THE PLUS:
-well balanced U shape balance
-open and not recessed mids
-dynamic, speedy and wide bass slam
-well layered bass line with fleshy presence
-excellent resolution
-gigantic soundstage
-good imaging and layering
-natural and dense enough timbre free of unpleasant texture grain
-bodied male and female vocal
-excellent for cello, saxo and acoustic guitar lover
-airy, sparkly and snappy treble
-lively yet not too aggressive macro dynamic
-elegant wooden design
THE MINUS:
-not the best bass quality
-kick drum lack definition and authority in attack
-upper mids might be too much for some
-not lushest or thickest mids
-not the most competitively priced headphone
-rubbish accessories
TONALITY: 8.2/10
TECHNICALITIES: 9/10
TIMBRE: 8/10
SOUNDSTAGE: 9.5/10
IMAGING: 9/10
MUSICALITY (subjective): 8/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8.8/10
ACCESSORIES: 7.5/10
SOUND VALUE: 8.2/10
INTRO
Hifiman don’t need a lenghty introduction. It’s an audio company founded in 2005 by Fang Bian, then named Hifiman in 2007. Their first planar headphones was the HE5 launched in 2009, then they evolve alot and create a wide variety of headphones, yet they seem to favor planar open back above dynamic driver or closed back headphones.
In the past i’ve review a good amount of their Headphones which include the He1000 V3, Ananda, Deva, Sundara and Audivina to name a few. I always had a sweet spot for the Sundara musicality, the best Hifiman planar in term of high sound value in my opinion.
Today I will review their higher end headphones, the Arya Organic.
Priced 1300$ (but often on sale like all Hifiman headphones), the Arya Organic is a full size open-back planar Headphones with ultra thin diaphragm using latest nanometer thickness technology as well as latest stealth magnet design find in other flagship headphones like the HE1000 V3 I review lately.
In term of sound promise, it’s just underline it should deliver ”stunning value”. So let see what 1K$ planar can deliver in both musical and technical side of sound spectrum.
CONSTRUCTION & ACCESSORIES
The construction of these is sumptuous and mostly made of metal and wood with few plastic parts. It’s quite gigantic but you barely feel them on your head and the clamping force is very smooth.
What caught the eye is certainly the oversized cups which you will be familiar with since it’s extremely similar to He1000 but with darker wood and metal parts painted in black.
Those cups are made of CNC milled metal with a smooth hand polished finish. The grill is made of metal too and it’s a thick one, not a light aluminum prompt to vibration that could create unwanted distortion (like the Grado grill).
There is a filter mesh to avoid any dust entering this grill too.
Then we have the piece of thick wood, it’s very eye appealing and pleasant to touch when we position the cups.
Then we have the real leather headband with a metal holder with an angular shape i’m not the biggest fan in term of aesthetic but it’s responsible for clamping force which is light and I hope it will not loosen more since we can’t headbang or move our head down too fast with HE1000 Stealth, their a risk the headphones fall. Anyway, these headphones are thanked for sedentary use since they’re fully open back and leak alot, I mean ALOT of sound. The Arya aren’t suggested to use in common space unless you want your wife or colleague to know by heart all the songs you listen to.
Now these weigh half a kilogram, as said, I can wear these for hours and hours without feeling any discomfort nor neck fatigue. The leather head band is hard to even feel (unless you’re bald I guess). It’s the most comfortable headphones I own but certainly not something I will use in a coffee shop or workplace. Let’s say the comfort upgrade is sky high compared to the Sundara I own that has a harder clamping force, smaller cup and can swivel left right like the Arya.
Under those big cups you have a 3.5mm jack, it permits easy upgrade of the cables. It is made of metal and I like the bump that permits fast blind finding of the jacks so you can plug the cable easily even when wearing the headphones.
