For this i mean the listening chain after measurements were done. Was this put on a chain that a normal consumer would use when listening to the headphone? Ie: a gsx mini is a highly recommended amp
Im also only posting this to clarify my comments and not keep the derail going as we were asked to get back on topic
I just found out abyss discontinued DMS pads. Anyone know why?
what I heard is that apparently DMS is having some health issues and because of that he is not able to keep up with the demand as he mods the pads himself. Hopefully he returns to good health soon and they can offer the pads for sale again.
on a side note Iâm finally gonna be geting a pair of Diana v2 here soon, ever since I auditioned a pair last year Iâve been chasing it and Iâm really excited 
I had no idea dms was doing the mods himself. I just assumed they took his moded shape and put it into general production. That makes a lot of sense now
I swear, maybe because i watch a large amount of youtube but so many youtubers have hit health problems lately. I know no one is invincible but darn.
INTRODUCTION
Fellow audiophiles, thereâs a lot of ground to cover here. Get yourself a tasty beverage and get comfortable. We may be here awhileâŠ
Itâs been quite a stretch for yours truly. A very generous forum member loaded me up with high-end gear to play with and review. One such piece was the JPS Labs Abyss Diana Phi planar magnetic headphone. Henceforth, I shall refer to the Diana Phi as the DiPhi, both for brevity and because itâs a riff on âhi-fiâ. These headphones are definitely getting into the high-end range of things with an MSRP of $3995 USD. Iâve seen a couple of used units from the Diana series going in the $2500-2800 range as well. Either way, what do you get for your four grand? Read on to find out.
Unrelated comment, it took me about three weeks to stop playing this song in my head every time I so much as thought about the Diana Phi, just because the first lyric sounds exactly like âplease, Diana.â But I digressâŠ
TL;DR
The Diana Phi is the most resolving headphone Iâve had the pleasure of hearing to date. To beat its shear resolution likely requires going HiFiMan Susvara, Abyssâs own 1266 series, or getting into high-end electrostats. Thereâs so much in the sound â room reverbs, the impacts of fingers on strings or keys, and textures that might themselves have textures, etc. â that it can re-introduce you to some of your favorite music, but also at times be overwhelming. The sound is also very impactful and fast. It puts the listener in the middle of it all. It seems more suited to more intimate styles of music, lacking that grandiosity that makes bigger, epic-sounding music sound big and epic. There are times I really enjoyed the DiPhi, and there are other times it was too much, and my monkey on my back â on my ears? â of my 1KHz sensitivity bit me again with this headphone (see âKnow Your Reviewerâ section). Yet, there are listeners out there though for whom this headphone will scratch that deep itch to hear as much as they possibly can and revel in its midrange presence.
KNOW YOUR REVIEWER
My preferred genres are rock/metal and classical/orchestral music. Iâm getting to know jazz more and enjoying quite a bit. I also listen to some EDM and hip-hop. My hearing quirks include a high sensitivity to midrange frequencies from just under 1KHz to around 3Khz, give or take. My ears are thus quick to perceive âshoutinessâ in headphones in particular. I describe âshoutinessâ as an emphasis on the âouâ sound of âshout.â Itâs a forwardness in the neighborhood of 1KHz and/or on the first one or two harmonics above it (when I make the sound âooooowwwwwâ into a spectrum analyzer the dominant frequency on the vowel sound is around 930Hz, which also means harmonic spikes occur again at around 1860Hz and 2790Hz). In the extreme, it can have the tonal effect of sounding like a vocalist is speaking or singing through a toilet paper tube or cupping their hands over their mouth. It can also give instruments like piano, but especially brass instruments, an added âhonkâ to their sound. I also get distracted by sibilance, or sharp âsâ and âtâ sounds that can make ssssingers sssssound like theyâre forssssssing esssss ssssssounds aggresssssssively. Sibilance does not physically hurt my ears nearly as quickly as shout, though. Itâs distracting because itâs annoying and unnatural. Readers should keep these hearing quirks in mind as they read my descriptions of sound.
