[Tsukuyomi]

I'm excited to go to the store and place my order for the Arya, the only concern I have would be that I would re-try the Ananda and see that its just as good for half the price. :S

 

[ashleydoormat]

Hi @Tsukuyomi are you in Vancouver? Can you try out both the Ananda and Arya before deciding which one to go for?
I'm interested in both but have no way to try out at my current location.

 

[Module]

Hi @Tsukuyomi are you in Vancouver? Can you try out both the Ananda and Arya before deciding which one to go for?
I'm interested in both but have no way to try out at my current location.

Same. The more I read the more I feel like know nothing. Deciding to go with Arya or Ananda mostly for post-rock/post-metal, but one says Ananda have more bass and its more in your face sound cans which I think good thing for those genres while Arya being too laid-back, another says Arya more musical and engaging than Ananda, which being on analytical side. Help!

 

[Tsukuyomi]

@ashleydoormat & @Module
I'm in Montreal, Canada.
Don't worry, i'll be going to an audio store this week/weekend and hopefully i'll try both side by side.
I do listen to Rock/Metal/Pop/Classical/Film Scores(soundtracks) and 80's music and tiny bit of Jazz and EDM.

I'll give you guys feedback as soon as possible, Girlfriend may want to go to the country this weekend so if that happens i may not be able to go to the store, but i'll do it as soon as i can! i'm in the same boat as both of you lol. this is a pretty big investment, here in MTL the Hifiman Arya are $2,100 + Tax... so.. $2,417.10... X_X;; so yeah i understand lol.

 

[Brainiac9000]

I’ve compared the Arya and Ananda and this reviewer accurately describes the differences that I heard when comparing them. Ultimately, the Arya is definitely on a different level, but may not be the best suited for all genres.

 

[ashleydoormat]

What do you think Arya is best suited for? On the other hand what's not so good for?

 

[Tsukuyomi]

Even though i like Josh's reviews generally, I dont agree with him on some things from that and other reviews he does.
I think most planar if done correctly can be good for every genre. the size alone of the diaphragm dictates it can do both low/mid/high very very well.

 

[Brainiac9000]

What do you think Arya is best suited for? On the other hand what's not so good for?

To clarify, you can enjoy any genre on the Arya but I feel they're best suited for Classical, OSTs, Jazz, Blues, Rock, and anything with instrumentals and great vocals. However, I prefer to listen to Hip-Hop, R&B, Pop, and EDM on my Sony Z1Rs because I want a more in-your-face sound and punchier bass. This is just my preference when it comes to my listening experience.

Even though i like Josh's reviews generally, I dont agree with him on some things from that and other reviews he does.
I think most planar if done correctly can be good for every genre. the size alone of the diaphragm dictates it can do both low/mid/high very very well.

I agree with your comment regarding planars and diaphragm size and their capabilities, however, in comparison to my actual side-by-side listening experience, Josh was very accurate in describing the differences in sound between these specific Hifiman headphones.

 

[Module]

BTW, I wonder is Arya much more harder to drive than Sundara/Ananda? In that matter, I heard some people tend to say Sundara is quite hard to drive (as with Arya in this thread), and i'm taking it with a grain of salt since my JDS Labs O2 drives it quite easy at low gain.

 

[Karister]

BTW, I wonder is Arya much more harder to drive than Sundara/Ananda? In that matter, I heard some people tend to say Sundara is quite hard to drive (as with Arya in this thread), and i'm taking it with a grain of salt since my JDS Labs O2 drives it quite easy at low gain.

Arya effectiveness is 90dB/mW and resistance is 35Ohm, while Sundara 94dB/mW and 37Ohm. This makes Arya like 60% harder to drive. Ananda is 103dB/mW and 25Ohm. This makes it easy to drive. Like 5 times easier than Arya.

Example calculation for Arya:
Let's say you want to listen loud: 100dB. This is 10dB more than Arya effectivnes from 1mW. This means that you need (10^((100dB-90dB)/10))=10mW of power. Impedance is 35Ohm, so your amp needs to output sqrt(10mW*35Ohm)=0.59V of voltage.

Example calculation for Ananda:
Again, you want to listen at 100dB, again. (10^((100dB-103dB)/10))=0.5mW of power. Impedance is 25Ohm, so your amp needs to output sqrt(0.5mW*25Ohm)=0,11V of voltage.

Also, I would like to emphasis one thing. Above calculations are fine to have comparison of different headphones power requirements. But this does not mean that you need only a few miliwatts to get high loudness. Headphones effectiveness is (usually) measured for tone of 1kHz which is easy to hear for a human ear while our hearing for low frequencies is much worse. Search for isophones chart for more details. You will find out that to hear 30Hz as loud as 1kHz at 40dB SPL, the 30Hz tone needs 40dB SPL more. This means 10000 times more power. So, while you need just a miliwat to get high volume of vocals, you may new a watt or few to get high volume of sub-bass.

