Hifiman Arya Stealth Magnet - Discussion

I could do that for you.

He did do a comparison over at the official Arya post. I’ll link it here for reference:

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Finally. Custom pads is here. Extremely comfortable.








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Meanwhile…
Rhodium version is out!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=341202907812232&id=100057675750168



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Yes, after a time the Stealths staging widens/deepens to be indistinguishable from the v2’s staging. I say this having owned and listened to both side to side for a time.

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Could have given it another week or so, my set has basically become like the v2’s staging over time. They take at least 75-100 hours.

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Hi guys, I’m new to the forums and I am hoping that some of you may be able to help with a strange issue I’m having with my new DAC/AMP.

I’ve been into high-quality sound since my high school days and I went to college for music. I studied music education, performance, and music technology so I’ve been around many different musicians with different opinions and a lot of gear over the years.

Anyway getting to my issue. I have three different units here at home and my main issue has to do with the Arya’s and the K9 Pro.

I ordered the Arya’s as an open box item from Headphones.com and let me say they are absolutely fantastic. I have not listened to music as often as I am now in MANY years. I feel like they were an absolutely fantastic choice and they are certainly providing a very different experience than my Sennheiser HD 6xx, 280 pros, and 380 pros.

I wanted a more resolving set of cans with some soundstage. So far I have to agree with Josh Valour’s take on them. They are good and very resolving but they don’t have an enormous sound stage (at least to me). I’ve only had them since last week and probably have only 30 hours at most on them. They do sound excellent, and the sub-bass extension is amazing.

My main issue is the FiiO K9 Pro. I know it is not the most expensive unit out there but to me it was a substantial investment to buy the Arya Stealths and the K9 at the same time. I will hopefully be starting a new job in the next few months and I wanted to treat myself to some headphones that I could use almost all day without any discomfort.

Now I ordered the K9 from Apos audio since headphones.com doesn’t currently sell it and well I am VERY torn on the purchase. It is very sturdy and has every feature I could want except true MQA decoding (I can live without that as I know it isn’t lossless and in some tracks, I’ve heard smearing. The Hi-Fi on tidal to me is more reliable and sounds better in some cases. I also know it’s a touchy subject but keep in mind it isn’t my main concern and an additional feature to me is always a bonus)

With the K9 I am not sure if it is having trouble powering my headphones, or if the synergy between the equipment is just a poor match. The HD6xx are 300ohms and the Arya stealth though not high impedance still requires substantial energy to drive (from what I’ve heard). When the HD 6xx and Arya’s are powered by this unit I get great clarity and I can get good volume but I feel like it’s missing something.

To explain I have an iFi Hid-Dac and an SMSL M6 mini Dac (before they added dsd to it.) To me both of these units drive my headphones “better?” Like the Arya’s have way more life and depth. The music is smoother and has a bit more body. Things have more resonance on my other gear. I tried using single-ended cables to compare since the SMSL doesn’t have 4.4mm Pentacon but it STILL sounds more rich and complete to me.

The K9 is absolutely 100% clearer and I hear things in the music which are a struggle to resolve with the SMSL and IFi Hip Dac. That said I love having the Hip-Dac for the Xbass. It works extremely well on the Arya’s and on my Sennheiser HD 6xx.

I’m still within the free return window for the K9 and I am wondering if anyone has any advice as to what I can do. I don’t mind tweaking the K9 if something may help but I am also curious if any Arya Stealth or OG Arya owners have recommendations for an alternative to the FiiO K9 which may pair better with the headphone collection I have. Right now I think the K9’s neutrality is not quite jiving with the Arya’s neutral to bright presentation. I really have enjoyed the iFi and I’d say it is one of the best purchases I’ve made. It is just excellent especially when the price is taken into account.

Does anyone have the Aryas and the iFi neo iDsd? It is the only thing I know of in a similar price point with a smoother, deeper sound signature but it doesn’t have their signature features like xbass/II. If anyone has a recommendation as to what may pair better or improve my experience with the K9 please let me know. I’ve tried EQ with equalizer APO and PEACE but it still feels bright or just off.

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Hello there fellow Arya lovers,

I am getting my first ever Aryas next week coming from HD600, HD660S and Sundaras used on a Topping D90 SE and a Topping A90. I guess that I will be shocked with this upgrade, I got the Stealth Magnets.
Having read that they are an improved version of the V2 and that the soundstage deepens after a lot of listening time I’m extremely happy and anxious to receive them.

I have a question to you all because you’re clearly more experienced than me . Will I have a benefit sound wise in getting a balanced cable compared to the stock one ?