FEATURES, BUILD, COMFORT
As far as quality of construction goes, the DiPhiâs frame/chassis is what you would expect from a $4K headphone. The cups are rugged and made of machined aluminum. The headband is what Abyss calls âEmotionâ that, in their words, âmagnetically adjusts and contours your head for a comfortable fitâ, which is a confusing combination of words. I think thereâs a thin and highly flexible metal band encased in some quality leather for the headband. There is no swivel where the headband meets the cups. Perhaps Abyss is talking about the magnetic pad-mounting system that does change the feel and fit of the headphone. More on this in a bit. Despite the rugged build, the DiPhi is fairly light. Itâs easy to hold on the head for a long time. The Fibonacci pattern of the holes on the back of the cup is also visually striking, and according to Abyss also helps with the tuning of the headphone. Also, the earcups are thin, like really thin. Look at this:
I put that ÂŒâ plug there for scale. So yeah, skinny.
Letâs talk about that pad-mounting system. Abyss has a really good design concept here that is not only ergonomically easy and cool, it allows the listener a fair amount of tuning of the sound. Yet, there is one big weakness in the execution of this design.
Letâs start with the good part. The magnetic field the DiPhiâs drivers put out is STRONG. So strong in fact that it will pick up random things from your desktop:
Abyss leverages this magnetic field strength and makes the pads magnetically mount to the chassis. They snap on quite firmly, yet are not overly difficult to remove. There are 4 pegs on the outer edge of the DiPhiâs cup on the listener side:
There are 4 corresponding notches on the back of the earpads:
Line up the pegs with the peg holes, and the pad snaps right into place. But weâre not done! The pads and the cups are symmetric in plane parallel to the driver, being mostly square, and can be rotated in 90 degree increments for 4 different fits and yes, 4 different sound profiles. The cushion part of the pads has variable thickness (height) all the way around. Each pad has a seam along its thickest portion:
The seam is useful in orienting the pads to be symmetric with each other on each side, and also remember where the seam should be for the sound you like, eg. âup and forwardâ or âdown and backâ. This pad mounting system is genius and IMO, sets a standard for how pads should be mounted and swappable. Even if the pads donât rotate like they do on the DiPhi (and other Abyss models), I want pads to pop on and off magnetically like this. Itâs very convenient.
OK, whatâs that weakness in this pad mount design I mentioned? Itâs the glue. The leather cushion portion of the pad is glued onto the frame with those notches, and itâs a fail point:
Thatâs a particular weakness in this design concept because the pad assembly has to be pulled away from the cup with a good amount of force. There arenât any good finger holes in the construction to use just fingers to pry up the pad by that notched mounting frame, either. That means that pressure is put on that glue joint every time the pads are rotated or swapped, and eventually thatâs going to fail. I would like to see Abyss address this because the basic concept behind the pad design is truly brilliant.
There are 2 version of pads available for the DiPhi. There are the stock pads that are the same color as the DiPhi itself, and there are the DMS pads that are black:
The DMS pads are a little thinner and a little softer, with just a bit more give. The leather is also a bit softer in feel on the DMS pads. I listened to both sets of pads in all four of the pad positions. So yes, Iâll talk about how all that sounds in the Sound section.
Fortunately, the DiPhiâs lack of cup swivel where the cup meets the headband has relatively little effect on overall comfort. The pads are soft enough that even though their asymmetric shape puts pressure on different parts of the head depending on how theyâre mounted, I never had major comfort issues. With the pad seam down-and-back, the pads seal around my ear and the Abyss feels like a small headphone conforming to my head. With the pad seam up-and-back or up-and-forward the seal is broken, thereâs a slight bit of pressure on the temple or right behind the ear, and it can feel like the drivers are just floating next to the ear, almost like an ear-speaker concept. Itâs a different feeling thatâs weird at first, but I did adjust to it rather quickly.
