HIFIMAN Arya Unveiled Headphones Review – Revelations Of Affordability
HIFIMAN Arya Unveiled is a $1449 USD pair of Unveiled Planar Magnetic Headphones, featuring a technology unique to HIFIMAN, namely the unveiled tech, where there is no earcup, and the driver is fully exposed resulting in a uniquely transparent and boundless sound. Today we review the Arya Unveiled and also compare them with other high-end headphones including SJY Audio Horizon (999 USD), Erzetich Mania V2024 (1249 USD) and Palma DHS-1 (2195 USD).
Introduction
HIFIMAN is slowly completing the arsenal of Unveiled headphones, and after applying the technology to their flagship HIFIMAN Susvara Unveiled, we now have the Arya Unveiled, with a Stealth Magnetic, Nanometer Thickness Diaphragm and Unveiled design. HIFIMAN is now one of the most popular headphone designers and manufacturers in the whole world thanks to their impressive year-to-year improvement in acoustics, excellent price to performance ratio, and comfortable design for their headphones.
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Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/45L30as
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_oken8CL
Build Quality And Design
HIIFMAN made the debut of the unveiled driver in 2024, with HIFIMAN Susvara Unveiled, and the idea is that removing the grill that sometimes interferes with the movement of the diaphragm, you can improve the soundstage and sonic quality of a pair of headphones. All HIFIMAN Unveiled headphones come with Magnetic veils, designed to protect the fully open drivers of the unveiled headphones and as the driver is magnetic and highly attractive for small metallic objects that can perforate the headphones, it is important to keep the covers on while you’re not using the headphones.
At the core, HIFIMAN is using the Nanometer Thickness Diapgragm previously seen in the Arya Organic and Arya Nano headphones, with the driver membrane being less than a millionth of a meter in thickness. Combined with the stealth magnet technology, this driver will have a performance improved over the previous two headphones released.
For the more technical reader, Arya Unveiled has a Sensitivity of 94 dB, and an impedance of 27 OHMs. This places it at the very hard to drive end of the spectrum for the price point. With a weight of 413 grams, without the veils and the headphone cable, Arya Unveiled is one of the lighter high-end headphones available today.
Subjective Usage
For the first time in ages I can say that this is truly amazingly comfortable for the price. Most Arya iterations have been quite comfortable, but Arya Organic in particular got a bit tighter, a bit smaller, somehow it did not fit my head quite as well as Arya Stealth and the original, but happily Unveiled is back on track to be comfortable. You can expect zero passive noise isolation, unveiled drivers are incredibly transparent and allow every single bit of noise to push through, both ways.
This means that people in the room will also clearly hear what you’re listening to and enjoy your music, and room acoustics are somewhat relevant for Arya Unveiled, the same way they’ve been relevant for Susvara Unveiled. Default cable quality is ok sonically, but you can get much better ergonomics with upgrade cables, which are easy to find and purchase since HIFIMAN sticks to the 3.5mm connector at the headphone side, a pleasingly universal connector.
Arya U is rather lightweight on my head, not quite as comfortable as Susvara Unveiled, but I wear them with more peace of mind knowing that Arya Unveiled is not quite as expensive. As we have explored already, Unveiled drivers are very resilient, and my Susvara Unveiled gets daily usage for more than two hours, yet nothing happened to the drivers. Even if something is to happen, HIFIMAN has one of the best warranties these days and it is reliable as a company to be there in case something happens, outside of you damaging the drivers yourself.
Sound Quality
Pairings – HIFIMAN Raya Unveiled deserves the best sources, they will scale with the source, but this should not scare you away, and I have paired them with DAC AMPs from the mighty flagship class, including FiiO K17, Burson PlayMate 2, JDS Labs Element IV, Singxer Sa-1 V2 driven by a FiiO K15, Rose Technics RT-5000, and Dethonray Clarinet.
HIFIMAN Arya Unveiled does not require a lot of power to be driven well, they are easy to drive, similar to most headphones, and at times even easier to drive than IEMS in terms of power / voltage requirements. They do prefer high gain most of the time and with most sources, but you can max out the resolution / clarity / impact deliver with an affordable high-end source like FiiO K17, yet there is better sonic performance to be had with a combo like iBasso D16 + iBasso PB5. Overall, you can do really well with Element IV, which is one of the most affordable options you can use to drive Arya Unveiled, besides FiiO K15.
