Impressions of the Abyss Diana Phi TC at Canjam NYC 2023

Submitted by Kryceck t3_11oqor9 in headphones

To address the elephant in the room, I understand that Abyss is a pretty controversial manufacturerer here and I just simply want to cut through that noise and get to the nitty gritty of the Diana Phi TC. Is it the best sounding headphone on the planet? Well, from the 20 minutes or so of my time spent with it, I do believe it's one of the best headphones on the market today (save for something like the the HE-1 or Shangri-La Sr.). Here's my honest thoughts on this incredible TOTL headphone.

Source: Source it was running off of is the WA33 which oh man, great amp but was definitely necessary due to how power hungry the Diana Phi TC really is.

Build and Comfort: I mean, it's a no brainer that this is extremely well constructed, from the pads, to the chasis, and the materials used to build it. Comfort is actually incredibly good. Maybe it was the pads that were on it, but it was very cushioned with no serious clamp pressure while also not being loose either. No complaints in this category.

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Bass: Absolutely incredible. Extremely well textured, clean, highly resolving, and has no issues reaching the deepest lows with no noticeable roll off I could hear. Planars are always well known for that rumble in the low end with incredible clarity and the Diana Phi TC is no exception. It's not boomy, and it certainly isn't lacking in bass quantity either. Personally, I really enjoy a much linear or flat bass response and this delivers it in spades. Listening to Random Access Memories was a joy with this headphone, especially the track Doin' It Right.

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Midrange and timbre: Simply put, I have yet to listen to a midrange as lush as the Diana's presentation. The timbre of the instruments were just really sublime on this headphone. This might be a nitpick similar to what Joshua Valour said in his video, but the vocals could be a *tad* bit more forward for the sound presentation the Diana is aiming for (this is me coming from daily driving an HD800 where the vocals were recessed intently) but other than that, there's no brittleness, sibilance, harshness, graininess, or any other negative sonic characteristics that would impede on the midrange of the Diana Phi TC, to my ears anyway. Really solid here.

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Treble: Smooth, refined, and stupidly resolving without any excessive treble spikes. Coming from daily driving my HD800, I thought I knew what excellent treble was, but this blew my expectations out of the water. Top end information can be highly resolving without a spike that really puts you off from other genres of music without some addition of modest EQ and the Diana really opened my eyes to that. Don't get me wrong, to say the HD800's treble is bad is getting off on the wrong foot, but I do think the tuning of the Diana TC is done in a way that can satisfy both critical listeners, but also listeners who like to casually enjoy other genres as well without it ever coming off as fatiguing or too excessive in the upper treble frequencies. The HD800 in comparison with its spike at 5.5K-6K is superb for genres like jazz, acoustic pieces, chamber, orchestral, and other genres like that of the sort. The Diana's treble can expand to other genres like EDM, rock, metal, and such without ever feeling like you're being attacked by it incessantly. Though, as a note, which should be obvious, if the recording itself sounds like shit, it will tell you it will sound like shit, just not the point where it'll be unbearable though!

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Resolution and Soundstage: I think if you've already figured it out by now, the Diana TC is ridiculously resolving in almost every category of the frequency response I can think of with hardly any real faults. As a side note, I demo'd the LCD-5, Susvara, the 1266 and some Stax headphones prior to listening to the Diana TC and the only headphones of that list that trade blows is the LCD-5, the Susvara, the Stax SR-009 and Stax L700. The LCD-5 though is what would've taken it for me had I not demoed the Abyss Diana TC. The soundstage of the headphone is nothing exceptionally wide since its inherently going for a more intimate sound, like others have noted about it. But what I think stood out for me was the depth and layering it had within its almost room-like staging presentation. The imaging and positioning of the vocalist and instruments within the track were just so unbelievably precise, to some degree, ALMOST better than the HD800 in that respect. I still think the HD800 is undefeated in soundstaging and imaging, but damn if the Diana TC doesn't come close, then I don't know what does.

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My Conclusions and who this is for: Well, as a TL;DR, this headphone is utterly exceptional as an all rounder TOTL headphone that basically ruined every other headphone for me. The summary though for those who did read this far, I think this is for someone who wants an intimate, extremely high fidelity, personal listening experience at the highest level I could possibly think of, if you've got $4,500 to burn. I really recommend for anyone to really try an Abyss Diana if you're able to before dismissing something you haven't listened to before hand. I was skeptical going into listening to the Phi TC primarily because of the things I've read about their headphones and their shady business practices and walked away very pleasantly surprised by their house sound specifically, but on the business side of things, I understand where people are coming from.