FinallyâŠcables matter. And thatâs true here for both sonic reason and ergonomic reasons. Unfortunately, I did not have the JPS Labs stock cable included with the set that was sent to me. Iâve been told itâs a really good cable, but I canât confirm that. The cable jacks on the DiPhi are 2.5mm â which make sense given its thin profile â and are recessed way into the cup. However, that recess is limited in real-estate:
A very nice Plussound Poetic GPH cable came with my HiFiMan HE1000V2. That cable is terminated in 2.5mm connectors, but the barrels of the plugs prevent it from going all the way in on the DiPhi:
Hart cables fit, but I had some sonic issues with them. The imaging got a little wonky with Hart cables. I tried 2 of them because I have 2 of them with 2.5mm connectors, the problem persisted, so itâs not a bad cable. âWonkyâ means there was a somewhat fuzzy center image that would drift subtly but spend most of its time slightly right of center. SoâŠI ended up having to use the stock cables that come with the HE1000V2âŠyeahâŠthose nasty-feeling ones that look like catheter tubes. They fit and worked just fine sonically, although I still wish I could have tried the stock JPS Labs cables or gotten the Plussound to fit. If youâre the type to buy custom cables, and if youâre spending $4000 on a headphone you probably are, keep this cable connection issue in mind.
(THE TEXTURE OF) SOUND
Test Equipment
Most of my DiPhi listening took place with the Holo Audio Spring 2 Level 2 DAC, Chord Hugo 2 DAC/amp (as a DAC only), and HeadAmp GS-X Mini amp. The Mini is recognized by Abyss as a good match to their Diana headphones. I also briefly tried the Violectric HPA V200 amp and Cayin HA-1AMK2 tube amp.
Sound Signature
The pad mounting and rotating system means there isnât a set sound signature for this headphone. There are audible changes, some of large magnitude and others of lesser magnitude. A constant throughout is a very forward mid-range. The mid-forwardness changes some depending on pad position but is always front-and-center. When the pads are mounted seams down-and-back, the pads seal around the ear and the signature is overall mid-forward. With the seams up-and-back the signature is more w-shaped, but with slightly less mid-prominence than the former. To my ear, these were the two extremes. These are also the two positions I spent the most time with. The DMS pads didnât change the overall signature but did relax the mid-forwardness a hair in both positions and generally presented a more relaxed overall sound; not a big difference, but a noticeable one.
For me personally, the mids are too forward. I have that 1KHz sensitivity and at times this headphone can simply overwhelm me at the same volume levels at which I listen to other headphones without issue. I found the DMS pads with seams up-and-back to be the least mid-forward and my most comfortable combination for listening, though not physical comfort. Here the mids are still forward but are mostly tolerable. For me, âtolerableâ is not a word I want to use if I were thinking about buying a $4K piece of kit. Other pad positions would get shouty and throw the timbre off for me. To my ear, the DiPhi frequently sounded like it does when someone cups their hands over their mouth and speaks or sings or sounds like the sound system of your local Cineplex where they pump up the vocal frequencies to enhance intelligibility â or so they say. This issue is a me problem, though. Iâve spoken with several other audiophiles about their experiences with DiPhiâs mids and they are completely dumfounded by my assertions here. For many, the midrange presence of this headphone will be a major selling point.
The bass and treble are excellent, though. There is excellent timbre high and low. The treble is present and sparkly without being harsh, sibilant, or piercing. Changing the pad position changes treble presence slightly, but the technical performance stays more-or-less constant. The bass is always well textured, quick, and extends very deep. The bass presence is one of the biggest pad-position changes, and its quickness and detail change some too. With a seal around the ear (seams down-and-back), the bass is lean. This pad position is also where the bass sounds quickest, most textured, and most detailed. The seams up-and-back is less physically comfortable than the sealed position (though not uncomfortable) but also makes the bass the most present. Here the DiPhi hits like a truck, rumbles with the best of them, and will satisfy all but the most ardent of bassheads will be satisfied with the bass quantity. The trade off is just a touch of speed and detail is lost in comparison with the sealed pad position and â in comparison â sounds a bit bloated. I want to emphasize the in comparison bit here, because even here the bass still sounds excellently detailed, textured, and quick, just not quite as much so as the sealed pad position.
