HIFIMAN Arya Organic vs Dan Clark Stealth - Headphone Comparison

According to some naysayers, I don't quite yet have enough hours on either of these to make it a completely fair comparison, but for what time I do have on them, the difference is telling. I admit... I don't believe in break-in changes; I have never heard of any and absolutely never measured any such phenomenon. The graph below (measured with an RME ADI-2 DAC FS) shows that the Stealth would appear to have better bass (or at least more bass) than the Arya. However, they are vastly different, and when I say "vastly," I seriously mean "vastly," and I am a bit stunned. I thought maybe the Stealth would come around, but they are not. Even so, based on these measurements, they should already be coming around.

There is a 15dB difference in volume adjustment between the two based on sensitivity and level adjustment for measurements at 300Hz (I may be a dB or two off). Yet, even if I increase the Stealth to 20dB above the Arya, I cannot get the same bass. The Aryas vibrate my ear lobes on Maroon 5 Lips On You, and I can't get the Stealth to do the same. The Aryas sound is fuller and better overall in the bass and mid-bass region. Hanne Boel's voice on House of the Rising Sun sounds smoother on the Aryas. At 2:30 and 2:40 of Jazz Variants by O-Zone Percussion Group, there is a very fine wind chime note in the right ear, which is much clearer and more noticeable on the Aryas.

Granted, these measurements are not on a pro rig, but they give me a good representation of comparison, and perhaps because my hearing is down several dB above 8kHz, the rise in response in that area could very well be contributing to the crisper and more detailed clarity in the upper portion of the music. Maybe the area from 600Hz to 3kHz is causing the voices to sound smoother.

Listening to Fink live - Trouble's What You're In on the Stealth sounds marvelous! I could listen to it over and over. Swap over to the Aryas, and it's difficult for me to believe it sounds better. Fink drumming on his guitar has more defined solidity to it. The strings sound sharper as well. On Flim & the BB's Funhouse, right in the beginning, the Xylophone (or maybe a Marimba?) leads into the piano. I'm not sure what words describe the difference, but I like what I hear with the Aryas better.

These are only a few of the songs I've compared thus far—there are too many to get into the differences of all of them. I will continue to listen and compare with other amps I have, but I'm scratching my head at the difference I'm hearing.

Listening to Cassandra Wilson's Dance to the Drummer Again... it's as if the drums disappeared when swapping from the Aryas to the Stealth... even at 30dB volume difference. Listening defies the measurements.

JStewart said:

Had you thought about comparing with a bit of EQ to the Stealth to more closely follow the response of the Arya?

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I have, but I really prefer to have headphones that I don't have to worry about EQ. If I listen to other headphones, then I have to remember to remove the EQ, etc. I don't know... just doesn't seem right to have to EQ headphones. Speakers, yeah, but headphones... doesn't feel right for some reason, as they are nearfield and should be right to begin with.

Calypso said:

My journey into headphones started by first choosing whether I prefer closed to open back headphones, and once that was done I then started to dig into the world of open back phones. Long story short , value for money (sound) I chose the Arya Organic. Will definitely follow this thread and actually quite surprised with your observations, as the Stealth is a fine set of cans.

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I would have thought the Stealth with a closed back would have sounded like it had more bass, especially if it measured more bass like it does. So far, I like the open-back better. The Aryas are crazy good. However, I have another one back in the mix—the HIFIMAN HE1000se. They measure right there with the Arya Organics and might have slightly more defined detail and maybe cleaner bass, yet still as powerful. It's close. I'm not sure there is $5-600 worth of better sound in the HEKse. Both of these slam the Stealth. I don't get all the praise for the stealth, although it could just boil down to the preferences of our ears. The Stealth are very comfortable... wish the Aryas and HEKses had this material.

After some long listening sessions last week, I laid the HEKse aside in favor of the Arya Organic, but after listening to the HEKses again, I might be leaning toward them. On a few songs, the bass sounds cleaner, but on the songs where it's needed, they bring it. The response is very close, too. I think the HEKse might also edge the Arya in a little more forward mini-soundstage. Both of these are just flat-out awesome headphones... I could listen to them all day and night, and pretty much have today.

