[Rhodey]

FWIW I liked the HEKse a good amount, but the issue I had was it caused ear pain after my listening session. Not terrible while listening but just afterwards. I listen around 75-85db with all my headphones depending on the music/recording. They’re close to the sus, which I really like but something was different in the treble and air area. And this was off the DNA Stellaris.

And yes, I’d agree, the MR and HEKse are pretty different as well.

 

[Spawn300Z]

I have both. The HEKSE does require a good cooper or hybrid cable. Ones you do that, you will find out they sound wonderful. Plus the keep scaling up it crazy. I find them complementary.

 

[jlbrach]

Here are detailed comparisons from Passion for Sound, just as WaveTheory, he rates HE1000 Stealth higher than MR at 1/3 of the price.

I don't like Chi-Fi but interested to try and compare MR with this model and Empy II myself. At this price, there shouldn't be any single compromise.

that is one mans view,tons of reviewers love them...I havent heard them yet but loved the diana TC

 

[Rhodey]

I have both. The HEKSE does require a good cooper or hybrid cable. Ones you do that, you will find out they sound wonderful. Plus the keep scaling up it crazy. I find them complementary.

It comes with a copper cable so it shouldn’t be too bad. If treble and air are getting to me I don’t know if a copper cable would fix that. And I don’t EQ so I think it just doesn’t work for me.
I have the tungsten and I’ll probably get the sus again eventually so lll be ok.

 

[up late]

that is one mans view,tons of reviewers love them...I havent heard them yet but loved the diana TC

i saw this review the other night and considered posting it here but thought better of it. @Metalingus is braver than i am.

 

[elig63]

that is one mans view,tons of reviewers love them...I havent heard them yet but loved the diana TC

This person in the SENDY PEACOCK review said that they are better than SUSVARA.

 

[up late]

This person in the SENDY PEACOCK review said that they are better than SUSVARA.

that is untrue. i saw the same allegation made against @passionforsound in the comments section under his diana mr review, which he denied. i then watched his review of the sendy peacock and can confirm that he did not say it.

 

[samob]

If you're interested in EQ'ing your Diana V2 this might be useful.

I recreated Judes measurements on Squiglink using the existing measurements by unheardlab. Judes measurements are the most accurate I've seen so this is a good place to start. I didn't change the bass region as it seems Jude didn't get a perfect seal here.

If you want to do this yourself you can use the following settings;

Preamp: -12.8 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 1200 Hz Gain -0.8 dB Q 1.000
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 3050 Hz Gain 4.0 dB Q 2.000
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 5800 Hz Gain -8.0 dB Q 6.000
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 6450 Hz Gain 8.6 dB Q 6.000
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 7300 Hz Gain -4.0 dB Q 7.000
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 9500 Hz Gain 13.0 dB Q 5.000
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 12500 Hz Gain -5.6 dB Q 6.000


Black - Judes measurement on the Bruel and Kjaer 5128
Red - Gras 43AG-4 measurement with EQ applied

Once you have this set up you can EQ to your preference by adding new bands (don't change any of the existing bands you've created). After a bit of trial and error I landed on the below settings. I feel this opens up the stage, gives vocals a more accurate timbre and adds snap and impact to drums. The general tonality sounds more correct without losing the Diana V2 magic. Note: I'm using the standard Suede pads.

Preamp: -2.35 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 20 Hz Gain 0.8 dB Q 1.8
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 90 Hz Gain 2.1 dB Q 0.4
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 460 Hz Gain -0.9 dB Q 1.41
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1300 Hz Gain -1.6 dB Q 1.41
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 2200 Hz Gain 0.5 dB Q 2.84
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 3100 Hz Gain -1.6 dB Q 4.94
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 4500 Hz Gain 2.7 dB Q 2.84
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 6550 Hz Gain -2.6 dB Q 6.4
Filter 9: ON HS Fc 8200 Hz Gain -0.8 dB Q 1
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 9500 Hz Gain -1 dB Q 4.94

This looks like this;

Enjoy!!

 

[marcus2704]

Have owned the Diana MRs for about two weeks, and being WFH (mostly) I have been able to spend a good deal of time with them. I think for me, these are a keeper headphone, whilst I enjoyed the Phi a lot I found the TC to be a little too sharp at times and it was the main reason I parted with them. The MR would appear to raise the prominence of the lower end whilst reducing the harshness of the treble, based on my memory of the TC as a comparison. As the MR is easier to drive, I have been able to downscale my daily-use setup to just a chain of the Hugo 2 and MR. Like others, I will keep an eye for the Vegan Ultrasuede pads IF it has the desired effect of further enhancing bass whilst smoothing out the treble. I was about to go down the ZMF road before I learnt of the existence of the MR, and right now I feel very settled with this headphone for everyday usage.

 

[walterboss]

In case anyone's on the hunt for their Abyss set up, I'm selling my Formula S and Powerman stack: https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/xiaudio-formula-s-and-powerman-stack-ships-anywhere.63822/

I can confirm the Diana TCs and V2 scale *very* well with this setup.

 

[elig63]

Today I received the Woo Audio WA22. The sound from Diana MR is simply fantastic!

 

[walterboss]

If anyone is looking to sell a pair of leather bass ported pads, I've got $250 in it for you. PM me if you're interested

 

[samob]

Has anyone come across an adapter to plug up the bass ports on the ported pads?

 

[Rhodey]

Has anyone come across an adapter to plug up the bass ports on the ported pads?

Just use stock pads.

 

[samob]

Just use stock pads.

The stock pads are leather. My ported pads are suede, which is significantly more comfortable.