Fit and Comfort

Seen above is the HIFIMAN Arya Organic placed on a mannequin head, to help show how these headphones would look on a human head. Note that the head is slightly under average sized, so account for the discrepancies accordingly. As with all headphones, getting a good fit and seal is crucial, so make sure to properly use the available height adjustability of the headband and the swivel/rotation of the ear cups themselves. This section is mostly a summary of the points expanded upon in more detail on the previous page and I will mention here that the Arya Organic is about average for planar magnetic driver headphones at ~440 g, which is otherwise on the heavier side overall. That said, owing to the larger frame and ear cups, the mass density is not as high as you might think. Secondly, the weight distribution is quite good here courtesy the wide suspension band and I personally had no issues wearing this set for 30 min-long listening sessions. I do wish the suspension band had ventilation holes though since eventually these started to run warm on the top of my head. Otherwise, as with most such HIFIMAN offerings, the Arya Organic is among the more comfortable headphones for me thanks to the multiple swivel and pivot options in addition to the roomy and soft ear pads. Clamp force was about perfect for my average-sized head too and, if anything, it's more the size of the ear cups on the side of my head that keeps me self-aware of these than the actual weight and clamp. I do recommend using these in a quiet environment lest others around you get a second-hand listen, or the ambient environment could affect your listening experience, and people will certainly gawk at you wearing these in public no matter what you are listening to.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

Please read the relevant section on this page for a brief introduction on how planar magnetic drivers work if you are unfamiliar with them. To summarize, it involves ultra-thin diaphragms with conductive traces as the effective voice coil. This theoretically allows for lower inertia paired with high magnetic flux fields generated from magnets to move the diaphragm back and forth very quickly for fast transients and increased resolution while lowering distortion. HIFIMAN is using what it calls the nanometer thickness diaphragm, which some have taken to mean a single nanometer thick. I suppose in that regard the marketing has worked, but it's more that the thickness of the diaphragm is less than one micron, and thus in the nanometer range. The Arya Organic also uses HIFIMAN's stealth magnet system which debuted with the flagship Susvara in 2017 having the goal of minimizing sound distortion, and has trickled down to the more budget-friendly offerings too. This is not to say that the magnets used here are the same as in, say, the HE400se or Susvara in terms of field strength and flux, and I am not even sure what the difference in the drivers is here compared to the HE1000 Stealth since both claim the use of stealth magnets and the nanometer diaphragm. There are slight weight differences between these models though but not enough to make a tangible difference and claim one has a substantially more different driver setup than the other. Then we get to the "Window Shade" system on the outside to better retain the open-back nature of the Arya Organic while minimizing sound wave reflection and refraction. All this comes together to make for a premium set of headphones with a rated sensitivity of 94 dB/mW and a rated impedance of 16 Ω—not the hardest headphones to drive, but will still necessitate a decent amplifier to get loud. You don't need to go too expensive here though, I recommend a solid state source with good current output.

Frequency Response Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm-neutral signature emphasizing a slightly elevated bass and smooth treble range with detailed mids and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our current headphones test setup uses a set of two custom in-ear microphones for the two channels. These microphones closely adhere to the IEC711 class, but have been tweaked to be more reliable in the >10 kHz frequency range, the precise issue with my previous setup, that is otherwise still very good and will continue to be used for IEMs and earphones. Two soft silicone pinnae are installed on the sides, separated by a distance matching my head, and multiple "height" adapters have been 3D-printed for further customization based on fit, head size and shape. Each set of microphones has an XLR output I separately adapted to 3.5 mm. I used a transparent source—the FiiO K9 Pro—for measurements after confirming it was not a bottleneck in any way. This artificial head simulator feeds the microphone lines into a reference USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/12th setting, netting a good balance of detail and signal to noise ratio. The default tuning was used for testing, and no app or program-based EQ settings were chosen, unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is measured at least thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the individual measurements for statistical accuracy.


As per usual, you can find my headphone frequency response measurements on VSG.squig.link, along with all the earphone measurements. Scroll to the bottom and choose different targets there, including two from Harman Kardon, developed after years of R&D. The Harman 2018 over-ear target in particular is a reference curve many headphone makers aim for now, but I find it too bass-boosted. As such, I am opting for the Harman 2018 curve with the bass target from the Harman 2013 curve, which is what is being referred to as the "Harman Combined" target there. Before we get talking about the sound signature of the HIFIMAN Arya Organic, I want to first talk about the channel balance achieved here. You will notice how the left and right channels are very close to each other all the way from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, which is the region of interest for human hearing. Keep in mind that positioning of the headphones on the measurement rig plays a role too, as does the part where it is only so much accurate in the first place. I certainly was not able to pick out any channel imbalance in my ears though! I will also mention that using the headphones for ~25 hours didn't change anything either, for those who would undoubtedly be curious about burn-in.

