HIFIMAN Arya Organic Full-Size Over-Ear Open-Back Planar Magnetic Headphone with Stealth Magnets for Audiophiles, Home & Studio Listening

**6-Month Update: I have gradually moved to the Organics as my main daily-driver headphones, and am still absolutely in love with them. They are holding up well to constant use, but I do think I'll need some pad replacements after about a year. Mine haven't developed any creaks or issues...they still feel like brand new!A note about powering them: While they can be run by low-powered sources, I will say that they do benefit from more power. My office rig is a Topping A90D, and it's been a solid pairing. On the Class-A amplification of a Schitt Mjolnir 3, however, they sound even better. More fatness and grip on the low end, and even more of that speed and immediacy is on tap.Original Review:I have been in the head-fi space for many years now, and currently have several mid-to-high-end headphones in rotation. The Arya Organics are something special, and this type of performance doesn't come along at this price very often.Comfort: #1 for me is comfort. If a headphone isn't comfortable, it doesn't get picked often, and just doesn't get listened to as frequently. If I have to constantly fiddle with it to get it sitting right, it ruins immersion and is simply too distracting. These are some of the most comfortable headphones I have ever used. Less clamp than the Sennheiser 6 range (and those I find to be quite comfy), lighter than the Focal range, and with fewer hotspots. For long listening sessions and marathon gaming, I can confidently reach for the Organics knowing I'm going to be comfortable.Tuning: #2 for me is the tuning, and whether it agrees with how I hear. I was initially worried about these, as I'm very treble-sensitive. Harsh upper-midrange also bothers me, and the charts all show a rise between 6-7K and 8-9K. I am happy to report that (after a bit of burn-in) they don't irritate me at all. Something about how that 1-2K dip sets up the treble presentation somehow cools it down. The midrange and treble presents as detailed, open, airy, yet just under the 'too sharp' threshold for me. Lovely.Bass: #3. If the bass isn't good, I don't care about the rest. Maybe I'm a heathen, but if the bass doesn't move me, I just don't reach for the headphone as often. Luckily, Hifiman's decision to bring up the bass here is a welcome change, and scratches that particular itch in a delightful, impactful, detailed way. It's not just about the quantity, it's also about the texture and speed. The bass on the Organics is interesting in that it has impact, control and separation that I wasn't expecting. My experience with planar bass is that it's usually technically very good, but not quite as 'fun' as a dynamic driver. The Organics have some of the best planar bass I've ever heard, from long, sustained real instrumentation to demanding electronic music, this is simply excellent.Midrange: #4. Vocals, guitars, synth lines, everything that falls into the midrange category here is presented in a way that's a bit perplexing. The Organics can be SUPER close and intimate, yet also HUGELY wide and expansive here. Vocals especially seem to float and shimmer and occupy a space all their own. Again, the level of detail and texture here is mind-blowing. I have much more listening to do before I can write more here, but suffice it to say that the midrange here is interesting in all the right ways.Soundstage: #5 for me. If I don't care about soundstage, I'll just listen to IEM's. Over-ear headphones remain interesting for me because of the sense of space they can provide. The soundstage on the Organics is excellent. Width is as wide or wider than most, but what surprised me was the sense of front-to-back depth on offer here. The precise way the Organics image most likely at play here, and while my Senn HD800s can go wider, they do so at the expense of realism and note weight. The stage on the Arya's is amazing. How about for gaming? These are wallhack-level. 'Nuff said.Overall , this is the most compelling package at the price point, and perhaps quite a bit beyond that I've ever seen, and have quickly become my daily drivers. All-day comfort, exciting, just dynamic enough, detailed without shoving sound in your face, analytical while still being relaxed enough to get out of their own way. Hall of fame level headphones.

These are fantastic headphones. I went on kind of a crazy buying spree, purchasing and returning full-sized headphones. Comparing these to the Arya Stealth, these have a more spacious, open soundstage and fantastic, localized imaging of voices and instruments. Tonality is really beautiful.I actually hesitated to try these out because my previous experiences with Hifiman products have been, to put it mildly, mixed, in terms of quality control. I had several pairs of their earlier earbuds, the RE-600's, which had notorious quality control problems, with cables that would inevitably short out. I also bought a pair of their Sundara headphones, and found them uncomfortable and bright, with a cheap headband adjustment mechanism that inevitably scratched the metal band!But the quality on these is much better. And although they look rather goofy on your head when you are wearing them, they are light as a feather and super comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. Don't forget that these are open back headphones, meaning that by design they will not provide isolation from the outside world, and also that people around you will be able to hear what you are listening to. So these are best suited to home or quiet office listening at work.And the sound? As I said, it is glorious and addictive. These are also fairly sensitive and efficient, so although you don't need a super powerful desktop amplifier to get the most out of these, they will "scale" nicely with better equipment. As you can see from the picture, I am running them with an iBasso DX320 DAP (short for" Digital Audio Player") and they sound really great. You will also see that I am using a balanced, 4.4 mm cable in place of the one that comes with the headphones. This cable is made by Tripowin, and it is available right here on Amazon for less than $40, which is quite the bargain.I will only add that I can confirm the manufacturer recommendation that you give these headphones a good number of hours to break in. (they actually recommend 150 hours.) When I first got them, I found them somewhat "hot" in the treble region, but that has smoothed out with break-in.Highly, highly recommended! Not at all cheap, but if you can afford them, well worth the price.