Cable upgrade

@soix My pleasure. The Arya Stealth is a bit more balanced sounding tonally, where the HE1KSE is a bit more lean. Of course, the HE1KSE is more transparent, dynamic, and faster by a fairly large margin. Definitely more presence overall with the HE1KSE, but it's easy to hear that the Arya Stealth is in the same family. Comfort with the HE1KSE is also preferred.

Unfortunately I haven't tried the Arya Organic. It came out after I bought my HE1KSE, and before I decided to become a Meze Audio dealer. I came from more of the Audeze camp earlier on, so I found Meze to be a nice middle ground between the sonic signature of Audeze and Hifiman, but with a bit of coloration which makes for really engaging listening sessions.

@blisshifi  Thanks again for thoughts — very interesting and helpful.  I auditioned the Audeze maybe LCD-2? about five years ago and found them a little too laid back in the treble for my tastes (and they were heavy), which eventually led me to Hifiman.  Never got to hear Meze ‘phones but definitely will at some point.  

@soix Yeah the weight is what more than anything took me away from Audeze. They open up with much better aftermarket cables, but the LCD-2 is dark, no question about it, whereas the LCD-3 and LCD-4 were respectively much better.

Meze is super comfortable, moreso than Hifiman in my opinion. Going up the line, I'm most impressed by the 109 Pro, the Empyrean II, and the Elite. Despite the price differences between the Elite and Empyrean, I like them almost equally for different reasons. The Empyrean is a bit more linear with great presence. The Elite are a bit more refined. Coming from Hifiman, the Empyrean II would be my suggestion for you to try at some point.

Let me know what cable you end up with for your Arya Stealth.

@blisshifi  Will do.  Reason I’m looking is I have an LTA MZ2 (with upgraded LPS) I’ve been using as a preamp but want to use for my Stealths but can’t find the damn stock cable.  Thinking it’ll be a step up from the Singxer SA-1 I’m using now and may add some heft/weight to the mids/bass as well.  We’ll see.  And yes, the Empyrean II looks like it’d be in my sonic wheelhouse and look forward to trying them sometime soon.  

Maybe look at Headphonia cable reviews here