Resolution
The DiPhiâs resolution is its most standout feature. It pulls more out of the signal than any other headphone Iâve had on my head. Subtle things like room reverb, lip and tongue smacks from a vocalist, the clicking of instrument keys, you name it, DiPhi says âhere it is.â And then there are the textures. Oh! The textures! Those qualitative aspects of sound that arenât just the tone but the instrument or voice behaving the way it does to create that tone? YeahâŠitâs here. Up and down the whole audible frequency spectrum, itâs here. At times it can be amazingly organic. Does that contradict my timbre comment above? No. There were still moments when an instrument hit outside of the midrange frequencies that are problematic for me and in those momentsâŠyesâŠorganic, and very much so.
The resolution also holds itself together when music gets busy. The DiPhi seems to suffer very little in its ability to resolve individual instrument sounds even when there are dozens of instruments going at the same time â like in a symphony. From a detail and resolution standpoint, I never heard it lose its cool. Even though they are too-forward and unnatural in timbre for me a fair amount of the time, complex vocal harmonies are also very well resolved. There is excellent balance between resolving individual voices and also blending the voices to create a soundscape. Think of the harmonies in Seven Bridges Road by Eagles here.
The resolution is also very forward. The DiPhi is highly resolving and comes across as being proud of it and wanting to announce it from the rooftops. Listener preference matters here. Some listeners will be enthralled in the level of aggressive detail being fired down their ear canals. Others will find it too much. I am somewhere in the middle. There were times when I loved the detail. There were times when it got fatiguing.
Spatial Presentation
Imaging and separation are on point with a good sense of depth. There is a fair amount of holographicity (Iâm making that a word!) to the spatial presentation. Itâs not big, though. The stage is a bit more on the intimate side. While instruments and voices are placed well and differentiated from each other within the soundfield, the overall sense of space is a little on the small side, even when a track demands to be big. Bohemian Rhapsody, 1812 Overture, Toccata & Fugue in D Minor on a pipe organ, Mountains by Hans Zimmer, etc. all benefit from sounding HUGE. The DiPhi doesnât do huge. To be honest, though, the only time I ever really noticed the soundstage and imaging, for good or ill, was when I expected/wanted a track to sound bigger and grander. When the limited size isnât an issue, the spatial presentation does little to call attention to itself. IMO, thatâs a compliment. The imaging and separation are good enough to be non-distracting. Theyâre also not distracting in the opposite directionâŠuntil that last bit of size is needed.
COMPARISONS WITH OTHER HEADPHONES
I had the distinct privilege of having the DiPhi, the Audeze LCD-24 ($3495), and the HiFiMan HE1000V2 ($2995 â HekV2) all in-house at the same time. What a treat! All three of these headphones are fantastic in their own ways. They all have their own place in the high-end headphone market too. I also own a Fostex TH900 with Lawton purpleheart cups and driver-side tuneup (~$2000 when all is said and done) that I will comment on here briefly as well.
I compared the HekV2 and the LCD-24 a bit more to each other in my LCD-24 review (a HE1000V2 review is pending, I promise). This comparison will be tailored more to how those stack up with the DiPhi.
The DiPhi is the most resolving of the three. The LCD-24 and HekV2 are no slouches in the resolution department either, but the DiPhi is simply on another level. After that the 24 resolves individual instrument sounds better than HekV2 but HekV2 resolves really busy, complex music better. The DiPhi doesnât care if music is simple or extremely busy, itâs resolution is absurdly good in either case. This resolution can also make the DiPhi hard to relax with, whereas the more subtle resolving approaches of the 24 and HekV2 make them more kick-back-and-relax types of headphones.