The packaging is extremely minimalist and well, eco friendly since the box is recyclable and even the protective foam has second life as a Headphones stand made of foam. I respect this for sure, yet I don’t think it honors the elegant beauty of Arya. The nice carrying case included with the way cheaper Ananda Nano is something I feel would have been more appropriate with a flagship headphones of this price range. Then we have one 5 foot long cable with 6.35mm termination. It’s a basic cable that doesn’t do justice to Arya quality, nowadays most dac-amp come in 4.4mm balanced and less and less source use 6.35mm output All in all, while the construction of Headphones is great, I find accessories a bit underwhelming in quality. I could have said I don’t care as a reviewer, but I put myself in the shoes of a consumer that pays 1300$ for those, in that regard the packaging experience isn’t impressive. You don’t feel like a spoiled consumer.
SOUND IMPRESSIONS
(sound impressions based on Hifiman EF600 and Xduoo XD05plus pairing)
The overall tonality of Arya can be summarized as bright U shape with notable sub bass boost, energetic upper mids and presence clarity and loudness lift that continue up past 10kHz with vivid and airy treble extension. We have a mix of fun and analytical tuning that feel vast in spatiality, near concert hall like and one of sparkliest planar treble.
The wide bass resonance slam head room participates in the multi-layered macro dynamic that is both immersive and physically striking.
If you were scare open back can’t pack a dense and immense slam that is both concentrate in air pressure impact and rumbly in it’s release with an euphonic twist, don’t be because it’s U shape musicality has plenty of it, in fact, the first thing that hit me in both literal and figurative sense is how it pack a punch and a smile to my face.
If it was a V shaped tuned planar, it would be warmer and muddier than what we get here, which is clear open musical bliss with effortless imaging performance and a speedy attack speed that permit an holographic articulation of rich soundscape.
More entry level planar headphones can feel flat or rigidly 2 dimensional in their spatial representation, while the Arya have a dynamic center stage and stretched stereo rendering that can remind 5.1 surround audio. These are magnified in both instrument presence size and separation space with a treble sharpness and brilliance that underline upper highs air.
You feel small in a vast galaxy of sound with the Arya and it’s easy to get lost in its musicality for hours.
So let’s begin with this grand bass presentation which takes all the advantage of planar speed prowess with a loose sub bass release full of energy in slam and wide resonance in attack release that doesn’t bleed on the mids due to full open back design that avoid trapping soundwave rebound and distortion and permit whole bass response to have it’s own space layer in back of crisp mid range.
The rumble of Arya is near cinematic and benefits logically movies watching, action packed movies will be able to rattle your head with infra bass excitement when the boom is hitting and it will dig deep without boxy feeling, quite the opposite.
This is a speedy but not hard mid bass punchy or thumpy bass, it’s all about the ‘’oomph’’ and sub dominate euphonic slam here, while the mids are clean the bass part is warm and a bit hazy-euphonic in extension, densify by air vibration that can add sense of grunt to electric bass or loudness to double bass release which isn’t lean.
While it’s not a basshead headphones, I think it’s the bassiest planar I’ve heard yet, more so than Audivina, HE1000 and Sundara even of 2 later are warmer and don’t lack mid bass punch.
So, it’s a bass that is more physical than technical and clinical even if very speedy and well controlled. It shares similarity to balanced armature low end projection which is wide and boomy, but Arya goes less distorted and thin, when hitting you have a wall of impactful low end while when it extends it lacks a bit of flexibility only dynamic drivers seem to achieve properly.
Bass line attack lead isn’t very crisp in edge, you don’t see the finger picking here being magnified in HD clarity, but you do feel the energy, and fine detail of texture are shown in a subtle way, avoiding unpleasant texture grain spike creating timbre anharmonic imbalance. Since sub bass is more boosted than mid bass it’s easy to track bassist in the track and its bass line will not go muddy or hard to find even in complex busy track, i can’t say the same for acoustic kick drum which lack a bit of proper definition and dynamic and can get over shadow by bass line.
We have a notch of natural warmth sliding into lower mids too, this explains the warmish rendering of kick drum as well as more mellow dynamic compared to digital kick that is more juiced up.
The cello sound great with Arya, it can’t be confused with violin which is a sign of low end fullness, presence is wide, well textured, transparent and dense with air, it can grunt when needed and don’t sound too thin, compressed or dry at all.In fact, cello might be my favorite sounding instrument thru the Arya.