Overall Signature – HIFIMNA Arya Unveiled carries the same dramatic, quick, natural sound that we’ve heard from HIFIMAN Susvara unveiled, but with a more affordable edge. Arya Unveiled is more balanced in the drama to musicality ratio, it is less forward, less aggressive than sus U, but smoother, more musical, more detailed and revealing than Arya Organic. Bass starts at about 30 Hz, with a fairly linear extension down to this point. The treble brilliance extends up to 20 kHz, with an airy presentation, wide and holographic treble and beautiful extension all the way through.
Bass – Starting from the low-end, I heard both the susvara U and HE1000 Unveiled, and Arya Unveiled has a slightly shallower bass than both, audible only if you match them side by side. This shows the extra you gain by spending more, especially with He1000 U and Arya U, where He1000 Unveiled has more bass depth and reaches down to 20 Hz, while Arya Unveiled starts the sub low end at 30 Hz. This being said, they all have ultimate control, and Arya Unveiled has a slightly more vocal sound, more focus being placed on voices and instruments than thunder impact and slam. Arya Unveiled has a natural, big, somewhat slow and satisfying bass. Arya Organic does not focus on slam, but has enough for rock, metal and pop, but quite enough for EDM and Dubstep compared to HE1000 Unveiled and susvara unveiled.
Midrange – Quite a vocal headphone, Arya U is quite open in the midrange, highlights, reveals and renders voices, instruments and guitar solos, pianos and a wide space in between them. There is a bias to bring voices up front, right in your face and render them as leading the song, but they render male voices as powerful, deep and voracious, while female voices are sweet and dramatic, basically Arya Unveiled allows each song to sound as it is meant to, rock is rock, metal is metal, without a particular tint. This transparency helps Arya Unveiled be enjoyable with all acoustic music, and they seem tuned for it, as a smoother texture in the midrange and the treble makes them super enjoyable with real instruments, but a bit too rich for electronic only synths.
Treble – HIFIMAN is generally known for their brighter, more open treble, and Arya Unveiled also extends nicely up to 20 kHz, making most headphones from competitors sound rolled-off, but HIFIMAN has been refining this treble, with the new unveiled headphones sounding much smoother in the textures, more open, yet more boundless, richer and silkier. I like this change as it allows me to enjoy my metal more, without fatigue. Overall, Arya Unveiled is more relaxed, smoother than Arya Organic, they sound less harsh and reveal sibilance less than Organic, so the unveiled treatment helps the sound if you want something that’s musical and beautiful sounding.
Dynamics And Textures – Arya Unveiled sounds natural, rich and organic, with a natural level of texture. In fact, they are ever so slightly silky and smooth, but overall can render most instruments exactly the way they would sound in reality. Dynamic range is more compressed than with He1000 Unveiled, Arya Organic being vocal and slightly mid centric compressed the dynamic range, and also brings forward certain details, giving them more volume and a flatter ratio relative to the forward instruments. This flattens the imaging a bit in the depth plane, but makes the sound more holographic, wider and more airy.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – Arya Unveiled is one of the few headphones in the price range that has good control from very quiet to very loud volumes, but they excel in the middle, they sound best at medium volumes, where you get the best balance of dynamic range, resolution, clarity and musicality. Louder, they become more aggro, quieter they get a bit more V-Shaped, bass has more contrast and more volume, treble is more brilliant, while up loud voices are stronger with the treble and the bass taking a second place.
Soundstage – With a wide, and airy presentation, Arya is great for Orchestral, classical and acoustic music, they render music with excellent separation, but not a strong separation between layers, music has a good spatiality, and you can tell where a sound is coming from, but it is a more blended soundstage, instruments combine rather than being separated in an analytical fashion. This makes Arya Unveiled great for any music that has a choir, orchestra, classical passages, but less tuned for EDM and Dubstep.
