[Gollumondrugs]

New to headphone hifi, after some demoing the Diana MR were my favorite and I bought them with the leather ear pads and 4.4mm jack.

I listen to rock (Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple) 80% of the time and classical (Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Debussy) the other 20%.

Looking for sub 2k dac/amp recommendations for this use case, will be plugged in to my PC.

Thanks in advance )

 

[HiFiWar]

New to headphone hifi, after some demoing the Diana MR were my favorite and I bought them with the leather ear pads and 4.4mm jack.

I listen to rock (Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple) 80% of the time and classical (Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Debussy) the other 20%.

Looking for sub 2k dac/amp recommendations for this use case, will be plugged in to my PC.

Thanks in advance )

The MR are excellent. Did you want an all-in-one or separate? Schiit makes some really good stuff, so Bifrost 2and Jot 2 would be a good combo. Topping makes good stuff, their 9 series would be good. I don't really like Burson all that much due to software/hardware annoyances, but they make products that sound good at least. Fiio K9 is supposed to be decent also. If you have the room, the Cocktail Audio HA500H and Questyle CMA Fifteen are very good.

 

[Daniel4IEM]

The MR are excellent. Did you want an all-in-one or separate? Schiit makes some really good stuff, so Bifrost 2and Jot 2 would be a good combo. Topping makes good stuff, their 9 series would be good. I don't really like Burson all that much due to software/hardware annoyances, but they make products that sound good at least. Fiio K9 is supposed to be decent also. If you have the room, the Cocktail Audio HA500H and Questyle CMA Fifteen are very good.

what about portable recommendations at different price points?

 

[HiFiWar]

what about portable recommendations at different price points?

I wouldn't use these portable, they're designed to be desktop phones

 

[Daniel4IEM]

I see. I don’t imagine walking in the street but rather sitting on couch in different room and being driven by a portable amp dac/ DAP.

Is your point you would only recommend on a desktop setup?

 

[HiFiWar]

I see. I don’t imagine walking in the street but rather sitting on couch in different room and being driven by a portable amp dac/ DAP.

Is your point you would only recommend on a desktop setup?

Yep. It comes with an XLR-4 connection. Hard to find a portable system with that connection. The Mojo or something from iFi are all I can think of that would be ok portable without just going with a DAP. Fiio M15S is awesome, you'd need an XLR-4 to 4.4mm adapter like this: https://amzn.to/3ImOEll - I have one and it works well, but the added weight is annoying for the portable concept.

 

[Daniel4IEM]

Super helpful. I spoke to someone yesterday at Abyss who suggested choosing the 4.4mm (which is balanced) cable and could either adapt to XLR or 3.5mm (if necessary) for portable.

Seems you’ve had a lot of gear. I’m debating returning Hifiman hekv2 + audio-gd R-28 NOS (total $2400) and instead going with Diana MR + something.

Clearly I’ll be spending more given Diana MR alone is $3k. Open to feedback if you have any

 

[HiFiWar]

Super helpful. I spoke to someone yesterday at Abyss who suggested choosing the 4.4mm (which is balanced) cable and could either adapt to XLR or 3.5mm (if necessary) for portable.

Seems you’ve had a lot of gear. I’m debating returning Hifiman hekv2 + audio-gd R-28 NOS (total $2400) and instead going with Diana MR + something.

Clearly I’ll be spending more given Diana MR alone is $3k. Open to feedback if you have any

Oh, yeah, if you can get it with a 4.4mm, then that will help a ton for portable setups. The hekv2 is very good, and more comfy than the Diana, but also kinda dumb looking and the Diana has way better bass. I don't know anything about the Audio-gd other than I didn't buy one at one point . Just tell me what you want in a setup and I can help you find the right gear.

 

[Lucikun]

Annular works

I see. I don’t imagine walking in the street but rather sitting on couch in different room and being driven by a portable amp dac/ DAP.

Is your point you would only recommend on a desktop setup?

AK Kann Ultra works great with the MRs.

They are pretty portable friendly.

 

[Daniel4IEM]

Oh, yeah, if you can get it with a 4.4mm, then that will help a ton for portable setups. The hekv2 is very good, and more comfy than the Diana, but also kinda dumb looking and the Diana has way better bass. I don't know anything about the Audio-gd other than I didn't buy one at one point . Just tell me what you want in a setup and I can help you find the right gear.

Main reason I’m considering Diana MR is because my ears get fatigued really easily, and can easily trigger Tinnitus. At that point I can't listen to anything at all. Clamping force on jaw also exacerbates TMJ .

Diana MR was recommended by someone here and Abyss marketing seems to reinforce super low distortion, minimal sibilance, extreme comfort, etc.

I bought audio-gd because I’d heard good things about the pairing w/ hekv2, and at the price point there is tremendous value there. But due to my ears/hearing issues I can’t benefit from that value. I can’t tolerate more than a few clicks above minimum volume even on low gain.

