SmartCheetah
100+ Head-Fier
I see. This is interesting as for me the Arya Stealth is better than the Nanos for this kind of music. The Nanos sounded too sharp, shouty and harsh in some more aggresive guitar heavy tracks. Too analytical. While the Aryas are in between the slightly darker Edition XS and razor sharp Nanos. But even leaving timbre aside, I found the Aryas to be better allrounders with improved technicalities across the spectrum. The Nano might have advantage in acoustic rock as they're super transparent and you can feel the texture of each string strike, but that's a niche. As for the soundstage, I don't think the Nanos have an edge in either direction or depth. They were better than the Edition XS in that regard, sure, still not that much. But can't really compete with the Arya. At least on my setup.I also had the opportunity to compare Arya Stealth with Ananda Nano for a few weeks. I chose the Ananda Nano because of its speed, high-band detail and a soundstage that is more deep than wide. I hear rock and metal from ifi Gryphon and Sabaj Da3 DAC.
But see, this is why, in general, I'd take all the comments over the internet with a grain of salt and try to listen/compare yourself. I read many opinions that my beloved Edition XS were at 90% of performance level of the Aryas and nearly gave it a pass. But I bought them in the end to realize they are on a whole different level. Of course not 3x better as the price suggests, but the gap is much bigger than 10% - which for me would mean that with a bit of EQ you can nearly catch up. You can't, their drivers are way ahead in technicalities.
In fact even the Nano was a significant upgrade from the Edition XS, bigger than I expected. This is why gave the Aryas a try in the end and I'm super glad I did. It was Ichos from Ichos Reviews (Audiophile reviews) who actually convinced me to try the Arya. We had a brief chat, he reviewed all 3, he said:
For me it's 100% spot on.Differences (in timbre) are really minor. The XS is the warmer, the Nano the brighter and the Stealth in the middle.
The Stealth of course has better overall timbre, it resolves better, it images better and, yes, it has the widest soundstage. It is a higher level headphone.