[bluestorm1992]

What opamps are you using with the Composer DAC? Stock ones?

Yes so far I have only been able to try the stock ones. Do you think the other kind (forget its name) will make a difference?

 

[seamon]

Yes so far I have only been able to try the stock ones. Do you think the other kind (forget its name) will make a difference?

Oh boy, opamp rolling is pretty much the modern tube rolling. It goes deep.
In my experience, no two opamps have ever sounded alike xD

 

[bluestorm1992]

Oh boy, opamp rolling is pretty much the modern tube rolling. It goes deep.
In my experience, no two opamps have ever sounded alike xD

Sounds great! Will definitely give it a try

 

[mvvRAZ]

I totally agree with this. I was 100% sold on the Hugo2, spoke to chord asking if it would drive the Phi and offered to lend them mine to test it for feedback, but due to Covid they couldn’t. Last weekend I managed to get a day testing the headphone with many amps side by side, and within 5 minutes of trying the Hugo2 it just felt flat and lifeless to me lacking any punch in the bass and hollow, even against the ifi BL which had a slight kick to it. When I compared the Hugo2 alongside the Burson Conductor 3XR they were just night and day and it totally transformed my whole thought process of not having the ability to get anywhere near what I wanted to hear out of them from a portable solution. Many had told me I wouldn’t be doing the headphones justice and they were right. It’s a shame as the Hugo2 is such an amazing small and transportable bit of kit, but paired with the Phi I think it’s like watching a film in 720P not 4K, ‘in my opinion’.

It's genuinely as simple as that - the Hugo 2 at 750mW is underpowered for both Diana's, as most Chord products it only works with easy to drive headphones and hard to drive IEMs. Granted, it does insanely well in those case, but realistically only in those cases

 

[HeavenlyD]

I was really disappointed with the Hugo2, I was hoping for more but believe it’s just the power not the product and more my expectations, I just think what people say, the more you can give the headphones they more they give back...I’m running the Phi’s with the bundled Xcan currently and it actually sounds really really good, it’s a good portable solution at a really reasonable price and just could not justify £1800 for a Hugo2 compared to £299 for an Xcan when actually I feel the Xcan worked slightly better maybe because it has that little bit more power. I’m no audiophile at all and won’t pretend to be, but I spent 3 hours playing the same playlist over and over listening for specific parts of songs (swopping from amp to amp side by side) to understand what each Dac/Amp was giving me and it’s how I created my own list of what worked on each track.
This was my playlist just because it gave me a little of everything I wanted to hear for the highs, lows and dark background and some Masters.

 

[canfabulous]

Anyone have thoughts on the iFi iDSD signature and running with the Diana? I notice this new version of the BL comes with a balanced output (not sure if it's fully balanced all the way through though).

 

[Burakk]

Anyone have thoughts on the iFi iDSD signature and running with the Diana? I notice this new version of the BL comes with a balanced output (not sure if it's fully balanced all the way through though).

I use it with my Phi. It’s pretty good and has enough power to drive.

 

[canfabulous]

I use it with my Phi. It’s pretty good and has enough power to drive.

Anything you don't like about the signature? (thank you)

 

[Burakk]

Anything you don't like about the signature? (thank you)

I listened a couple of hours. I need more time for more impression. So far , so good.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

I find the Burson to resonate really well with the Diana. People above have been talking about the great performance from the Conductor. I use the Composer DAC with my Broadway Amp; couldn’t be happier!

Diana V2 also sound great through the old Burson CV2+, love the tonal and character of full body sound from them.

 

[masahito24@chart]

I find the Burson to resonate really well with the Diana. People above have been talking about the great performance from the Conductor. I use the Composer DAC with my Broadway Amp; couldn’t be happier!

I agree, I just got the Broadway fully balanced amp and it pairs nicely with the Diana Phi. The bottom end now has a nice punch and dynamics are on point.

 

[ntbm3]

@ntbm3 So what are your impressions now with more time ? What else do you have to compare ?

Here ya go!

I recently picked up a Diana V2 to replace my LCD-X as my token planar headphone in my rotation.

I have had them for about a month and I am honestly impressed. The build quality, and style is right up my ally, they are fun to play with let alone listen to.

For the past year my preferred chain was:

PI2AES->SFD MKII->Freya S 4x->Starlett-> HD800S or JAR HD650

This has been truly amazing combo. I rarely mixed it up because it was so good! But somedays I want/need some hard hitting deep bass when listening to electronica/electropop/folktronica whatever they call it now.

Impressions:

Synergy seems to be important with this headphone, tossing the Diana V2 in the same chain I used with my HD800s as mentioned above it is good but lacks some dynamic punch and transient speed. Also the SFD MKII has a setback presentation which can exaggerate the slightly sucked out vocal region.

Switching to Gungnir A2->Freya S 4x-> Mjolnir 2 brought plenty of punch and helped showcase ABYSS bass which is incredible and what I am mostly looking for when I listen to planars. These guys needs power to shine for sure.

As mentioned above Diana V2 does have a slightly sucked out lean vocal region which is helped by the more forward Schiit DAC and amp. This leanness can also be apparent with string instruments, but I only really notice it when I go back and forth between headphones. So if I just use the Diana V2 for the day I do not feel lacking at all sound signature wise. It does sound right to me in its Abyss sort of way. But who cares about that when you have this BASS! Seriously, it is addictive…

Transparency is good, no complaints.

Headstage is no HD800, but wider than Focal and HD6xx.

Comfort… needs a comment because they are not easy to get use to. I found this headband pad on Amazon which has been a game changer.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0814D2NG7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Overall:

- Impressive resolving bass (best I have ever experienced). Plenty of texture and layers that digs deep while having resolution. This is favorite part of this headphone and one of the main reasons I want to try them.

- The vocal region is a bit sucked out… but if I use Schitt DAC’s it balances this out with their inherent forward presentation.

- Mids are a bit lean, but doable if you don’t expect HD650’s on a tube amp as your baseline.

- Treble is smooth and non fatiguing

- I find myself turning the volume a bit more as they are non-fatiguing and the bass is addictive to experience

- It’s does not have the amazing tone and realism the HD800s and HD650 have, but it does have epic bass… what else do you need?

Next question... how long will I keep them...

 

[jaboki]

Comfort… needs a comment because they are not easy to get use to. I found this headband pad on Amazon which has been a game changer.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0814D2NG7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I just got the same headband + added in dekoni nuggets inside them. It's perfect now.

 

[bluestorm1992]

I agree, I just got the Broadway fully balanced amp and it pairs nicely with the Diana Phi. The bottom end now has a nice punch and dynamics are on point.

The tuning of Broadway is done with the Diana, which makes it the perfect pairing

 

[Junglebook3]

Anyone know if the RME ADI-2 DAC FS is a good pairing with the Diana v2? Using both it's DAC and amplifier.