I believe this is the lowest price for HIFIMAN Arya Stealth purchased from a Hifiman authorized reseller with the manufacturer warranty.
Has been praised by several reviewers like DMS.
Using Shopback discounted eBay gift cards price will come down to $1681 delivered
These & Edition XS are meant to measure pretty similarly for anyone not willing to spend this kinda cash.
These may be subject to tax at the border given the price as well, I imagine?
Hifiman declares the sale price much lower than the actual charged price. I purchased Sundara from their Amazon store and the invoice on the packaging was only $87.
These & Edition XS are meant to measure pretty similarly for anyone not willing to spend this kinda cash.
Nope. They might be a little similar tonally, given it's the same company and the same enclosure with the same magnet array design, but they aren't.
The Arya Stealth will sound a little brighter, while being notably more detailed, refined, and a bit wider.
Edition xs and Arya are both great in their price bracket. I had both. Arya is a noticeable step up in build, comfort and sound. Suggest you try them yourself and not rely on the measurements alone. I was curious to try the TOTL $7500 Susvara I admit it was better, but found Arya stealth and Susvara pretty close in sound. Also Edition xs is not a good fit for many people including myself, better to be tried before purchase.
You'd have to wonder how much these actually cost to manufacture and the mark up
The cost is in the R&D, not the components.
If you're not too thrown by having to ship things back to China if it's DoA, you can shave almost another $200 off via Taobao, but it's a better play if you want a cheap Ananda. Better still on Taobao is Mr Anan's Nan-6 for around $700, which shares some similarities with the original HE-6, just detail and width is a smidge blunted to deliver a better tonality.
For something with an easier return process, HIFIMAN Edition XS during Amazon mid-year sale via Amazon UK with cashbacks and gift cards (or Zip) might be the big play for value for money.
HIFIMAN has quality problems. I have the HE1000 v2 which was about $4,400 at the time. For that price they used fake leather earpads. I stored the heaphones and when I took them out to use the leather fell apart. Competing headphones use real leather so don't have the same problem. The build quality of the actual headphone itself is iffy, cheap plastic bits, gaps in workmanship. HIFIMAN do sound good but their build quality is a weakness.
Have you tried emailing Hifiman and asking for replacement earpads? I have read many people on forums emailed Hifiman and received free earpad replacements in their mailbox.
I get it, .. some people have lots of money to burn. But honestly, just get the ubiquitous 6XX and move on.
6XX and the Arya Stealth aren't comparable. While the 6XX is great in terms of value, its not the in the same league as these.
I can't agree more. I purchased a Sennheiser pc360 gaming headset for $39 with an eBay promotion from here and I must say it is an excellent value and its sound quality is very close to 6xx and unlike 6xx does not need an amp. So if someone is after saving money, they do not need to pay 340$ for 6xx, they just can buy the PC360 and move on. PC360 and 6xx are much, much closer in sound quality than 6xx and Arya.
Wow. $1800 for headphones?! Can you hear the sound of distant stars and galaxies too?
Mine says $1,834.84. Is there a code or something required here?
Deal is expired unfortunately.
Thought it said $173 got very excited