Hifiman Arya Stealth's Review

 

General/Build/Comfort/Packaging

Arya Stealth has been out for quite some time and is it still good or relevant by today’s standard? In today’s review, we will be discussing the sonic performance of it and decide if it’s still relevant by today’s standard.

Having tested quite a number of Hifiman headphones previously and had a very good experience with it, it's only natural that I have the same expectation for Arya Stealth

The Arya Stealth features an all black design including the earcup, the design is actually quite similar to one of the models which i have tested previously, the Ananda Nano.

In terms of comfort, Arya Stealth is 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, i am also wearing glasses and the fit is good for me.

Packaging wise, almost all of the headphones that i have reviewed share the same kind of packaging box, cables, as well as a headphone stand is also included, given the price of 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 S9c Pro -> Aune N7

• xDuoo XD05T

• Arya Stealth using stock cable and earpads

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

Prior to writing this review, the Arya Stealth has been put through my burn in station for roughly 100 hours with a mixture of tracks on loop including pink noise.

To my ears, Arya Stealth is leaning towards a more neutral and precise profile offering clean and fast bass while the treble remains crisp but not harsh. Timbre performance is quite close to dynamic driver but some planar sheen is still noticeable if you pay attention to it real hard

Bass

• The bass on Arya Stealth has good extension and deep but lacking the slam and quantity to my ears, but when i’m using it with xDuoo’s XD05T dac/amp, i turned on the bass boost switch and i’m good when i needed more bass than usual

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

• Sub bass does rumble whenever the track is calling for it, but it is definitely nowhere near bass head territory for sure

• Mid bass to my ears is punchy but somehow still lacking a little in terms of quantity

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

• Vocal positioning is neither too forward nor recessed, just nice, imagine the artist being 3-4 steps in front of you

• Upper mids are generally safe to my ears and not certainly not shouty

Treble

• Treble performance for Arya Stealth is really good, it is airy and full of energy and it is not the kind of treble that induces fatigue when you are listening to it for a long period of time

• Treble has enough air and works well for complex tracks

• Detail retrieval is good for both micro and macro details

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

• When the classical orchestral song is playing back from my Arya Stealth, it puts a grin on my face

• Imaging on Arya Stealth it’s just good

Driveability

• In terms of driveability, Arya Stealth is not as demanding when it comes to power requirement, but having more on tap makes the Bass slightly better in terms of control and dynamics, quantity and tonality of the bass however is depending on the source/amp used

• It can be driven by some powerful portable dac/amp such as the Nipo A100 or the xDuoo XD05T, as i have mentioned above, 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 (Fosi i5 Planar Magnetic headphone)

• The headphone’s design quite good with some wood finishing, and weight is slightly heavier than most of the hifiman i’m using/reviewed

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

• Fosi’s i5 sports the “fun” factor, with added weight in the bass range, as well as the mids, treble wise it is slightly darker than the Arya Stealth

• Mids are slightly thicker in terms of note weight and texture

• In terms of technicalities, Arya Stealth is definitely way ahead of i5

• Personally, to me both serves different people, some prefers a clean and uncolored sound signature while some will enjoy the colored sonic performance 

Final Thoughts

The Arya Stealth no doubt is a very capable headphone and worthy of recommendation. The tuning is either you like it or you don’t, it shouldn’t be mistaken bad just because you don’t like it. So, back to the early question, is the Arya Stealth still relevant today? In my personal opinion, definitely, two years after its release, it definitely still have a place in today’s fast moving market.

*The Hifiman Arya Stealth 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 discounts at the time of writing!

Hifiman Arya Stealth - Non Affiliated