So, clearly I need to try Diana MR to judge for myself. The question is what to pair it with given limited budget. Curious to hear suggestions for both desktop and portable at different price points, maybe <$500, <$1000

Also welcome any other suggestions. I had assumed Diana MR would be better comfort given what I'd read but your comment about comfort makes me wonder. Maybe hekv2 is still the right option for me with an EQ and some mods to reduce the clamping?

 

[HiFiWar]

Main reason I’m considering Diana MR is because my ears get fatigued really easily, and can easily trigger Tinnitus. At that point I can't listen to anything at all. Clamping force on jaw also exacerbates TMJ .

Diana MR was recommended by someone here and Abyss marketing seems to reinforce super low distortion, minimal sibilance, extreme comfort, etc.

I bought audio-gd because I’d heard good things about the pairing w/ hekv2, and at the price point there is tremendous value there. But due to my ears/hearing issues I can’t benefit from that value. I can’t tolerate more than a few clicks above minimum volume even on low gain.

So, clearly I need to try Diana MR to judge for myself. The question is what to pair it with given limited budget. Curious to hear suggestions for both desktop and portable at different price points, maybe <$500, <$1000

Also welcome any other suggestions. I had assumed Diana MR would be better comfort given what I'd read but your comment about comfort makes me wonder. Maybe hekv2 is still the right option for me with an EQ and some mods to reduce the clamping?

Well, I'm not sure the Diana is great for your requirement of pressure on the ears. They sound great and I didn't notice any sibilance, but I wouldn't list them as the most comfortable headphones ever. Then again, they put pressure on the top of the head more than the bottom, so maybe that'll work for you, depends on head shape. That honor probably goes to the Susvara at the moment. Maybe the open back JMA XTC. Oh, and some ZMFs are pretty comfy. I'd say the hekv2 is really good overall, but it is missing some bass that the Diana will deliver if that's what you want. You should probably avoid the Susvara because it does have more pronounced highs. For a DAC/amp setup, I like Topping, Schiit, iFi, Chord, etc. Everyone has their preference there, but I'd look at what you need and what they offer in your price range.

The Fiio M15S is my current DAP of choice in that range. Cayin/Shanling are also good. I avoid A&K and HiBy, though some people love them.

 

[Daniel4IEM]

Well, I'm not sure the Diana is great for your requirement of pressure on the ears. They sound great and I didn't notice any sibilance, but I wouldn't list them as the most comfortable headphones ever. Then again, they put pressure on the top of the head more than the bottom, so maybe that'll work for you, depends on head shape. That honor probably goes to the Susvara at the moment. Maybe the open back JMA XTC. Oh, and some ZMFs are pretty comfy. I'd say the hekv2 is really good overall, but it is missing some bass that the Diana will deliver if that's what you want. You should probably avoid the Susvara because it does have more pronounced highs. For a DAC/amp setup, I like Topping, Schiit, iFi, Chord, etc. Everyone has their preference there, but I'd look at what you need and what they offer in your price range.

The Fiio M15S is my current DAP of choice in that range. Cayin/Shanling are also good. I avoid A&K and HiBy, though some people love them.

 

[Gollumondrugs]

The MR are excellent. Did you want an all-in-one or separate? Schiit makes some really good stuff, so Bifrost 2and Jot 2 would be a good combo. Topping makes good stuff, their 9 series would be good. I don't really like Burson all that much due to software/hardware annoyances, but they make products that sound good at least. Fiio K9 is supposed to be decent also. If you have the room, the Cocktail Audio HA500H and Questyle CMA Fifteen are very good.

Appreciate the advice. I don't have a preference between all in one vs stack, just looking for whatever sounds better. In the interim I'm using an ifi go bar and it sounds ok with the exception of a very noticeable background "hiss." It has an impedance match feature which takes out most of it but makes the headphones feel choked for power. Ideally I'm looking to get as close to zero background noise as possible. I'll see what I can demo from that list over the next couple of weeks.

 

[Gollumondrugs]

Main reason I’m considering Diana MR is because my ears get fatigued really easily, and can easily trigger Tinnitus. At that point I can't listen to anything at all. Clamping force on jaw also exacerbates TMJ .

Diana MR was recommended by someone here and Abyss marketing seems to reinforce super low distortion, minimal sibilance, extreme comfort, etc.

I bought audio-gd because I’d heard good things about the pairing w/ hekv2, and at the price point there is tremendous value there. But due to my ears/hearing issues I can’t benefit from that value. I can’t tolerate more than a few clicks above minimum volume even on low gain.

So, clearly I need to try Diana MR to judge for myself. The question is what to pair it with given limited budget. Curious to hear suggestions for both desktop and portable at different price points, maybe <$500, <$1000

Also welcome any other suggestions. I had assumed Diana MR would be better comfort given what I'd read but your comment about comfort makes me wonder. Maybe hekv2 is still the right option for me with an EQ and some mods to reduce the clamping?

Second the point of Diana not being the most comfortable headphones. Fwiw I found the Sennheiser hd800s to be pretty comfortable.

 

[Daniel4IEM]

Second the point of Diana not being the most comfortable headphones. Fwiw I found the Sennheiser hd800s to be pretty comfortable.

So good to know. I was off to the races assuming superior comfort as a given