HiFiMAN Arya Full-size Over Ear Planar Magnetic Audiophile Adjustable Headphone

Product Information

Although the Arya are almost perfect sonically and incredibly flexible for all types of music and sound, it does not necessarily mean they are the perfect match for your needs. Carefully evaluate your priorities, learn your preferences, and make decisions based on those.

Mostly everything you love about the HiFiMAN Arya is still intact with the Organic. However, there are certain tweaks offered here that make things fresh, such as elements of the sound profile and build. The Arya Organic seems to cater to bass heads more than the previous iteration, but that doesn’t take anything else away from the Arya’s established sound. I think that will be its selling point both for those who haven’t tried the Arya yet or are looking to upgrade to something similar. For those with the Edition XS thinking is it worth the upgrade then yes, it is on a different level. They share the same broad house tuning but you hear a lot more information and delicate cues with the Arya Stealth driver.

Sound of HiFiMAN Arya Organic​

The V3s are more like monitors- they will reveal mistakes in sound engineering, they will reveal more detail, and are just fantastic when you want to hear everything in great detail. Treble is quite extended and this gives it a distinct sense of air and openness – it sounds light, almost delicate, and it counterbalances the otherwise massive bass presence well. Although it is a bit prominent in the lower region, it’s never fatiguing, or harsh, or excessive, though it does contribute to the hissing and sibilance of the mids. It offer a lot of small details that pop out clearly and are effortlessly heard. Just like in the other two sections, speed is very good here as well. Treble is not so much sparkly as it is shimmering: it is quietly giving you a good balance of energy and liveliness on one side and of politeness on the other. HiFiMAN Arya Comparisons

Disclaimer: Hifiman sent us the Arya Stealth free of charge in exchange for this review. The unit will remain in our possession as a long-term loaner. Before its revision, the Arya was one of my favorites from HiFiMAN because of its immaculate soundstage. Everything on the Arya is crisp and airy, culminating in a spacious stereo field that’s highly immersive and wide. Now with the stealth magnets, a slightly different effect is presented. Most of what makes the Arya great isn’t lost in translation, but I could definitely spot the difference immediately. The sound elements appear a lot less floaty, instead of focusing on stricter positioning for more accurate imaging. It still keeps a wide and spacious presentation, but the layers feel a lot less exaggerated, filling in the space between sound elements with more tonal resonance. You still get a great sense of height to the sound, as the image comes in with a large display, but I felt there was a feeling of distance that was taken away. Sounds in the original Arya bloomed from an intended source, but here the response is a little more linear. Low End

Packaging & Accessories

Build quality is good, even though the veneer is placed on ear cups that are made of plastic the headphone feels really solid and well-made. It’s not a level of Meze products, there are some minor flaws like the scratch on the inside of the headband that is made by an adjusting mechanism, but overall the build quality can’t be rated separately from the comfort, because these features depend on each other, so let’s move to the comfort and then I will sum it up. NsD stands for NEO “superman” diaphragm and whilst not something new to the Arya Stealth or the original it does seem to be almost the defacto driver diaphragm construction now for HIFIMAN. The suspension system is almost transparent on your head, ensuring that hotspots are simply not possible, and therefore eliminated. The headband is thin, deep, and so comfortable that I usually forget it is there. But apparently there are people who like these for whatever reasons I can not understand. Certainly not because they play instruments and/or know how they sound in real live.

If you’re familiar with the Arya, this is pretty much the same exact design. It also comes with the same cable as well, so if you already have the Arya, now you have an extra cable. I’ve always liked the super-lightweight feel of the Arya, so I’m glad they didn’t feel the need to change much here. Design Bass:The low tones are musical and elastic, and their slightly warmed tone perfectly complements the overall sound. With the EF600, the dynamics of the low tones revealed the enormous technical possibilities offered by the latest aria. Compared to the edition XS, the bass is more natural, linear and much more developed. The low tones have a lot of air and look great with contemporary music, which further enhances the excellent musical experience. The bass is elastic and really fast, showing all the benefits of planar headphones and their full potential. However, these are open headphones, but they have no problems with either the quality or the quantity of low tones, presenting a very high and good level.

Introduction

One half is that the headphones themselves sound good, are comfortable and are priced reasonably for the insane audiophile world. The Arya are similar in style to the Ananda when it comes to the drop-shaped earcups, but they’re quite different in the rest of the build. The headband is the same as that on headphones like the first-generation HE-560, while the gimbals are similar to those while being longer to accommodate the larger earcups. In terms of materials, the Arya are made of plastic and metal: the gimbals and headband are metal, while the earcups are plastic with a semi-glossy finish. There is a fair amount of treble energy around 6-8k but not excessively so with the upper treble around 8-10k just tapering down ever so slightly. Finally, the treble, which is also a bit suppressed when compared with Arya. While listening to music with the HD8XX, I hear a lot of sounds, and its sound is pretty decent. With a decent OTL headphone amplifier, like e.g. Feliks Euforia Evo, the HD8XX sounds really good, but at the same moment Arya Organic elevates the listening experience to a completely different level, you can discover something new even in songs you thought you knew really well. Again, a much more technically impressive sound coming out of the Arya Organic beats the HD8XX.

As much of an achievement the original Arya may have been, the Arya Stealth Magnet Version takes its performance to a higher level: easier to drive, better imaging, solid build quality, and a more accurate soundstage.” – Dr. Fang Bian, President and CEO, HIFIMAN Electronics From 200Hz to 1k, the Arya Stealth remains quite linear and relatively neutral. There is only a small dip between 1-2k which is fairly consistent in the company’s house tuning. Some lower pitching vocals and instruments can sound relatively neutral in their imaging as a result of the bass to lower-mids FR gain tuned a few dB higher.

Final Thoughts

As with all new HiFiMAN products, the Arya features 3.5mm headphone connectors that are angled at 10°, thereby lessening the pressure points associated with straight-angled connectors. These pressure points sometimes stress the connection, but the new design ensures a solid, reliable and long-lasting link between the headphone and the cable. The Power of Stealth HiFiMAN Arya vs HiFiMAN Ananda: the Ananda and the Arya are somewhat similar, but the differences are enough to justify saying that they’re also quite different. The Arya have better bass extension as well as better layering and detail, plus they also have more bass in general; speed is better on the Arya as well, while physicality is comparable. Midrange is much brighter on the Ananda, where it has less presence in the lower region as well as more in the upper one – save for the peak in the upmost region of the Arya, where it is in fact brighter than the Ananda’s. Detail is slightly better on the Arya, which also has the upper hand when it comes to speed. Apart from the peak in the lower area on the Arya, the Ananda have more emphasised treble, although extension appears to be better on the Arya which also have better resolution. All technical aspects – soundstage, imaging and especially instrument separation – are better on the Arya. The product is returned in original condition (with brand’s/manufacturer's box, MRP tag intact, user I was mentioning the predecessor a few times in the review and I think many of you are really interested in this comparison. Moreover, I would like to answer one very important question - is it worth changing from Arya Stealth Edition to Arya Organic, or maybe the older ones are better? It should be noted that I have absolutely no affiliation with HIFIMAN, I am not receiving any incentive for this review or to sweeten things out. I’d like to thank HIFIMAN for providing the sample for this review. This review reflects my personal experience with HIFIMAN Arya. Every opinion expressed is mine and I stand by it, the purpose of this review is to help those interested in HIFIMAN Arya find their next music companion.