I personally think that when it comes to power I’ll be perfectly fine at L gain but that is just my thoughts.
What do you all think?

Thank you in advance.

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Welcome to the forum!

Typically when a amp has a balanced option it’s normally the better option due to the implementation in the amp. Not saying balanced is always better and you must have an amp that’s balanced, but if the amp has it, the engineers typically focued on that as the primary/better output.

There are plenty of amazing amps that are single ended. In your case you may want to try a balanced cable. I’ve also never used topping, but I’m sure others will chime in as well.

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I agree with this but also would recommend to try both options if your amp allows it. Many times it is just simply what sounds best to you. If you have an amp that is SE only, don’t fret too much over it and feel you need to go out and splurge on one with balanced too.

Schiit products are great for DAC/AMP as well. I’ve owned the Schiit Magni/Modi3 combo (just under 250.00) and now own the Jotunheim2 and Modius. They pair very well, again to my ears, with the Arya SE.

Congrats on the Arya’s also! They are fantastic sounding and so detailed!

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The Arya will come with a se cable, so it’ll be fairly easy to try that option. However, I’m pretty sure the balance output off the A90 is probably implemented much better than the se out. Just a guess, or it wouldn’t be on the amp.

(I understand the Jot 2 is unique and has a different flavor for their se and bal out)

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Look forward to what you think of the Arya. I think you’ll like what you hear. I went from the 6xx to Arya and was blown away. 2 years later, Arya is still my favorite headphone. Tied with Hd800s, depending on genre/mood.
I haven’t had any Topping gear so I can’t comment to the pairing. I will say that when I first got Arya I had it paired with SMSL Su-8 > THX887 and though I was initially amazed with the clarity, stage and imaging. I started noticing how clinical sounding it was and realized it lacked warmth and engagement. I would listen and be like “Wow, that sounds cool” or “ I never noticed those details before” but it didn’t sound great in an engaging way…if that makes sense.
So I switched to a Bifrost2 > Violectric V280 setup. It still has all the qualities I loved while being much warmer and cohesive. It doesn’t have that overly dry analytical sound now.
I think a lot of negative opinions regarding the Arya can be contributed to poor synergy and lack of power.
It can definitely sound disjointed, with the soundstage seeming overly seperated. As well as bright and analytical. In my current chain, I don’t find any of that to be the case.
As far as cables go. I’ve only used a balanced Black Dragon cable since the day I got it. Never even used the stock cable so I can’t speak to any audible difference. You can pick up a good balanced cable pretty for pretty cheap.
I guess my point is that the Arya is pretty picky in regards to synergy and can sound quite different with different gear but is really an awesome headphone. IMO
I’ve heard the Sundara as well and I think you’re going to be impressed by the Arya

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Thank you for your reply too and I am also looking forward to experiencing these babies and like you said I think that the upgrade from the Sundara is excellent. I really like your audio equipment as well as the upgrade that you had and I wish that I will have the opportunity soon enough to buy the HD800S which is loved by so many people.
I totally understand what you’re saying regarding the DAC AMP combo and I would also like to try out something warmer to see the differences maybe something like a tube am.

Regarding the balanced cable, I happen to be living in Europe specifically Greece and I would really appreciate it if you guys could recommend to me where from to buy excellent quality cables in good prices. I am a bit afraid of buying a balanced XLR cable from AliExpress so I am looking forward to hear your thoughts.

Thank you all for the very warm welcome I guess the only thing left is to get a great XLR cable :ok_hand:

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Thank you so much for your kind words too, I’m extremely happy having bought such a lovely headphone and I can’t express how anxious I am to receive it!
To be honest I used to have the Topping D50 + A50S Amp and I really wanted more quality+ power as well as XLR that’s why I upgraded them to D90SE + A90.

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Thank you so much for the warm welcome I really appreciate it and I am happy to be here.
I agree with you regarding the amplifier it has to be better with the balanced one so I guess I will give it a try!

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Glad everyone could help you out here. There are definitely quite a few discussions out there on balanced vs single ended if you want to go down another rabbit hole of debate :grinning: Still, I say enjoy the Arya the best way you want to…which is not hard to do as I think they sound fantastic!

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I’m planning to post a more descriptive review of these as my first ever full blown HP review. I realize a detailed review was already posted here, but I didn’t think anyone would mind me using this space to practice a review write up. I’ve been using my Arya’s daily now pretty much since I got them back in October. I feel like I owe it to others to at least give my own thoughts and conclusions coming from the beginner side of audio reviewing. So, if interested, stay tuned here in the next day or so.

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Looking forwards to reading it. It’s always great to read the impressions of others and the more the merrier!

