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Abyss Diana V2 2nd Review (Headphone)

richard12511

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Headphones are boring. More power amps and high performance, DACs, please.

P.S. I notice that my $100 contribution to the cause goes unacknowledged. If that is more than 115 dB below your detection threshold,
let me know. I might send more.

Personally, I'd love it if we never saw another another DAC review if it meant we could get more reviews about products that actually make an audible difference(speakers and headphones).

What insight do we hope to gain from more DAC measurements? Spoiler alert for the next DAC Review... it has the exact same (audible) performance as all the others ;)
 

Jimbob54

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To those who suggest bringing some kind of false advertising claim against these manufacturers, that can be very complex as many mfg. claims are based on subjective criteria. Take for example a claim that I think Abyss seems to make for their products - "the highest resolution headphones" (look at the Abyss FB page they seem to be making this claim)

OK, so now we have Amir's measurements, and other similar engineering data could be carefully gathered.

But their claim is "highest resolution" - what does that mean, exactly? THAT is what you'd have to show was false in your tort. Resolution has solidly accepted engineering definitions in optics and electronics, but I can't find a standard engineering definition for "resolution" as applied to transducers or to acoustics generally, except maybe when discussing sonar. So how do you disprove something with no accepted definition?

One could argue, I think, that a transducer with the hideous THD that Abyss drivers are noted for could not possibly offer "high resolution." But that would end up being an argument over subjective qualities not amenable to scientific proof.

I seem to remember that Abyss claimed they made the "best headphones in the world." I didn't find this claim in a cursory web search, so maybe they never said it. But if they did, then you would have SOME ammunition in a false advertising beef, because clearly their products have WAY more THD than many other 'phones, and I think it's generally accepted by engineers that more THD is bad and less THD is good.

You might also be able to beat them over the head with their uneven frequency response, but then you'd get into an argument over the Harman Preference Curve. AFAIK, the Harman Curve is not engineering cannon, it is the result of findings by one set of researchers at a commercial concern and I don't know if it ever went through the typical peer review vetting and attempts to reproduce the results that are generally accepted as criteria for acceptance in the STEM world. Did Harman write a paper and submit it the IEEE or anything like that? I don't know, maybe somebody here can educate us on that matter.

In any event, bringing a false advertising claim to court would require that the plaintiff had standing and damages. Standing would be established if you bought a pair of these monstrously overpriced headphones, and your damages would be the $4000 you spent on the things. Legal costs to bring such a suit would be substantially more than the $4,000 a plaintiff might recover from such a suit, so the only way this would work out economically would be if a class action would be brought on behalf of a large group of people who bought these phones. I'm not sure you'd find enough Abyss owners to make it work, though perhaps as Amir's measurements gain wider circulation enough Abyss owners might feel cheated and be interested in participating.

I wish some wealthy engineer would endow a foundation to attack sellers of audiophile snake oil in the courts. Firms like Machina Dynamica and Bybee ought not be able to enrich themselves on their dubious claims and junk science without suffering punishment,
Exactly.
 

B4ICU

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The upside down VFM formula.
It seems that the more expensive the HP gets, the worst is the performance.
Not to say, that on cheep sets, the bar is set low, and a mediocre set gets a recommendation, But for $4,000 it need do better to pass.
From this site tests, I'm getting the impression that it is a technology, not yet there.
Haven't seen one passing with bright colors.
 

Zensō

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How can something so bad be so expensive...........?
Like many Veblen goods, the high price is actually the main selling point, more so than the product itself.

Wikipedia:
A Veblen good is a type of luxury good for which the demand for a good increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve. The higher prices of Veblen goods may make them desirable as a status symbol in the practices of conspicuous consumptionand conspicuous leisure. A product may be a Veblen good because it is a positional good, something few others can own.
 

roskodan

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C'mon guys, give Abyss a break, it's not their fault the headphones are a robbery, they only had two options, make a product worth the money or make a lot of money. :7
 

Francis Vaughan

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I just checked and the bloody thing says Diana V2. :( The owner had told me it was the Phi.