Keywords: Fast slam with wide rumble and headroom. Excellent control though most the most elastic bass for slower response. Good note weight and punch authority without important warmth or resonance bleed.
The mid range sounds very open without feeling recessed, this is quite a magical experience in its own right since the Arya achieves a truly balanced U shape signature that doesn’t scoop lower mids too much which would affect the substance of tone negatively.
The timbre is very natural for a planar and not too thin, it’s not super warm and thick yet achieves an energetic lushness that avoids upper mids aggression, shouting and sibilance.
Instrument and vocal has a wide and full bodied presence, each sound layer has their own space to blossom fully and don’t mix together.
Saxophone sounds incredible with those, it’s dense and colorful in timbre with beautiful texture subtleties and excellent attack lead and release energy, dynamism of blowing technique is highly appreciable too.
The piano too is natural in restitution, with well felt note impact and weight and long natural resonance that is clean unless bass slam occurs and blur a bit the background blackness.
Sure, to get full mids you need to drive the Arya properly and source will inflict on overall flavor, here it’s based on EF600 pairing which is on the warm side. A more clinical source will tend to make mids even more open and airy, yet a notch thinner and even more transparent in timbre.
So don’t expect as forwards, lush and thick mids as the HE1000 V3, expect clean crisp one with just a hint of natural warmth to get full harmonic restitution, female vocal here don’t feel nasally, plasticky or substance less, nor too boosted in texture grain and info which will be risky for sibilance. It captivates your attention and represents the main part of the show without forcing it on the listener due to plenty of space to appreciate all parts of the music experience.
Keywords: fowards presence, transparent yet not dry or overly thin timbre, controlled upper mids intensity that had brightness without shoutyness, vast and wide center stage.
The treble is another highlight of the Arya, it extends far away above 10kHz and offers plenty of air, brilliance and sparkle in an effortless way. Planar driver are famous for their speedy transient response, which mean it can deliver near infinite full sound info without going muddy in macro dynamic, percussions isn’t just about the spike of attack lead here, it’s the full round presence of each cymbals stroke and crash we get without excited splashing or scooped snap that would bypass the natural release.
The attack is both speedy and controlled, the top is clean and open with plenty of space for percussions or higher pitch sound and instruments to express their singular dynamic and presence.
Fans of acoustic guitar would be well serve with the Arya, it has both the fundamental density of attack sustain, the sharp textured attack lead and much needed sparkly release with extend in they air naturally, this make the instrument a notch more forwarded in soundscape as well as brighter and clearer to appreciate, it’s not thin and all metallic sparkle we get, the Arya is too refined in treble response for rough, too excited or too damped treble rendering.
The violin isn’t as enjoyable to my ears, the attack lead lacks a bit of texture for proper readability which make Hilary Hann speedy playing hard to properly cut in tempo. Yet, timbre isn’t too thin or too boosted in texture grain, it’s just a bit too polished in attack bite for this very specific instrument, with wind instrument this doesn’t happen nor with piano, so bowed instrument isn’t as authoritative and agile in attack (with the exception of cello).
Keywords: sparkly, airy and speedy. effortless micro details and texture richness. full not thin treble. lot of air around percussions and acoustic guitar.
The soundstage is main highlight of the Arya wich offer massive headroom that feel like listening to a sound system surrounding you in circular way where wideness, tallness and deepness are all impressive extension yet don’t feel too abnormally anamorphic like being in a too big concert hall sitted far away from center stage. Here the balance with different stage layers is very well done, you feel in middle of the concert hall with both center stage and extra stereo speakers to avoid a clinical or too static rendering of music.
This mean imaging too is great, the instrument has plenty of space between them and transparency of layering permit accurate positioning of everything but kick drum when bass line occur loudly.
SIDE NOTES
The Arya has low sensitivity and like all planar they benefit from proper amping. It doesn’t mean they can’t play loud with a DAP, yet they will sound congested and boxy, lacking proper macro dynamic livelyness, bass density and extension as well as proper headroom openess. A minimum of 1W@32ohm is suggested, but 2W is even safer.