HIFIMAN's house sound for open-back headphones tends to follow a neutral-bright sound signature. In fact, if you look at all the measurements I have taken of the HIFIMAN open-back sets then you will notice they all are very similar to each other. Things are changing though with the HE1000 Stealth having gone for a warmer sound in the mids. HIFIMAN also made a big deal about the Arya Organic being unlike anything else it has put out so far and a short time listening to the set showed immediately how there is now a deliberate and appreciable bass shelf. It also measures as much with a boost ~180 Hz going down to where the Arya Organic suddenly offers sub-bass punch in a way that only large planar magnetic drivers can. I recall how the Arya Organic was HIFIMAN's most popular demo set at CanJam London last year, where the added bass was more perceivable in the open show floor too. Many came out being big fans of the set and how well it renders electronic music in a larger-than-life nightclub atmosphere. It does this without sacrificing the bass and mids either as there is still some warmth added to make for a, well, more organic sound I suppose. The most interesting thing here is that I really have no idea how HIFIMAN managed to do this. There is clearly no front or back dampening in play and the magnets are arranged similarly to before. It's not using a deliberate seal breakage either so this is clearly a clever use of driver modes, meaning the Arya Organic is more than just a re-purpose of an existing HIFIMAN driver.

While I'd still take other sets for classic rock and heavy metal music, the Arya Organic holds its own in the mids proper. In fact, the mids don't feel recessed compared to the sub-bass and end up being fairly forward. Male vocals in particular sound great here as do brass instruments in general. That said, we see the traditional HIFIMAN dip at 1 kHz which can contribute to a larger sense of space, but does result in some female vocals feeling subdued. The Arya Organic almost comes off U-shaped here and emphasizing this more is the part where unfortunately the tonality goes brighter than even I would like. Piano keys feel somewhat piercing and there is some sibilance in the air too. One of the bigger complaints of HIFIMAN's stealth magnet implementation has been the overly emphasized treble and this continues here to where the Arya Organic feels like it has more in common with the insanely detailed but harsh HE1000se than any other HIFIMAN set. I dare say even those with music libraries leaning towards brighter tones, be it Asian Pop, Jazz or Classical, will find the Arya Organic fatiguing over time. This is why I restricted myself to 30-min sessions or under with the Arya Organic, since it eventually became too much. I highly recommend a broad EQ shelf filter of -4 to -5 dB at 6 kHz and another at 12 kHz and seeing if that helps. The bass shelf does help with the overall balance, but ultimately this overly bright tonality can end up being a dealbreaker for many.


I know some of you are already looking at this graph and thinking there's a serious lack of dynamic driver headphones here. I agree, but I can't do much about it in the absence of direct competitors from the likes of Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, Focal, ZMF etc. In the meantime, you'll have to make do with an all-planar round here that itself ends up going with just HIFIMAN and Audeze headphones at this point. The obvious comparison to the Arya Organic would be the previous Arya iteration, the Arya Stealth from 2021. We see right away that the newer Arya has a different enough tonality to where the two sound more different than similar for once. The bass shelf is the most obvious change here making the Arya Organic more conducive to some music genres compared to the Arya Stealth. However, I would argue the older version is more of an all-rounder given it is tamer in the treble—it's still bright but not enough to be fatiguing for me—and has a nice price cut now. I'd personally go for the Arya Stealth over the Arya Organic, although really the biggest competition is from the HE1000 Stealth which comes in at $100 more than the Arya Organic and is a far superior set in my opinion. It doesn't have that sub-bass punch, but is a much more balanced set with warmth in the mids that sounds intimate without being overly recessed. It's also way more controlled in the upper mids and treble alike! The only issue is that the HE1000 Stealth has more divisive aesthetics, in an ideal world, I'd have just swapped out the drivers from the HE1000 Stealth into the Arya Organic's chassis. It goes without saying though that I'd much rather spend the extra $100 and get the HE1000 Stealth. Last, and certainly not least, is the Audeze LCD-X in its 2021 iteration that comes with updated drivers and ear pads. This is the best version of the LCD-X in my opinion and presents a nice balance of warmth and accuracy to where it's become extremely popular for music mixing and mastering alike. The newer Audeze MM-500 is a more neutral set whereas the LCD-X goes for forward mids and a darker signature thereafter. It makes for a completely different set to the Arya Organic rather than direct competition, although it is much heavier while being built better too. I feel like the Arya Organic and the LCD-X trade blows in detail retrieval and male vocal rendition whereas both are mediocre for female vocals out of the box.