Upgraded to Hifiman HE1000 from Arya Stealth

Submitted by Exciting-Mine-4300 t3_11c3ycm in headphones

A few months ago I bought the Arya Stealth because how many reviewers were praising it's technical performance and tonality . In my first weeks of listening I was very impressed myself, but with more listening time I began noticing some issues... I was hearing more sibilance than I would like to and also the vocals sounded kind of dry for my taste, I love warmth in audio gear.

So I just recently got the HE1000 V2 and wow, I think i legit found this time my endgame headphone, it's even more detailed, wide in soundstage, but even more important, it is very very pleasing and nice. There is a nice sense of warmth and musicality that was missing from the Aryas, I'm just having a blast listening to music no matter which music genre and I will sell my Aryas. It still has a bit of sibilance but is very minimal compared to the Arya and barely noticeable. Also I think timbre is definitely more realistic in the HE1000.

Not trying to saying Aryas are a bad headphone at all, but if you have the money to buy the HE1000 instead I personally think is the superior headphone for actual musical enjoyment.

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Comments

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The_D0lph1n t1_ja1kgo0 wrote

I've demoed both the Arya Stealth and the HEKv2, and while I only had a few minutes with each, I definitely agree that the HE-1000 is a step above the Arya. There was something harsh in the Arya's upper midrange and treble that made some voices sound "scratchy". The HE1000 did not have that issue and was a more refined and smoother presentation all around. I wasn't able to listen long enough to evaluate stuff like soundstage or detail presentation, but I noticed the difference how smoothly the HE1000 rendered vocals. Either one is endgame-worthy, but the HEK is still better by some margin.

Back when the Arya was $1600 and the HEKv2 was $3000, the Arya was definitely the price-optimized choice, but with the Arya now at $1300 and the HEKv2 at $2000, the latter is a more viable option.

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Exciting-Mine-4300 OP t1_ja1l3a5 wrote

Replying to The_D0lph1n (#2,014,327)

Oh yeah you are right about the upper midrange, the HE1000 doesn't have that issue at all, it is a smoother sounding headphone. Like you said, now that the difference is $700 I would say the HE1000 is the better buy and even better value than the Arya.

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therealbrookthecook t1_ja1ulgt wrote

HE1000v2 is really a game changer at $2k, enjoy your kickass headphones cause I know I am! I wanted a shorter balanced cable, so I ended ordering a Cardas Parsec headphone cable and it definitely makes a difference if you swap out a $50 balanced cable from a $$$ cable......

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blorg t1_ja20mis wrote

Replying to therealbrookthecook (#2,016,242)

Cable makes no difference and particularly not on a planar with a totally flat impedance curve as this does. If you went from a single ended cable to balanced, it's possible the balanced output on your amp is better but it's because it gives you access to that then, not because of the cable construction.

The stock Hifiman cables are annoying, although I think they might be better now on the more recent HE1000V2s. I have replaced the cables on all my Hifimans with stuff that handles better. Sounds no different though.

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CPOx t1_ja2hyil wrote

I’m not really understanding why you would pick up the Arya Stealth in the first place if you prefer warmth.

Every review I’ve ever read or watched of them clearly states they lean bright.

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Exciting-Mine-4300 OP t1_ja2sei5 wrote

Replying to CPOx (#2,019,830)

Yeah you are right about that, but even so some people said that vocals sounded amazing and that the sound had nothing offensive, so I thought with some EQ I would be able to fix it but it clearly wasn't the case, just the overall presentation of the headphone is a bit too clean/dull at times.

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as1eep t1_ja2xuk8 wrote

Btw are we talking hekv2 original or the recent stealth revision? You can tell by whether it came in a boring cardboard box with one of the foam stands (stealth)or the fanciers classic hek box with the medical tubing cables (og)

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as1eep t1_ja35das wrote

Replying to Exciting-Mine-4300 (#2,023,017)

Frankly speaking as far as far as i can tell the new stealth is not by any means an upgrade unlike arya stealth. The major differences are less but more impactful bass, much brighter highs, smaller soundstage and recessed mids. Nobody can actually pinpoint if any detail or speed is gained as all people can say is its better than arya but worse than hekse, which is what they were saying about hekv2 original already.

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covertash t1_ja3w22i wrote

Congrats!

Yeah, I came to very similar conclusions over long-term listening between these two as well. The HEK v2 is a wonderful all-rounder that is easier to listen to without fatigue - and this was even doing comparison listening across multiple combinations of source chains as well.

I was able to take advantage of a trade-in for my Ananda to upgrade to the HEK v2, and have no regrets. So I'm heavily considering doing a similar trade-in for the Arya SE to go up to something else, otherwise, they'll likely end up getting sold later this year.

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YummyBaldy t1_ja4069c wrote

Well i did the opposite, i sold my he1000se for the Arya Stealth. Lost a lot of technicalities but overall i prefer a narrower soundstage with lot of separation

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IAmAgainst t1_ja40gxn wrote

I don't feel I'm missing anything with the Aryas but if I ever upgrade it will be for those ones. With their price, there's no reason to buy the Aryas when the HE1000 are so close. I paid €1000 for the Aryas but if I were to buy them new I would save a little bit more and go for the HE1000.

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Exciting-Mine-4300 OP t1_ja559qf wrote

Replying to covertash (#2,028,984)

Thank you! Love the headphone a lot :) definitely the HE1000 is a headphone made for listening pleasure, I been listening nonstop this weekend, which is in the end what this hobby is all about. Hope you can trade in the Arya SE for something you like better hopefully!

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