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

Product Information

It could be the tuning implementation responsible for the slight increase in bass presence which I bet was one of HIFIMAN’s goals with this model. However, there is some relative forwardness in the Arya Stealth staging when compared to the Ananda for example.

Unfortunately Organic doesn’t mean that the magnets are made of organic material, it also doesn’t stand for the membrane material, because it’s the same as the one used in HE1000se.Despite being a little bit on the brighter side, they were remarkably natural-sounding, balanced, and smooth–thankfully, the same can be said for the Arya.

Ok, that’s enough bullying HD8XX due to its design, let’s move to the sound comparison, and let’s start with the bass. 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.The original whacky medical-style IV tubing is long gone though and instead, you get a much more sensible nylon cloth black jacket. Now, whilst you definitely won’t need anything else to get going, I think it would have been nice if HiFiMan included a balanced cable with the Arya, or a longer version of the ¼” cable as for users not listening at their desk, the included might be a bit short. I think that due to its lack of warmth (particularly around 150hz-200hz) the Arya’s tuning might not be for everyone, but for my tastes and preferences I think that the bass here is great, as it had a very good level of sub bass presence under 100hz and was also levelled as it made a clear transition into the mids.