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Zero_Aspect t1_j8uvzq2 wrote

Did you audition them somewhere first? Did you let them burn in? Never heard them (and never plan to) but from what I remember, Josh Valour said it was fairly amp picky in that it emphasizes the amp's sound qualities.

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[deleted] t1_j8vcbd9 wrote

They don't need burn in, since burn in is a myth.

They are not "amp picky" that's just nonsense made up by audiophiles.

An amp has no "sound qualities" unless its broken.

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petethebeat14 OP t1_j8ve3o3 wrote

What are your thoughts about these and the concerns I brought up? Truly trying to just get some advice/insight here. Brutal honesty is fine by me.

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[deleted] t1_j8vitma wrote

There was a unit measured at ASR and distortion is horrible.

Also, not a fan of the company, as they sell a lot of snake oil.

But if you lik the Diana, more power to you.

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blorg t1_j8whjsn wrote

ASR measured very high distortion on the Diana Phi and Abyss is a terrible snake oil company but I would not Amir's headphone measurements as gospel, he seems to routinely mess up the headphone measurements and won't take correction. According to Amir the Hifiman Ananda is also trash, a much more controversial opinion as more people have and love the Ananda and it doesn't sound like the distorted mess he measures it as.

Many subjective reviewers including good ones like Resolve have liked the Diana Phi (the predecessor), he has them in the top tier on his ranking list.

So I doubt they are quite as radically broken as Amir thinks they are.

That doesn't necessarily mean everyone likes them and thinks they are worth $4,500.

One issue though is the Phi vs TC. Wave Theory thinks they are overpriced and not worth it, he seems to think the TC is quite radically different to the Phi though (and worse). I get the impression from his review though he is basically saying they're not a $4,500 headphone, he doesn't think they are terrible, he even says they are "$2,000-$2,500 overpriced". So maybe even worth $2,000. Like, he's giving them a terrible review, but he's comparing to the Hifiman HE1000, which is a very good $2k (formerly $3k) headphone.

Ultimately, if YOU don't like them and CAN return them, I'd do it now. If you're spending that sort of money on a headphone, you want to love it. So get out now if you can.

If you can't return them, look at EQ. They look like they absolutely need EQ, they do have tonal issues. I have kilobuck and multi-kilobuck stuff that needs EQ, some stuff does. It's not a dealbreaker.

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oballzo t1_j8vqb5h wrote

Amps totally have different sound qualities even when measuring well. The changes are just very subtle, but definitely perceptible. More noticeable than 320kbps mp3 vs 16/44.1k. If you can consistently pick out lossy vs lossless, you can definitely hear changes in amps. BTW, that's like 1% of the population. Maybe if you can't reliably hear the difference, you fall into the majority of listeners.

That being said I've never heard a headphone only sound good on certain amps. If I like the headphone, I will like it on any amp. If I don't like a headphone, I probably won't like it on any amp. It's not a big deal, but a way to achieve a sound closer to what you'd like (changes in dynamics and soundstage which can't just be EQ'd in)

If you didn't like the Dianna, a different amp won't make you like it. You might like it more, but I'm sure there is something else out there that will actually wow you regardless of what amp it's being run on.

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thebirdman9999 t1_j92edyl wrote

All amps sounds the same unless its broken.. is that what you said? how ignorant can you be? ... thats just stupid. the worst is that, this * idea * really seems to be praised, its really sad. i will always give the benefit of the doubt for cables and burn-in but your last sentence is just plain stupidity or ignorance.. i dont know mate.

im sorry, i dont really want to say bad things but i hate seeing that ... the more people that say shit like that, the more people that will believe it ..

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[deleted] t1_j92f8ea wrote

Damn....

You have never set in an electrical engineering class have you?

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petethebeat14 OP t1_j8v0vt7 wrote

I didn’t audition, no. Could you explain burn in? I played them a bunch tonight so hopefully that helps.

Interesting about amps. Do I really have to shell out thousands on an amp for these to sound better? I knew they’d be an investment but having to do all these additional upgrades seem to defeat the purpose of spending all the money on these!

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Zero_Aspect t1_j8vowu5 wrote

People are saying burn in doesn't exist, but in my experience it definitely does, whether it be the drivers themselves or my brain from getting used to the sound for a while. Give it some proper listening time and then re-evaluate.

As for amps, I don't subscribe to buying amps for the sound (as you can see, I'm happy with just a Schiit Magni). I think you're probably fine with the amp you have as long as you're able to listen to it distortion-free at the volume that you like. Is there a reason you went for the Diana without auditioning them first? I, personally, can't trust any Abyss products when they're peddling $2k cables and $2k aluminum racks.

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Bad_at_names_701 t1_j8vtroc wrote

You could get a Topping A50S for them, if you have a 4,4mm cable (although a 6,3mm cable should be fine as well). What are you using to power them right now? Abyss make particularly inefficient headphones, so you‘ll want some strong amplification to get the most out of them

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