Arya Stealth Magnet Version Full-Size Over-Ear Planar Magnetic Headphone for Audiophiles/Studio

….as will the cost of course! But CAUTION: This review is NOT for the Stealth version (update 1/24/22) but the first iteration that I purchased in 2019. I don not believe they are the same however, I would contact HiFiman directly to ascertain same. All that being said, here is my original review: In terms of sheer OVERALL aural pleasure, I doubt that you will find anything better for the price in this universe at least! Nonetheless, I am concerned with the build quality which is a little shoddy! Don't get me wrong, I've had them since early December 2019 and I AM putting them through their paces. A 50 hour burn-in is MY normal burn in time (I know many people think this is pure hogwash, but I've gone down the "big-rig stereo" and "headphone" setups rabbit holes since I was a young fellow, having been in a "basement-band" {not too many garages in Bushwick, Brooklyn in the late 1960's} ) ….having a good sound system was almost mandatory! But, I digressed. Suffice to say that over the years I noticed distinct differences in sound quality after a piece of stereo (even moreso with speakers, headphones and tube amplifiers) equipment had been used for a certain amount of time. Now the ARYA sounded great right out of the box, despite the squeaking headband hinge, but once they are on your head and you've sat down and listening to whatever your pleasure is with them (and TRUST me, ALL genres sound immersive, involving and not TOO resolving- wherein, BTW, lay their true talents)….the squeaking, cheaply made hinge sound goes away and like some transcendent magic you are transported to Alice Tully Hall or The Met or an intimate East Grenwich Village music night spot listening to some great improvisational Jazz, some hot Electric Blues or a lush, mellifluous, Mozart symphony! Now, I have the HiFiman edition X V2 as well and though they are built a TAD better (that's still NOT saying much for Dr. Fang) than the Arya's they don't sound as good. I suppose an extra 4 or 500 dollars gets you that much more quality of music reproduction. BTW,...you will need to upgrade your cable, I have Periapt's that are terminated balanced XLR. I am also using a Monolith Alex Cavalli Liquid Platinum hybrid tube amp., and this combination seems to be extremely well suited towards one another,... with all of my different sets of cans but, even more with the Arya! Once or IF you can get over the build quality issues (I treat all my equipment, especially headphones as if they are delicately made out of 24k gold),...I don't believe there really is any need for more searching. I've spent far too much already "down this hole"{if my wife really knew, I'd probably be sleeping in the basement....told ya, no garages here in Brooklyn.} and I consider this setup END GAME, if you will but, I caution the build quality issue again. Unless you treat these with kid gloves they will break easily, and see what hifiman service department will charge after the 1 year warranty expires! To sum up, I have many sets of headphones (many in the four figure category) that I have acquired "on the journey down the hole!" Wish, I had found the chance to grab the ARYA earlier because they seem to be all I listen to lately,...they really do sound that good. Plenty of soundstage,...(not Giants Stadium soundstage width from the 50 yard line) with a very immersive, intimate, and personal sounding experience with just the right amount of bass. BTW,...you get fantastic detail retrieval, NOT resolution sibilance to the point of fingernails on a blackboard . Every instrument is heard (if the recording is good, obviously), there is plenty of room for each instrument to bloom and have a great deal of air however, sonically, my only gripe is that the Arya's (in some cases anyway) seem to put certain vocalists {noticed more with male than female} further in the background than with other sets of cans. BUT, I suppose it is in order to give more space to all the other instrumentation. I love all genres of music however, in order to give a reference I will use Pink Floyd's "Division Bell" which is a recording I know so well and could rote recite every note and NOW can understand every lyric and sound effect that I never heard or at least never understood before! Even the fly buzzing around in the beginning of the title track has more "prescence" than it ever had before! So, am I happy with them,....yes! Am I happy that I had to pay $1700 for such delicious sounding, cheaply Chinese made FLOTSAM,.....NO,....Not on your life! Nonetheless,.....anybody want to buy some of my other well cared for, gently used headphones? I can use the money! BTW, I do hope this review was HELPFUL?! UPDATE: 5/27/20.....they sound even better as they have matured! Frankly, (because they do leak more than most open backs), unless someone is in the room and they don't mind listening to what I'm enjoying, they are ALL I use now! They are still incredible for the coin spent!

