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

Product Information

The second version employed a cloth screen behind the driver and that opened things up a bit as far as soundstage size and driver efficiency. Some consider the second version to be the best because of its ultra-wide staging abilities.

The Arya Stealth drivers also make use of Hifiman’s Advanced Asymmetrical Magnetic Circuit (double sided asymmetrical magnet circuit) to obtain the perfect balance between high driver efficiency and high sound quality. On paper, the Arya ought to be easy to drive. In my experience in the wild, they are definitely not.Overall HiFiMAN Arya Organic is a well-built headphone that is pleasant to keep on the head for hours and additionally, it looks pretty good. The company pretty much mastered the perfect blend of sturdy build quality and incapable comfort, and the Arya Organic is basically as good as it gets in this regard. This is by no means the most luxurious pair you'll ever feel, but it might just be the most comfortable one, and this is what really matters. Over the past few years, HiFiMAN has been releasing revised versions of its popular Arya headphones. Right now, there are three versions of the Arya out there, and a new one has just launched as well. The Arya Organic looks to be the biggest update they’ve made to the Arya yet, but does it still contain everything people love about the original? What You Get The important parts of the headphone support system are made of metal, and the rest is made of high-quality plastic, making Arya a proper flagship that’s going to survive heavy usage, but their really open nature dictates that you’re unlikely to take them in any environment that would naturally damage them.

The Arya Stealth treble coloration is probably best described as finely balanced with a default clean quality. Slip it some brighter mixes or a bright hard-edged sounding source and chances are you will hear that come through. A comparison is to listen to something on AM radio, then switch to FM. That’s how dramatic the sound of the Arya is compared to lesser “normal” headphones.

The midrange is extremely similar, the only difference is just how some vocals are reproduced in space, some are slightly further, but some are closer to the listener. It’s very hard to tell which one sounds better, they are just minimally different, but I think no one will tell that the midrange is a dealbreaker for any headphone. I'm realizing that when I listen to live recorded music, I could see how the V2 soundstage seems huge in a favorable way... but the V3 is no slouch! In all honesty, I think the V3 is overall the better headphone- it really is superior in all ways but soundstage... where it simply presents more accurately and ends up being more musical. HiFiMAN’s top-of-the-line headphones are all quite similar in terms of design, once we exclude the Susvara: they’re all drop-shaped and quite large, so that they can house larger diaphragms. The Arya make no exception to this and feature large earcups with a suspended headband design. 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. Any critiques I share below are at a truly minor scale and intended to help you decide if the Arya will appeal to you.

There’s nothing really new with the design of the Arya Stealth, and the metal and high grade plastic built headphone features the typical shape of earcups and headband as we have seen many times before. We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. PRaT, Texturization, Detail, Resolution, Dynamics, Impact, and overall tonality are all revealed by those songs. We recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music!One thing I did note about the pressure strap is a subtle ribbed cushioning which is not on the Ananda version. The older strap was just a flat piece of faux leather whereas this one has a bit more cushioning.