HIFIMAN Arya - Arya Stealth - Arya Organic :: Impressions Thread
Apr 12, 2019 at 2:30 AM Post #856 of 11,822
Hi there,

Thank you for your interest in HIFIMAN, that means a lot to us. We are glad to hear your comments on our products. We would like to invite you to join our upcoming Sundara Loaner Tour, we will send you a Sundara for two-week audition, then you can get more feelings about our products.

If you would like to join us, please PM us your name, full postal address and your telephone number then we will ship you the headphones.

We would love to know how you found it and hope you enjoy the tour.

April

That's very nice of you guys to hype the Sundara loan but I think everyone in this thread wants an Arya tour... Just imagine, with an Arya tour you could really silence the haters and naysayers!
 
Apr 12, 2019 at 5:51 AM Post #857 of 11,822
I will be placing an order for the Arya on Monday!
Here's hoping the sound is truly great and I have none of the HM QC issues I have read about on this forum. My first 'starter' hp, a few years ago, was a HM HE400S and it was pretty good for the modest cost. I am expecting a HUGE step up from that model with the Arya.

I see!

I think that you won't have any issues, seems that HIFIMAN has much better QC lately, at least since I started reviewing them (?)

I had one Sundara, one Arya, and RE2000 / RE800,

A friend also has one Sundara, one HE4XX, one Ananda, and one HE6SE + EF100,

One more friend has a Sundara

I mean, of course, any single product will have issues at some point and there can always be a bad sample, but I think I've seen enough of their products to think that if none of those had serious issues or QC issues, then they improved a lot since the days when people say they had QC issues.

I certainly can only talk about my experience, but it was fine. My friends are fine with HIFIMAN products. My friend who owns the larger list had 4 dead drivers with a pair of Quad headphones (got one pair, left died driver, asked for replacement, replacement came in dead, asked again, replacement came, then the working right side died, and at 10 seconds, the replacement left died as well, gave up and returned them entirely), so he ain't lucky with all products, but HIFIMAN was okay.

About the sound, it surely is a good upgrade from HE4XX / Sundara, much more refined, much more emotional, deeper bass, more airy soundstage, better dynamics. But also much harder to drive, I hope you do have something to drive Arya with, from all the stuff I have, only DX200 / X7mkii / Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ / Burson Play / iDSD BL Micro can really drive them :)
 
Apr 12, 2019 at 6:34 AM Post #858 of 11,822
I see!

About the sound, it surely is a good upgrade from HE4XX / Sundara, much more refined, much more emotional, deeper bass, more airy soundstage, better dynamics. But also much harder to drive, I hope you do have something to drive Arya with, from all the stuff I have, only DX200 / X7mkii / Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ / Burson Play / iDSD BL Micro can really drive them :)

I do have a Burson Fun amp that may have enough power for the Arya. Burson specs have 2.1 watts at 32 ohms so we'll see!
 
Last edited:
Apr 13, 2019 at 8:13 AM Post #859 of 11,822
Hello folks, i am new to the hp world. Got me the arya and would like to get an idea on two fronts. First is “recommended portable amp” anything better than ifi dsd black ? Second “balanced amp”. My budget less than $1000 if possible on one item only. I understand that the arya is not meant to be an on the go hp soi think i am leaning more on home usage amp instead. I read the Schiit Jottenheim-Topping dx7s-thx 789 (dunno when thats coming out)-i think a good amp with enough power to bring the best from the arya. Dac amp combo i might reconsider. Also the monoprice liquid platinum tubes heard good things on that. Just want to get everyones opinion and HELP. thanks in advance.
I use a gustard h20 with my arya and it drives it with ease. also gives u single ended and balanced out for your phones. The h20 will drive any headphone out there!
 
Apr 13, 2019 at 8:43 AM Post #860 of 11,822
I have had my arya’s Now two weeks and here are some of my thoughts. Having just received a dyson facemelter balanced cable the first thing u should do is ditch the factory cable. What an improvement the facemelter is over the stock cable . I was able to talk Justin from headamp into selling me his demo pair at the recent carolina canfest and he said hifimans quality control has vastly improved from there sort of spotty past. Got to listen to hifimans Shangr la headphones on Justin’s blue Hawaii amp, that will setup was other worldly. These headphones surprised me being a big hd800 fan. I think these will become my new number 1 cans. Was able to listen to these against a bunch of high end phones at that meet and they are great value for the money. They are power hungry for sure so u need a pretty muscular amp to get the best out of them. Getting that solid silver balanced cable made a huge improvement in sq. My setup hp laptop/iPod to lks 004 to a gustard h20 ( or a ecp torpedo t3) running all solid silver cables. Having listened to some incredible setups at that canfest I’m pretty happy with my mid price chi fi set up and the aryas.
 
Apr 13, 2019 at 1:16 PM Post #861 of 11,822
I do have a Burson Fun amp that may have enough power for the Arya. Burson specs have 2.1 watts at 32 ohms so we'll see!

