So I’ve been listening to the HiFiman Arya for one year. My last headphone before the Arya was the Focal Clear. While it did certain things very well, in the end it just wasn’t the sound I was looking for. I replaced the Clear with the Arya and I have been very happy since.
However, as I’m sure you all know, the upgrade bug was bitting so I decided to take a chance on the Focal Stellia and it has been in rotation in my system for a few weeks. As you can see from my system pics, my amp is the Pass Labs HPA-1.
APPEARANCE/BUILD:
Cosmetically, the Stellia has a love it or hate it feeling based on the opinions I’ve heard. Personally, I think this thing is gorgeous. To me, it oozes luxury and class. Just exceptional, IMO.
Put simply, when you hold the Stellia, you know where your money went. When you hold the Arya, you wonder where your money went.
COMFORT:
Everyone is different but for me, the Stellia had a little too much squeeze and made the back of my jaw uncomfortable. Keep in mind, I’m coming from the Arya which is one of the most comfortable headphones I’ve tried. The top prize in that category goes to the Meze Empyrean. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to feeling like I wasn’t even wearing a headphone. I’ve heard someone say that wearing the Empyrean is more comfortable than not wearing a headphone at all. Hahahahaha!
Anyway, I really don’t like when headphones move as I turn my head. My Audeze LCD 2F and ZMF Atticus moved WAY too much. The Arya is good in regards to this but the Stellia (and the Clear), really stay planted and make you feel like you have a quality set of cans on your head (insert devil-faced emoji here). This is good considering they are closed back.
Every time I took off the Stellia and put the Arya on, I had this feeling of "Aaaahh", like a relief coming over me.
WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD:
The Stellia have EXCEPTIONAL detail. Hands down, the best i’ve heard. However, after a while this tended to sound somewhat "artificial" in comparison to the Arya. "S" sounds on female vocals had a more annoying brightness to them. But please keep this in mind, I didn’t notice or was bothered by it UNTIL I put the Arya back on. So it didn’t jump out at me at first, but only after I went to the Arya.
I love the mids on the Arya. I think I just lean towards planars in this regard. Just the way my brain hears them seems to "make sense" with music. In comparison, the Stellia seemed "thinner" sounding.
There is more meat in the midrange with the Arya. Velvety smoothness in spades.
Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was that I didn’t care for the bass. While it was very articulate and detailed, in the end it was too boomy for me and obviously only got worse the more I increased the volume. Simply unacceptable in a 3K headphone. I was VERY disappointed with that. It really bothered me. I just could never stop paying attention to it.
Overall, the Stellia has a tad too much of a bright presentation for me which you may have figured out from the mention of the exceptional detail earlier. The Arya never gives me a feeling of brightness.
With the Stellia, everything is directly by your ear. With the Arya, sound is more spacious with greater sense of depth and width. Plus, with the Arya, I get a front/back effect going on sometimes. The Stellia doesn’t give me that. Classical music is probably 80-90% of my listening and the Arya gives me a profoundly more enjoyable experience. Not like HD 800 width, but more width than the Frenchie.
I will say this of the Stellia: they are very dynamic. They certainly punch harder that any other headphone I’ve had. I also listen to a lot of electronic music like drum and bass and jungle. The Stellia hits and hits hard. With this music, the Stellia are more energetic and downright fun to listen to. However, since classical is most of my listening, I have to go with the Arya.
Concerning looks and build quality, the Stellia is off the hook. In terms of sound quality however, in my opinion the Stellia is overpriced.
I really wanted to like the Stellia, truly I did. But music is just more natural sounding with the Arya and the width of the presentation is just more appealing to me with the Arya. Instruments seem to just "float" in a space. There is a nice top-to-bottom balance with them that just sounds coherent and "right" to me.
Oh well, just my two cents. Hope this helps.
