I went back and listened to the Aria a bunch today because of many of the above comments stating that there's a dip in the frequency response in the mids somewhere. I was a tester for Luke on the Aria, so I've listened to it a ton, and in different iterations so there's gonna be some bias here, but I don't hear any sort of dip, nor have I measured any sort of dip on my veritas measurement system from Vibro Labs.
I do want to state that as a tester I was never paid for my thoughts and never has any monetary value given to me. I even paid for my Aria.
I do think think it's easy to hear something after someone tells you to look for it, and I think that may be what's happening here. Do you guys remember the Heir 4ai debacle back when the wizard still was part of Heir audio? There was a VERY narrow gap in the frequency response that nobody ever talked about or mentioned, but then it was measured by someone and all of the sudden everyone heard it. The Heir 4ai was an excellent sounding IEM, I owned one and loved it. Now I own the Noble Savant, a very different sounding IEM, and the Aria and Savant are my two go-to IEMs, I love them both with a passion.
I'm not stating that any of you guys don't "hear" a dip or anything, we hear what we hear, but I can confidently state that it does not exist in measurements.
Many of you guys know my headphones, they are fairly warm sounding with boosted bass and smooth treble with lush mids. I also own the Sennheiser HD800, 650, Fostex thxx, Hifiman HE500, an Audeze LCD 2.1 and some other stuff. What I would say about the aria after today's listen after reading these comments is that it has VERY fast transients. Maybe not quite as fast or forward as the HD800, but they are super quick. The Aria to my ears is between the HD650 and 800 in tonality, and it's the super fast transient response and treble speed coupled with a large soundstage for an IEM can make the mids seem further away than they are. I have the same experience with the HD800 after listening to a warmer headphone and then switching back, but my ears get used to it for a few minutes and then I just enjoy myself! Do other's hear the Aria differently than me, most definitely! This is just my experience.
It's important to note, that I NEVER thought about the mids on this headphone being anything but neutral until I read all these comments, and then I was like, "maybe I missed something?" So I think it's dangerous to say a headphone is a certain way as gospel when there's so many factors that go into it. Cable, DAC, DAP, Tips, user preferences and history etc etc etc. As people may start contriving ideas before they've even listened to an earphone. And based on all the variables experiences will differ.
I love the Aria, and not just because I had a small hand in testing it out for Luke, but because it's a damn fine IEM.