Burson stuff has more than enough power, even Burson Play basic can drive them :)

I don't know how they manage to make such powerful DAC/AMPs :)

I have had my arya’s Now two weeks and here are some of my thoughts. Having just received a dyson facemelter balanced cable the first thing u should do is ditch the factory cable. What an improvement the facemelter is over the stock cable . I was able to talk Justin from headamp into selling me his demo pair at the recent carolina canfest and he said hifimans quality control has vastly improved from there sort of spotty past. Got to listen to hifimans Shangr la headphones on Justin’s blue Hawaii amp, that will setup was other worldly. These headphones surprised me being a big hd800 fan. I think these will become my new number 1 cans. Was able to listen to these against a bunch of high end phones at that meet and they are great value for the money. They are power hungry for sure so u need a pretty muscular amp to get the best out of them. Getting that solid silver balanced cable made a huge improvement in sq. My setup hp laptop/iPod to lks 004 to a gustard h20 ( or a ecp torpedo t3) running all solid silver cables. Having listened to some incredible setups at that canfest I’m pretty happy with my mid price chi fi set up and the aryas.

Interesting, I should try some upgrade cables for them :)
 
Apr 13, 2019 at 1:24 PM Post #862 of 11,822
Can someone please clarify if the Arya is the cheaper version of a He1000v2?

Is the Arya equal to the He1000 series? Or worst? Or better?
 
Apr 13, 2019 at 3:21 PM Post #863 of 11,822
Can someone please clarify if the Arya is the cheaper version of a He1000v2?

Is the Arya equal to the He1000 series? Or worst? Or better?
Got to listen to both against the Arya. So little difference even the HE owners were impressed in the very subtle differences. The HE’s are much prettier but it is hard to discern the slight differences. A better ear than me who had the HE next to my table listened intently on his system with his and then the Arya’s and his conclusion was the Arya a bit more exciting but the HE a bit more resolving and maybe not as fatiguing long term. I only heard a slight difference but agreed his cans sounded better, as they should have!. I tried every can Justin from headamp brought and I thought these were a steal!
 
Apr 13, 2019 at 3:26 PM Post #864 of 11,822
Burson stuff has more than enough power, even Burson Play basic can drive them :)

I don't know how they manage to make such powerful DAC/AMPs :)



Interesting, I should try some upgrade cables for them :)
The upgrade to the dyson facemelter with these phones was dramatic in my system. If u can go balanced they made a huge jump in sq. I will be the first to admit I like a bit more bright sound so the super yummy bass and clear bright high notes is making me love my music again. Been said a thousand times on this site. Hearing things for the first time
 
Apr 14, 2019 at 9:15 PM Post #865 of 11,822
Does the Arya sound 'soft'? That's one of the things that made me sell my HEKv2 -- there was no edginess or bite to the instruments. Everything seemed to have rounded corners if you get what I mean. It was a VERY pleasant listening experience, but not a very engaging one for me.

You might like the Focal signature sound, if you prefer something that sounds more revealing, to the point of being fatiguing at times. They don't have a warm and lush signature sound that sacrifices detail (as you might expect from a line that has metal drivers), but are closer to the other extreme.
 
Last edited:
Apr 14, 2019 at 9:39 PM Post #866 of 11,822
So I thought it was the cable being made wrong but I realized today that my jacks left and right are reversed on my Arya headphones, I have to plug left side of cable into my right headphone jack to get right channel audio? has anyone else had an issue with this? Also same thing with left channel so I basically plug whatever cable I am using in reverse to make it work correctly.
 
Last edited:
Apr 15, 2019 at 2:46 AM Post #867 of 11,822
So I thought it was the cable being made wrong but I realized today that my jacks left and right are reversed on my Arya headphones, I have to plug left side of cable into my right headphone jack to get right channel audio? has anyone else had an issue with this? Also same thing with left channel so I basically plug whatever cable I am using in reverse to make it work correctly.
Hi there,

Sorry to hear that. We just PMed you, if you could provide more infos so we can see how to help you.

Thank you!

April
 
HiFiMAN Innovating the art of listening. Stay updated on HiFiMAN at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
http://hifiman.com
Apr 15, 2019 at 9:07 AM Post #868 of 11,822
@dan3952 i’m listening Ananda, and i think it’s the brighter Hifiman listened.
Anyway I found Ananda warm in mid and mid-low area and sometimes hits hard in mid-high Sonic spectrum.
Should I test Focal Clear?
 
Apr 15, 2019 at 8:13 PM Post #869 of 11,822
I love the back design of Hifiman's planar headphones, however, will that be dusty after several months?
 
Apr 16, 2019 at 10:03 AM Post #870 of 11,822
I just wanted to send an apology to first the thread for my misinformation during my time with the Arya I had lent my brother my other two headphones to play around with because he is thinking about buying a headphone worth more than 30$ lol. Secondly I want to apologize to HIFIMAN and say thank you for all the help they offered and how quickly they offered that help it was really really cool of them. Basically I though the cable I received with the Arya was possibly labeled wrong with the left and right channel but then after getting a new balanced Dyson Audio Cable( really nice cable, talked with him a few weeks back and they explained what they would make the cable with for a custom more price friendly option) it was still doing the reverse channel. So, typically I prepared myself for the worse just in case and brought up that it may be my channels being reversed, which I am not sure how that would even happen now reflecting on it. Hifiman being really awesome instantly wrote to help me resolve this issue and make me a happy camper, while I was at work i told them I would send the necessary information afterwards. I got home and my brother had put bother my ZMF Ori's and Audio Research AR-H1 on my desk I then thought "Holy Second headphone attempt!, Batman." Once I tried the AR-H1 I realized it was not the Arya's cables, jack's, or driver's in anyways but rather the XLR interconnects, DAC 3 pin output, or amp 3 pin input issues.

So to sum this long message up for those who don't feel like reading through my underslept and overworked madness: I am sorry head-fi and HifiMan it was not the Arya it was my other gear causing reverse channels.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top