HIFIMAN Arya Organic Review: An Endgame Planar at $1,099

Pick #2 of 14 in our Best Open-Back Headphones guide.

A continuation of the legendary HIFIMAN Arya series, that's meant to be a direct upgrade to the Arya Stealth V3. It came at an even lower price of $1,300, but it is already just a little over $1,100 and you don't want to miss it. Meet the Arya Organic.

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Wood veneer, huge pads and full swivel

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It's the first Arya to look that different. Previously, tweaks were minor - like the grill material switch from metal mesh to fabric. But here, the wood veneer surrounding the earcups makes a big statement. That looks very, very nice, much more premium, and makes it pop.

After looking at multiple different pictures of this headphone, you might be wondering what color the wooden element really is, as on some pictures it's orange, on some red, and on some it leans slightly purple. I'm happy to announce that in well-lit conditions it looks like actual wood with a slightly warm tint. But in poor lighting conditions, with specific light temperatures, it can lean a bit red - fear not, as it doesn't happen very often.

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Another subtle shift is the earcup color itself, around the wooden wrap. Whereas previous Aryas had a gunmetal plastic that felt a bit cheap, this version utilizes a similar plastic in black. This simple change, along with a smoother finish, creates a more premium feel. The last nice addition in the Arya Organic is the extended element for the 3.5mm plugs. They used to be flush with the earcups, but they are not anymore.

Regarding comfort, the pads are huge - it's an Arya after all. They probably won't be touching your ears, and it's a good thing, as the pads, while being hybrid and angled, are quite stiff. I know that it's by design made for the tuning, but it's worth mentioning.

The headband is fantastic. The suspension strap is adjustable, padded on the bottom side, and offers a great contact area with the top of your head, preventing any hotspots. It offers full cup rotation for unlimited swivel and lots of tilt. The clamp force isn't as light as some other similar HIFIMAN headphones, but it's not bad. I'd say that it's in about the middle of the road from not clamping at all to being way too clampy.

Features and tech carried over unchanged

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It was a surprise to me, as we've seen lots of new headphone revisions that added more trickle-down technology to cheaper headphones. But with the Arya Organic, nothing new was added. It's already at the peak of HIFIMAN's features with its thinnest nanometer-thickness diaphragm, which is very fast and responds quickly to any transients.

Stealth Magnets continue to minimize distortion and improve clarity by reducing turbulence and wave disruptions. As well as the Window Shade Grills, made with premium alloys that prevent unwanted sound reflections.

But we have already seen all that in its previous revisions. So, what has been changed, and how come it sounds that much different?

Impedance halved to 16 ohms, easy to drive

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The impedance has been halved, from 32 to 16 ohms. That's quite a significant change. It not only means that it doesn't require as much power, but also the voltage swings, made by the amplifier it's connected to, aren't as aggressive and large.

This, combined with the 94dB sensitivity, makes it a very efficient planar magnetic headphone. It can be driven off of a newer MacBook just fine. If you're going to get some external amplification - which I believe to be a good idea - you should get an amplifier that's not bright sounding, rather neutral, or even better look into something a bit warmer.

Bright, smooth treble and bass you can feel

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The treble of this headphone is calling attention to itself, which can be a good or a bad thing. It's very, very detailed. I'd go as far as to say that it's the most resolving headphones you can get at this price. The microdetails pop clearly, and they're, in a way, being force-fed to you.

The top-end frequencies are very smooth. At the same time, this region is elevated, making it bright, but not harsh or shrill. As I said, it's smooth. Technically speaking, it's not a very easy thing to achieve if you want to have more treble, yet not have it overly fatiguing. But once you do it, the results speak for themselves.

The room reverbs in the recordings are audible. Just as if you were listening to a pair of speakers, hearing the reflections off of your walls - but even more accurate and true to the recording. I think that, in part, it has to do with its great and extended decay. For example, once a string has been plucked, you can hear the sound slowly going down in amplitude. That's very satisfying and immersive, as quite frankly, that's exactly what would happen in real life.

The vocals are great, yet a bit forward in the mix. They have lots of sprinkles and intelligibility. While the background vocals seem to also pop more than usual, which can be slightly distracting from time to time. It feels like the sound is focused not only on the main element, like the vocal or a specific instrument, but everything seems to be in focus and easily accessible to you. I'm a fan of that, as it makes hearing every part of the music easier.

The only thing you might find issues with is slightly, but not extremely hot, sibilance regions like "S" and "T".

The dynamic range of this headphone is quite impressive, especially for a planar. This could be in part because of the shallow V-shaped tuning that brings up the bass just a little, but I doubt it. I'd rather say that its decent slam and punch characteristics come from the driver being very capable of starting and stopping in no time.

One unique feature that I find exceptionally enjoyable is that the bass can be not only heard but also felt in a way. It reminds me of good speaker bass or even subwoofers.

It's a fast, energetic-sounding headphone that doesn't compromise the layering. It's fabulous. It feels like it can place sound sources almost anywhere - in front of you, to the sides, or even above or behind you. The soundstage itself is finally pretty wide, gets clearly out of your head easily, and then some more. I'd say that despite lacking some more depth, it stages much wider than the Ananda series headphones, Stealth Arya, or anything lower-end, to be honest.