Abyss Diana V2 Review (headphone)

[sejarzo]

Abyss. It's what you're throwing your money into.

 

[MerlinGS]

I believe those particular phones were customized for Herman Munster.

Actually, it was developed by the Cyberman who wanted to prove to the Daleks that they were superior because they could listen to music, but then the Daleks licensed Bang & Olufsen their design for the Beolab 5.

 

[Jimbob54]

I would like to see some of the studio headphones reviewed, Beyerdynamics, Yamaha etc

I definitely want to see one of the "classic" Beyers- 770 maybe. We know the treble is going to be peaky in any of them, but the distortion and ability to EQ would be interesting. Lets be honest, they cant have a worse showing than these

 

[amirm]

Serious question: does this mean that if you listen to something, and enjoy it, and then go back and measure it to find out it measured poorly, does that mean your enjoyment was wrongly experienced?

Let me tell you story. When I worked for Sony in 1990s, I bought one the Trinitron TVs which were best in class. I go online and people complain that there are geometry errors in them and that Sony would not check for that before shipping them. I thought this can't be. So I turn on the TV, put on CNN channel which always had a horizontal line and to my shock, I see the line is not straight but titled down!

On the lobby floor we had the company store and I was friends with the lady that ran it. I go there and tell her my story. She said no way, all their TVs were excellent. I ask her to turn on CNN and to her horror, all of the TVs were out of alignment!

From then on, this bugged the hell out of me.

So yes, once you know about the artifacts and learn what they sound like from measurements and review, your enjoyment may very well be sapped. You will be growing in your evolution to become a more critical listener and while this can be a great asset, it can also be a liability in enjoying less performant products.

 

[LTig]

Yep, once you experience a flaw it's almost impossible to ignore.

 

[MZKM]

Yep, once you experience a flaw it's almost impossible to ignore.

Not just a “flaw”, but anything really. I was watching a Roomie video where he points out a flute sound in Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’, and the comments had people freaking out that they can’t unhear it and they can’t listen to the song anymore:

 

[xup]

Let me tell you story. When I worked for Sony in 1990s, I bought one the Trinitron TVs which were best in class. I go online and people complain that there are geometry errors in them and that Sony would not check for that before shipping them. I thought this can't be. So I turn on the TV, put on CNN channel which always had a horizontal line and to my shock, I see the line is not straight but titled down!

On the lobby floor we had the company store and I was friends with the lady that ran it. I go there and tell her my story. She said no way, all their TVs were excellent. I ask her to turn on CNN and to her horror, all of the TVs were out of alignment!

From then on, this bugged the hell out of me.

So yes, once you know about the artifacts and learn what they sound like from measurements and review, your enjoyment may very well be sapped. You will be growing in your evolution to become a more critical listener and while this can be a great asset, it can also be a liability in enjoying less performant products.

That totally makes sense. I guess my main point (and I know you weren't replying to me but I was making a similar point), is that some people do enjoy some noise or distortion.
I personally don't understand how people can listen to vinyl, after hearing the "vinyl sound" I can't unhear it. But I don't go and call anyone who enjoys analog sources a fool. It's just what they like and it's totally cool.
And that's exactly why I mentioned that people will compare this with cables. It just isn't the same.

That said, I think measurements are super important and we should hold companies to a higher engineering standards. I just don't understand why people get personal or inflammatory with no reason.

Just to be clear, not saying you were, obviously, that was just a cool story. More a general comment to the many spicy comments in the thread

 

[roz]

I wonder how Abyss would respond to this. They regularly post videos on their YouTube channel and I’m sure many of their subscribers would bring this review up

 

[the_brunx]

Leave it to them to tell you which amp is the best.
here is a clue, if it ain’t expensive, sold by them or American it ain’t gonna make it to the top of the list.

everyone knows the rule, the amp cannot be way cheaper than the placebo cables you are trying to sell it with.

 

[sejarzo]

I personally don't understand how people can listen to vinyl, after hearing the "vinyl sound" I can't unhear it. But I don't go and call anyone who enjoys analog sources a fool. It's just what they like and it's totally cool.