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Diana Phi TC

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Comments

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Avatar-san t1_jbu7ess wrote

I'd like to hear one someday, would be nice to get some frequency measurements to see how it measures and then compare how it sounds subjectively.

People kept telling me hd800 is bright and unnatural and I expected it to be an issue and it turned out that its kind of tunning was very agreeable to me and way less of a problem than I thought looking at graphs.

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Kryceck OP t1_jbu81vx wrote

Yeah I'd like to see a measurement too, but honestly, a graph is just a graph. The one thing you trust above all else is your own ears. If your ears enjoy what you hear, a graph means nothing as long as you enjoy the presentation of what you're hearing :)

Also yeah, I had the same impression of the HD800 prior to buying it, but it wasn't as bad either. It sounded EXTREMELY natural as well, timbre wise.

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Avatar-san t1_jbwcfql wrote

I wanted to ask, have you ever heard any of the Foster bio cellulose drivers? Or a modded version of it like the ones in the newer Denon headphones?

I've noticed that for clarity and intimacy I prefer closed headphones like those and as an HD800 owner you might appreciate the more fun yet fairly neutral presentation of something like the Denon D5200 or Fostex th610.

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Kryceck OP t1_jbyt3x4 wrote

I have not had a chance to try them.

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IAmAgainst t1_jbue3b7 wrote

I'm sure they sound amazing but they certainly don't look the price. Personally, if I had that much money to spend in a pair of headphones I'd get the Susvaras.

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f3llyn t1_jbv942p wrote

I like how they look, with the understated minimalist design.

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Kryceck OP t1_jbuvvqj wrote

Looks aren't everything you know! But I really loved the Susvaras as well. I just happen to prefer the tonality and sound signature of the Dianas a bit more.

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K3cT t1_jc9nzxy wrote

Funny you say that because Susvara's build quality is let's just say not the best lol.

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The_D0lph1n t1_jbu9biq wrote

Thanks for these impressions! I'd like to try out the Diana someday. I think the 1266 just looks too stupid for me to really want to own it (alongside reports of finicky fit and bad comfort), but the Diana looks alright on that front, and I've heard plenty of good things about its sound. Hopefully it's comfortable for me, as I'm unusually sensitive to hotspots on the top of my head.

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Kryceck OP t1_jbuw74o wrote

You're welcome! With the time I spent with the 1266, the comfort was honestly not AS BAD as I thought it was. For my head at least, I wouldn't use it for more than like 2 hours maxiumum before taking a breather for a few minutes. The Diana is leagues better in comfort and honestly, even in sound. I think it would fit most people's heads just fine. I think the diana also has an accessory that allows you to fit some padding on the headband though which is supposed to add more comfort and alleviate any hotspots there!

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LArule19 t1_jbv2q10 wrote

I don't doubt that it probably a decent headphones if you try to disconnect it from Abyss, but I can't help but think that it looks like a competitor to the moondrop void.

Also, the Wa33 is a tube amp right? I don't think using a high end tube amp is appropriate for a first impression listen.

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becuzwhateverforever t1_jbvep9w wrote

I wholeheartedly agree. I have no doubt these headphones are excellent, but I feel like these impressions need to be taken with a massive grain of salt because the WA33 is hugely impressive on its own plus tube amps tend to smooth things out and add color.

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Kryceck OP t1_jbvqma1 wrote

To be honest, with all the various different solid state and tube amps I tried that day, the headphones itself and their tuning would infinitely make a bigger impact on its sonic characteristics than an amp will. It was virtually impossible for me to judge any kind of amp without a proper a/b test and it would've entirely been dependant on possible placebo without it. I can't imagine the Diana Phi TC sounding all too different on a drastic level on an equivalent tier solid state amp as opposed to the tube amp it was hooked up to in the room. I understand your concerns though.

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heyyoudvd t1_jbvewn0 wrote

It’s funny, I’ve noticed that people who bash Abyss are generally those who have never listened to them, whereas those who have listened almost universally praise them.

I’ve never heard an Abyss product nor do I ever see myself spending that kind of money on any headphone, but I do find it interesting to see the disparity in opinion between those who have actually tried the products vs those who haven’t. The anti-Abyss thing really does seem to be a bandwagon.