So what did the owner pay for? Has he been sold the wrong item and deserving of a refund? Maybe they are a Phi, and Abyss uses common parts neglecting to correctly mark the model on this one. If the owner though he was sending you a Phi, you would imagine he thought he had paid for one. There is a lazy $1000 sitting somewhere that isn't explained.

I guess he might own both and just sent you the wrong one. Seems rather unlikely.
 

Jimbob54

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So what did the owner pay for? Has he been sold the wrong item and deserving of a refund? Maybe they are a Phi, and Abyss uses common parts neglecting to correctly mark the model on this one. If the owner though he was sending you a Phi, you would imagine he thought he had paid for one. There is a lazy $1000 sitting somewhere that isn't explained.

I guess he might own both and just sent you the wrong one. Seems rather unlikely.
There's shenanigans at some point in the chain of events here.

Also interesting comparisons to be made between 2 sets of measurements of what turns out to be the same model.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

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This will only work for people who are rooted in facts and reality. Recent events show that there is a large population who eschew solid epistemological methods and are content to accept fantasy and live inside echo chambers.
I hear you but the trend is in our favor in this regard. Before founding this site, I founded another one. Had a falling out with my partner because he wanted to go hard over to subjectivists side. Here is how they are doing relative to us:

1621837642499.png


As you see, they are stuck in the mud (orange) despite being nearly 10 years older than our forum.

This has to mean that people value objectivity and facts more than opinion and flowery words.
 

Thomas_A

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I just checked and the bloody thing says Diana V2. :( The owner had told me it was the Phi.

I put a note in the review and changed the title.

These damn companies need to start putting model names/numbers on the darn headphone. It should not be up to us to have a decoder sheet on what is what when even the owner thinks it is a different unit. They keep model numbers the same for search engine optimization (so anyone looking for old and new gets the same hits and that raises ranking Google searches). They benefit but the customer and lonely reviews like me get confused this way.

So a kind of "blind" test here. :) Similar shape of fr response except the bass. And a large difference in distortion at ≈500 Hz vs previous measurement. You never know whats down there, in the Abyss.

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2643788057?playlistId=tt0096754&ref_=tt_ov_vi
 

Maki

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Good to see that Amir isn't pulling punches despite the seething some of his reviews have generated.
 

Robbo99999

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I don't know. The owner has been out of touch since I wrote the review.
Ha, guess I can understand that! :D But no, it was good of them to send them in, they should be proud of having sent them in. I would like to hear from the owner as to the confusion between Phi & V2.
 

Maiky76

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Abyss Diana Phi open-back planar magnetic headphone. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $3,995. I previously reviewed the Abyss Diana V2 so it is good to see how this sibling rates for its $1,000 higher cost.

EDIT: While the owner had told me this was Diana Phi, the markings on the driver indicate it is V2! :(

Unlike the V2 I tested, this sample has the stock headband:

View attachment 131451

The same feeling of luxury is imparted in your hands which I very much appreciated.

The cups are magnetic, rectangular and rotate in fixed positions. I tested them as sent to me and as you see above.

The side view better shows the nice overall design of the unit (aesthetically):
View attachment 131452

The cable was was short but was flexible and comfortable. You can order the headphone with different terminations which is very nice.

Despite its small size, the Diana Phi is on the heavy side at 430 grams:

View attachment 131453

The cups as mentioned are square with inside dimension of 59 by 59 millimeters. The depth is hard to judge as they are slanted. At the highest peak they are about 27 mm deep.

Comfort was good for me. Yes, the headphones dragged a bit on my ear due to weight but not bad. Online reviews mentioned lack of comfort a fair bit. That was not my experience.

Note: The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. Headphone measurements by definition are approximate and variable so don't be surprised if other measurements even if performed with the same gear as mine differ in end results. Protocols vary such as headband pressure, averaging (which I don't do). As you will see, I have confirmed the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers specially in bass and above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests. If you think you have an exact idea of a headphone performance, you are likely wrong!

Fitting the Diana Phi to the fixture was very easy. The V2 was very difficult due to its padding making a huge difference. Not here. Measurements at my two frequencies matched channel to channel and level which is usually a good sign of ease of measurements and accuracy.

