[chimney189]

Sure, you can say transportable but it's depending on perspective. No other portable option actually let's you hear your Diana properly and you spent 3k+ on then sooo.. to my opinion I say it's the only solution that's adequate for Diana that isn't desktop and you can move around. You can carry it and anywhere you sit down just place it down with you. It's quite a good solution

What one hears as "properly driven" also depends on perspective.

 

[treebug]

I've been reading about and trying to decide between the Diana V2 or Phi for too long. Order placed for V2!

 

[bluestorm1992]

I've been reading about and trying to decide between the Diana V2 or Phi for too long. Order placed for V2!

Congratulations! Hope you will enjoy it.

 

[twoloszyn]

I’m quite surprised at how many Head-Fiers are using the Diana with a portable setup. I suppose it’s kind of the point considering its design but I never tried it with anything other than my desktop amp at home. The only portable amp I’ve had in the past few years was the Mojo and I doubt it had enough juice to push it...maybe the Hugo 2 could.

Even on my Benchmark HPA4 (depending on the track) I listen regularly with the volume up to 70-80% of its max. Crazy how much power these portables have nowadays.

 

[Liberatus]

What one hears as "properly driven" also depends on perspective.

I don't think so. Because when you listen to the headphones being driven with ample power and source and such you can really hear what the sound signature of the headphones themselves are. All the other portable dac/amps I mentioned portrayed a sound signature of the headphone which was different from what the headphone seems to portray when powered more thuroughly. It's not just that what you hear from the headphones sounds better, the signature of the sound itself is different because the amount of improvement is so great. For example, the low end on all these other devices was only heard not really felt much. With the power from this amp, more like sitting in a movie theater the way it displays the low end. And this completely changes the way you hear most of your songs through the headphones alone.

So, if not properly driven, you may think the sound is good but you're not really getting what the headphone is able to show. This is apparent here with Diana's, and other hard to drive headphones.

Also, it's been said many many times, but just because you can get the headphone to sound loud from your source does not mean you're driving them well.

 

[chimney189]

I don't think so. Because when you listen to the headphones being driven with ample power and source and such you can really hear what the sound signature of the headphones themselves are. All the other portable dac/amps I mentioned portrayed a sound signature of the headphone which was different from what the headphone seems to portray when powered more thuroughly. It's not just that what you hear from the headphones sounds better, the signature of the sound itself is different because the amount of improvement is so great. For example, the low end on all these other devices was only heard not really felt much. With the power from this amp, more like sitting in a movie theater the way it displays the low end. And this completely changes the way you hear most of your songs through the headphones alone.

So, if not properly driven, you may think the sound is good but you're not really getting what the headphone is able to show. This is apparent here with Diana's, and other hard to drive headphones.

Also, it's been said many many times, but just because you can get the headphone to sound loud from your source does not mean you're driving them well.

If so, then I really hope my incoming A&K Kann Cube gives these headphones some justice. Even so, I still think they sound spectacular out of my SR25 + A5 combo. Even the SR25 standalone sounds wonderful.

 

[Liberatus]

If so, then I really hope my incoming A&K Kann Cube gives these headphones some justice. Even so, I still think they sound spectacular out of my SR25 + A5 combo. Even the SR25 standalone sounds wonderful.

If you enjoy it then you enjoy it and that's good. My only point is that when you have that expensive of a headphone you would want to actually hear what you bought the headphone for.

The Kann Cube is the closest I got the Phi to sounding well out of all the choices. The only issue is it has nearly no low end because it need more power.

Right now I pair the Cube with the Bx2 amp

 

[bluestorm1992]

If so, then I really hope my incoming A&K Kann Cube gives these headphones some justice. Even so, I still think they sound spectacular out of my SR25 + A5 combo. Even the SR25 standalone sounds wonderful.

You will be surprised at how much improvement you can gain from improving your daps and/or using desktop setups instead. At least this is what I found in my own usage.

Take the dac as an example. Originally I was using the LPGT as the dac only (line out function), which I think is very good and honestly is much better than the dac in WA11... However, after switching to SMSL M400 as the desktop dac, I was able to get a noticeable difference in almost all the aspects of the music coming out of V2. I guess that is part of the fun after having V2. I can keep trying different setups and (hopefully) get continuous improvement; the V2 is almost never the bottleneck in this process.

 

[chimney189]

If you enjoy it then you enjoy it and that's good. My only point is that when you have that expensive of a headphone you would want to actually hear what you bought the headphone for.

The Kann Cube is the closest I got the Phi to sounding well out of all the choices. The only issue is it has nearly no low end because it need more power.

Right now I pair the Cube with the Bx2 amp

Do you own the Phi or the V2 (or both )? You felt that there was a lack of bass? General sound impressions? The Cube puts out an immense amount of power, and I read in a review that someone felt like they were running the Phi quite well at low gain with the Cube.

 

[XUPX]

Has anyone tried the DV2 or DPhi with the Topping A90?
I almost bought a couple of other amps, but ended up not willing to spend that much on an amp right now (GSX Mini). But I think the A90 is within my budget. Or I'll wait and get something else.
Seems like no one likes them out of the THX amps.

Currently running them straight out of the RME ADI-2 DAC.