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Alternative-Farmer98 t1_jbvnnyc wrote

I don't think it's a bandwagon, the head of that company was selling $3,000 cables. And still sells ridiculously inflated cables, and makes very spurious arguments about their value proposition.

It's not a bandwagon. it's just a lot of people find that kind of snake oil to be problematic. That seems like a good enough reason without having to want to jump on a bandwagon.

If you do a little bit of research you can learn more the details and it is pretty odious.

This is not to say the product doesn't sound good, I'll probably never know bc I can't afford to try it. Which is true for 99% of people.

But, I don't consider him to be an honest businessman or at the very least he is advancing very spurious theories about cables and that's reason enough for people to be skeptical.

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heyyoudvd t1_jbvuhsl wrote

There’s a difference between being expensive or even pointless vs being snake oil.

People call audio gear like this snake oil, but I don’t think that’s quite right. When you walk into a Best Buy and they try to sell you a $200 HDMI cable with your TV, that’s snake oil. They’re selling it to average Joes who don’t know any better and think they have to spend exorbitant amounts of money on the cable to get good picture quality for the TV they just bought.

With something like Abyss/JPS cables, those are not being marketed to normal people. No one is getting ‘fooled’ by them. Those are products that are sold to people who are well acquainted with the high end audio world and are already spending many thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on gear. And their argument is that it may improve the sound quality by maybe 2%. Is it bullshit? Probably. I have no reason to believe an expensive cable like that will do absolutely anything for the sound. But my point is that no one is being gaslit or bamboozled. It’s people who are already spending insane amounts of money, who think maybe they can squeeze out that last teeny tiny bit of performance with a super expensive cable.

If someone wants to spend their money on that, let them. But a $200 cable from Best Buy is FAR more egregious than a $3000 cable from JPS. The former is an attempt to fool you; the latter is just hardcore enthusiasts blowing their money on a hobby they love. That’s their choice. If they want to waste money on something that won’t change the sound, that’s completely up to them.

Basically, just because something is expensive and pointless doesn’t mean it’s a scam. I could go out and buy a $10,000 bottle of Scotch. Will it taste any better than a $150 bottle? No. But that doesn’t mean it’s a scam. If I choose to waste my money on that, that’s on me.

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Kryceck OP t1_jbvruln wrote

Their headphones, snake oil allegations and all that aside, are really solid. Personally, they have my favorite house sound out of all the brands I've tried and the Diana offerings were my personal favorites. The 1266 I had some mixed feelings on, but I can admit that they're a very technically capable headphone, even if it wasn't a tuning I was as fond of as the Dianas. I can understand why there's a bandwagon regarding their business practices and whatnot, but as for their headphones? I think people should audition them first hand if they're able to. They're really a one of a kind planar headphone in my opinion 🤷

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TheFrator t1_jbtzrsn wrote

Thanks for the thorough right up! What kind of music were you listening to when testing it? And what do you normally listen to?

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Kryceck OP t1_jbu0973 wrote

Of course! I listened through Random Access Memories by Daft Punk and W:/2016ALBUM/ by Deadmau5, both of which played very very well on the TC. Genres I normally listen to most often is EDM, movie scoring, alternative rock, and hip hop.

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TheFrator t1_jbu1ele wrote

Nice! Can't say I listen to EDM or movie scores all that much. But the other genres I do. My personal favorite movie score is Mad Max Fury Road but I'm also a slut for drums so it's up my alley.

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Kryceck OP t1_jbu2fbb wrote

Haha I gotcha. Mad max's score was so bombastic, loved it. Junkie XL did a really solid job on that honestly.

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Lelouch25 t1_jbutmfx wrote

Awesome little headphone. Would love to listen to them one day. 🥹

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Kryceck OP t1_jbuwf2p wrote

Every year they hold several canjams, and NYC is pretty much annually! Im sure you'll have some opportunities at some point to go there and try them for yourself. If you do, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did :P

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Overall_Falcon_8526 t1_jbwe6cy wrote

They look gorgeously built and I'm sure they sound wonderful. With that said, I have not been convinced that inefficient headphones provide any benefits over efficient ones. As such, I would never spend that much money on something that tied me to an amp. If I was in the $4k plus market, I'd rather purchase a headphone that could be run from basically any source, e.g. Meze or Focal.

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Kryceck OP t1_jbxqdsc wrote

Each person have different use cases and thats okay. More efficient headphones is something that is definitely more appealing, especially in cost so that not much has to be divested toward a powerful amp to drive an already expensive inefficient headphone.

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