Abyss Diana Phi Measurements
As usual we start with our frequency response:
View attachment 131456

Whether it is due to better fit or inherent in the design, there is more bass here than V2. The rest of the response shares some of the same issues due like the kink around 550 Hz and then the overshoot after that. Overall response is quite ragged making developing of equalization by eye as I do difficult:

View attachment 131457

When we look at the distortion, we see the "trademark" high levels we are used to seeing with Abyss headphones with the Diana Phi being the worst of the series:

View attachment 131458

This is stunning level of distortion. Even at 94 dBSPL we get plenty of distortions where many headphones nearly hug the zero line:
View attachment 131459

Distortion measurements are subject to accuracy errors but no matter how you look at this, there is too much of it from 300 Hz up. We see the absolute level levels are high as well:
View attachment 131479

We could waive our hands and say distortion doesn't matter but good grief, you are paying so much for the headphone, why not get less distortion???

Group delay has ragged response in low frequencies which I don't like to see:

View attachment 131461

Low frequency should just drop down exponentially.

I was surprised that the impedance measurements did not match company's spec:

View attachment 131462

That is quite a bit higher than 32 ohm. So one has to imagine that they have modified the driver a fair bit than what they originally designed and specified. For this kind of price, I like to see exactness and consistency in a headphone.

The Diana Phi is on the less efficient side of the equation:

View attachment 131465

It is four times less efficient than the mean of 34 measurements in the database so far.

Abyss Diana Phi Listening Tests and Equalization
Out of the box, the one word that comes to mind about the sound of the Diana Phi is "ordinary." I didn't find it offensive but there was nothing about it to say this is a good headphone. There were no spatial effects to speak to hang your hat on either.

I made a rough attempt that equalization which improved things a lot:
View attachment 131466

But sorry to say it didn't make enough of a difference. I have a long list of reference tracks I have collected for headphones which emphasize the full frequency response and spatial qualities and almost none sounded good with Diana Phi. It was as if "high-fi" was taken out of the lexicon of this headphone. I read another reviewer which said the same thing and that the only tracks that sounded good were "24 bit SACD rips" (I know, there is no such thing as 24 bit SACD).

Making sure I was not having a "bad headphone day," I did an AB test against the Sennheiser HD650 (because it is always on my desk). I tested both without EQ and the Sennheiser blew the Phi out of the water. Back was clarity, detail and pleasure in listening to music again. With equalization the HD650 pulled way ahead. So much so that I am still listening to the HD650 as I type this! Usually if a headphone sounds good I keep listening to it while writing the review. The fact that I had no interest in doing so with the Diana Phi should tell you how much I liked it, or should I say didn't like it.

Conclusion
The Abyss Diana Phi raises the price $1000 and delivers in my opinion even less than the Diana V2. It has more distortion for one thing, showing that the company simply has no focus on measuring and reducing artifacts added to your music. I mean these are not "tube" distortions which you can (mostly mistakenly) waive off. The drivers are becoming non-linear and not only impacting distortion measurements but also frequency response. Company seems to put a lot of precision in the physical construction of the unit but that attention is completely absent in the headphone design itself.

I have watched a lot of videos from the company and I think they can do a lot better if they focus on what matters. They need to take objective analysis much more seriously and work to eliminate colorations and distortion. For the price of four Diana Phi headphones they could buy a GRAS 45c for heaven's sake!

Needless to say, I can't recommend the Abyss Diana Phi. It doesn't measure or sound good to me with or without EQ.

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ASR Review HP


Here are some thoughts about the EQ.

Notes about the EQ design:
  • The average L/R is used to calculate the score.
  • The resolution is 12 points per octave interpolated from the raw data (provided by @amirm)
  • A Genetic Algorithm is used to optimize the EQ.
  • The EQ Score is designed to MAXIMIZE the Score WHILE fitting the Harman target curve with a fixed complexity.
    This will avoid weird results if one only optimizes for the Score.
    It will probably flatten the Error regression doing so, the tonal balance should be more neutral.
  • The EQs are starting point and may require tuning (certainly at LF).
  • The range above 10kHz is usually not EQed unless smooth enough to do so.
  • I am using PEQ (PK) as from my experience the definition is more consistent across different DSP/platform implementations than shelves.
  • With some HP/amp combo the boosts and preamp gain need to be carefully considered to avoid issues

OK L/R match.