HIfiman Arya V3 Review (with background)

Introduction:

Before I get into my review, just a short synopsis about who I am. First off, Audio Enthusiast, let’s get that out of the way. I have enjoyed Audio and Technology pretty much my entire life. Back when I got my first car as a teen the first thing I did was go out and buy a stereo system. At least what I could afford! Admittingly, I was a basshead big time as a kid. Loved my rap/hiphop and rock music. I didn’t really branch out of that till I hit my 20’s and discovered other genres that I always turned my ear to (see what I did there).

Along with Audio, technology has been just as important. Building my own PC’s and never settling for anything prebuilt. I have always been into gaming and the music that comes with it. I will be the first to say that gaming gets a bad rap for audio. I feel like all the gaming headsets I have had in my life had the wrong idea about audio in gaming. Some games do audio very well only to be listened on a very subpar experience. I tend to hear a lot in this hobby - oh just use whatever for gaming outside of FPS. There is not a thing wrong with being immersed in a game you love, rocking a kick ass headphone. Moving on…

My first audiophile grade Headphone in my opinion was when I got my TYGR 300r. I bought the Team TYGR set as I wanted to have a separate mic solution and not on the headset any longer. Shout out to BadSeed Tech for the video that convinced me to make the purchase. Also, I had always been a big proponent of using sound cards in my PC’s and never the onboard sound. However, getting more into the hobby I quickly realized that was not the best solution. I wanted to go external and came very close to buying an external dac/amp like a Soundblaster G6 or something. Again, went to youtube and came across the recommendation of a Schiit stack of Magni 3 Heresy and Modi 3+. Suddenly things sounded so much better then I was used to and on went my journey into more genres of music! Suddenly the grass was greener…birds chirped just a little punchier…food tasted more…

Alright - if I haven’t lost any of you by now - I can go on with the Arya review :slight_smile:

All subjective experiences upcoming I have no professional rigs or plethora of gear to test on so please understand my subjectivity and respect it.

Sound Quality - Yep, going my own way on this one and get right to it!

Highs
This is where the Arya’s, at least from what I have read and watched, had been a bit fatiguing in the past. I owned a pair of DT770 pro’s right before I had the TYGR and returned them. They were so bright I couldn’t do it. Added that in so all can understand a bit to what I am sensitive to.
The Arya V3 do not bother me at all in the high end of things. They definitely can get up there but never to a level that I’ve reached for the dial to turn down or skip to the next track. It honestly was something that made me very wary of even buying the Arya to begin with. Glad I made the plunge!
Unfortunately I’ve seen graphs and things by @Resolve so I can’t speak off of blind knowledge of what I may have heard, only that it is there in the graph.

image

Mids
Probably the least flattering part of this headphone is the midrange. I would not say it is bad by any means, but also unfair to compare it to some heavy punching dynamics. Again, referring to the graph, you can see the dip in the midrange and I’ve definitely been underwhelmed at times by certain songs in that. I would say mostly the Rock/Metal genre is where you will experience that but I still would not call it bad.
Lower midrange is definitely very good but again, not slammy like a dynamic. I should include here now that I owned the Focal Clear MG for a bit before owning the Arya. So talk about an unfair comparison. I looooved the mids on the Clear MG and more than likely will get another Focal sometime in the future. I had to let them go and regret doing so now…but that’s for another topic, another day.
Vocals are a pleasure to listen to on these as well. One paticular song from two strong female vocalists was Break In - Lzzy Hale (featuring Amy Lee) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUuVReJSrc4. I love how this song captures a raspy voice like Lzzy and then combine it was the majestic voice that is Amy Lee. A treat to hear.

Lows
Love me some bass when it is done right. It is definitely done right on the Arya’s. By no means are they bass heavy headphones, but it gets nice and low and you can feel it. I could name quite a few tracks that sounded very good but here is one example:
I’m Burnt - Kurupthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zLj5V-lICQ : It’s an older rap song but a great example as I was going through my library of bass being present but not overbearing on this headphone.
With that, I will move on to Imaging, Stage and Dynamics.

Imaging
Excellent. I really don’t have to elaborate too much on this because it just is. Sounds that pan left to right or around…it does it all very well and precisely. Not to sound like so many others, but I can’t think of any other way to compliment imaging without mentioning Yosi Horikawa. Bubbles(Yosi Horikawa - Bubbles - YouTube), Wandering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGps7d70GRM…Letter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vQc1ApB5Do…it’s all fantastic and true experience to listen to with the Arya.