All three headphones image and separate very well. To my ear, the HekV2 has the most natural imaging, which is connected to it having the most natural soundstage of the three. The HekV2 has that HiFiMan egg-shaped line enormity to its soundstaging and then places sounds in that soundfield very well horizontally, vertically, and with depth. The 24 and DiPhi are also very good here but the 24âs 1KHz energy can tend to collapse the soundstage and imaging. The DiPhiâs mid-forwardness doesnât do any similar collapsing but it also just doesnât sound very big as a general rule.
The treble timbre on the LCD-24 is stellar and leads the pack in that category. The DiPhiâs bass timbre is equally stellar and it easily leads in that category. For my ears, the mid-range timbre on the HekV2 is the best of the three, and itâs not close. Some of that is the HekV2 having a dip around 1KHz in its frequency response which matches my earsâ sensitivity almost perfectly. Some of that is that it is more subtly detailed and doesnât announce how detailed it is in that range; sounding more natural to me.
In terms of bass presence, the DiPhi leads when the pad seams are up-and-back and might actually come in third when the pads are down-and-back to create a complete seal around the ear. The HekV2 is close behind the DiPhi in the up-and-back position though and both are noticeably ahead of the 24. The DiPhi easily has the most bass texture and slam of the three (again, with seams up-and-back). The 24âs bass initially presents as being slightly more textured than HekV2âs but I think the HekV2âs increased presence in the bass makes that texture a little less readily noticeable, but upon further listening itâs definitely there. Iâll bring the TH9000 Lawton back in here, because perhaps the TH900 is more accessible comparison point for many. I think the TH900 and the DiPhi can have similar bass presence and punch when the DiPhi pads are in the up-and-back position. The DiPhi has more detail and texture, but the quantity of bass is more similar to a TH900. It may not come across that way initially because the TH900 has a pronounced V signature where the DiPhiâs mid-forwardness might decrease the perception of bass presence in comparison.
When I first put on the DiPhi, 24, or HevV2, I notice certain things about them right away. For the DiPhi the resolution and detail are always the most attention grabbing, followed closely by how forward the mids are. For the 24 the first things I notice are how natural and lush it can sound with exquisite treble timbreâŠuntil its shoutiness comes in. With the HekV2 itâs the huge and believable spatial presentation along with being warm and relaxed. The weaknesses of the three are the relentless to the point of fatiguing detail and resolution and mid-forwardness that messes up midrange timbre for the DiPhi, the shoutiness and limited ability to resolve complex music of the 24, and the at-times inappropriate soundstage size along with rare but nonzero treble sharpness/sibilance with the HekV2. In fairness, many listeners will find the HekV2âs mid-range presence lacking as well.
If I were to spend $3K+ of my own money on one of these three headphones, it would be the HekV2. Itâs frequency response and more subtle approach to detail retrieval â itâs still very resolving just not DiPhi resolving and DiPhi proud of it â are better matches to my hearing and music tastes than the other two. If I were to buy 2 of these 3 â dreams! â the second would be the DiPhi, although in fairness Iâd probably look elsewhere first. The DiPhi has genuine strengths that make it even better suited for some music that I listen to more than HekV2. But, I also donât listen to that music nearly as much.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The DiPhi taught me some things, both about what is possible in sound reproduction and about my own tastes. Itâs hard to believe how much detail can exist in a recording â good or bad recording really â until you hear one of these headphones. It has also painted the clearest sonic pictures of the concept of âtextureâ for me to date. I now am able to hear textures more effectively in less resolving equipment because I know what to listen for after hearing this âpure formâ â for lack of better term. However, I also learned that this hyper-detailed presentation sounds unnatural to me on most material. I prefer more subtle detail. To my ear, real-world sounds arenât detail-forward. The details are naturally occurring and more subtle than what the DiPhi presents. What the DiPhi does in detail retrieval is absolutely impressive and can at times be fun in its own way, but it also can be too over-the-top and reduce the realism for me. However, many listeners will think that Iâm nuts here and love the DiPhi for how much it can extract from the signal.
