Introduction

HIFIMAN has been busy lately, real busy even. Earlier this year we saw the release of the new planar magnetic flagship Susvara Unveiled, which brought with it a new driver concept involving the removal of the outside grilles. This effectively exposed the drivers, making for a fully open-back set which should not have any sound wave reflections off the grille that can otherwise detract from your listening experience. Of course that also meant the Susvara Unveiled required more care and attention in use, and came with magnetic veil covers to help protect the drivers when the headphones were not in use. I thought the Susvara Unveiled were absolutely fantastic and more of a specialist set than the original Susvara, meeting my music library and preferences with ease even if the $8000 was a lot to cough up. Then late September came and HIFIMAN brought out the HE1000 Unveiled for nearly a third the cost of the Susvara Unveiled. This was the unveiled take on the HIFIMAN HE1000se, and we were beginning to see a welcome trend in terms of more filled-out mids that lended favorably to vocals, as well as a generally tamer and smoother treble. The HE1000 Unveiled is also far less concerning in use thanks to the drivers being less exposed, yet I was left asking myself—will this unveiled driver technology trickle down further?


It did not take much longer for HIFIMAN to do it, and just a few weeks ago we saw the launch of the brand-new Arya Unveiled. This helps explain why the likes of the Arya Organic and HE1000 Stealth have been heavily discounted lately, not to mention the Arya Stealth from a few years ago that is a great buy at its current price—no doubt going to be discontinued soon. The Arya Unveiled looks quite similar to the HE1000 Unveiled, both with the teardrop-shaped ear cups that we've seen in multiple HIFIMAN headphones before, and having unveiled drivers on the outside in a manner that I do feel more comfortable using compared to the Susvara Unveiled. That said, the black chassis, headband, suspension band, and ear pads combined with the silver drivers on the outside do make me think this is the best looking HIFIMAN headphones ever made—a subjective take, but one that I am sure others agree with. This also suggests that perhaps the Arya Unveiled is using the Arya Stealth as the base platform as opposed to the Arya Organic that has a bass shelf which alone generated many fans of the product. Let's see if the drivers being unveiled result in a similar effect here too, which may well make this the best HIFIMAN release of the year given it's also the most affordable of the unveiled trio. Thanks to HIFIMAN for providing a review sample to TechPowerUp, as we begin this review with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

HIFIMAN operates a web shop, and this sample shipped directly from the company, so we begin with the shipping packaging, since this is how paying customers would receive the Arya Unveiled. The shipping box is appropriately sized, although with HIFIMAN stickers on multiple sides and one mentioning the contents inside. I will once again mention my preference for a stealthier approach, especially knowing these are expensive headphones. Inside is the actual product box, which comes in a shaped-to-fit bubble wrap and with foam sheets on all sides for further protection from shipping hazards.


I guess this answers the question on whether the Arya Unveiled would go back to a more personalized product box, but no—this follows the trend of most HIFIMAN releases in the sub-$1500 price range at least in going minimalist. We get a plain cardboard box with sticker labels that have the company logo and product name on the front in addition to salient features and a small render of the headphones. Product specifications are on the side with the back taken up by another view of the headphones and more of the features on offer. Seals on the sides keep the contents inside in place, and opening the box reveals an accessory box at the top and the headphones packed underneath surrounded by thick foam.


The accessory box has QR codes for warranty, registration, and a notice informing you will get additional warranty if you follow HIFIMAN on social media and register the product. General product support information is also seen here with the product serial numbers listed on the side. HIFIMAN is the only company I know of to have separate serial numbers for the two headphone drivers used here. There is no printed manual anymore, you will have to be content with the online owner's guide found here, which goes over the design philosophy, user maintenance and upkeep, and provides more information about the various technologies that have gone into the making of this product. Inside is a QC card and the headphones cable, and then we see two small dark tan drawstring pouches which contain the expected magnetic veils for the Arya Unveiled. This time the veils are black and have a plastic base as opposed to the machined aluminium with the Susvara Unveiled and HE1000 Unveiled. The outer surface is textured, these are lighter than the equivalent metal ones, and there's a truncated HIFIMAN logo at the bottom. The inner side has a woven carbon fiber finish this time round, but is still very smooth—makes it easier to wipe of remnant dust before being placed on the headphones.


There are two other, larger such bags around the ear cups of the headphones which you need to loosen and carefully remove from the Arya Unveiled for a closer examination. Some of HIFIMAN's recently released headphones ship with a handy carry case, although I understand a carry case might not be the most trivial to make for an unveiled set. As with the Arya Organic, these headphones are placed in a machined foam insert which can be somewhat useful because HIFIMAN has made one of the foam pieces removable, and it just so happens to be shaped like a headphone stand. It's not the most elegant solution but one that works enough to where you can now go from having the headphones inside the box to outside on your desk quite easily. The bottom of this foam piece has anti-slip rubber padding too.