So that just leaves the Phi. If only Joe made this 200g lighter, a bit more stylish and not so difficult to get a good fit. Higher efficiency and a lower cost would be nice too. It's not just the weight, it's the weight distribution: No headphone can handle Status Quo levels of head banging, but a bit of gentle bopping would be nice occasionally. I wouldn't dare doing that with the 1266 for fear of losing my head or the headphones - a more wraparound design is called for.
Enter Diana, which addresses all these points and also seems to start off with really good fundamental SQ. But to follow on from Maxx's comments, it seems like Joe needed to significantly differentiate his new model, so went for the cool/portable market, and that has brought its own set of compromises. I'm in the market for a Phi-without-the-penalties. I don't need a worthy alternative to my HEK's, I'm looking for a substantial improvement. The Diana seems to get close, yet not quite close enough. I may change my mind once I get to try them out.
With the phi, you can bop your head. You can't go running on a treadmill, but you can shake your head around a bit without fear of them falling off. You have a little bit of pressure (not none) and the headband is rigid, so if you look up or down, the pads might move forward or backward a bit, but never completely slide over the top of your ears and off your head.
Everyone says the same thing about the fit of the phi at first - that it's annoying because you have to fiddle to get it just right, but once you spend a bit of time with them, that negative turns into a positive - you can dial in the sound you like without EQ or mods with just a small adjustment. I don't bother playing around with mine too much, but if you switched genres and wanted more/less bass you get used to the fact that you can easily do that in a few seconds and the fit adjustments become more of a feature than a hindrance.
Of course everyone wants cheaper, lighter, etc. Hey, Abyss sound out of some $1k earbuds would be nice, but it's just not gonna happen.
Diana is a completely different headphone - it is their cheaper, lighter, easier to power, more traditional fitting, normal looking alternative. It's also very well made and very transparent and honest. Does it have the monster impactful sound of the phi? No, but if it did, the phi would be redundant because who would pay MORE money for the same sound, heavier, harder to drive and weird looking. Nobody. You want the full immersive phi experience, you have to buy a phi unfortunately.
I've never had the HEK and Diana next to each other - it's been years between hearing them so I can't comment on my thoughts between the two. I remember having comfort issues with the HEK though so despite the earcups of the Diana being smaller, I personally find they're more comfortable. Sound wise, it's obviously subjective - hopefully you get to spend some time with the two 'phones yourself. My sonic memory is bad at the best of times so I'm not even going to try and describe any differences.
I wondered about the Susvara too, but have the same feelings as you. I think they have lost a bit of respect - even from once-loyal customers after they released the susvara and shangri-la in a HEK shell with a different driver and massive price difference. I think even if I got to hear Susvara and preferred it to phi, I would feel like I couldn't cough up the money they're asking, just on principal.