This is my final assessment, which I’ll preface up front with an apology for the TL;DR. I have much appreciated those in the past who have offered their detailed real-world experiences with other headphones on here, and this is my attempt to pay it forward the best I can.
I have spent another few hours listening to these five headphones—the Susvara, HEKse, HEKV2, Arya SE and Edition XS. I should note that I also auditioned the latest open back Sundara while I was in Germany, against the XS (and a Meze 99 Classic, which was an abomination of bloated low end excess, despite a nice build quality).
The XS with its oval pads handily outdid the Sundara in just about every aspect—tuning, comfort, soundstage, energy and physicality—and I’ve found that that holds true for all of the oval HFM iterations I’ve tried—although admittedly I haven’t heard the HE6 series. Others may disagree, but I think that the oval pad/driver is HFM’s finest innovation in terms of comfort, fit, clamping pressure, bass presence and tonal stability, so I won’t be pursuing any other round driver options in their catalog. I’m convinced.
My setup is Roon with an iFi Neo Stream as an endpoint, fed to a Topping d90se set at 5.2V output (bypassing the Neo’s internal DAC), powered by the iFi Pro iCAN Signature amplifier. I have the gain set at +9db, the xBass on setting 3 or 4 (boosted parabolically to either 80 or 160hz), and the system is run fully balanced via AudioQuest Mackenzie XLR patch cables. I’m using a mixed wound copper/silver (not plated) balanced 4 pin XLR headphone cable from GUCraftsman. No PEQ or cross feed is applied. I listened to several tracks with each headphone in both the solid state and tube stages of my amp, which I upgraded with NOS Bendix 6385 tubes—regarded as the gold standard of 2C51 valves.
I already own the Edition XS and a Focal 2020 Utopia, which I plan to keep. The Utopia was my first flagship headphone and I doubt I’ll ever part ways with it. The Edition XS I plan to continue to use for travel. I initially planned on buying one new high end planar, based on my positive experience with the Edition XS, but was so impressed by this entire oval driver HFM line that I landed on two to add to my collection, for different use scenarios. Fortunately none of the units I’ve been sent have had any issues with the build, although this is clearly a crap shoot based on the experience of many others. I do think HiFiMan is improving in this area of late, but there are still reports of issues, so if someone ends up with a wonky pair I think they should send it back until they get a keeper.
It should be said that every single one of these five options is exceptional, and I no longer see them as improving in quality stepwise in terms of price point. None of each is really a “bigger brother” to another. They all have different tunings, different presentations and different advantages for specific genres of music. And as I’ve stated previously I’m in the market for a rock and roll headphone, so for others YMMV.
The Susvara is clearly the standout critical listening headphone of the bunch, the sole example where performance correlated somewhat with cost (although it is certainly overpriced, as is the Nutopia). It should handily satisfy those interested in classical/jazz genres, as it has very neutral tuning, astonishing precision and imaging, and a soundstage reminiscent of an orchestra pit. And the only reason I think it may sound more “resolving” than the HEKse or the Arya SE is its tuning, and perhaps the shape and size of the driver. But more on that later.
It is ridiculously hard to drive, although my Pro iCAN just managed with the gain set at +18db and a balanced connection. I still had minimal headroom to play with and it was no fun at all when listening to rock. Again, I think this comes down in large part to the shape and size of the driver, hence my oval pad preference. It offers nothing significant I can’t achieve with my Utopia, so it was the easiest choice to send back (and a relief to my wallet).
Moving on to the other four, the most remarkable thing that stands out to me about this company is that they’ve ensured that those at just about every budget range have an option available to them that doesn’t require them to settle. I don’t say that patronizingly, it’s just true. Every single one of these is a superb audiophile-class headphone that is suitable for critical listening as well as pure enjoyment. I could be happy with any of them, with the right cable. They’re all planars that really show their stuff with a proper balanced cable and adequate power to drive them, and I did confirm that they all (other than the Susvara) did just fine with my portable xDSD Gryphon and FiiO Q3, all with analog bass boost engaged. But with my desktop amp they all clearly benefitted from the extra reserves of power.
