HiFiMan Arya Organic Review

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by purr1n, Feb 1, 2025 at 6:01 PM.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I know some of you have been waiting a long time for a review of these and loaner. Yup, Chacha and I bad for holding on to them for so long. Yes, these are going on loaner ASAP.

    dsbarya.jpg

    HiFiMan Arya Organic
    Frequency Response
    FR.png

    Notes:
    1. Not what I would say great channel matching. Considering the pads appear to be very uniform.
    2. Even smoothed 1/9, response is a big jaggy and uneven. Can people hear this? Probably. It's hard to describe.
    More measurements in a bit. D2 and D3 distortion surfaces around 8:42 in the video. Maybe explains the shrillness with certain high vocals.

    Probably not fair that we compared to more expensive headphones, but take the comparisons for what they are.

    FWIW, @rhythmdevils HE560 mod was way better: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/two-mod-jobs-he560-and-jar600.11251/

    Another impression: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/hifiman-arya-organic-impressions.14398/
     
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    Last edited: Feb 2, 2025 at 12:50 PM
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Distortion surfaces below.

    Largely second harmonic distortion (D2) for most of the audible band. Some rise in D2 as the volume increases in the lower and sub bass. However D3 and D4 in the bass stay low which probably explains the very good bass quality.

    The distortion rise in the upper mids around 3.5kHz is troubling because 1) it's highish; 2) we see it in the third and fourth harmonics.

    d2.png

    d3-1.png

    upload_2025-2-2_13-12-14.png
     
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  3. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Arya Organic CSDs

    Looks like one channel is worse than the other. One has a defined "ortho wall" (circled below) around 3.5kHz. It's debatable whether this can be heard or not because it's so spotlit on a particular frequency. There is also some ripple (lines below) that corresponds with the uneven frequency response in the lower mids. This is a sign that the diaphragm is not sufficiently damped. This behavior (lack of damping / uneven frequency response) can annoy some people more than others. Ortho gods such as @rhythmdevils, @dBel84, and @gurubhai can hear this easily.

    upload_2025-2-2_14-22-49.png

    upload_2025-2-2_14-21-43.png
     
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  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Subjectively will summarize the Arya Organic in a nutshell:
    1. Build is lacking somewhat for a $1k headphone. The fake wood on the cups looks and feels bad. The suspension headband is comfy enough and the weight is manageable, but the thin bent metal headband screams cheap. Seriously ETA even with their DIYish approach feels way better built.
    2. Tonal balance is bright, so comparing with HD800, didn't throw me for a loop. Caldera is the most even among the three and actually took me some time to acclimate because otherwise the Caldera sounded boring.
    3. 16-ohms (will confirm) is dumb. I sure plenty of users are going to power them from the chip amp powered AIOs.
    4. Sound Pros:
      1. Clean, clear. Very good in this respect.
      2. Good extended articulate bass. One of it's best aspects.
      3. Crisp transients.
      4. Airy, extended in the top octave.
    5. Sound Cons:
      1. Closed in headstage, zero depth and inside head, big hole in the middle, not very wide, no layering. This last bit seems to limit fine detail. Whether this bugs you will depend. I think if you just want to chill, it's not an issue. Linsday pointed this out to me, and even though I usually don't give a crap about headstage, I couldn't unhear it.
      2. On some tracks, higher vocal registers sound shrill.
      3. Slightly cool / cold tonality in the mids.
    6. Too many YouTube shills, there are exceptions. I'm disappointed in the Arya Organic. Should have been named the Arya Razor.
     
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    Last edited: Feb 2, 2025 at 12:51 PM
  5. ilikebananafudge_

    ilikebananafudge_ Friend

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  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Oh, I forgot about that one.
     
  7. darmok

    darmok Almost "Made"

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    With HFM, this is a problem that solves itself. Don’t think it’s worth $1k? Just wait six months and it’ll be $800, and in a year it’ll be $600.

    Honestly, I’m done with this whole thing. It’s not worth my time and energy to pay attention to the constant stream of product releases from HFM. You’re just putting the finishing touches on this review and already there’s a newer Arya with another stupid gimmick (Unveiled!). I’m sure this is working to sell stuff to people with FOMOitis, but honestly I’m convinced they’re just changing stuff for the sake of making a new model at this point and it’s off putting. Since the build isn’t getting better, it’s pretty obvious that the difference between an Arya Stealth and an Arya Organic is just color, tuning, and margin.

    Huh, everyone talks about these like they’re practically as good as an HD 800 S at the whole headstage thing. I wonder what the disconnect is.

    The Meze 109 Pros would be an interesting point of comparison for these. The build quality on the Mezes is superb, they do the airy thing really well, and the bass quality and quantity are much better than the HD 800 S. They’re also almost $200 cheaper.
     
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  8. roshambo123

    roshambo123 Friend

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    Is there a good Arya anywhere in this model line? What can be said of timbre? Typically that tends to be a big weakness.

    In the price range, they seem like a solid bad choice.
     
  9. Empyah

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    My expericene with the Eggman were plasticky timbre on the HEKSE, and lack of microdetail and microdynamics on the Arya V2 - sounded boring, the only one I liked very much was the og HE1000 and that's the only one I consider on par with my HD650 in microdetail and much better timbre to the others I heard. Did not try the Susvara or the HEV2 and the unveiled ones tho. Owned two HEKSE's and turned heaven and earth to try to fix the highs and timbre.

    Edit: Rephrased and changed around a bit to not make it sound like these weren't generally good headphones with a few models not to my liking.
     
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    Last edited: Feb 3, 2025 at 10:34 AM
  10. roshambo123

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    What were you doing to fix timbre? My understanding is it's largely an integral property of the materials and construction of the drivers
     
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  11. purr1n

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    On timbre, it's actually good. Not so plasticky (like old Arya) and not too steely/splashy (HE1k), somewhere in between. With respect to technicalities. Maybe the Organic is referring to the improved timbre? Or the midbass bump (that didn't exist in the prior Aryas).

    I wish HFM would just have one variant for one model. It's getting rather confusing with Arya, Arya Stealth, Ayra Nano, Arya Organic, Arya Unveiled. It's like the product manager is taking a bunch of darts and throwing them at a dart board to see what hits.

    FWIW, I'd rather get a Drop HE5XX for $229. The HE5XX's issues, expected at that price, I could live with them.
     
  12. Tchoupitoulas

    Tchoupitoulas Friend

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    There's been seven years more growth on the tree since HiFiMAN put this out:

    [​IMG]

    There are now at least 4 versions of the HE1k. 4x Ananda. 4x Arya. Time for some pruning? lol
     
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  13. purr1n

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  14. Empyah

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    Guzzling copious amounts of a hopium/copium mixture from an audiophile nervosa flask. :drunk:

    Needless to say nothing helped, no amp, DAC, EQ or tube, cable or audio crystal mixture, it just did not hit the mark with me, tho I was very impressed with its technicalities, I simply wanted to make it work by force.
     
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    Last edited: Feb 3, 2025 at 12:41 PM
  15. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Wonder when it will get the unveiled treatment, i mean from HFM's pov it makes a lot of sense. Why fix the shitty build quality when you can just rely on the customer to kill it themselves.
     
  16. darmok

    darmok Almost "Made"

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    It already did.
     
  17. roshambo123

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    I've seen this flask.

    [​IMG]
     

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