Audiophilepure

Read Here

“The Diana Phi, to my ears, is probably one of the truest sounds signatures I have ever heard from a planar magnetic headphone. What I mean by that is both the tuning in terms of its neutral timbre as well as its insane levels of clarity and detail retrieval. Together, they combine to make the Diana Phi sound incredibly revealing, coherent, and very reference-like in its overall presentation.

The quality is very unique in some ways to the competition. The Diana Phi has neither the aplomb or power of the D8000 low-end nor the warmth and intimacy of the MrSpeakers Ether 2. This is an altogether different sound to these competing flagships and one which I find to be an almost perfect complement to the Meze Empyrean’s rich and refined but more languid signature.

The Diana Phi is supremely fast and accurate for a planar magnetic headphone. It has a pace akin to the more expansive, (and expensive), Hifiman Susvara but possessing a neutral timbre and note control closer to electrostatic quality save for that very pure and well extended distortion-free planar low-end. A low-end, I might add, which copes remarkably well with just about any amp you can throw at it, even 100W power amps.”

Read Here

“Focal continues to grow as a company with their commitment to the personal audio market. The last several years have brought Focal speaker technology to the headphone community with exceptionally capable products that are world-class designs which sound exceptional. The Stellia with its beautiful cognac finish design is a stellar looking headphone that offers exceptional musicality and is magical in delivery of the music.

The cable is an improvement over the Elegia cable that I had reviewed and built to a price point. Many users will find aftermarket cables bring more clarity and less microphonics to the party. I used the Black Dragon and noticed more inner detail and clarity and a step up over the stock cable.”

Read Here

“The HD 6XX’s impedance is rated at a very high 300 ohms, but that didn’t pose any problem in my listening tests. It weighs 9.2 ounces, pretty light for full-size headphones. Drop (formerly Massdrop) sells the HD 6XX with a two-year warranty, double the length of coverage of most headphones.”

READ HERE

“To me, this is one kick-butt headphone. The frequency response is just about spot on perfect. Compared to the Aeon, the upper midrange is a bit cleaner and less shouty, the mids a bit more full, especially in the lower midrange, with a bit more bass presence and dynamics than the Aeon and a super smooth treble response that is neither bright nor warm, but exceptionally balanced. The mids are silky without being too forward or too warm. Some measurements and listening revealed to me a response which is much like a smoother, less aggressive version of the Harman Curve. This is just about right for my tastes, and everything the headphone does has an effortlessly resolving and transparent feel to it. I was most surprised by the sense of imaging however. This is one of the only headphones that feels like it has a real sense of soundstage and clarity to me without being harsh. The image it throws is distinctly in the forward-ish location in relationship to my eyeballs, and remarkably tangible. I could see some folks feeling the treble is ever so slightly dry, though I found this to be somewhat amp dependent and in general I didn’t hear the treble as being bright or overly damped or peaky. Certainly this headphone has a more natural sound to it than some of Mr. Speakers earlier headphones, such as the first generation of Ether headps which were a bit analytical for my tastes.

Read Here

“We have seen many good headphones in the recent months and years, but it seems that the higher end segment is concentrating on planar magnetic drivers. The market is filled with cans from established orthodynamic headphone manufacturers like HiFiMAN, Audeze and Abyss themselves, but we have seen new introductions like the Empyrean by Meze, the MrSpeakers Ether headphones and the newly launched Rosson Audio Design RAD-0 from Alex Rosson (ex-CEO of Audeze).

I can only compare the Diana Phi with what I have in my inventory though, as I won’t make any judgements based on short term listenings or sessions from the past. Those aren’t credible in my books and I won’t add comparisons to something I haven’t heard at home. Let’s take a look how the Diana Phi compares to my other headphones.”

Read Here

“I flew down to Palm Springs in February and looked on with envy at passengers with comfy, over ear ANC headphones. We had none in for review and my old Bose set broke some time ago. So, I organized a couple of reviews of top models in time for Audiophilia’s trip to High End Munich 2019 (we’re live blogging May 9-12). I could write the reviews and then test them in the noisiest environment I know, Air Canada’s Q400 and its two howling Pratt & Whitney turboprops. The plane is used for the 10 minute flight from Victoria to Vancouver, where the big jets fly. As we are flying on the date this review is published, I had to test the M65s in alternate noisy environments. I’ll post an M65/Q400 follow up in Comments, for those interested.

I contacted three manufacturers, two of which I knew had highly regarded models debuting this year, and one, Sony, who never got back to me. I didn’t bother with Bose. They’ve been done to death and the result is always the same, great ANC, but sound is usually below those of similarly priced models. Ditto for the current Bose QC35s ($349). The Sennheiser PXC 550s ($349.95) arrived the day after my request (thanks Katie Kailus) and the review will appear in June. ”

Read Here

“According to Audeze the 4z features their patented Fazor Element Waveguide to assist in reducing sound wave diffraction, their “most advanced diaphragm design” which consists of the company’s “exclusive nano-scale film [which] actually weighs less than the air it displaces.” Audeze says the benefits of these technologies “include faster response for better transient/impulse response, imaging, and the flattest, deepest, most accurate bass response of any headphone available.” They go on to claim that the Double Fluxor Magnet Arrays “nearly doubles the magnetic force: bringing the magnetic flux to 1.5 Tesla, nearly doubling the power driving the diaphragm for improved transient response and far greater resolution.” This type of nomenclature sounds fantastic to me… and in real-world listening I cannot refute these claims. The 4z are a slam dunk with spy-satellite resolution and detail, beautiful timbral and tonal colorations, lasting decay off upper-register notes (piano and keyboard in particular), a real sense of speed, deep, powerful bottom end and most importantly to me; real human-imbued musicality, rhythm and timing to their playback capabilities. They pretty much give you exactly what you’re feeding them from without flourish, attenuation or goosing.”

Read more at https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/audeze-lcd-4z-headphone-review#DkKdUtcCpL5810iQ.99