I'm 57, and can't hear beyond about 10 KHz, but the treble I can hear is smooth and again, balanced. There are no sharp peaks, tizziness, or jagged sibilance.

For me, these are end-game headphones, especially for the classical I listen to most. They have a pleasant, accurate, smooth, balanced sound that is easy to enjoy with any type of music. I'm picky, and I have no real complaints. They are big, and I don't see them fitting anyone with a smaller head. I'm over six feet tall, and have the band adjusted to the second notch from the smallest setting. I love the headband design. It's really comfortable.

Mark at HiFiMan confirmed that the drivers in the Arya "owe a lot" to the drivers in the HE1000 and HE1000-V2. The drivers in all three of those headphones are the same size, as are the magnet structures - 65 X 100 mm. That's larger than the drivers in the Ananda, Sundara, and Edition X, and I think that explains the better bass and balance. The magnets themselves may be slightly redesigned, supposedly for the better. Rumor has it that the Arya was originally going to be called the HE1000X, which would make them basically the third version of the HE1000 - and for $1,600, that is a huge statement. I'd love to hear an honest comparison to the He1000-V2.

Mark also told me that, if I ever decided to upgrade, I would be wasting my money unless I moved up to at least the HE1000se...

Informative post!
I think that we can almost confirm that the Arya is the HEKv3 and the Ananda really is HEXv3. Gotta love hifimans update cycle and name games. One of my local shops has the Ananda and I'll see if they can bring in the Arya. I really want to hear the Arya seeing as if it truly is the HEK drivers at $1,600 it's probably the king of hifimans lineup and FINALLY a great hifiman flagship purchase. Too bad we had to wait 2 generations for it though.
In the Ananda thread at least 2 people said that the Arya and Ananda sounded identical which made no sense but would kind of fit hifiman business practices.

I think the new lineup (HE400i- HE560se- Sundara- Ananda- HE6se- Arya- HE1000se- Susvara in ascending price order) finally makes sense and has almost no redundancies!

 

[SilverEars]

Informative post!
I think that we can almost confirm that the Arya is the HEKv3 and the Ananda really is HEXv3. Gotta love hifimans update cycle and name games. One of my local shops has the Ananda and I'll see if they can bring in the Arya. I really want to hear the Arya seeing as if it truly is the HEK drivers at $1,600 it's probably the king of hifimans lineup and FINALLY a great hifiman flagship purchase. Too bad we had to wait 2 generations for it though.
In the Ananda thread at least 2 people said that the Arya and Ananda sounded identical which made no sense but would kind of fit hifiman business practices.

I think the new lineup (HE400i- HE560se- Sundara- Ananda- HE6se- Arya- HE1000se- Susvara in ascending price order) finally makes sense and has almost no redundancies!

I'm guessing he's trying to avoid the complaints arose from just calling them new versions, making it sound like updates. It's possible he's tweaking the drivers on the fly, and in order to avoid the complaints from people, he's giving them names to make the headphones seem brand new, but in reality they must be just updates without calling them V3, etc... (this is just speculation) As he is coming up with new driver technology, he's probably reducing prices on the past driver tech (with exception of the the rehash of the old models, HE6SE, etc..), by giving them names and changing the look (Arya).

Or he's trying to sell more by reducing the price. It's possible the people weren't biting the prices of HEK and HEX. So, he just essentially give them names to make them seem like different headphones, but essentially the same with lower prices.

Here's proof that he's makes changes as time goes by http://www.hifiman.com/products/detail/268 Like the headband notches, yoke, and pads (size and materials).

Based on the spec (impedance and sensitivity), Arya falls in the HEK family (35 ohms, 90 dB), and Ananda is part of the HEX family (25 ohms, 103 dB).

 

[thecrow]

Okay, but I'm rather new to the headphones side of the audiophile world, and don't have a lot of experience with many of the popular headphones out there. I've had a pair of He400i headphones for a couple of years, and have owned a pair of Oppo PM3s, and briefly owned a pair of Anandas. I love the planar sound.

