At the time of filming the original idsd lineup review I didn't have a dummy load so wasn't able to do power testing yet.
An observation that I think is interesting, and I don’t want to be argumentative because I fully understand and agree calling out the misleading power figures.
Without expensive measuring equipment when you reviewed the Diablo against the Signature and Black Label you apparently had no reason to question the power figures despite your experience with all manner of gear. I think that says something about the actual power that is required form a headphone amplifier. You actually praised the Diablo for having punchy bass with low impedance and somewhat demanding planars. Again, not that I condone the misleading advertising.
Also worth noting is that in earlier discussion on the Diablo forum you tested the output into 300 ohms and found that into higher impedances the Diablo does output the stated voltage and power figures.
Not that it is justification of the exaggerated maximum power output into low impedances but the advertised output into high impedances is correct. My experience is that the Diablo (and presumably now the Diablo 2) actually outperforms some pretty decent desktop amplifiers with 300 ohm Sennheisers.
That wasn’t touched on in your recent review for balance against the overstated low impedance figures.
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