[bidn]

Is the gap between Ananda and Arya wide ?

Hi Serge,

I auditioned the Ananda only once, but that was enough for me not to like enough as a cabled headphone to purchase it. For me personally the gap from the Ananda towards the Arya is huge: much more resolution, speed, separation, cleanliness. I also think that the Arya has more dynamics and less issues re. treble peak.
Re. Soundstage, I think that that of the Ananda was very large as well.

I am however seriously interested in the (coming soon) Bluetooth Ananda, as I can expect it to be by far the best BT headphones ever made, and the integrated DSP to improve the FR (e.g. less peaky treble, etc.).

Have a nice weekend,
bidn

 

[Serge Bernamej]

Hi Serge,

I auditioned the Ananda only once, but that was enough for me not to like enough as a cabled headphone to purchase it. For me personally the gap from the Ananda towards the Arya is huge: much more resolution, speed, separation, cleanliness. I also think that the Arya has more dynamics and less issues re. treble peak.
Re. Soundstage, I think that that of the Ananda was very large as well.

I am however seriously interested in the (coming soon) Bluetooth Ananda, as I can expect it to be by far the best BT headphones ever made, and the integrated DSP to improve the FR (e.g. less peaky treble, etc.).

Have a nice weekend,
bidn

Thanks a lot for the response my friend !

 

[RumboHifi]

comparing it with the hifiman he-1000 v2, what sound does arya have?

 

[Relaxasaurus]

Back from Audio46 with a brand new Arya. Happy owner here. Got to demo these other cans while there. I'm still new-ish to this hobby at this higher end so forgive my lack of knowledge on all the audio geek terms.

• MrSpeakers Ether 2: was the closest in comparison to the Arya. It had its moments but was simply outshined by the Arya in the end. HiFiMan simply handles upper mids and soundstage better and that was enough for me. I felt it did some frequencies better than the Arya but at times it felt veiled, and I hated that.
  
  
• Sennheiser HD 800s: I really loved these cans and it was painful to say no to them as they were simply the best at classical music and reproducing the sound of a violin. The best I've heard and was at the level I was hoping the Arya could reproduce. In the end I had to pass since bass was lacking and Arya wiped the floor here comparatively on sub-bass. I hope for the next iteration of these Sennheiser really does something about the lower frequencies. I'll be their first customer if so.
  
  
• Focal Clear: For a while these were #1 on my radar and I liked what I heard but the others were simply better. Again, I was testing mainly classical music so keep that in mind. These are known for being able to bump but I really didn't play any EDM/Hip-hop this go around. They did, however, provide a "fuller" sound which I liked.
  
  
• Final Audio D8000: Ok so these are $3800 headphones so keep that in mind. These were great and indeed better than the Arya's, but I was expecting to be blown away at over twice the price. I know there are diminishing returns when it comes to this price point but I find these to be overpriced when you're talking about the sonic quality and amount of value the Arya provides. They're still on my list though
  
  
• HiFiMan Ananda: I listened to these over a month ago so going by memory. Amazing upper mids and highs, just like the Arya, but the bass was not nearly as good. The Arya handles everything better. It took some real convincing to tell my wife why I needed to spend $600 more on a pair of already pricey headphones but I'm glad I did. The Arya is better across the spectrum.

Currently running my Arya's out of a Liquid Platinum and loving it

 

[betula]

Back from Audio46 with a brand new Arya. Happy owner here. Got to demo these other cans while there. I'm still new-ish to this hobby at this higher end so forgive my lack of knowledge on all the audio geek terms.

• MrSpeakers Ether 2: was the closest in comparison to the Arya. It had its moments but was simply outshined by the Arya in the end. HiFiMan simply handles upper mids and soundstage better and that was enough for me. I felt it did some frequencies better than the Arya but at times it felt veiled, and I hated that.
  
  
• Sennheiser HD 800s: I really loved these cans and it was painful to say no to them as they were simply the best at classical music and reproducing the sound of a violin. The best I've heard and was at the level I was hoping the Arya could reproduce. In the end I had to pass since bass was lacking and Arya wiped the floor here comparatively on sub-bass. I hope for the next iteration of these Sennheiser really does something about the lower frequencies. I'll be their first customer if so.
  
  
• Focal Clear: For a while these were #1 on my radar and I liked what I heard but the others were simply better. Again, I was testing mainly classical music so keep that in mind. These are known for being able to bump but I really didn't play any EDM/Hip-hop this go around. They did, however, provide a "fuller" sound which I liked.
  
  
• Final Audio D8000: Ok so these are $3800 headphones so keep that in mind. These were great and indeed better than the Arya's, but I was expecting to be blown away at over twice the price. I know there are diminishing returns when it comes to this price point but I find these to be overpriced when you're talking about the sonic quality and amount of value the Arya provides. They're still on my list though
  
  
• HiFiMan Ananda: I listened to these over a month ago so going by memory. Amazing upper mids and highs, just like the Arya, but the bass was not nearly as good. The Arya handles everything better. It took some real convincing to tell my wife why I needed to spend $600 more on a pair of already pricey headphones but I'm glad I did. The Arya is better across the spectrum.

Currently running my Arya's out of a Liquid Platinum and loving it

Thanks for your impressions.

I am very happy with my HEXV2 at the moment but still curious to hear the Arya. (I am pretty sure Ananda is not for me due to the treble peaks.).
Liquid Platinum is a great amp for the price but I found it a bit lean and too polite. My CMA600i gives much more body and liquid smoothness to the sound.
HEXV2 scales surprisingly well.

 

[Poganin]

Could someone comment on how the Arya compares to ZMF Auteur?

 

[Relaxasaurus]

Thanks for your impressions.