My headphone journey began back in the late 90's when I spent what I considered an outrageous amount of money on a pair of Sennheiser HD600 headphones. At the time I was working a second shift job and getting home after work at around 12:30 am. My wife was working during the daytime so I needed a quality pair of headphones so that I could listen to music without waking her by turning on the stereo. So about a year after buying these headphones we welcomed our son into the world and certainly they would be even more important to me because I didn't want to wake the baby, either. Fast forward just about one year later and our boy was on the verge of learning to walk. He could stand up by holding onto table tops and such but he wasn't yet walking and one day I left the house to go to work and left them on my desktop. Somehow my precious little man got his meat hooks on them and they wound up in the bottom of the dishwasher. His little "experiment" didn't work out so well! Over the years I have amassed 22 pairs of headphones. I've sold several of them, too. I own some that are less expensive than the Arya, and some that cost more. I've got to say, I'm really impressed with this headphone. In fact, at $599 the Arya stealth has to be one of the best bargains in audio. Consider this... $600 IS a considerable amount of money to spend on a headphone, but at the same time, three years ago this headphone was selling for $1600. I own the HFM Sundara, and it's still a nice sounding headphone, but I have a few issues with them, notably the build quality and lack of swiveling earcups. The overall feeling of the Sundara when held in my hand is one of being pretty cheap. And to be honest I was concerned that the Arya would feel cheap as well. It doesn't. The build quality is superb. When placed on the head it feels lightweight and very comfortable for extended listening sessions. The earpads are giant, no doubt, and I can feel them kind of irritating me just a bit in the jaw area below the ear while laying down. It's not a big deal but worth noting. So how do they sound? Well, I'm not going to dazzle you with all kinds of superlatives. They sound glorious. They sound BIG and expansive. Feed them a terrific recording and you will be rewarded in a big way. Feed them a lousy recording and they are going to tell you how terrible it is. They leak sound in a great big way so these aren't for the morning commute or for listening on an airplane. And if your significant other is in the same room with you, that might not go over so well, either. This is NOT a headphone to wear at the gym or while out walking. It's a great BIG headphone and you will look like a dork outdoors. Personally I'd only wear it outside if sitting on the patio where I'm not going to be seen by the masses. I'm not so vain that it would bother me if my neighbor saw me with them on. I don't consider myself an audiophile in the truest sense, I am a music enthusiast. I care ONLY about how a headphone or a stereo system sounds to my own ears. If a product sounds so good to my own ears that it can elicit emotion it's a keeper and in that context the Arya stealth delivers in spades. For many this level of performance will be their endgame. Feed these with the Ibasso Nunchaku DAC/Amp in tube mode if used in a portable rig, or feed it with a good quality desktop tube amp and they really shine. I use a Woo Audio WA6, Little Dot MKII on the tubes as well as a Burson Audio Conductor 3 Performance or Earmen CH-Amp with it’s included PS3 Linear Power Supply, along with the other two parts of the stack, the Tradutto and the Staccotto DAC and Streamer. The Arya Stealth, as well as all of my other headphones sound fabulous on good gear.

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Hifiman's are always close to great headphones for me, if it wasn't for the sibilance. These hurt my ears and I have to turn down the volume to prevent getting a headache. Which results into the Arya Stealth losing all bass thump and definition, so it sounds cold and bland. The Nano has better bass presence imo, but sadly still with the sharp treble.

Excellent! I'm using them as I write. Listening to Eric Clapton's Reptile album on NAD CD player, through Fiio K9 Pro ESS dac/amp. Superb synergy with stunning instrument and vocal separation. Excellent soundstage and overall balance.

