Just wanted to share a quick write-up for anyone who was curious.
These basically haven’t come off my head for about 3 days straight. Spoiler alert: they’re awesome.
For reference, I’m coming from a pretty wide experience of headphones in the $200-1500 range. Before the Diana V2, my best and favorite headphones have been the Focal Clear Mg, modified HifiMan HE6se v2, and Klipsch HP-3, all of which I still own.
As I mentioned earlier my chain is Amazon HD → Schiit Yggdrasil → Schiit Ragnarok 2 → XLR
Build Quality
Super well-built. The one thing that did surprise me is how much I’ve heard/read “how light” they are, but I was considerably surprised how rigid and beefy they feel. I mean they’re light but they’re not that light.
The magnetic mechanism to lengthen or shorten them is really cool and works well, although occasionally when I put them on or adjust them at least one side will shift-click down and I have to readjust. Kind of annoying but not a big deal.
They’re very comfortable. I have the newly included pad on the underside and they just sort of sit and hover my ears and it’s a very nice experience. I’m so used to needing a good seal and feeling like they need to be tight along my head but these just sort of float there.
Sound
I’ve never been great at expressing in words how headphones sound, but I’ll just say that this is the first headphone I’ve heard where now I understand what people mean when they talk about a high-end set of planars being “fast.” After rotating the pads to a better angle (also have the bass-ported pads on the way), everything feels punchy, tight, and fast.
The bass is awesome. I don’t really understand how the bass gets better as the seal gets worse but somehow it does. I won’t say it “blows away” the Focals in dynamics but there is noticeably more sub-bass and everything is just fast and dynamic, it’s really great.
Mid-range is exceptional. Sometimes the Focals can sound a little metallic or not natural, which isn’t the biggest deal to me but these have a natural timbre.
I’m pretty treble-sensitive and often find most headphones that people enjoy to be a little too bright or even sibilant for my liking (I had to pad swap my OG Clears to quell the highs) but I hear none of that with these, and yet I hear more detail than anything else.
Soundstage has always been the least important thing for my own preferences but for those curious, I’d say the soundstage is fairly intimate but not at all claustrophobic like I felt with the Celestee. And imaging is great.
The biggest compliment I can say for these is that they just make music of all genres sound enjoyable. They’re comfy and don’t get hot, and I can just sit there and scroll through a whole host of different genres and songs I enjoy and just think “damn that sounds good.” I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything I’ve listened to with these, from choral to EDM to rock and metal.
So yeah I’m sure I didn’t tell anyone here something they didn’t already know lol, but just wanted to share if anyone was curious.
As a value proposition I think these are worth every dollar under $2000, but $3500 MSRP would probably be a little too steep for me, especially if you also need to up your source chain to drive them properly.
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. It’s obviously made to rotate since the mounting system is the same as the 1266. I’ll have to give it a try, I actually have all the pads for Diana but will start with the stock leather ones and see how rotating effects the sound.
, I’ve only heard the og Diana pads and v2 diana pads, not heard their vegan/suede or ported leather yet