The Abyss Diana Phi is truly a technical marvel of a headphone. They packed prodigious detail retrieval, outstanding bass quantity and quality, and the coolest and probably most ergonomically genius pad mounting system Iâve ever seen into a very robust but small package. It will present you almost all there is in your music â good or bad. Personally, I wish for a little bit more soundstage size from this headphone, and at least one pad setting that would chill the midrange even more than the current options. Unfortunately, I just could not get the midrange timbre to sound right with this headphone because it is so mid-forward; everything had a hollow sound to it. Still, many listeners will not hear that issue or just plain like that approach. And to those listeners, the DiPhi should be on your audition list, no question.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy the music! 
The Diana V2 may be more up your alley. A smidge less detail and a bit less midrange forwardness. And a grand cheaper also 
Everytime i look at mine, im always in awe how thin it is, like how can all this sound come from this.
I started reading this review last night and just now finishedâŠ
Just jesting some. I had to put it down to do other things and was not able to get back to it until now.
I think (and I havenât heard a DiPhi obviously) that I would be interested in hearing a Diana V2 after reading about the DiPhi and from @A_Jedi 's follow-up remarks.
Thanks again for the time spent in listening, note taking and putting it all together. Iâm much more interested to hear the Abyss sound after reading this than I was prior.
I definitely would like to hear a V2 now too. I also wouldnât turn down an opportunity to play with a 1266 for awhile either.
Not many would lol.
So I got the V2 on Wednesday and have been listening non-stop to it at my desk (P6 pro line out â gsx-mini â V2). First off, truly blowing my mind. About 95% certain im selling LCD-X, Arya, and clear as these damn things sound better directly off My P6P than clears do on any dap I have (and I have a few) and have better layering and staging than arya when both are properly powered (at least on gsx-mini).
But what I really wanted to talk about is timbre. Something kinda wierd for me is that I didnt realy think diana walked away from the clear/arya camp in terms of timbre with them lacking a bit in terms of treble timbre on instruments like high register piano and piccolo. Interesting enough, I just tried them directly off my P6P for the first time (idk what power is but its well under a watt at least) and the timbre across the board is actualy much better than off of the P6P into mini. I just found it kinda interesting that way that chanced when the mini is already something abyss heavily reqs for the diana series as an amp.
What is the P6P?
Luxury Precision P6 Pro
Itâs possible the P6P amp just sounds better to you. Diana really doesnât need a lot of power - Iâve run it off of a WHAMMY which puts out 0.4 watts.
Itâs also possible the P6P analog outputs arenât great.
This is kinda counter to basicaly everything I have ever heard about diana. What I have heard so far is:
And tbh, my experience on the mini vs sp1k, hugo2, and p6p seem to reflect that.
Tbh, I donât have experience with any desktop dacs, so I just have to go off of what others say, bit everyone in the p6p thread that does have higher end desktop experience rate it fairly highly.
As got just liking the amp stage synergy of the p6p more, thats what ik expecting is happening tbh. I will be trying my mass kobo 428 later this weekend to see if I just like a bit of a more neutral sound with diana and the p6p dac
Edit: another thought is less powrr tames bass presence a bit allowing for a bit more neutral og a tuning as opposed to a darker one
The P6P is fairly expensive so it may simply be better than the mini 
As for the power requirements, one of Abyssâ recommended amps (which they sell) is the Broadway S which is just 0.8 watts.
Yes, more power is always better (because you stay in the ampâs linear region) but thereâs no rule that says a lower powered amp wonât sound better.
The point of my comments ultimately is, forget about power and all the other stuff. Whatever sounds best to you is the best for you.
Price isnât the only metric. Also youâre comparing a DAP to a desktop class A unit⊠the mini will have a much higher output.
I think in one of their videos, they mentioned that they adjusted the machining/design so the DMS mod is no longer needed or it can at least be requested to have it that way.
Well, the price point should theoretically point to it being a quality product. I have no experience with the unit so I have no idea. But for something at that price point I wouldnât be shocked if it sounds good.
As for power, thereâs no need to argue. Obviously more is better. But for a planar current capability is much more important than raw power.
