If you have an opportunity to audition the Diana Phi be warned, you may shortly thereafter find that your bank balance has decreased accordingly... so plan ahead
As far as the Superconductor being a must, no, your heart & brain are musts..... a kidney you could sacrifice though !
On the serious side of audio-insanity however, I can only speak on behalf of myself and in my case what was a must was a much longer cable... and ideally one which could directly access the DMP-Z1's Pentaconn to benefit from that balanced connection and the enhanced power output.
Comparing the supplied stock cable to the Superconductor doesn't reveal the supplied cable to be obviously deficient in any specific area, conversely it shows the $$$ cable does indeed enhance the overall delivery presenting an even bigger picture in all respects of sonic presentation. BUT... take that with a grain of salt as this may also be a result of the fact that the Superconductor is utilising the Pentaconn's balanced output circuitry.
Being fully aware of the above consideration I made an elaborate series of premium grade adaptors so that I could also use both of the ABYSS cables completely separate from the headphones in various combinations.
Used purely as line level interconnects in various configurations within my audio system/s, as well as allowing them to be connected (almost) directly to my power amplifiers, enabled me to establish how they intrinsically sounded, the adaptors also gave me the flexibility to drive the Diana Phi from various power amplifier outputs, using the terminals which are typically for connecting to loudspeakers.
When used as interconnects in this manner the differences were easier to ascertain as both cables could be fed from the same output source and directly compared, which interestingly enough showed a much larger margin between their individual sonic deliveries.
In this scenario the Superconductor proved to be significantly more complete and fulsome sounding, carry more weight and tone without losing the extended definition of the stock cable.
On another relevant note, and without intending to derail this into a Diana Phi focussed thread.....
My experiments with driving Diana Phi directly from numerous types of rather exotic and high fidelity power amplifiers (50w p/ch. push-pull & 8w p/ch. single ended tube), 15w p.ch. & 40w p/ch. Class A solid state) were equally educational, in comparison to them being driven solely from the DMP-Z1's outputs.
One would perhaps expect that grunty amplifiers with upwards of 33 times more raw output (not withstanding the Diana Phi's 32 ohm load impedance being presented to them) would walk right over the DMP-Z1, at least in certain respects where high peak current is demanded as in the case of electronica with prodigious and extended low frequency bass etc....
However this was not entirely the case at all, and certainly not in all instances.
The DMP-Z1 in high gain mode acquits itself extraordinarily well, presenting masses of information which extends to the extremes of audibility without curtailing or foreshortening perspective, and with a beautifully fine grained sonic rendering (think Kodachrome 64 if you've ever shot film in a camera !).
What I found it to lack
ever so slightly, and to be honest I am a proper task master when it comes to bass..!.. was quite surprisingly most apparent when driving the Diana Phi from my fully customed Silbatone Reference 300 amp running NOS Western Electric 300B's which is an other-worldly tube amp, quite unlike
any others of it's ilk.
It was the only amp at my disposal which fully maintained the entirely grainless, expansive sonic texture and absolutely deep blackness of the DMP-Z1's presentation, whilst adding in a healthy dose of
DMT psychedelia ethereal gravitas & enhanced bass power plus spacial detailing.
Each of the other amps I tried were notable in their various commissioning of sonic elements, which ultimately detracted from the finely balanced completeness and zen-like presentation of the DMP-Z1.
thanks again! is the superconductor cable a must in your opinion? It's not exactly a cheap cable lol...
