The shoutyness difference is insignificant. Hekse have a bit more energy at 3khz, Arya Stealth have more energy at 4khz.
Hekse’s 3khz a bit higher than it should but it doesn’t really bother due to staging/detail capabilities of the headphone and the distance it creates. Ananda was a big offender to me in terms of shout.
Haven’t heard V2 Stealth but i upgraded from Arya Stealth to Hekse and compared them side by side for a week or two.
I don’t wanna inflate your expectations but Hekse has much better stage, imaging, separation and detail to my ears. That’s the first thing i noticed switching between two. Hekse sounds like stereo, arya stealth sounds like mono. Things are more spread out on Hekse.
Other side of the coin is that Arya Stealth has a bit more hefty, physical bass and overall Arya sounds slightly more engaging with some music types. It’s more focused and aggressive sound. Trade off is that Arya can sound too busy and claustrophobic. It’s like things masking each other and sound happen too close to your ear. It grabs more of your attention.
Hekse is brighter but less offensive if that makes sense. It has a colder tone than Arya Stealth.
Hekse mid is more distant.
Hekse might be the pinnacle of separation trait.
hello to my fellow audiophiles
I’m so addicted to this nowadays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGSArR_vhc8 definitely this one.
The thing is, it doesn’t matter. It’s like trying to buy a headphone that produces amazing 50khz but your ears can only hear about 16khz. OR getting 1gbps modem for 1mbps internet speed.
It’s hard to describe. Hekse’s stage isn’t massive and it can still get intimate. I think all egg shape Hifiman’s can do that. However it’s not as intimate as Arya Stealth. Music doesn’t really feel distant but mids feel a bit distant relatively. It’s still an engaging and intimate headphone when it needs to. If you read comparisons between old Hekv2’s and Hekse you will see that Hekv2 users complain Hekse is ‘‘too energetic and forward’’. So it’s kind of a middle ground i guess.
I read a lot about Hekv2 Stealth too. People actually praise it’s bass a lot so if you like bass i’d say go for HEK Stealth. Hekse doesn’t really excel in bass. It does the bass perfectly but nothing beyond. Where Hekse excel is separation and spread out imaging. Excellent detail. It’s significantly better for gaming and movies in my experience. Arya Stealth’s had a bit more bass oomph but it’s imaging was lackluster in comparison.
I strongly recommend this guy’s comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2zibq8UIho