The Arya sounds similar in frequency response to the He400i, but with much, much better bass, and a far more open sound stage. They are basically neutral from extremely low to extremely high frequencies, with no one area of the frequency response standing out. They are the first planars I've heard that actually have satisfying bass.

The midrange is smooth and neutral. I found the mids on the Ananda too forward. Instruments such as saxophones and female vocals were quite forward, and sounded great, due to an emphasis in the upper mids and lower treble, but that emphasis carried over to classic rock recordings, making them sound piercing - frankly, the Ananda just didn't work on classic rock for me. Those same instruments and vocals are more recessed on the Arya - more balanced. I imagine some might not like that.

I'm 57, and can't hear beyond about 10 KHz, but the treble I can hear is smooth and again, balanced. There are no sharp peaks, tizziness, or jagged sibilance.

For me, these are end-game headphones, especially for the classical I listen to most. They have a pleasant, accurate, smooth, balanced sound that is easy to enjoy with any type of music. I'm picky, and I have no real complaints. They are big, and I don't see them fitting anyone with a smaller head. I'm over six feet tall, and have the band adjusted to the second notch from the smallest setting. I love the headband design. It's really comfortable.

Mark at HiFiMan confirmed that the drivers in the Arya "owe a lot" to the drivers in the HE1000 and HE1000-V2. The drivers in all three of those headphones are the same size, as are the magnet structures - 65 X 100 mm. That's larger than the drivers in the Ananda, Sundara, and Edition X, and I think that explains the better bass and balance. The magnets themselves may be slightly redesigned, supposedly for the better. Rumor has it that the Arya was originally going to be called the HE1000X, which would make them basically the third version of the HE1000 - and for $1,600, that is a huge statement. I'd love to hear an honest comparison to the He1000-V2.

Mark also told me that, if I ever decided to upgrade, I would be wasting my money unless I moved up to at least the HE1000se...

Great post. I agree re the ananda sound/mids.

Did Mark offer anything re arya v he6se?

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

Informative post!
I think that we can almost confirm that the Arya is the HEKv3 and the Ananda really is HEXv3. Gotta love hifimans update cycle and name games. One of my local shops has the Ananda and I'll see if they can bring in the Arya. I really want to hear the Arya seeing as if it truly is the HEK drivers at $1,600 it's probably the king of hifimans lineup and FINALLY a great hifiman flagship purchase. Too bad we had to wait 2 generations for it though.
In the Ananda thread at least 2 people said that the Arya and Ananda sounded identical which made no sense but would kind of fit hifiman business practices.

I think the new lineup (HE400i- HE560se- Sundara- Ananda- HE6se- Arya- HE1000se- Susvara in ascending price order) finally makes sense and has almost no redundancies!

I don’t think the Ananda is the successor to the Edition X V2, even though they do sound similar. The HEX V2 is the smoothest headphone in the entire Hifiman lineup, but the Ananda has an upper mid/treble peak that is quite annoying. It is even brighter than the HEK to my ears. I think the Ananda is actually the improved 560, which is one of the brightest headphones ever made by Hifiman. And I think the Arya is the improved HEX V2, because it is described as very smooth but detailed. If you look at the Arya headband, it says HE1000X on it. That sounds like a combination of the Edition X and HEK. I think the lineup goes like this:

400i—>Sundara
560—>Ananda
HEX V2—>Arya
HEK V2—>HEK SE

Either way, Fang is bat sh$@ crazy but he makes good sounding headphones.

 

[omniweltall]

It is funny you guys are trying to make sense of this.

 

[kid vic]

I don’t think the Ananda is the successor to the Edition X V2, even though they do sound similar. The HEX V2 is the smoothest headphone in the entire Hifiman lineup, but the Ananda has an upper mid/treble peak that is quite annoying. It is even brighter than the HEK to my ears. I think the Ananda is actually the improved 560, which is one of the brightest headphones ever made by Hifiman. And I think the Arya is the improved HEX V2, because it is described as very smooth but detailed. If you look at the Arya headband, it says HE1000X on it. That sounds like a combination of the Edition X and HEK. I think the lineup goes like this:

400i—>Sundara
560—>Ananda
HEX V2—>Arya
HEK V2—>HEK SE

Either way, Fang is bat sh$@ crazy but he makes good sounding headphones.

