[WW90]

Wonder if anyone has heard the diana tc on both the Burson soloist 3x and the Topping A90 and which one you prefer. I have had A90 for a while but got the Soloist this past Monday. Still in comparison period so want to hear other inputs. One thing is for certain, the headphones respond to different amps and sound quite different.

I've heard it (and other headphones) on the Conductor 3x and the Topping A90. I'm not a huge fan of Burson, as while they add some oompf to the lows, the mids don't sound as focussed. The A90 is obviously a lot cleaner. While it doesn't add the oompf (which I don't think the DTC needs, but the bass port modders might disagree ), it also keeps the focussed and direct sound of the DTC intact. I'd choose the A90.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Interesting, I just tested DTC with Soloist 3X and A90 this afternoon. DAC was from Fiio K9 Pro ESS (Damn good dac, I like it even more than Topping D90SE).

While I felt A90 is cleaner on treble but there is forwardness in frequencies at upper mid/low treble area that bugged me. DTC herself already a bit forward in this area.

Burson definitely meatier, fuller, and harder impact/bite rather than the plain A90. Speed also "more pronounce" make every songs I played more engaging. Soundstage depth and width are no contest, definitely win by Burson,

Having said that, for me DTC deserve Burson GT. It turns the headphone into very spacious and grand soundstage image with joyful sub bass.

 

[WW90]

Interesting, I just tested DTC with Soloist 3X and A90 this afternoon. DAC was from Fiio K9 Pro ESS (Damn good dac, I like it even more than Topping D90SE).

While I felt A90 is cleaner on treble but there is forwardness in frequencies at upper mid/low treble area that bugged me. DTC herself already a bit forward in this area.

Burson definitely meatier, fuller, and harder impact/bite rather than the plain A90. Speed also "more pronounce" make every songs I played more engaging. Soundstage depth and width definitely win by Burson by big margin.

Having said that, for me DTC deserve Burson GT. It turns the headphone into very spacious and grand soundstage image with joyful sub bass.

I definitely get what you mean by bite, that's exactly what I personally don't find pleasant at all. But I also like the forwardness in the higher frequencies as is.

 

[phalanx2357]

Interesting, I just tested DTC with Soloist 3X and A90 this afternoon. DAC was from Fiio K9 Pro ESS (Damn good dac, I like it even more than Topping D90SE).

While I felt A90 is cleaner on treble but there is forwardness in frequencies at upper mid/low treble area that bugged me. DTC herself already a bit forward in this area.

Burson definitely meatier, fuller, and harder impact/bite rather than the plain A90. Speed also "more pronounce" make every songs I played more engaging. Soundstage depth and width are no contest, definitely win by Burson,

Having said that, for me DTC deserve Burson GT. It turns the headphone into very spacious and grand soundstage image with joyful sub bass.

Ha we are in a similar situation. A90 has been my daily driver, with Denafrips Ares II source. I received the soloist 3x last Monday. Bought it since I ve read many glowing reviews about it being a true high-end amp, more musical, more holographic etc.

Honestly after 10 days of trying, I will be returning the soloist. It definitely sounds different / adds color, but not a pleasant one to my ears. I totally agree with you on A90 having forward treble. Certain vocal sibilance and treble instruments can sound too bright. But this probably is more of a feature of the DTC instead of the amp since all measures clearly indicate the A90 being totally flat, so it simply amplifies without adding any color. Regardless, this (the sometime brightness) is also a key reason that I looked for something different.

However for me, the Soloist didn't make the sound overall better but instead made it worse. On normal mode, vocals sound too recessed (to the point of being dark), such that instruments began to dominate songs. I would rather have vocals being a little forward instead of instruments. Then I tried power amp mode and at first thought the problem was solved. However in power amp mode the bass is significantly boosted. This causes drums to feel super forwarded, bad enough to hurt my ears after only brief listening sessions. The only way to resolve the issue is to set an eq at 120hz for -3.5 to -4db. But then I feel what's the purpose of having this more expensive amp? Moreover a shelf at 120 really starts frequency changes at about 140-150, so would impact male vocals as well... moreover, no matter the bass, the soloist even on power amp mode still loses some vocal sparkle...

Basically I am not really hearing anything superior from the soloist... in fact without eq it either sounds terrible in normal mode, or hurts my ears in power amp mode. Will return, basically a hard pass for me. I just read some potential minor eq suggestions that would reduce A90 brightness, just tried earlier today, seems to be amazing change (removes brightness but no clearly audible changes to sparkle or clarity), but still too early, need to listen more to determine if the issues is solved. If it is, I really don't see the need for any different amp.

 

[WW90]

Ha we are in a similar situation. A90 has been my daily driver, with Denafrips Ares II source. I received the soloist 3x last Monday. Bought it since I ve read many glowing reviews about it being a true high-end amp, more musical, more holographic etc.

