Abyss DIANA MR Review

Sound – Intro

JPS Labs / Abyss headphones describe the DIANA MR’s sound as follows:

This patented newly designed MR planar driver exhibits a flat frequency and phase response with a full natural sound through the bass and midrange, excellent vocals, and an extended high frequency range that’s smooth, clear, and true to the source yet never harsh or brash.

With MR you’ll hear crazy low level details into the recordings without fatigue, glare, or sibilance. We’ve instilled the best attributes of high-performance headphones into this one model. The sound is just to die for, effortless and easy. This latest ABYSS DIANA MR headphone will fit your head, ears, and brain like it was custom made just for you!

If you’re interested in the DIANA MR’s measurements you can go here, and you’ll find the distortion levels here.

Abyss also has this dedicated video on the MR’s tuning:

Now it’s time to find out what it really sounds like!

Sound – General

For the assessment I have used a whole selection of desktop as well as portable sources. Unless differently mentioned the DAC used in combination with the desktop amplification, is the Musician Audio Aquarius R2R. I connect that over USB from a laptop running ROON, streaming music from Tidal and Qobuz as well as from my local library. The stock pads used in our review are the vegan ones, which have a subtle softening of upper frequencies. This according to Abyss is something that for most listeners complements this headphone nicely.

First thing you notice is the fullness of the DIANA MR, and you get a good but balanced amount of body. In fact the DIANA MR is a very balanced and neutrally tuned headphone up to the higher frequencies.

As it is easy to drive there is no background noise and you at all times get a dead silent black and clean background. The MR is an open back headphone so you do get a really nicely open and spacious presentation, with a lovely stereo image where you feel immersed in the music. The sound stage width is excellent as is the depth and as such the positioning is quite good, though the TC has that covered even better. The mid timbre (softness, vibrance, naturalism) in the MR is a pleasure to the ear but it is the whole sum of how the MR performs that makes it so engaging and fun to listen to.

For a planar magnetic headphone, the DIANA MR sounds very dynamic and it in all frequencies shows great clarity, separation and PRaT. The delivery isn’t as controlled and the note extension as extreme as with the TC, but it’s still very good. Same goes for the precision and resolution. It’s good in the MR but even better in the TC. All-in-all I would say the DIANA MR is a good technical and transparent headphone that also lets you hear the changes in your system. It at the same time is musical, engaging and addictive. With its soft delivery the MR is really easy to listen to and I always have a hard time to stop listening to my favorite tracks.

Sound – Classics

Even though the bass and mids aren’t particularly elevated, they have good presence and impact. Bass is controlled, comes with a good impact and punch and the sub bass rumble is there where needed. The bass resolution and layering is good but it do is a little warmer sounding. At the same time that makes it engaging and really ear pleasing. The quality here is more important than the quantity, the levels really are linear and balanced.

The mids section naturally flows from the bass section with the same weight, presence and technical qualities. The soft mid timbre is vibrant, spacious and natural. For me this perhaps is the most impressive part of the MR’s tuning. The MR does the mids effortless but with its dynamic, soft and natural presentation it will easily win many hearts/ears over. It’s just that good, engaging an addictive. The vocals also have the softer presentation and they sound realistic while nicely blending in. Note that the vegan pads do play a roll here. (see the next chapter)

The upper treble spike on the vegan pads is noticeable but it doesn’t sound overly energetic, making it perfectly connecting to the bass and mids. I do still find the treble section to be livery, spacious and nicely extending. But yes, the vegan pads do soften out the top end. You like it or you don’t. If you need a peakier or more aggressive treble section around the # to 6k mark, you will probably prefer the TC or the lamb pads on the MR.

Sound – Pads

As we all know, a lot of things can have an impact on a headphones’ sound, just like we’ve recently have seen with the new Meze Empyrean 2.

This also goes for the DIANA MR and there will be a change in sound depending on the pads you have ordered. Here is what Joe from Abyss sent me a while ago:

The lambskin pads of the DIANA TC have more resolution. We’re finding people tend to have a preference. We’ve done a few trade shows with these various ear pads where we let people swap them about. Everyone has a preference in pads with the same headphone, which is cool.

As the pad system on both headphones is the same, swapping in the lambskin pads was 5 seconds of work. The comfort and experience between both of the pads is different. I myself prefer the softer and fuller, more comfy feeling of the warmer vegan pads. I also prefer the clamping pressure of the MR with the vegan pads as it stabilizes the MR better on my head.

Sound wise the lamb pads deliver a more spacious and airy presentation, with a higher resolution and clarity, more energy and maybe more forward vocals. If you feel the MR with the vegan pads has too much body, sounds to soft or if you find the bass to have to big of an impact, the lamb pads will be the better ones for you.

While I like the DIANA MR with both pad styles, my preference goes to the fuller, warmer, softer sounding, and more comfortable vegan pads. This of course could be completely different to you, so try to demo the MR with both pads before you make your buying decision.

The article continues on the fourth page. Click here.

Page 1: JPS Labs / Abyss, Diana MR, Comfort & Design & Isolation

Page 2: Build Quality & Connection, Price & Accessories, Full feature list.

Page 3: Sound: Intro, General, Classics Pads

Page 4: Sound amplification, Diana TC, Conclusion, Summary