Comparisons
HIFIMAN Arya Unveiled vs Palma DHS-1 (1449 USD vs 2195 USD) – Palma DHS-1 is a more compact pair of headphones, they are made for portability, and come with thinner connectors at the earcup side, but they do come with a balanced 4.4mm cable. Overall, while Arya Unveiled does not offer any kind of passive noise isolation, Palma DHS-1 can go from open to closed, offering either a very transparent and open sound or a semi open one, as even in the closed configuration complete isolation is not achieved for acoustic purposes. Both headphones are easy to drive, but Palma DHS-1 scales a bit more with the source. Sonically, Palma DHS-1 is a warmer, more analogue sounding, more romantic pair of headphones, while Arya Unveiled is more transparent, more revealing, more detailed and more vocal. While both headphones can be said to have a slightly warm bass, Palma DHS-1 is definitely warmer, more romantic sounding, with a slower decay for the bass note, a more smooth miodrange and a smoother, more relaxed treble, whereas Arya Unveiled has a more dramatic, more impactful sound with more bite and more treble sparkle, more brilliance. Arya Unveiled will sound wider and more holographic while Palma DHS-1 sounds more intimate and with a stronger instrument separation and directionality / imaging.
HIFIMAN Arya Unveiled vs Erzetich Mania V2024 (1449 USD vs 1249 USD) – Mania V 2024 is a rather large and heavy pair of headphones, with maybe a slightly goofy look to them, but all is done in the name of achieving the best acoustics, and while Mania is also open, they offer quite a bit of passive noise isolation and a much lower leakage compared to Arya Unveiled which is far more transparent and provides much less isolation. Sonically, Arya Unveiled is more dramatic in the midrange, more vocal, but has a deeper bass with a slower decay. You can hear a similar quality and resolution, but Mania has a sound that feels like it is coming from a dynamic driver, while Arya Unveiled is the current top of planar drivers. Arya moves more air, but has a more vague impact, Mania is much more impactful, more dynamic, but does not have the huge space and staging of the ARya Unveiled. Mania V2024 is far harder to drive, needs both more power and voltage.
HIFIMAN Arya Unveiled vs SJY Horizon (1449 USD vs 999 USD) – SJY Horizon has a bit of DIY magic and charm to them, but the cable they come with is not quite as good as the cable of Arya Unveiled. Arya Unveiled is larger, lighter, feels more comfortable on my head, but isolates less and leaks more. Horizon is so incredibly hard to drive that it is comparable to HIFIMAN Susvara, while Arya Unveiled is super easy to drive. Sonically, SJY Horizon is very dynamic, organic and engaging, sounds very similar to Arya Organic, but Arya organic has a slightly shallower bass, does not quite reach 20 Hz the way Horizon does, but has a more brilliant treble, a wider, more holographic soundstage, although also a slightly smoother midrange and texture in the treble is smoother despite the higher quantity. As Horizon is so hard to drive, it changes the signature often with different DAC AMP combos, but Arya Unveiled is very consistent across sources. .
Value and Conclusion
HIFIMAN Arya Unveiled is currently the most affordable pair of headphones of the unveiled series, they deliver a natural, balanced sound, and although there is no transport case, this is not a portable model, and it is clearly intended to be used indoors. While the default cable is not quite as ergonomic as aftermarket models, you can rest assured that Arya U has one of the strongest price / performance ratios available in the audio world, better than Arya Organic and HIFIMAN’s own higher end models, thanks to a much lower price for the Arya.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a beautiful tonal balance and an excellent combo of audiophile virtues, a revealing, beautiful sound, strong impact, and a dramatic midrange but with a smoother, extended treble, you will enjoy and fall in love with the new HIFIMAN Arya Unveiled, their comfort, stealthy black design and excellent build quality.
PROs
- Musically cohesive and beautiful
- Strongly revealing sound but smooth and fluid
- No hard edges, no aliasing and very low distortion
- Beautiful and comfortable
- Very detailed and organic sound, full and lush
- Vocal focus without sounding aggressive
- Airy, wide and holographic without sounding distant
- Some of the most enjoyable and balanced signatures available on the market
Cons
- Default cables are not the most ergonomic ones
- You have to be more careful with the exposed Unveiled drivers than with a typical pair of headphones
- Cannot be used outdoors
- No passive noise isolation and maximum possible leakage
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/45L30as
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_oken8CL
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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