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

$600 is the new $500 headphone, and the Arya Stealth is so worth the upgrade over both the Ananda Nano and the Edition XS (or anything else under 600). I just tried them all after a zillions hours watching video reviews over and over.The Edition XS was a disappointment for me after seeing such super glowing video reviewd. The bass was muddy, the detail wasn't on the level I expected, and overall, the sound wasn't worth the effort to EQ. Honestly, they sounded "almost" as good as the AirPods Pro 2 — which are fun and musical, but definitely not high-end headphones. the tuning had vocals sound too far away and i wanted to turn the music up to hear that, but made highs and lows too loud. worst thing is I couldn't get over how uncomfortable to wear, and I bought a 3rd party comfort strap, but decided to return.The Ananda Nano was a noticeable step up in clarity, comfort and technical performance. I would have been happy with them—until I tried the Arya. What most reviewers are saying between these two are accurate. The Nano is analytical, where it was hard to just relax and enjoy the music, except when on my too overly warm ifi zen can dac. They’d be great for mixing or reference listening, but less so for hours of pleasure listening. You notice you've had them on after about an 45 minutes. That said, they were much better than the XS and almost similar level of Arya.The Arya Stealth, I’m so glad I decided to give them a try - almost didn't. They were immediately more comfortable, felt more premium in build, and the sound was slightly more detailed than the Nano but also more musical and easy to listen to. The increase in price jump was very worth it for the performance upgrade and is a step up from the Nano.They don’t play well with my OTL tube amp, but they pair beautifully with my iFi Zen DAC and Hiby DAP. Where they truly sound "magical" is with my $120 hybrid Class A Apos Gremlin tube amp with Ray Select tubes - the sound will keep you up all night listening to just-one-more-track. Female vocals, hi-hats, and snares just come alive and sparkle with richness and rolling off those achy highs. The sound stage is wide and expansive as I would want - not intimate at all - which is what I was looking for.This was the absolute most I was willing to spend, and I feel like I found what I was looking for: a great deal on a high-quality performing musical planar headphone that I’ll be using regularly with my hybrid amp and DAP for music. I use other gear for gaming with a smaller sound stage. Never say Never, but I may not get another lanar . I may EQ later, but even stock, I'm very satisfied.Paired with the hybrid tube/class A amp really adds magic to female voices and that awesome sound from hihats and snare drums. Really wide sounding - not intimate at all. This is the most I wanted to spend and I feel I found what I was looking for, a great deal on a new set of high quality and musical HiFi planar headphones that will get a lot of regular use from a hybrid amp for music. Very satisfied.

Putting on the headphones for the first time, and the first things I thought were: Wow this headphone feels kind weird. It's a bit tight on the clamping force, but somehow feels weightless. Let's listen to some music. Holy mother that is some awesome bass. And the treble extends so far! But it's not bright? It's just clear... but like, the mids are still here, and very present. Everything is here and so clean. Soundstage is good. Good enough for sure. Can soundstage be wider? Oh god that bass. Oh god that treble extension.This kind of went on repeat for the first hours of listening. I think I followed a very traditional audiophile path with SOME things that are a little off the beaten path. I started with the superlux 681 evos when I was super tight on budget. Moved up to the SHP9500 when it was getting all the hype. Then a year or two go by and I get the HD6xx when those were getting mega hyped. after 3 years then I wanted to try planar. Instead of getting the sundara i went with the monolith m1070. Heard it had more body, more warm tonality, something that I did not want to give up from the 6xx. (Still kinda gave some of it up anyway because the 6xx is just that damn smooth).As far as source, I didn't play around with dacs much. Not even really with amps. I didn't want to spend all my money. I had a useful audio interface as a dac. I tried a bravo hybrid amp to get a little bit more soundstage from the 6xx (It helped ever so slightly) and I tried a topping a50s for the planar, because I heard solid state amps were better for planars.So much research because I want every single penny to count. So why then did I spend a thousand bucks on the arya stealth? Well, because of research. This is clearly one of the most beloved headphones ever created, and finally a headphone that could apparently deliver in every category. Something to balance everything out.And it pretty much does it all. I say pretty much mostly because my imagination can get the better of me at times. Remember in the beginning when I said these soundstage okay, then kind of second guess myself? I feel like the danger of doing too much research is that we start filling our heads with ideas that things can be more than what we really can experience at times. When I hear the concept of huge soundstage, my brain exaggerates for a second, like I bet I could hear things that feel like they are 80 yards away! In reality, if there is a lot of music going on, i probably wouldn't notice that sound until it was much closer. Does that make sense?I'm rambling now. Basically, I think for me this is as good as it gets. The soundstage did open up as my ears adjusted. Everything kind of mellowed out to be honest, but all of it is still available when I focus on it. A perfect balance. I like to listen to music while doing art or working on creative things. These headphones allow me the pleasure to still work on those things, but still thoroughly enjoy the music, and pick deeper when I want.I thought instead of explaining the sound, I would explain my experience with these and my journey, since there are already so many reviews available that I think explain their characteristics well. But maybe my story will offer something a little different from the rest.Lastly, because these are so good, I was questioning my source. So yes, I went down the dac and amp road for a bit and ended on an unlikely combo.First, the fiio k7. For pretty much everyone, this will be perfect. Get a balanced cable to go with this and enjoy full bodied bass, a good soundstage, excellent clarity. Honestly, just a good pair with the stealth. (My k7 had a weird channel imbalance on the balanced output, which lead me to other options because of research of course.)Then I tried the soundavo hp-1 with the topping a50s. It was good too, but not quite as resolving as the fiio k7. Soundavo hp-1 sounded like it exaggerated the soundstage, and the center image became a bit muddied. Sound became more speaker like, so it was still pretty darn cool. But not my cup of tea ultimately. (Also had a channel imbalance. Just my luck.)Tried the Xduoo mt-604. Because class A and apparently it does warm things up. It does, but really only a little. What really improved with it was the punch... but the k7 lacked a balanced line out... which leads to my oddball setup that I love.Paired an smsl m300se with the xduoo mt 604. It has clean sound, punchy deep bass. Treble extension is great and the soundstage is on point. For me, this is it.And yes. This is putting this a little over the cost of the arya organic. Have I heard that headphone? nope. Do I want to. Yes. Is it worth the investment and the hassle to try? For right now no. Because I think at some point I can just live knowing that what I have makes me happy.