Source wise, cleaner is the source and greater will be release high resolution potential of Arya. Yet, warm source like Hifiman EF600 can make mid range lusher and more pleasant for those sensitive to extra upper mids brightness.
Then, the Arya are very big and depending of your head type, it can be complicate to get proper seal. Any gap will inflict on bass impact so you need to find most closed fit. Positioning of ear cup is of prime important with Arya to project spatiality properly.
Then i urge you to upgrade for a better cable, i’ve try it with different cable and stock one isn’t doing justice in term of crispness and macro dynamic articulation.
COMPARISONS
VS Hifiman Ananda Nano (500$)
Nano is brighter and more W shaped to energetic neutral in balance compared to more U shape, open and laid back musicality of Arya.
The bass is more rolled off in sub bass and not as dense and deep in rumble, bass line can get lost in the mix more easily and Nano has greater focus on mid bass punch which is less warm and more hard punch. Kick drum is brighter and rounder and more dynamic with Nano too.
Mids are brighter and notch shoutier, it has more upper mids energy and vocal and instrument presence is more compressed, less wide in layer than lusher sounding Arya which has more natural and warm timbre, more open center stage so instrument don’t mix together as closely, vocal are less intense in energy too and smoother, piano note as more weight and male vocal sound fuller, less boosted in brightness of presence and texture.
The treble is sharper, more spiky and snappy-sparkly with the more analytical Nano, percussions are thinner and more boosted in metallic texture than more balanced and rounded treble of Arya which offer fuller restitution of percussions in a less sharpened way. This underlines the W shape balance of Nano where intensity of dynamic is found in mid bass, upper mids and upper treble in a more aggressive way than more laid back and relaxed musicality of Arya.
The soundstage is notably wider and taller with Arya, Nano just can’t compete in terms of holographic openness here.
As for imaging, even if Nano is brighter and more in line with monitor like rendering it lacks space between instrument and sound layer too are more compressed, so it’s harder to track and position instruments than more spacious Arya.
All in all, while technical performance greatness is mostly about spatiality with the Arya, the tonal balance is notably better, smoother, less spiky and more pleasant in terms of timbre naturalness. Simply put: I don’t find Nano musicals while I do with Arya.
VS HIFIMAN HE1000 V3
The Arya are brighter, crisper and more U shaped in overall balance. HE1K is warmer, more mid centric and smoother-thicker in balance. Arya sounds more technical and less colored.
The bass boom is faster and cleaner but is thinner, more resonance and less creamy with Arya, their less mid bass body and weight than HE1K, kick drums are less rounded but bass lines are clearer and more agile. HE1K slips and thickens the lower mid range more too.
The mids are leaner, slightly more recessed, brighter and more transparent with Arya, it sound more open and offer edgier definition of instrument. HE1K is lusher, offers wider, more forward vocal and mid range instrument presence, this presence is more creamy, less prompt to sibilance or texture dryness. Timbre is more natural and smooth. Piano and overall instrument have heavier not weight and more tactile body. Arya mids are more resolved and airy, let’s stick together with lower harmonic warmth.
Treble is quite similar, but Arya has a cleaner airier presentation which permits more precise tracking of percussions, we have a hint more brilliance and sparkle but slightly thinner thighs. Lower treble is more boosted and extra texture info than more buttery HE1K. Sense of speed is magnified with Arya as well.
Spatiality is notably wider and taller with HE1K but not as deep and clean as Arya, which isn’t as intimate in holographic headroom. With HE1K you’re in the middle of the music scene, sometimes very near instruments or vocals while for Arya you are not far from the stage, like in the second row with clean vision.
Imaging is superior-edgier-crisper with the Arya, when vocals occur with HE1K it can affect readability of the whole scene due to extra focus of the mid range. Monitoring is easier and more accurate with Arya due to cleaner separation and edgier definition of them.
All in all, if you are timbre and tone lover and favor mid range instrument and vocal fullness and wideness as well as note weight and smooth balance, the HE1000 Stealth is the one to choose, if your more into high fidelity clarity and effortlessly analytical sound, the Arya Organic is an easy suggestion. Personally, the HE1K trigger way more emotional response and musical immersivity to me and warmer tonality make it more versatile, while Arya shine with instrumental music mostly and less so with vocal, but even that will depend since the presence from upper mids is quite forwarded, just not as softened and a bit more substantialize in lower mids and fundamental harmonic.