Stage
I have not had the pleasure to hear stage monsters like the HD800S yet, so I can only compare to what I have heard. My other Headphone I own currently is the HD Zeus. The Zeus has pretty good stage for sure. Better then my TYGR for sure. The stage on the Clear MG honestly pales in comparison to the Zeus or the Arya. I have read about the V3 not being as wide as the V2 or V1. I cannot comment on that, however I will say that the stage is still very good to me. It’s open and I can feel it around me. Live performances and ochestrasta music sound incredible on the Arya.
A couple of different genre examples: Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters (live with the SFSO) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q93n3dvaaTIis a wow factor to me. Also, for Jazz fans, Lingus by Snarky Puppy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_XJ_s5IsQc was another great example.
Another song to check out for stage that I used besides Metallica above:
Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked (unpeeled) by Cage the Elephant Cage The Elephant - Ain't No Rest For The Wicked (Unpeeled) (Live Video) - YouTube

Also cannot mention stage without a gaming plug. Elden Ring Soundtrack sounds amazing on these and talk about getting immersed! I feel like I do hear a slight whisper of “git gud” off in the distance though…

Dynamics
Range is good. No doubt. A song came to mind that I had to check out which was One Mic by Naz. Starts quiet and gets loud, goes back down…handles very well on the Arya.
As for how hard it hits, I feel like that is covered already in the Mid category. I suppose to say it’s not a dynamic headphone should say that it’s not going to have the best dynamics, but there is always more to it then that. For anyone wanting to understand more on that, I refer you to @Resolve. He has taught me so much about the ins and outs of this hobby though his channel and write ups! Thank you!

Overall
Top notch sound! I would say that there are going to be some genres or at least some songs that will not be as exciting on the Arya. I know I have seen others mentioning that if you own the Arya then hopefully you love Classical, Jazz and the like to enjoy them with. Though I agree that they sound great on those genres, I do believe they can expand much more in depth. I highly recommend the sound of this headphone.

Source/Gear
So I saved this till towards the end because I just don’t have a variety to mention. I currently have a Jotunheim2 and Modius as my Amp/Dac stack. Other than my phone, that is it. No regrets either by the way. I want to branch out eventually and hear more amps/dacs but to my ears, this Schiit is great! I’ve run them only balanced Schiit fyi. I do notice turning the volume up ever so slightly more on my Schiit Jotunheim with the Arya over something like my Zeus or even the Clear MG’s. They can be driven on a simple source for sure, but my personal Schiit rig is a two thumbs up. Good Schiit, good schiit. No more Schiit jokes from me, believe me there is enough of that Schiit already out there. Schiit… did it again.


(ignore the Clear MG Pro…though I do miss them)

Also shout out to Hart Audio for some nice aftermarket cables. They are worth the wait when you order them should you go custom!

Build/Comfort
The build is good. I won’t call it excellent because for the price……I would expect a tad better. It is all metal for the headphone itself and a nice leather type suspension strap that is very comfortable. The grill is also all metal. Definitely don’t see me breaking these but then I am an ultra conservative person with my gear. These get hung back up every night after use and out of the reach of my kids. Thankfully they don’t attract much dust and can be easily wiped off with a cloth when they do. The grill is nice, honestly a tad on the sharp side. Not that I have cut myself on it, but if someone did I wouldn’t be shocked (just don’t play with it already)
Comfort wise I would rate them right at the top of the list. Seriously, they just disappear on my head (and I have a large head…I think that is a requirement these days). I could see others not enjoying the oval cups and how far down the side of your face they go, but it didn’t bother me at all. Also, pad wise, they are fantastic! Not too clampy but also not loose. Sex Appeal wise I’d probably give them a 2/10. I mean it’s almost like a black halo above your head when you wear them. Needless to say, I wear them at my desk but you won’t see me out and about with these on. Wouldn’t call them commuter headphones. Though the band above your head is metal, I do feel like its sturdy enough…doesn’t seem like I could bend it too easily without force (so don’t go bull ramming anyone with it for fun).

Final Thoughts
I’ve seen so many comparisons on this headphone to previous versions. I have heard others say they are not a fan of the Hifiman sound because they instantly think classical music focus. That being said, I bought them. I had just come out of a divorce with the Clear MG Pro’s and had to fill the void. I was close to an LCD-X till these came out. I have in the past few months had times where I wanted to just try and go back to the Clear’s to be honest. However, I have found my happy spot with them now and don’t see the Arya leaving my collection. It’s my daily driver whether I am music listening or gaming.

Hopefully my review helped some of you make a decision if that is what you are here for. Or, I was at least able to give another perspective coming from a complete amateur. In the end, all I am looking to do is continue to level up my journey in this hobby and help others if I can along the way.

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