[DekoniAudio]

Heres the link to our new Dekoni Audio Fenestrated Sheepskin pads for the Abyss Diana!

Hey Head-Fi

It's Dylan the Product Manager at Dekoni Audio. I decided to make a little post today about these pads as there was a lot of product designing involved!

Its really hard to design ear pads for the thinnest planar package on the planet, but I think I did pretty decent maintaining the beautiful sound signature of the Diana(according to my listening tests and in house measurements). These measurements were done on a Diana V2:

Why are we only offering one style? Because unfortunately other materials didn't sound good with the shape I was going for. At the core of Dekoni's mantra is comfort and the Fenestrated Sheepskin style offers comfort and a good sound signature(IMO). These pads of course have Dekoni's high density memory foam and such, but I think what I did to flatten the face surface of the ear pad allows for better seal and more direct sound. This also helps seal around the jaw better which is a concern with some.

At the end of the day it took me about 5 revisions to get to this point, typically it takes 2 or 3. Thats why I figured I write this one up! I'm a bit more attached to this one than my other designs. Tag us when you share your opinions! I Would love to read them so I can make better ear pads in the future!

Heres the announcement!

 

[Litlgi74]

Any plans for the 1266?

 

[Infoseeker]

What do you guys have planned for the Senn hd800?

 

[dleblanc343]

What do you guys have planned for the Senn hd800?

Dekoni already offers HD800 pad varieties

 

[Infoseeker]

Dekoni already offers HD800 pad varieties

Of course of course. Just there was an interesting marketing email:

 

[SoundJedi]

That's wonderful news. Do you have plans for solid (non fenestrated) ones in the future?

 

[LowBeat91]

ordered them and qill compare angainst the newest Abyss V2 Pads that are not fenestrated

 

[timsams]

Can't wait to try them !

 

[timsams]

ordered them and qill compare angainst the newest Abyss V2 Pads that are not fenestrated

Let us know how the confort improve and change the sound !

 

[user4404]

ordered them and qill compare angainst the newest Abyss V2 Pads that are not fenestrated

Did you ever post a comparison?

 

[timsams]

@LowBeat91
Abyss said it changed the Diana sound too much in their lattest video. Please let us know how it is for you and confort-wise (my V3 pads won't breakup and are still unconfortable after weeks)

 

[user4404]

Purchased these late last week... here are a few quick notes from only a few hours of listening. Note, I'm no audiophile, just a random guy who can't seem to control his spending on audio equipment. Source is the Burson Conductor 3P.

Comfort
These are BY FAR the most comfortable ear pads for this headphone for me. While I love the design of the Diana's, they have never been anything that I found comfortable, primarily because of the ear pads. Thank you, Dekoni! The leather is incredibly soft and the memory foam is a very noticeable upgrade as compared to the stiffer foam in the originals. I do wish we could figure out how to get the leather seam off the face, something that seems to be especially noticeable on these pads versus something like the focal where I don't feel it. The current version of the Diana pads seem to help the most with this issue. If I had anything to say to Abyss, it would be to ask for an improvement in the comfort of the foam... it needs a little more squish.

Sound
Given the design, these are much more closely related in sound to the original pads that shipped with the Diana v1. The good news is, given it is a thicker pad, it pushes the headphone away from the ear and provides a wider stage in return. This also seems to provide some better separation between the instruments as well. Not a very interesting comparison here in my opinion as they seem really close.

A/B testing these against the latest version of the Diana pad, there is a resonance quality that I'm not learned enough to articulate that I hear in the latest Diana pad that is eliminated by the Dekoni's (perhaps because the latter are fenestrated?) . So in short, I find them equally resolving but possibly a bit more air? This really came through on "Reckoner" by Radiohead and "Such Pretty Eyes For A Snake" by Magnolia Electric Co. Given the ear pad shape, there is more stage and better imaging in the latest Diana pad. I don't think it's necessarily wider, but I do think it has more of a 360 degree stage which seems to allow it to place instruments better, primarily in front of you or behind you. This was present in any jazz or classical, with Alice Coltrane's "Turiya & Ramakrishna" being a good example.

I honestly don't hear a ton of difference in the sound outside of the subjective stuff like I mentioned above, but I'm by no means an expert listener. A few other notable songs I tried:

"Soul" - Gary Clark Jr.
"Chocolate Hills" - Khruangbin, Leon Bridges
"Koto" and "Two Suns" - CloZee
"Watermark" - DjRUM

In short, if the current pads are comfortable for you, I don't know that I see a reason to spend another $150 on these unless that resonance issue is something that might interest you. It might make them a tiny bit less "fun" but you really wouldn't feel that way unless you were A/B testing them, the slam quality is still there. For me, the comfort is far above the other pads so this is an easy upgrade in that category and worth my money.

 

[timsams]

Wow, that sound promissing and look like this pad could solve all my problems with the Diana. I thought Abyss said there were no difference between pads (v1, v2, vv3) appart from confort, am I wrong ?
It's too pricey for me now, I'll try to DIY some pads before making a purchase decision (or wait for a fellow head-fi to hate on it and resell it ^^).
@user4404 Have you tried putting steppers between the pads and the headphone to create a port and increase bass a bit, that should diminish the air an make it a better pad overall.

 

[user4404]

I thought Abyss said there were no difference between pads (v1, v2, vv3) appart from confort, am I wrong ?

There is very much a difference in the pads, especially between the original Diana (v1) pads versus the v2 pad variations. The latest variation are the warmest I have heard.

Have you tried putting steppers between the pads and the headphone to create a port and increase bass a bit, that should diminish the air an make it a better pad overall.

I have not done anything with this. I did see they are about to release a ported pad if that's something that interests you. Unfortunately the price on these makes the cost of entry pretty steep.

 

[LowBeat91]

As the owner of all Abyss Diana ear pads and Dekoni, I can say one thing in advance - I like the current Abyss Diana V2 Version 2 non-perforated pads the least. The stage is stretched so that the small details are more present, but I lack the weight in the middle, in the instruments. Also, the personality of the sound is completely lost. And this is best explained with the words see minute
6:35 :



The V2 is a very transparent but also very intimate headphone. However, this is lost due to the current V2 non-perforated pads. An attempt is being made to achieve something which, however, is at the expense of the qualities and, above all, at the expense of the character of the V2.

And here the Dekoni Pads do some things right. On the one hand, they are based on the V2 perforated pads, which makes the sound more intimate. In addition, they are super comfortable due to the selected materials. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the price is not justified and that is simply due to the quality of the pads. On the one hand, the magnet pad to which the ear pads stick is not robust. It is a soft rather than hard material that bends easily. On the other hand, the magnets are not strong enough, you press the pad more against the headphones so that it sticks instead of snapping properly. And the selected adhesive is unfortunately also suboptimal. As soon as you swap pads, it can happen that the adhesive easily detaches from the pad.