The one that impressed me most? Other than my first experience with the Edition XS, the Arya SE. To me it is the perfect all-rounder headphone, the one with the most joyous tuning, the one that can be listened to for hours with zero fatigue. It’s easier to drive than the HEKV2, and it’s smoother in the highs for sure. Out of the four it has the strongest, most physical bass by a mile and it’s the clear winner for rock or hip hop.
If I could only pick one to complement my Utopias, it would be the Arya Stealth without a second thought, and the only reason it earns its lower price point is the lack of bundled cable options and in the details of the build. It’s rock solid in construction and perfectly premium in appearance, but it lacks the dazzling silver metal and wood veneer touches, the endless fit configurations brought by the HEK’s nimble swivels, and the real leather—but otherwise it’s a beautiful set of cans, and the most democratic of the bunch, with something to satisfy everybody.
The Edition XS is the only one that I think could be arguably considered a “little brother” of the Arya SE, but I don’t think that moniker does it justice. It’s more aptly a “bare bones” version of the Arya, given that it shares the same stealth magnet, similar tuning, soundstage and energy, with the build primarily being less premium. It’s still functionally solid and has the same window blind grills, but it has no swivel options, has plastic instead of carbon fiber and metal, and has a more utilitarian, functional headband. It’s perhaps not quite as comfortable as the Arya SE.
But it does have the same angled pads, which ensure a proper fit and seal for a large range of heads and ears, and it shares the same 10 degree offset for the connector ports so the cables don’t fall on your shoulders or get entangled in what you’re doing with your hands. All of the oval pad iterations offer these touches, and although they’re minor, they do improve the overall user experience and ergonomics in ways that are almost unconsciously appreciated (and for those of us who are awake, they fortunately all have Right and Left designations clearly visible, which is something I find inexplicably absent with many other brands).
I A/B’d the XS and Arya SE innumerable times, and in terms of sound quality I’m not sure if blinded I would be able to reliably discern which was which—they both sound fantastic and I think there is something to be said for the jump in performance HFM brought to their latest cans with the Stealth magnet technology. The headphones that have this innovation are objectively more precise and resolving than their predecessors, including the HEKV2.
Which brings me to a word about price points. For that, I think I learned a lot by researching the history of this $4,000 summit that emerged in the midst of the last decade. Although there were some pricey phones here and there prior to 2016, Focal, which was primarily a loudspeaker manufacturer with a couple of headphone attempts that went splat previously, really seemed to have done the industry a disservice by setting this $4,000 barrier with the Utopia in 2016.
I’m sure that they incurred substantial costs up front in designing their flagship, which was obviously a significant advance in what a dynamic driver could do in terms of detail retrieval, speed, and accuracy. The Utopia preceded Harman tuning so it wasn’t much of a triumph on that front, but it represented something unprecedented in terms of performance, with a luscious build quality to match.
The Susvara debuted in 2017, a year later. Planar magnetic headphones had been around since 1972, but it was really Audeze and HiFiMan who brought them to the mainstream in the early part of the 2010s, and both have certainly had many years to improve upon the technology and to achieve the means necessary to make mass production feasible at affordable prices. I have no doubt that HFM put a fortune into the R&D of the Susvara, which premiered the Stealth Magnet option and nanotech in the diaphragm, and like the Utopia they descended upon the landscape unheralded and unprecedented.
But does it really have $6,000 in material and production costs on view anywhere? The passing of a year marks exponential advances in technology in this industry, and HFM has had almost six years of innovation to offset the cost of designing that Stealth magnet and carrying it over into more recent models that are considerably cheaper.
Plus they have managed to bring newer advances to these offerings, such as more Harman-compliant tuning and far greater sensitivities, as we see in the HEKse, the Arya Stealth and the Edition XS, all of which share the Stealth magnet with the Susvara. We also know from options such as the Meze 99 Classic that it doesn’t cost a fortune to produce a headphone with a pricey-looking build.