I have generated one EQ, the APO config files are attached.

Score no EQ: 63.0
Score Armirm: 68.4
Score with EQ: 93.8

Code:
Abyss Diana phi APO EQ Score -1.5dB@HF 96000Hz
May242021-152626

Preamp: -6 dB

Filter 1: ON PK Fc 36.5 Hz Gain 5.9 dB Q 1.28
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 98.5 Hz Gain 1.11 dB Q 2.09
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 242 Hz Gain -0.96 dB Q 1.34
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 945 Hz Gain -2.72 dB Q 3.35
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1391 Hz Gain -3.07 dB Q 0.96
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 2087 Hz Gain 4.86 dB Q 3.22
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 4293 Hz Gain 5.67 dB Q 1.85
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 5630 Hz Gain -5.24 dB Q 4.96
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 7840 Hz Gain 5.93 dB Q 1.77
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 13083 Hz Gain -9 dB Q 4.75

Abyss Diana phi Dashboard.png
 

Attachments

  • Abyss Diana phi APO EQ Score -1.5dB@HF 96000Hz.txt
    551 bytes · Views: 91

Robbo99999

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ASR Review HP


Here are some thoughts about the EQ.

Notes about the EQ design:
  • The average L/R is used to calculate the score.
  • The resolution is 12 points per octave interpolated from the raw data (provided by @amirm)
  • A Genetic Algorithm is used to optimize the EQ.
  • The EQ Score is designed to MAXIMIZE the Score WHILE fitting the Harman target curve with a fixed complexity.
    This will avoid weird results if one only optimizes for the Score.
    It will probably flatten the Error regression doing so, the tonal balance should be more neutral.
  • The EQs are starting point and may require tuning (certainly at LF).
  • The range above 10kHz is usually not EQed unless smooth enough to do so.
  • I am using PEQ (PK) as from my experience the definition is more consistent across different DSP/platform implementations than shelves.
  • With some HP/amp combo the boosts and preamp gain need to be carefully considered to avoid issues

OK L/R match.

I have generated one EQ, the APO config files are attached.

Score no EQ: 63.0
Score Armirm: 68.4
Score with EQ: 93.8

Code:
Abyss Diana phi APO EQ Score -1.5dB@HF 96000Hz
May242021-152626

Preamp: -6 dB

Filter 1: ON PK Fc 36.5 Hz Gain 5.9 dB Q 1.28
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 98.5 Hz Gain 1.11 dB Q 2.09
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 242 Hz Gain -0.96 dB Q 1.34
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 945 Hz Gain -2.72 dB Q 3.35
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1391 Hz Gain -3.07 dB Q 0.96
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 2087 Hz Gain 4.86 dB Q 3.22
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 4293 Hz Gain 5.67 dB Q 1.85
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 5630 Hz Gain -5.24 dB Q 4.96
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 7840 Hz Gain 5.93 dB Q 1.77
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 13083 Hz Gain -9 dB Q 4.75

View attachment 131730
Just to note, the EQ you've done is for the Diana V2 and not the Phi, this headphone is not the Phi, there was confusion from the owner, he told Amir it's the Phi, but it's actually just another Diana V2, a model that's already been reviewed before.
 

Atratusnex

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I seem to remember that Abyss claimed they made the "best headphones in the world." I didn't find this claim in a cursory web search, so maybe they never said it. But if they did, then you would have SOME ammunition in a false advertising beef, because clearly their products have WAY more THD than many other 'phones, and I think it's generally accepted by engineers that more THD is bad and less THD is good.
,

here "flagship AB-1266 Phi CC, the headphone on the tip of any connoisseur’s tongue when asked; ‘What’s the best’?"

here "The sound of these headphones easily compares to and in many areas exceed the finest two channel audiophile systems money can buy. More importantly this venerable model will preserve in history one of the finest headphones ever produced".

here "WORLD'S FINEST HEADPHONES and engineered for ultimate performance and The Finest Headphones Money Can Buy"

here AB-1266 Phi - Worlds Most Amazing Headphone!
 
Last edited:
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