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

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.

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 just 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 20 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.