 

[DVass13]

Has anyone tried the DV2 or DPhi with the Topping A90?
I almost bought a couple of other amps, but ended up not willing to spend that much on an amp right now (GSX Mini). But I think the A90 is within my budget. Or I'll wait and get something else.
Seems like no one likes them out of the THX amps.

Currently running them straight out of the RME ADI-2 DAC.

I'm currently demoing a pair of Diana Phis with the A90 and I see no issues with this amp. I had the 1266 Phi TC on demo a few months ago and it handled them well too. The A90 has plenty of power to drive the Abyss to earsplitting levels if called for. I previously owned the HeadAmp GS-X mkii and replaced it with the A90. I haven't missed it. There are many people on the forum that will swear you need to spend large amounts of money to get the best out of these headphones, but you really don't. More money doesn't necessarily mean better.

 

[XUPX]

I'm currently demoing a pair of Diana Phis with the A90 and I see no issues with this amp. I had the 1266 Phi TC on demo a few months ago and it handled them well too. The A90 has plenty of power to drive the Abyss to earsplitting levels if called for. I previously owned the HeadAmp GS-X mkii and replaced it with the A90. I haven't missed it. There are many people on the forum that will swear you need to spend large amounts of money to get the best out of these headphones, but you really don't. More money doesn't necessarily mean better.

Thanks! That's kind of what I was thinking. Especially since the GS-X Mini is a pretty old design, and I won't be surprised if we can achieve similar performance for cheaper today. Old isn't bad, just more expensive usually :/

 

[Kernmac]

o, it's been said many many times, but just because you can get the headphone to sound loud from your source does not mean you're driving them well.

Just because it has been said many times doesn't make it true. Way too much BS around "properly driven". "Loud doesn't necessarily mean properly driven?" What does it mean then? Please explain how an amp can drive a headphone to loud, but a more powerful amp is needed to drive it "properly"? Apart from a different sound signature (IE distortion) how does more power (over louder than necessary) "improve" the sound, and if that is the case won't every headphone sound better using an amp with more power?

Volume will make a difference as to how we perceive the sound signature, but volume match an adequately driven headphone with a considerably more powerful amp, and difference will come down to (sound variation) added/less distortion, which won't always go the way of more power, it will favour amp design and materials, and subjective listener preferences.

I have a desktop amp that could blow Diana up, and it sounds great, but Diana also sounds great straight from an A&K SR15.
Unnecessarily powerful amps, expensive DACS, $1400 superconductor cables LOL; expectation bias.

Chimney189, your Diana will sound brilliant from the A&K Kahn cube. Those that say there is no low end, lacking bass, must be comparing the sound to a fart cannon. I am not sure if some of the people on Head fi have ever heard live music, that is a benchmark, not a Sony MDR XB1000 extra bass.

 

[chimney189]

Just because it has been said many times doesn't make it true. Way too much BS around "properly driven". "Loud doesn't necessarily mean properly driven?" What does it mean then? Please explain how an amp can drive a headphone to loud, but a more powerful amp is needed to drive it "properly"? Apart from a different sound signature (IE distortion) how does more power (over louder than necessary) "improve" the sound, and if that is the case won't every headphone sound better using an amp with more power?

Volume will make a difference as to how we perceive the sound signature, but volume match an adequately driven headphone with a considerably more powerful amp, and difference will come down to (sound variation) added/less distortion, which won't always go the way of more power, it will favour amp design and materials, and subjective listener preferences.

I have a desktop amp that could blow Diana up, and it sounds great, but Diana also sounds great straight from an A&K SR15.
Unnecessarily powerful amps, expensive DACS, $1400 superconductor cables LOL; expectation bias.

Chimney189, your Diana will sound brilliant from the A&K Kahn cube. Those that say there is no low end, lacking bass, must be comparing the sound to a fart cannon. I am not sure if some of the people on Head fi have ever heard live music, that is a benchmark, not a Sony MDR XB1000 extra bass.

I don't doubt that it will sound great as it already sounds great from my SR25 and/or SR25 + A5 combo.

 

[mvvRAZ]

Just because it has been said many times doesn't make it true. Way too much BS around "properly driven". "Loud doesn't necessarily mean properly driven?" What does it mean then? Please explain how an amp can drive a headphone to loud, but a more powerful amp is needed to drive it "properly"? Apart from a different sound signature (IE distortion) how does more power (over louder than necessary) "improve" the sound, and if that is the case won't every headphone sound better using an amp with more power?

Volume will make a difference as to how we perceive the sound signature, but volume match an adequately driven headphone with a considerably more powerful amp, and difference will come down to (sound variation) added/less distortion, which won't always go the way of more power, it will favour amp design and materials, and subjective listener preferences.

I have a desktop amp that could blow Diana up, and it sounds great, but Diana also sounds great straight from an A&K SR15.
Unnecessarily powerful amps, expensive DACS, $1400 superconductor cables LOL; expectation bias.

Chimney189, your Diana will sound brilliant from the A&K Kahn cube. Those that say there is no low end, lacking bass, must be comparing the sound to a fart cannon. I am not sure if some of the people on Head fi have ever heard live music, that is a benchmark, not a Sony MDR XB1000 extra bass.

It’s not really about the volume level, it’s about the current that is supplied to the headphones. I’m also against ultra expensive amps and DACs (especially these 15000$ monstrosities), but something like the Romi BX2 Plus will make sure almost any set of HPs has the necessary current to sound optimal

@Liberatus will be able to explain this better I think