VS HIFIMAN AUDIVINA
The Arya are notably bassier and more U shaped in balance, they are brighter too and more open and sparkly sounding than linear smoother more reference sounding Audivina.
The sub bass is more boosted, it offers a bigger and wider slam which is warmer too than the more defined mid bass of Audivina. Audivina sub bass seem roll off compared to more rumbly Arya, it doesn’t attract attention too and stay in the back while for bassy music the Arya can be borderline basshead from a purist point of view. Arya bass is more resonant and prompt to warm the mids, it’s less textured and not as fast in control, not as tight. Bass lines of Audivina are less edgy and dominant, more natural in tone and better separated from the kick drum.
Mids are brighter and more open, it’s more excited and boosted in upper mids which make the dynamic less lean than Audivina but less well balanced too, more prompt to slight shortness-sibilance so vocal are way smoother, fuller and more natural with the Audivina even if less boosted in presence brightness. Male vocals are more natural and less recessed and thin with Audivina too.
Audivina has more lower mids and overall mid range fullness, presence is wider and less compressed as well as less recessed when big bass occurs. Timbre and tone of all instruments feel more realist and life-like too with Audivina, free of low or highs coloring.
Its evident mids are more recessed and thin with Arya when we play acoustic music with real instruments, center stage take second stage more when low and highs take the lead than Audivina less U shaped balance.
Then like it’s name promise, the highs are more open and airy with the Arya, it’s more sparkly and brilliant too so acoustic guitar have more edge to attack as well as crisp sustain release, Arya percussions are more upfront and can dominate mids like the bass, it’s thinner but clearer in presence, more boosted in micro details, it add more attack bite to all instrument too which confirm the Audivina isn’t analytical monitor headphones, but a fine final mixing one. Audivine is more balanced and has leaner treble, fuller and less thin, acoustic guitar has greater lower harmonic presence too, yet I wonder why it feels less extended in highs, perhaps to focus more on mid range.
The Soundstage is intensely wider, taller and deeper with Arya, it feels a bit hollow compared to more intimate and focused spatiality of Audivina.
Imaging is great with both but more realistic with the Audivina especially for the whole mid range which have less tamed center stage dynamic, Arya favors some instruments over others, either low or high pitch one so for proper monitoring the Audivina is clearly the one to choose.
All in all, i find technicalities of both in same league apart the soundstage size which is more about acoustic implementation and open back design of the Arya, for tonal balance the Audivina are better balanced as well as less fatiguing for long listening at medium to high volume, i prefer vocal tone too, while i wish the bass dig as deep as the Arya but not in as boomy way.
CONCLUSION
The Hifiman Arya Organic is not only one of most elegant looking planar Headphones but one of most spacious and immersive sounding of them all too.
The vast and holographic musicality it deliver can make you get lost for hours and hours in a rich soundscape with wide and energy bass, fowards and transparent mids and a speedy treble that can deliver fastest percussions with talented bravado.
What is fascinating about this headphones, is that unlike something like the Sennheiser HD820 that open spatiality by puting center stage backward and making mids sound thin and dry, the Arya put you in center of grand scene without making mids too flat and recessed, nor too compromise in timbre fullness too.
Sure, the Arya aren’t as lush and mid centric as the HE1000 V3, but it achieve a near headbanging musicality within an overall mature balance that is near analytical due to sharp treble response that make resolution very high and well carved bass that avoid bleed and keep the mid range and soundstage clean and crisp.
Simply put, my 2 fav headphones are now the Arya Organic and HE1000 V3, which complement each other like Queen and King.
Highly recommended (and keep an eyes on deal, under 1$ these are no brainer imo)
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PS: I want to thanks Hifiman for sending me this review sample as well as for their patience since this review was long due. As always, i have no direct affiliation and Hifiman will discover this review at same time as anybody else.
You can order the Arya Organic for 1150$ (sale) here: https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/arya-organic.html
No Borders Audiophile 