Hifiman Arya Stealth vs Arya Organic Comparison Review

 

General/Build/Comfort/Packaging

Having tested the Sundara previously and had a very good experience with it, it's only natural that I have the same expectation for both Arya Stealth and Arya Organic. The differences between the two are easily distinguishable, the Arya Stealth features an all black design including the earcup, while the Arya Organic has a wood grain finish on the earcup’s perimeter, giving it a more premium finishing look in my opinion, other than that, the design of the headphone, as well as the overall structure is almost identical, including the earcup’s size, in terms of comfort, both the headphones are comfortable to use for long listening session, clamping force is just right for me, taking into the consideration of my head’s size, i do not need any adjustment on the position of the earcups as it is able to cover my ears completely due to the design of the earcups.

Packaging wise, both share the same kind of packaging box, cables, as well as a headphone stand is included for both, given the price of both the headphones, i think it’s fair to ask for balanced cable to be included in either XLR or 4.4 termination.

Gears used for this review

• Earmen Tradutto -> Earmen CH-Amp

• Nipo A100

• Aune N4

• Both Headphones using stock cable

Foreword

My review is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far

Sound Impression

To my ears, Arya Stealth is leaning towards a more neutral and precise profile while the Arya Organic is the “fun” version of Arya Stealth, with slightly thicker note weight that is not that cold sounding compared to Arya Stealth. Timbre performance for both Arya Stealth and Arya Organic are more or less similar with slight planar sheen to it.

Bass

• The bass on Arya Stealth has good extension and deep but lacking the slam and quantity to my ears

• Arya Organic on the other hand does the bass differently, good punch on the mid bass, rumble whenever the track calls for it, note weight is also noticeably thicker than Arya Stealth

• In terms of speed, both are more or less similar and remains tight and well controlled, it also doesn’t bleed into the mids

Mids

• The mids on Arya Stealth presents itself as a slightly dry presentation, male vocal is slightly lacking in terms of texture and borderline thin sounding to my ears, Female vocal is full of energy but doesn’t present itself as shouty

• Arya Organic on the other hand is not dry sounding, male vocal has better texture and certainly not thin sounding, but female vocal on the other hand does slightly lacking in terms of energy, but this is understandable due to the nature of the tuning

• Upper mids are generally safe to my ears and not certainly not shouty for both Arya Stealth and Arya Organic

• During my listening test with both the Arya Stealth as well as Arya Organic, older recording generally works better with Arya Stealth due to the warmer nature and somehow this works as some sort of compensation for the resolution that older recordings lacking, Arya Stealth on the other hand does not tolerate older recordings that well, every bit of flaws are exposed and make it hard to continue listening with it

• Details in this range are good enough for the asking price

Treble

• Treble performance for both Arya Stealth and Arya Organic are more or less similar, both are with good extension and airy sounding, with the exception on Arya Organic’s lower treble is slightly more rounded compared to Arya Stealth which sometimes can veer into the sibilance territory depending on the track

Soundstage/Imaging

• When it comes to soundstage, Arya Stealth offers a very wide, with good width and depth that gives a very good out of head perception

• Arya Organic’s staging size is slightly more intimate sounding, slightly lacking in terms of width but with good depth and height perception, imagine the artist being closer to you compared to Arya Stealth, say 10 steps away vs 5 steps away

• Imaging on either Arya Stealth and Arya Organic has pin point accuracy, even in busy orchestral tracks

Driveability

• In terms of driveability, Arya Organic is slightly more efficient compared to Arya Stealth, It can be driven by some powerful portable dac/amp such as the Nipo A100, however, it does scale very well with amplification and works even better when i switch to desktop setup, Aune N7 as the Amp and S9C as the Dac

• Arya Stealth on the other hand doesn’t really favors dongle, it lacks the current to properly drive the lows, muddy and lacking control to my ears, Aune’s N7 works quite well with it and it actually colors the sound a little due to the nature of warmish tuning from the amp

Comparison between Arya Stealth and Arya Organic

• Arya Stealth to my ears sound more reference and analytical in terms of tuning, lacking the “fun” factor

• Arya Organic sports the “fun” factor, with added weight in the bass range, as well as the mids, while retaining the airiness as well as extension of the treble from the Arya Stealth

• Both sports similar design language and build quality

• Personally, to me the Arya Organic is more of a all rounder based on my listening preference, it can be used for multimedia consumption as well, Arya Stealth works very well with genres such as classical, jazz, as well as acoustics tracks, it can be used for multimedia consumption as well, but it will lack the impact in the bass region especially in scenes like explosions or shooting

Final Thoughts

The Arya Organic does not serve as a replacement for Arya Stealth, rather, it is being introduced as a different flavor of Arya in my opinion.

As i have mentioned earlier, the build quality, design and the size is almost identical with the change mainly resides in the tuning, one offers a reference and near analytical tuning(Arya Stealth), while another one offers a tuning that is generally considered to be more focused on listening pleasure rather than behaving like a monitoring tool (Arya Organic).

In my opinion, you won’t go wrong with either one, it ultimately depends on your preference, both are great headphones and both of them definitely deserve a recommendation! My personal preference is leaning towards the Organic.

*The Hifiman Arya Stealth and Arya Organic was sent over by Hifiman for the purpose of this review, I received no monetary compensation nor was I influenced in any way to produce this review.

If you are interested in getting a pair, head over to their official store to grab one now! Both are currently on sale with substantial discount at the time of writing!

Hifiman Arya Organic - Non Affiliated

Hifiman Arya Stealth - Non Affiliated