Same here. I spent around $1800-2000 on my TT, a succession of tonearms, and cartridges from 1978-82 (~$6000 in 2020 dollars), bought my first Yamaha CD player in 1984 for $499, and never looked back.

 

[amirm]

I wonder how Abyss would respond to this. They regularly post videos on their YouTube channel and I’m sure many of their subscribers would bring this review up

I watched one of their videos where they talked about amp pairing and such for their headphones. It took a lot of self-constraint to not yell at the screen. According to them, this headphone is more forgiving of bad recordings but you better watch out if you the Phi as that one has an apparently different heart and can't do that! Said that you needed a more expensive amp for the Phi as a result.

 

[Francis Vaughan]

I spent around $1800-2000 on my TT, a succession of tonearms, and cartridges from 1978-82 (~$6000 in 2020 dollars), bought my first Yamaha CD player in 1984 for $499, and never looked back.

Yup. TT is in the cellar.
The sad thing about vinyl is that in reality it isn’t about the music. It is about the experience. I get nostalgic for that experience sometimes. The entire ritual of playing an LP. The geeky pleasure of precision machinery. There are even specific odours that evoke that nostalgia.
But the simple reality of modern music production and availability in digital form with zero degradation makes the choice of how to actually listen to music quite clear. Listening to the actual music I don’t care one whit about HiFi. I do care that I hear the nuances of the music. But most of the silliness the audiophools seem to enjoy are not part of the music. They are part of the HiFi experience. Whatever gets them their jollies. But the idea that they are somehow musical purists is way wide if reality. They need to get out and listen to live music a lot more often.

 

[AndreaT]

I wonder how many (probably the majority!) of the ultra-high expensive HP presented on specialized journals have the same horrible distortion and frequency response combination! So far it seems the best bet for sound quality seems to be the old Sennheiser HD-650. Thank you for adding this Emperor's New Clothes realistic perspective on one of the idols of absolute sound.

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

Maybe the $1,400 upgrade cable can fix these issues?

https://abyss-headphones.com/collec...s-superconductor-hp-upgrade-cable-abyss-diana

Compared to stock cables (which are good)-- Greater inner clarity and fuller upper bass and mids without brightness, soundstage and room boundaries open up outside your head, musically detailed from the bottom on up, far easier to touch the source

 

[all24bits]

Leave it to them to tell you which amp is the best.
here is a clue, if it ain’t expensive, sold by them or American it ain’t gonna make it far.

Literally the Xi Audio is Taiwanese and they praise and recommend that amp to death. They also liked the iFi iDSD which is British.

Then they recommended a $99 amp (Liquid Spark).

 

[the_brunx]

Literally the Xi Audio is Taiwanese and they praise and recommend that amp to death.

"sold by them".

https://eu.abyss-headphones.com/collections/electronics

surprise surprise it's recommended to death.

and they recommend the right placebo cables from their shop to pair with the amp too (at the bottom of the link page below).

https://eu.abyss-headphones.com/collections/electronics/products/eleven-audio-xiaudio-formula-s

"Recommended cables JPS Labs Superconductor V or best Superconductor 4interconnects, JPS Labs PAC Lite or best Kaptovator Lite AC power."

 

[all24bits]

"sold by them".

https://eu.abyss-headphones.com/collections/electronics

surprise surprise it's recommended to death.

and they recommend the right placebo cable to pair with the amp too.

Have you heard it? or seen measurements?

 

[the_brunx]

Have you heard it?

heard what? ...the cables?
No.
I have learned enough about electricity to stop me from entertaining Santa Claus type of audiophile cable claims.

 

[SmackDaddies]

heard what? ...the cables?
No.
I have learned enough about electricity to stop me from entertaining Santa Claus type of audiophile cable claims.

But not enough to act like a decent human being

 

[all24bits]

heard what? ...the cables?
No.
I have learned enough about electricity to stop me from entertaining Santa Claus type of audiophile cable claims.

Have you seen the amp measurements, or have you listened to the amp?

Also, they mentioned the power supply for pairing, not the cables for pairing.