So I’m prepared to challenge the position that the Susvara is genuinely a superior headphone to these newer options, simply because it costs so much more. I would argue that these latest Stealth models offer advances such as better tuning, efficiency and driver size that the Susvara lacks, and that it’s easier for HFM to produce these models at less cost because they’ve had five years to streamline the process—as well as to offset the R&D cost of the Stealth magnet design to begin with.
Perhaps even more controversially, I’m left to wonder if this $6,000 price tag wasn’t in part a strategic move rather than an economic one—simply because the Susvara was HiFiMan‘s chance to earn coveted status after years of MOTR efforts. And what better way to achieve that eminence than by knocking Focal’s price point off its perch?
And here we are today, stuck with it—and I’m quite cynical that Focal followed suit this year by replacing a faulty voice coil design in their original model, changing a few aesthetics, and releasing the Nutopia—with almost identical tuning and performance as the original, but suspiciously closer to the Susvara’s price point. If you doubt that these two manufacturers are battling for dominance, just note that Focal didn’t raise the ante of the Susvara’s $6,000 asking price—this “better” Nutopia is instead available to you at a steal for $5,000 now instead of 4. Hmm…
I know I’m setting myself up for innumerable counterarguments, among Susvara devotees who would swear upon its greatness. But it isn’t my motivation to disdain the Susvara, which I agree sounds impeccable. It’s to champion these more reasonably priced, newer offerings that I think sound every bit as flawless, just with alternative tunings that may attract some and turn others away.
It’s no different than 4K televisions starting in the stratosphere at launch and dropping to peanuts five years later—that’s just how technology works. Why should headphones be any different? I don’t buy it, and accordingly I didn’t. The Susvara is going back, with years of nagging curiosity relieved once and for all.
Which brings me to the HEKV2 and HEKse. I’ve decided that of the two, the HEKse is the more resolving headphone, which I rightly or wrongly attribute to the Stealth magnet. It’s also the more sensitive option, with greater emphasis on mid-bass and warmth, which is advantageous to me because I already have an ASP to boost the sub bass.
What the HEKV2 offers that the HEKse doesn’t is a modestly wider soundstage, a slightly more physical sub bass, and a bit more tame tuning of the high mids, which for some might be less fatiguing. But compared to the Arya SE, both the HEK models are brighter and a bit honkier in the high mids—which might bring the vocals a little more out in front, but at the expense of how long you can enjoy a session listening to them without tiring out.
It’s also the less sensitive headphone, like the Susvara—which I maintain is simply a consequence of HFM getting better at this aspect of their designs. You’ll note that the original HE1000 debuted in 2015, with the V2 emerging a year later—still close to the Susvara debut but before the Stealth magnet was finalized. Isn’t that as good a reason as any for why the HEKse can do what the Susvara did with a lower power requirement? And why the HEKse outdoes the V2 in detail, with the Stealth magnet and thinner diaphragm? Progress.
Honestly my true reasons for keeping the HEKse along with the Arya Stealth are just shallow—I like the design. I’m as much a sucker for shiny objects as anyone else, and it just feels cozy to have these sitting next to my Utopias. The Focals will be hanging around for nostalgia’s sake, as they were my first proud purchase. But when I’m in the mood for a critical listening experience, I suspect I’ll be reaching for the HEKse’s instead, because they offer me that Susvara/Utopia experience with a more exciting, physical, rock-friendly presentation.
But my new favorite headphone by far is the Arya Stealth, and I know without question that it’ll get the most mileage, along with the Edition XS for when I’m on the road—and for once my travel experiences won’t be a compromise while I’m away from home.
My honest advice to prospective buyers after all this? Buy the HiFiMan oval driver option with a Stealth magnet that you can afford, and don’t worry about missing out. You simply cannot go wrong with any of them. And if you’re still not convinced from my experience, do what I did and audition a range of options within your budget, until you find the one that you don’t have to listen to with your eyes squinted to know you love.
After two weeks of that exercise, the one that hit the spot arrived and I recognized it instantly, with almost no effort. The right one for you will just sing to you, and that fear of missing out will be behind you forever. Thanks for listening and for advising me on this journey, and enjoy your music, always!
Peace,
—Steve