 

[misteral201103]

I demoed the Arya and the Ananda (armed with good advice from this thread). I needed the successful candidate to run ok from either my Fiio M11 (balanced) or my Xduoo XD-05. Low power, compared to a desktop rig, but reasonable for portable.
The Arya didn't get anywhere near the juice it needed. I could hear it, but I knew I wasn't receiving the full potential of the cans.
The Ananda paired really well with both - the absolute winner being balanced out from the M11 (currently listening to them now, Dark Knight soundtrack - it's like a private concert!).

I've tried Jazz (vocal and instrumental, live and studio), Classical, Hip Hop, Blues, EDM, Pop (older and current), J-Pop, Metal (kind of - Japanese commercial Metal), OSTs, concert recordings - in terms of genre, there's nothing that they've stumbled with according to my taste (neutral with a touch of warmth). I'm very VERY happy with them (the Ananda's) and I'm reasonably sure I would be equally happy with the Arya's if I had tried them from an amp with a bit more poke.

Auditioning is essential though - not only to ensure that the sound signature is what you are looking for but also to see how the prospective cans pair with your gear.

I know this is the Arya thread, and I went with the Ananda's, but the advice and responses in here have been incredibly useful. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and experience - hugely valuable!

 

[Module]

Arya effectiveness is 90dB/mW and resistance is 35Ohm, while Sundara 94dB/mW and 37Ohm. This makes Arya like 60% harder to drive. Ananda is 103dB/mW and 25Ohm. This makes it easy to drive. Like 5 times easier than Arya.

Example calculation for Arya:
Let's say you want to listen loud: 100dB. This is 10dB more than Arya effectivnes from 1mW. This means that you need (10^((100dB-90dB)/10))=10mW of power. Impedance is 35Ohm, so your amp needs to output sqrt(10mW*35Ohm)=0.59V of voltage.

Example calculation for Ananda:
Again, you want to listen at 100dB, again. (10^((100dB-103dB)/10))=0.5mW of power. Impedance is 25Ohm, so your amp needs to output sqrt(0.5mW*25Ohm)=0,0125V of voltage.

Also, I would like to emphasis one thing. Above calculations are fine to have comparison of different headphones power requirements. But this does not mean that you need only a few miliwatts to get high loudness. Headphones effectiveness is (usually) measured for tone of 1kHz which is easy to hear for a human ear while our hearing for low frequencies is much worse. Search for isophones chart for more details. You will find out that to hear 30Hz as loud as 1kHz at 40dB SPL, the 30Hz tone needs 40dB SPL more. This means 10000 times more power. So, while you need just a miliwat to get high volume of vocals, you may new a watt or few to get high volume of sub-bass.

Thank you for the brilliant answer, sir! So we need take some headroom to make sure it will have enough power to listen loud (~100dB SPL) without much sucked out at certain frequencies? Should we simply calculate needed power for 120-140dB SPL then and that's it?

 

[kid vic]

Hi @Tsukuyomi are you in Vancouver? Can you try out both the Ananda and Arya before deciding which one to go for?
I'm interested in both but have no way to try out at my current location.

I live in Vancouver, I know of only one place that has the Aryas, but when I went there they didn't have the Anandas.

 

[Karister]

Thank you for the brilliant answer, sir! So we need take some headroom to make sure it will have enough power to listen loud (~100dB SPL) without much sucked out at certain frequencies? Should we simply calculate needed power for 120-140dB SPL then and that's it?

You're welcome. 85dB is considered the safe volume for human ears. Every 10dB more is suvjectively twice as loud. So 115 dB is 4 times louder and may cause hearing damage in less than a minute. 120dB causes pain and leads to instant hearing damage or loss.

I have used Arya with 800mW and 1W power output amp. Running them over 50% is uncomfortable for my ears. I have also tried with 2015 MacBook pro and it was able to provide volume of typical human speach with a decent bass reproduction. Samsung Galaxy S6 completely fails to drive them.

I am unable to give exact number of watts for bass reproduction but it is safe to say that amp with 1W of power will be able to drive aryas properly even during louder listening session than you ears would wish. This is achievable for a wast majority of amps powered from AC outlet.

 

[Module]

You're welcome. 85dB is considered the safe volume for human ears. Every 10dB more is suvjectively twice as loud. So 115 dB is 4 times louder and may cause hearing damage in less than a minute. 120dB causes pain and leads to instant hearing damage or loss.

I have used Arya with 800mW and 1W power output amp. Running them over 50% is uncomfortable for my ears. I have also tried with 2015 MacBook pro and it was able to provide volume of typical human speach with a decent bass reproduction. Samsung Galaxy S6 completely fails to drive them.

I am unable to give exact number of watts for bass reproduction but it is safe to say that amp with 1W of power will be able to drive aryas properly even during louder listening session than you ears would wish. This is achievable for a wast majority of amps powered from AC outlet.

Unfortunately O2 only can do 613mW at 32 Ohm, so far away from 1W output power.