I am very happy with my HEXV2 at the moment but still curious to hear the Arya. (I am pretty sure Ananda is not for me due to the treble peaks.).
Liquid Platinum is a great amp for the price but I found it a bit lean and too polite. My CMA600i gives much more body and liquid smoothness to the sound.
HEXV2 scales surprisingly well.

You got it, and that's great to hear. As much as I love my LP I've been trying to get my friend to sell me his Vio v280. I also have a Senn HDVA 600 that I use on & off for classical tracks due to its high quality and separation. But the power & dynamics of the LP pulls me back eventually.

Could someone comment on how the Arya compares to ZMF Auteur?

That's the one HP I couldn't seem to find to audition locally. Curious on this as well.

 

[betula]

You got it, and that's great to hear. As much as I love my LP I've been trying to get my friend to sell me his Vio v280.

As much as I love my CMA600i (much more than the iFi Pro iCan or the Cavalli LP) I am curious to try the V280/281 one day, until I can afford Hugo TT2 and stop caring about anything under £4000.

 

[Relaxasaurus]

As much as I love my CMA600i (much more than the iFi Pro iCan or the Cavalli LP) I am curious to try the V280/281 one day, until I can afford Hugo TT2 and stop caring about anything under £4000.

Hah! Speaking of which, when demoing the cans above I was plugged into a Mojo. I know it's their least expensive model but I was able see what the fuss is about. My playlist was really pleasant to listen to and maybe it was a placebo effect, but there was this "sparkle" to the music I enjoyed.

That said I can't believe the cost of their Hugo TT 2. I guess a custom FPGA really goes a long way.

 

[betula]

Hah! Speaking of which, when demoing the cans above I was plugged into a Mojo. I know it's their least expensive model but I was able see what the fuss is about. My playlist was really pleasant to listen to and maybe it was a placebo effect, but there was this "sparkle" to the music I enjoyed.

That said I can't believe the cost of their Hugo TT 2. I guess a custom FPGA really goes a long way.

Mojo is exceptional. Beats anything around £4-500. As you upgrade though, you find Qutest/Hugo2 beat anything around £1000/1500. Next step is Hugo TT2, but it is quite a leap at its current reatil price (£3995).

 

[Dobrescu George]

Is the gap between Ananda and Jade ll wide?

Yes

Will do a more detailed article in the future, need more time

Is the gap between Ananda and Arya wide ?

Yes

Will do a more detailed article in the future, need more time

Hi Serge,

I auditioned the Ananda only once, but that was enough for me not to like enough as a cabled headphone to purchase it. For me personally the gap from the Ananda towards the Arya is huge: much more resolution, speed, separation, cleanliness. I also think that the Arya has more dynamics and less issues re. treble peak.
Re. Soundstage, I think that that of the Ananda was very large as well.

I am however seriously interested in the (coming soon) Bluetooth Ananda, as I can expect it to be by far the best BT headphones ever made, and the integrated DSP to improve the FR (e.g. less peaky treble, etc.).

Have a nice weekend,
bidn

I'm also looking forward to Ananda BT!

Could someone comment on how the Arya compares to ZMF Auteur?

Yep, I will be doing that as well in the near future, currently waiting on ZMG Auteur to get to me.


---


BTW, everyone, I did a little mistake, I mainly heard Arya and Jade II, I did hear Ananda as well, but for a short time

I mistyped because I was pretty tired

On a more happy note, I have Arya here with me and will be working on more impressions, please kindly wait~

So far, I can only say this, I had Arya in today's podcast with @dusty.ro who bought the Empyrean, and he actually liked Arya even more than Empy!

And he owns the Empy, with his own money, and he doesn't own Arya, it was just my unit, which we used for comparisons, we're both music enthusiasts. Think about that

 

[WhiskeyJacks]

Weirdly my 560 have more bass and warmer. The Arya sounds more bright than mine 560. But my Arya has only 500 hrs compare to 560's several thousand hrs, or maybe the fact I use very powerful amp to power them but I tried both with jds atom too... BTW my 560 are early v2

I wanted to ask if you had the third rendition of HE-560? Because I had the first model from when they first released and owned it for about two years or close to that. I had mods which replaced the stock grill with more open and spacious soundstage. Also the pads and grills I believe alleviated the upper midrange and or lower treble sharpness many had a hard time with that were sensitive to sibilance. For what it is worth I heard one of the other versions of the he-560's described as smoother, warmer, etc. I do not know if this is some difference or just audible differences we hear due to our own perceptions and our own audio chain's used.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

Hey guys,
I think this may be asking much and I know these two arent really compareable since one is electrostatic and one is planar.
But if someone has had the opportunity and can compare (or owns? lol) The Hifiman Jade II with the Hifiman Arya that would be great.
I'm currently in the market for my next serious headphone and i've narrowed it down to either of thoes two.

Thanks!

 

[devilboy]

Hey guys,
I think this may be asking much and I know these two arent really compareable since one is electrostatic and one is planar.
But if someone has had the opportunity and can compare (or owns? lol) The Hifiman Jade II with the Hifiman Arya that would be great.
I'm currently in the market for my next serious headphone and i've narrowed it down to either of thoes two.

Thanks!

I don't know his name or the name of his channel but one reviewer on YouTube had some sort of electric shock on his head while using the Jade 2.
Considering how many people don't like Hifiman's build quality, there could be other options for you.
Or, it could have just been a freak thing.

 

[mixman]

I don't know his name or the name of his channel but one reviewer on YouTube had some sort of electric shock on his head while using the Jade 2.
Considering how many people don't like Hifiman's build quality, there could be other options for you.
Or, it could have just been a freak thing.

Go to the Jade thread. This has been debunked.