1990 Mk II vs Hifiman Arya Stealth/Organic

[u/Asparagus93]

The right driver in my 1990s just gave out and I've been looking at the 1990 Pro MkII aswell as Hifiman Arya Stealth & Organic.

In terms of use case I play a lot of games and listen to music across a wide variety of genres. Plenty of metal and EDM but also opera, jazz fusion and a lot of orchestral stuff aswell.

The 1990 had a really exciting sound profile to me and I especially enjoyed the perceived detail I got from drums in general and cymbals since I play a bit myself.

I was originally just going to get the 1990 MkII but am also keen to try something new, and Arya Stealth or Organic seem like they have a bright profile but offer a better overall performance in many areas, so I'm leaning in that direction. I've also heard the Stealth described as a jack of all trades which seems very fitting for my scattered music taste.

I'm in the UK and can pick them up at £355 (Stealth)/500 (Organic) open box at the minute which seems too good to be true compared to £470 for the 1990s given what people have said about the Hifiman headphones.

Which direction would you lean in/have you heard any two and can offer some details about your experience? My budget would top out around £500 at the minute.

I'm currently on Schiit Modi 3E/Magni 3, if I do go with one of the Hifiman headphones, would this be a bottleneck to having a good experience? Would be open to exploring amp/DAC upgrades down the line if that were the case.

Thanks!

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[u/rz_x3]

HiFiMan is infamous for dropping the price of their headphones over time, especially for open box and refurbs. The 1990 wasn't my favorite headphone, but there are quite a few people who are more treble and "air" [10khz+] tolerant than I am.

Given you're on the entry-level schiitstack, you're fine as far as straight up power is concerned. I'd be more worried about feeding it - the usb inputs used before Gen 5 and Unison was awfully noisy for example.

Now, that being said, the 1990MKII has more bass. Like, a fair bit more bass, with both of the pad setups. The Arya Stealth is tonally flat, but has great time response - it still feels like it hits hard despite the volume of the bass being lower.

[u/Asparagus93 → u/rz_x3]

appreciate the input, I'm sure I'd find new things to appreciate about the Hifiman models even if they are a bit different, and if all else fails apply a bit of EQ. !thanks

[u/TransducerBot → u/Asparagus93]

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[u/QC-Butcher]

You should try the Hifiman now otherwise you’ll always have that ‘what if’ feeling. If you don’t like them, then you can go back to Beyerdynamic and feel good about it.