Honestly after 10 days of trying, I will be returning the soloist. It definitely sounds different / adds color, but not a pleasant one to my ears. I totally agree with you on A90 having forward treble. Certain vocal sibilance and treble instruments can sound too bright. But this probably is more of a feature of the DTC instead of the amp since all measures clearly indicate the A90 being totally flat, so it simply amplifies without adding any color. Regardless, this (the sometime brightness) is also a key reason that I looked for something different.

However for me, the Soloist didn't make the sound overall better but instead made it worse. On normal mode, vocals sound too recessed (to the point of being dark), such that instruments began to dominate songs. I would rather have vocals being a little forward instead of instruments. Then I tried power amp mode and at first thought the problem was solved. However in power amp mode the bass is significantly boosted. This causes drums to feel super forwarded, bad enough to hurt my ears after only brief listening sessions. The only way to resolve the issue is to set an eq at 120hz for -3.5 to -4db. But then I feel what's the purpose of having this more expensive amp? Moreover a shelf at 120 really starts frequency changes at about 140-150, so would impact male vocals as well... moreover, no matter the bass, the soloist even on power amp mode still loses some vocal sparkle...

Basically I am not really hearing anything superior from the soloist... in fact without eq it either sounds terrible in normal mode, or hurts my ears in power amp mode. Will return, basically a hard pass for me. I just read some potential minor eq suggestions that would reduce A90 brightness, just tried earlier today, seems to be amazing change (removes brightness but no clearly audible changes to sparkle or clarity), but still too early, need to listen more to determine if the issues is solved. If it is, I really don't see the need for any different amp.

Yes, I've had a very similar experience with the Conductor 3X.

Have you tried the Fidelice yet? I've only heard The Precision DAC (not the standalone amp), but I think it's closer to what you want out of DTC. It tames the higher frequencies a bit and adds a hint of body.

 

[phalanx2357]

I ll try the simple slight eq at around 9-12k first. If it solves the brightness without impacting clarity, then I think I'm golden.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

But this probably is more of a feature of the DTC instead of the amp since all measures clearly indicate the A90 being totally flat, so it simply amplifies without adding any color. Regardless, this (the sometime brightness) is also a key reason that I looked for something different.

However for me, the Soloist didn't make the sound overall better but instead made it worse. On normal mode, vocals sound too recessed (to the point of being dark), such that instruments began to dominate songs. I would rather have vocals being a little forward instead of instruments. Then I tried power amp mode and at first thought the problem was solved. However in power amp mode the bass is significantly boosted. This causes drums to feel super forwarded, bad enough to hurt my ears after only brief listening sessions. The only way to resolve the issue is to set an eq at 120hz for -3.5 to -4db. But then I feel what's the purpose of having this more expensive amp? Moreover a shelf at 120 really starts frequency changes at about 140-150, so would impact male vocals as well... moreover, no matter the bass, the soloist even on power amp mode still loses some vocal sparkle...

Basically I am not really hearing anything superior from the soloist... in fact without eq it either sounds terrible in normal mode, or hurts my ears in power amp mode. Will return, basically a hard pass for me. I just read some potential minor eq suggestions that would reduce A90 brightness, just tried earlier today, seems to be amazing change (removes brightness but no clearly audible changes to sparkle or clarity), but still too early, need to listen more to determine if the issues is solved. If it is, I really don't see the need for any different amp.

I wouldn't hang on frequency response from amp measurement. Singxer SA-1 also measured totally dead flat, yet it sounds different than A90. SIngxer has smoother treble, slight fuller vocal, with wider soundstage. Back when around 8 months ago I acquired Singxer to paired with Diana Phi (after compared it to A90).

Oh, and actually schiit jotunheim 2 also measured flat, but has bass punch and body even thicker than Singxer.

Agree that Burson is a punchy amp in low frequency, especially coming from Topping A90. Even Singxer SA-1 has thicker bass body than A90. I can understand your complain about Soloist 3XP if you like the A90 character.

Additional note: Bass on Soloist 3XP is punchier (in term of impact) than Formula S + Powerman, but quantity wise, they about the same. Both amps definitely deliver fuller vocal and bass compared to A90 with Formula S has more neutral timbre and more holographic soundstage.

 

[phalanx2357]

So based on some forum posts and blog articles, I decided to try a super minor eq centered around 10.5khz with a Q factor of 4, at only -2.5dbs. Basically you only see db changes between 9-12k in this case. I honestly wasn't expecting to hear any differences since I had always thought this to be far above where you hear vocals and even string instruments.

I was wrong. It appears although clarity and resolution haven't been impacted, and core vocal or instrument tone remain unchanged, brightness changes by a clearly audible amount. This appears to be where certain sparkles or bad peaks reside. This minor 2.5db reduction seems to remove the most annoying brightness in some tracks that I have known to have caused issues for me.

