Audiophilepure

In balanced high gain mode, both devices do not have enough headroom to drive the Diana DZ comfortably without it starting to sound shouty and thin.

It was only when I plugged the Mystic XP1 into its accompanying AC power brick and turned on its M-Power mode did the DZ suddenly delivered the necessary weight and headroom to sound like it was being driven quite well.

M-Power provides up to 1.5W of power at 50Ω which is closer to where the DZ should be but bear in mind the Mystic XP1 becomes a desktop amplifier in the process.

If you need portable power without a power cable the best I can suggest is the Cayin C9 which will give you 1.6W into a 50Ω going balanced plus a few tonal tweaks to fine-tune the Diana DZ which is a plus in my book.

I also really like the new headband design with the “sling”. Gone are the hot zones on the top of your head and the weight now is perfectly spread out over the top of your head, resulting in a very comfortable listening experience. I can listen to the DZ for hours without any discomfort. Do note that your ears can get warmer during longer listening periods, especially with the Ultrasuede pads.

As said, the DZ comes in different versions. The design I like most is the Damascus Forged one. Note that the vegan version of this design has Ultrasuede ear pads, which have a subtle softening of upper frequencies. Abyss suggests going for the stock lambskin ear pads if you prefer to maximize detail retrieval.

The Grado Signature HP100 SE Open Air Headphone is a true audiophile reference headphone and as such it is not forgiving of source nor electronics, yet the musicality and presentation make for an absolutely pleasurable experience, in fact, the Grados seem to lend something to every genre of music whether it was Classical, Folk, Rock, Jazz, Lounge or even stark New Wave like The B⁵²s. I found myself racing through my playlist looking for new challenges, but felt it redundant to catalog every piece I heard as the experience was the same, massive soundstage, blistering speed, savage impact, epic dynamics, and luscious musicality. Like all Grado headphones in my experience, the HP100 SE is extremely efficient meaning though you want an amplifier of a sound quality commensurate with the Grados power is not an issue, in fact, you most likely will want something with a low gain option and a significantly low noise floor to take full advantage of them.

The Raal 1995 headphones aren’t your regular plug and play headphones, and in order for your amp to work correctly with the Immanis headphone you need to use one of Raal’s Ribbon Current Drive Interfaces like the TI-1b or their newest one (RCD-32(Ohm)) which you can see in the pictures. Both interfaces work fine, you don’t need to buy a new interface if you have one already. The RCD Interface, featuring purpose designed, highest-quality, toroidal transformers is designed in the style of a headphone stand. Toroidal transformers convert a voltage-controlled amplifier output into a current-controlled signal for driving the ribbons.

You also need to use a special headphone cable as well as an input Cable. You can buy a full bundle with everything you need, so no worries there. If you already have the cables and interface, then you can buy the Immanis only. Contrary to with the SR-1b you no longer may use the open-baffle Compensation Barrels. The barrels will change the intended sound signature but also, because of reducing the level above 2k for about 5dB, they may overload the ribbons with bass when you increase the volume to compensate for the 5dB loss. So make sure to remove the barrels from your SR-1a/b system when switching to the (Magna or) Immanis.