I brought this phone in my 1 year money savings After comparing arya to my hd 598,arya stand out by only marginally. Felt like I paid 90k extra only for soundstage, better low bass ,good imaging. Hd598 stand-out In mid bass and sound resolution and arya lacking it. I don't recommend this to buy if you need more sound resolution. You need to spend another 30k or more on amplifier to sufficiently power arya, I'm using topping a30pro outputs power of 5000mW at 32 ohm and it gave more resolution and clarity. Update after using 1 year(300 hours+ playback) Now i started loving arya V2,it is a combination of ear,brain burning and driver burning made it sound good, the level of separation, distortion free listening is the ultimate joy for ears and even Arya can be EQed to reproduce powerfull midbass of speaker like experience.

Dopo un triennio di felice utilizzo delle Hifiman Sundara open, ho deciso che era tempo di un upgrade. Visto che le Arya erano finalmente disponibili a un prezzo umano, mi sono deciso all'acquisto. All'epoca in cui presi le Sundara, le Arya erano appena sotto i 1500 euro. Ma nel frattempo sono usciti nuovi modelli e ora sono a poco più di 650 euro. Non datemi del venale, ma ci ho fatto caso. Se pensate che sono cuffie che competono con concorrenti ben più costose, capite che meritano attenzione almeno per quello. In questi anni, poi, Hifiman ha tagliato i costi dei propri packaging, col risultato che il box con cui ricevetti le Sundara sembra quello di un prodotto premium rispetto alla essenziale scatola di cartone con cui ho ricevuto le Arya. Ma sono dettagli. Venendo al sodo, le Arya Stealth hanno la ormai nota firma sonora delle migliori Hifiman planari, ma rispetto alle Sundara, per esempio, sono ancor più dettagliate, divertenti, estese nella riproduzione delle frequenze estreme, hanno un soundstage che ha pochi paragoni. I toni alti sono cristallini ma mai sibilanti né aggressivi. I bassi sono più presenti, veloci e controllati, ma robusti e profondi e non sporcano mai i medi. Le medie frequenze, a loro volta correttamente riprodotte, sono limpide e fedeli con un ottima riproduzione delle voci. Insomma, le Arya confermano tutto quel che c'è di buono, ed è tanto, nelle Sundara e offrono di più in termini di dettaglio e coinvolgimento all'ascolto. Se devo trovare un difetto, è che ascolti così piacevoli inducono a mantenere il volume a livelli sostenuti per godere ancor di più del bel suono che ne esce. Inutile dire che sono cuffie che meritano di, per non dire che devono, essere collegate ad un buon amplificatore dedicato, anche se non richiedono potenze estreme per suonare al meglio. Sotto il profilo della costruzione, non ho molto da dire. Non sono un prestigio di design né un trionfo di materiali. Ma mi sembrano solide e ben fatte per quel che occorre e, ormai, anche per quel che costano. Direi che hanno uno stile sobrio e industriale anche nei materiali. Il comfort è molto buono, anche dopo ore di ascolto. Debbo dire, tuttavia, che soggettivamente trovo più comode le Sundara di cui preferisco anche il design più classico. Rispetto alle sorelle minori, le Arya hanno pads ben imbottiti ma un po' più rigidi e la pressione dei padiglioni intorno alle orecchie è superiore. L'intera struttura delle Arya è comunque più solida e silenziosa. Il cavo fornito di serie è più che decente e mi pare di buona qualità. E' rivestito in tessuto ed è terminato con un classico jack da 6,4 mm: non può essere utilizzato su output da 3,5 mm a meno di usare adattatori. Forse un terminale da 3,5 mm avvitato nel jack da 6,4 sarebbe stata una soluzione più flessibile, anche se meno audiofila. La presenza di un cavo bilanciato poi, sarebbe stata una ciliegina sulla torta. Ma niente da fare. I cavi bilanciati costano. Sono cuffie ad auricolari aperti. Molto aperti. Quel che ascoltate lo sentiranno tutti coloro che vi sono intorno e potreste anche infastidirli. Ma anche loro potrebbero infastidire voi con i loro rumori, perché l'isolamento è prossimo allo zero. In ogni caso, chi compra queste cuffie sa cosa aspettarsi. Poi, c'è ampia letteratura positiva sulle Arya Stealth. Direi che, per una volta, tutto quello che di buono ho letto prima di acquistare, l'ho trovato nel prodotto. Spero molto che mantengano le loro qualità nel tempo.