JPS Labs Abyss - Page 5

The RMAF setup was lappy to Mytek DAC to Liquid Fire

I'm guessing you have heard these, and let me get this right:

They want $5000 for a headphone that looks (in pictures) like a $200 DIY product, and ostensibly sounds no better? Good grief.

I agree with radio_head on this, but unfortunately I can think of a few "collectors" (I've heard the phrase "flagship hoarder" in some discussions) even on this board will buy one just to say "first" - and that's probably all JPS cares about here; they know there are people who will buy it just to buy it. And with the massive retail pad that's probably worked in, they likely only need to move a few to cut into the green.

Seriously, I agree with the complaint though - it wasn't really a "big deal" when it was just Ultrasone putting out a periodic massively expensive model (and I'm still convinced Edition is how Ultrasone recoups R&D), or Grado and Sony having offerings at $700-$1000. But given that "they" have managed to get people talking like an LCD-2 or AH-D7000 is "mid-fi" thanks to the consistent stream of junk rapper cans pushing $500 (which really aren't on the whole bad, but 15 years ago you'dve found them near the VHS tapes in K-Mart for around $60), so yeah, the clever duckies are of course going to turn "high end" into "insanity class" like they've done with amplifiers and speakers, and most of the rest of higher end audio.
Edited by obobskivich - 10/12/12 at 8:08pm

abysmal sales figures I predict ;). Good they didn't launch on april 1 too lol! Also, the staff from the machine shop must be pretty high up on the payroll for the can to have to be priced at 5k, this is almost hilarious! I bet it sounds pretty good though, there's got to be something somewhere for the company to feel they can charge so much and get away with it (unless they have severe lack of business sense lol ).

 

Ah, I wish I was at rmaf...

It's clearly $4500 "miraculite" cables attached to $500 headphones. The poor chaps are doing us a favor by providing us quality with zero markup.

Edited by juantendo8 - 10/12/12 at 10:27pm

If they're $5k, then why the spider web pattern?

Because spiders are tougher than butterflies?*

Seriously I have no idea, even if they were $5, I think the spider web pattern is kind of...odd.

* Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Edited by obobskivich - 10/12/12 at 10:32pm

I hope that their cable will be much flexible than ALUMINATA.

Now it makes sense. The cable obviously transforms them from an HD650 into an SR-009. And that's just the stock cable!? Nice! I don't even want to imagine how amazing it must sound with $6000-10,000 of Aluminata as well. We're probably approaching Orpheus territory right there. Plus, with that 10 pounds of cable pulling down on your neck, that square headband, and those suspiciously small and even supraaural looking pads, it looks like we've got a comfort king on our hands. Not to mention that spider web pattern which I'm sure was years in development for optimal acoustics.

I had a long chat to Joe of JPS

The spidey design is meant to represent an abyss , not a web
They do all the manufacture in house , ie they bought all the equipment to cut deposit etc and r&d a few hundred protos to find a driver they liked.
The neodymium magnets are custom made for them, they had very particular polarity requirements
The cost - clearly I am hoping this will change but what they said to me is that it is a package deal - the headphones, a custom stand / storage box , custom premium cables made in house and all the adapters you might need to play the headphones out of any dynamic amp .


My brief show interaction with the Abyss so far has been very positive. They are voiced a little more to the upper end , not unlike the HE 6 but I find them to be more articulate at low dB as well as pushing a little volume. the show models have a very slight emphasis in the upper mids and this is said to be due to the double wood outer protector - they are fairly thin and it would not be impossible to push your fingers through into the driver - hence the caution.

ok enough of fighting iPhone mistyping and autocorrect , happy to post when I get to a laptop

..dB
Edited by dBel84 - 10/13/12 at 5:40am

 

One of the best posts I've read in a long time.

 

Look, these guys could be dead serious about breaking into the headphone game. And their motivation could even be pure - maybe they really do want to advance the art of planar headphones. But at this stage it seems equivalent of the Audeze folks selling their LCD-1 for a massive price. If people remember, Audeze did let some LCD-1s out the door, but the cost was in the low hundreds, not thousands. 

 

If the Abyss is a work in progress, prototype status design, then fine - just show it and keep working on it. Don't add a crazy price and say "this is the best we can do at the moment due to X, Y, and Z, and we hope to bring it down at some point". 

All I can say is... WOW.

 

Agreed with Radio_Head and Project86... $5,000 is A LOT of dough for a first-time headphone manufacturer. They don't even look that great and I HIGHLY DOUBT that the sound will even approach to that of AT LEAST the LCD2...

 

And THAT'S what drugs can do to your brain...

This...makes more sense. Perhaps if they added some relief or shading to it, it would accomplish this more?

Unfortunately while this makes more sense, it isn't as funny as my original theory.

 

 

oh, bother...yet ANOTHER world's finest! (yawn)

If they continue this pricepoint into actual sales then yeah it will be a financial abyss for them. If they sell at $500 AND these are competitive at the $500 mark then yeah they might get profit but any more? Digging a hole IMO.