The Arya Stealth is a very different headphone though. Just look at listener, he loves the Edition XV but hates the Arya Stealth (like me). The Arya is not an upgrade from the XV, its a different headphone entirely.
Do you want a bright egg-shaped Hifiman? Arya Stealth.
Do you want a warm smooth egg-shaped Hifiman? Edition XV.
>However, with a good peq it is easy to make the Aryas smooth as well, if that is the preference.
No, thats my point. The Arya Stealth has wild treble peaks. Its not easy to PEQ at all. The Edition XV behaves much more linearly on a variety of heads, same as the other newer Hifimans like the Arya Unveiled. Ive owned a Arya Stealth, I have never had any other headphone that were as frustrating to EQ as the Aryas.
>Arya is definitely a step up in technical performance
"Technical" performance is kind of an audiophile myth IMO. The Arya Stealth is significantly brighter, which may be perceived as being more detailed, apart from that its not more advanced than the Edition XV. I might even argue that the more predictable treble performance of the Edition XV is a "technical" strength because that is very hard to impossible to replicate with EQ.
>I find Sennheisers in general to be too analytical or harsh
Then you are likely to hate Hifimans entire lineup except for the Edition XV. They are as bright or brighter than any Sennheiser except for maybe the vanilla HD800.
I demoed these and I was not a big fan of the sound. I preferred Ananda Unveiled and Edition XV from Hifiman. Would love to hear the FT7 with some EQ next time.
I've tried the **audeze maxwell 1 & 2** in the last 2 weeks. Audio for games was excellent, great positional audio for FPS, great clarity etc.
Wasn't a fan for music, and the soundstage being closed back wasn't as wide as I'd like.
However the reason I returned them was comfort. Quite possibly the most uncomfortable headphones I've ever tried to wear for more than an hour.
However if your head/ears are right, apparently they're great. (Also several aftermarket earpad options, ranging from £20-£70, several are highly recommended)
\--
Sticking around the same budget as the maxwell's;
At the moment I've got a set of **hifiman Edition EV** that are absolutely amazing for music, and for games they're great, just not \*quite\* as good positional audio(Tested in battlefield 6), but the soundstage is great, so is the clarity etc.
With the same wide open planar quality, the **Asus rog Kithara** came out semi recently, helpfully made in collaboration with hifiman, slightly cheaper as well.
If you want to double your budget, You can look at hifimans "**Arya Stealth**" for the best of both worlds, apparently they're absolutely top tier.
Incidentally I'm not a hifiman fanboy, I'm a newly converted open-back planar fanboy. Hifiman just seems to have the most options.
PS: For gaming I tested the headphones with both dolby atmos & DTS:X headphones. Atmos is more atmospheric/immersive on the whole, DTS is more accurate for positional audio.
The new lineup seems specifically designed to address their reputation for bad QC. I've owned several Hifiman cans and the XV are a significant step up in terms of build quality.
I remember basically being afraid that my Sundaras would fall apart if I dropped them. If those were a 3/10 for build, these feel closer to a 7 or 8.
I’ve heard the ft1 can muddy up the bass on heavier songs, so I’m considering the sundara.
I have the edition xv eq’d to like +10db under 60hz so it sounds like a sub for hip hop and edm, but that doesn’t really come into play for other genres.
I need a closed back for work though, do you think I’ll be disappointed with the sundara? I have a feeling eqing the ft1 like this will absolutely ruin kick drums for rock music
Top Headphones (Over / On Ear) on Reddit
1
Sennheiser
HD 560S
79% positive of 630 users
Budget gaming king with clear sound, but tight fit.
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