I haven't heard the Ananda or Arya yet but all things (thus far) seem to indicate that the Ananda is closer to the HEX; I can imagine some re-tuning occurred to make the Ananda happen but it makes so little sense for them to tune the Arya to defer from the HEK sound drastically but then indicate multiple times that its "closely related to" the HEK. I want to think Fang wouldn't clutter his own line that much more on top of where it currently is. Plus the review video above states that in direct comparison the Arya and the HE1000se sound the same (I imagine there are some fine differences though), that kind of ruins your lineage model above.

I've seen people describe the HEK as smooth and detailed plus that's precisely how I would describe it so I imagine that your preference is to avoid that kind of peak. Maybe the tuning that they did to the Ananda involved an increase in treble? Impressions from the Ananda thread confirm that but say it stays true to the overall HEX signature. I love AKG and Sony headphones which are notorious for that exact mid/treble hotness, I didn't like the HE560 though; maybe your just slightly more sensitive to that peak than I?

 

[Skycyclepilot]

Great post. I agree re the ananda sound/mids.

Did Mark offer anything re arya v he6se?

Unfortunately not, and I didn't think to ask.

 

[Skycyclepilot]

I don’t think the Ananda is the successor to the Edition X V2, even though they do sound similar. The HEX V2 is the smoothest headphone in the entire Hifiman lineup, but the Ananda has an upper mid/treble peak that is quite annoying. It is even brighter than the HEK to my ears. I think the Ananda is actually the improved 560, which is one of the brightest headphones ever made by Hifiman. And I think the Arya is the improved HEX V2, because it is described as very smooth but detailed. If you look at the Arya headband, it says HE1000X on it. That sounds like a combination of the Edition X and HEK. I think the lineup goes like this:

400i—>Sundara
560—>Ananda
HEX V2—>Arya
HEK V2—>HEK SE

Either way, Fang is bat sh$@ crazy but he makes good sounding headphones.

I agree with your ordering of HiFiMan's current lineup, but I don't think the Arya is an improved HEX-V2. Its drivers are bigger - essentially a retuned HEK driver. I'm beginning to think the Arya is essentially the HEK-V3, without the fancy wood and stainless. I suspect that, if reviews are ever released, it'll be proven to sound exactly like the HEK-V1 or V2. It may just be a way for HiFiMan to sell more headphones.

 

[bagwell359]

Noticed that the used prices on the HEK V2 are dropping into new Arya territory. One of the comments on the Arya is that the lower mids are a bit short on detail. Wonder how these two cans stack up re each other?

 

[bagwell359]

I think the new lineup (HE400i- HE560se- Sundara- Ananda- HE6se- Arya- HE1000se- Susvara in ascending price order) finally makes sense and has almost no redundancies!

Either you add the HE5se or take out the 6se - both are claimed to be limited editions. I still think there is too much of a gap between the Sundara and Ananda, maybe where the MD X and a re-release of the HE-500 fit?

 

[kid vic]

Either you add the HE5se or take out the 6se - both are claimed to be limited editions. I still think there is too much of a gap between the Sundara and Ananda, maybe where the MD X and a re-release of the HE-500 fit?

Fair play, I'd the the HE6se out then. I really want an HE-5XX or something as well actually! Probably wouldnt buy it unless my HE-500 packed it in but id still love to see it

 

[bagwell359]

Fair play, I'd the the HE6se out then. I really want an HE-5XX or something as well actually! Probably wouldnt buy it unless my HE-500 packed it in but id still love to see it

I keep trying to find another pair of HE-500's in case mine ever buy the farm. But then that will hold me back from me from getting the dough together for a pair of HFM's which could outdo the 500's - the Arya's or the HEK V2's.

 

[kid vic]

I keep trying to find another pair of HE-500's in case mine ever buy the farm. But then that will hold me back from me from getting the dough together for a pair of HFM's which could outdo the 500's - the Arya's or the HEK V2's.

A pair sold here for $295 free shipping in CONUS like 2 days ago. They pop up pretty regularly....