No change in what I'm hearing today with the Stealth. I also noticed some nasty distortion at -10dB with the RME on Bass I Love You Too with the Stealth. Any songs with deep and heavy bass cause distortion at any significant volume. I've never heard this with any of my other headphones. I don't suppose it could be that I got a defective set of Stealth... what I am hearing just doesn't make sense. I'm continuing to allow them to play, just in case the fallacy of break-in should somehow make them better. So far, nothing has changed in their sound after about 20 hours of play.

I wasn't going to post this, but I decided that I would, to be fair and open about it. I also ordered the DCA Expanse, and the plan was to do a head-to-head with the Stealth and Expanse. However, the Expanse had no bass, which prompted me to measure them and see if I could identify why they had no bass. Otherwise, I probably never would have even measured them. Notice the left ear of the Expanse is 10dB lower than the right at 20Hz. I measured it several times with the same results. I figured this was why I was not hearing any bass. I swapped cables with the Stealth, and it was not the cables... definitely something in the left headphone side. So... as reference earlier... I can't imagine getting two sets of DCA headphones that are defective.





I still wonder if the Expanse would be like the Stealth, and I wouldn't hear the bass despite what appears to be a significant boost over the Stealth and even more of a boost over the Aryas. That is assuming the right ear similarly represents what the left ear should be in the bass region.

The DCA Stealth headphones now have 50-60 hours at varying volume levels. I gave them another good listening session and also comparing them with the HFM... still no change.

I decided to change setups from the WiiM Ultra/RME combo to the Matrix mini-i Pro 4/Aune S17 combo. The S17 has some serious power at the high gain/100MA setting. I actually thought I might have heard a difference between the setups, but I am doubtful if I'm being honest and realistic, as there shouldn't be any difference unless one or the other is coloring the sound, which could be. I plan to do a headphone amp comparison in the next week or so, AB testing for my own satisfaction, although I'll share it publicly. Nonetheless, the DCA Stealth sound did not change with the S17... still bass-shy. They actually remind me of the Sennheiser H800 S... pretty good up top but lacks sub-bass, bass punch, and impact. I think I might give the edge to the 800 S between those two.

Don't get me wrong... the DCA Stealth are very good-sounding headphones (some would say astoundingly good), but for me, they are just not what I like, as I much prefer the HFM models.

Yeah... I've used Mitchco's filters in Roon for my MartinLogans when I had those. I have the Hang Loose convolved already... handy for comparisons too.

The Harman curve has more bass. Look at the Stealth measurements... the bass level is considerably higher than the Aryas. I would have thought the sub-bass and bass would have been heavier than the Aryas, but it ain't so. I don't think they could handle any EQ, as they distort already with heavy bass music at higher levels, which is why I'd almost say I got a bad pair. No matter how hard I try, I cannot get the Stealth to rumble like the HFM headphones. The other part of that issue is it makes them a bit on the harsher side at higher volumes... too bright for me. At normal volumes, they are very good in the mids and highs, but when you start cranking them up, they just fall apart. Maybe they are good for the lighter classical music, which I don't really care for. They don't work for me, period.

For my listening, the Arya Organic and HEKse don't need any EQ, making one or the other the perfect choice. I wonder if there is anything else similar that can compete with clean sub-bass and bass without smearing the mids and highs.

I'm beginning to find some others saying the same thing as I've found. The DCA Stealth and Expanse lack bass impact. Some call it more accurate... maybe so, but it doesn't sound right to me. I found one guy on Reddit who experienced distortion at higher volumes on the Expanse, and that it also had no bass rumble. Of course, there could be some bad units out there. I'll have to wait and hear them again at a show. I don't want to order the Expanse and end up verifying they don't have the bass I want and have to eat a 10% restocking fee.

I may want a little boost at lower levels with my HEKse headphones. I was comparing a couple of amps the other day, and the bass on one of them sounded better, and I couldn't figure out why. The amps had no EQ, and they were leveled within 0.3 dB. Then I figured it out: the WiiM Ultra had a 100Hz low-shelf boost of about 5 dB. At lower volumes, it sounded nice. This may be one reason I keep the RME ADI-2 DAC FS amp, as it has a loudness setting. I can see that coming in handy when I'm not jamming too hard.