I am going to continue to test - not yet sure if I like this change on all songs/music since I enjoy treble sparkle but just don't want it to sound annoying or fatiguing under certain circumstances. Honestly surprised how audible the difference is with such a small decrease at such a high frequency...

 

[TheMiddleSky]

So based on some forum posts and blog articles, I decided to try a super minor eq centered around 10.5khz with a Q factor of 4, at only -2.5dbs. Basically you only see db changes between 9-12k in this case. I honestly wasn't expecting to hear any differences since I had always thought this to be far above where you hear vocals and even string instruments.

I was wrong. It appears although clarity and resolution haven't been impacted, and core vocal or instrument tone remain unchanged, brightness changes by a clearly audible amount. This appears to be where certain sparkles or bad peaks reside. This minor 2.5db reduction seems to remove the most annoying brightness in some tracks that I have known to have caused issues for me.

I am going to continue to test - not yet sure if I like this change on all songs/music since I enjoy treble sparkle but just don't want it to sound annoying or fatiguing under certain circumstances. Honestly surprised how audible the difference is with such a small decrease at such a high frequency...

That's nice to hear. Problem with EQ is if we play songs with different recording, we may have to change the eq setting again haha.

 

[FinHifi]

I made these little mods from plexi glass, now i can use any 110mm pads on my diana v2. Not the prettiest, as i lack proper tools, but works. I might add magnets to the mix in the future to hold these in place. Comfort is better right away, but bass lacking with these pads anyway, i have angled pads on the way, not perforated. Plex was 6.90e and pads from china, 7e shipped.

 

[dfiled]

So based on some forum posts and blog articles, I decided to try a super minor eq centered around 10.5khz with a Q factor of 4, at only -2.5dbs. Basically you only see db changes between 9-12k in this case. I honestly wasn't expecting to hear any differences since I had always thought this to be far above where you hear vocals and even string instruments.

I was wrong. It appears although clarity and resolution haven't been impacted, and core vocal or instrument tone remain unchanged, brightness changes by a clearly audible amount. This appears to be where certain sparkles or bad peaks reside. This minor 2.5db reduction seems to remove the most annoying brightness in some tracks that I have known to have caused issues for me.

I am going to continue to test - not yet sure if I like this change on all songs/music since I enjoy treble sparkle but just don't want it to sound annoying or fatiguing under certain circumstances. Honestly surprised how audible the difference is with such a small decrease at such a high frequency...

Isn’t a Q factor of 4 going to make the bell curve very narrow? I would have thought something around .7 would be more likely to capture all the frequencies you’ve mentioned.

 

[Burakk]

For the ones who is considering to buy Phi, I’m selling mine. It’s in great condition.

 

[FinHifi]

Just got in the new version of the pads For my Diana Phi. I do notice the thicker part more and the overall size is a fair bit bigger. I think I’m noticing a bit better soundstage depth, maybe because of slightly more space. Bass maybe a touch more present but hard to say and rather than just try some rapid a/b, I’m going to sit with the new pads for a few days then switch back and see.

Definitely a better fit overall though.
** edit ** Bass is definitely deeper and fuller.. probably a better seal..

in case it isn’t obvious, new pad is on the right

I got the same pads on V2, I think these have some sort of memoryfoam inside, as i first put these on the seal was not good, but if i keep these a bit longer on my head, seal gets better.

 

[Shoulon]

I wouldn't hang on frequency response from amp measurement. Singxer SA-1 also measured totally dead flat, yet it sounds different than A90. SIngxer has smoother treble, slight fuller vocal, with wider soundstage. Back when around 8 months ago I acquired Singxer to paired with Diana Phi (after compared it to A90).

Oh, and actually schiit jotunheim 2 also measured flat, but has bass punch and body even thicker than Singxer.

Agree that Burson is a punchy amp in low frequency, especially coming from Topping A90. Even Singxer SA-1 has thicker bass body than A90. I can understand your complain about Soloist 3XP if you like the A90 character.

Additional note: Bass on Soloist 3XP is punchier (in term of impact) than Formula S + Powerman, but quantity wise, they about the same. Both amps definitely deliver fuller vocal and bass compared to A90 with Formula S has more neutral timbre and more holographic soundstage.

Regarding the Singxer SA-1. 100% agree on the bass. I run my Diana on it 95% of the time for this reason alone.



Just ordered the new pads. (Diana v2)
Look forward to leaving my small review as I will own the og v2 earpads, DMS pads, and now the new pads.

 

[makan]

Looking for recommendations for a not so expensive 3.5mm cable for the Diana Phi for occasional use with a DAP. I am using an XLR mainly but would like the flexibility of having a shorter, less bulky 3.5mm one….unless someone out there is willing to sell their stock 3.5mm cable.