The system used:
Source: (information and photos removed at the manufacturers request)
Photo attached:
DAC: Gryphon Kalliope
Amplifiers:
Woo 234 mono's running Takatsuki 300B, 274B and Black Plate, Black Glass 1940's RCA 6SN7 - running Cathode Output Low-Z for both headphones to suit the low impedances.
Power: Dedicated 20 amp line, all Shunyata, TritonV2, Typhon and all Sigma PC's High Currect PC's for the amps and Sigma Digital PC's for the music server & DAC. Custom Synergistic RED fuses for all components:
Headphone cable are the same for both - DHC Spore 4 Fusion, individual balanced cables with Xhadow plugs, adapter used for the HE-1000
Runtime:
The Abyss - 1,000+ hours, the HE-1000 - 120 hours
Kalliope - 125 hours
Listening Notes were compared between my partner and myself over a 24 hour period with various genres of music, ranging from soloist classical performances to full scale orchestral pieces, EDM and eclectic french rock. andJazz and female/male vocal. A mixture of 16/44 PCM up to 24/384 and DSD up to a sample rate of 256 was used.
Soundstage:
Abyss is further away from the listener, the HE-1000 puts you either in the front row or in the mix with the performers. Generally felt that the soundstage was more open and wider on the HE-1000, soundstage vocals also seemed to be higher than Abyss
Tonality:
HE-1000 slightly warmer than Abyss, this is somewhat confusing at 1st listen as the HE-1000 is certainly cleaner and sounds more direct so I thought the opposite initially - However the HE-1000 does tonal textures better and instruments seperation is greater. Notes "More personal (HE-1000) I am sitting there and they are singing to me, lets the emotion come through, gives me an idea of what they were feeling, song was written for a reason, did they suffer a loss, sad, allows me to feel there pain" Abyss - feel more distant not as involved - the weight and emotional meaning of the song is not getting through to me in the same way, I feel like I have lost the connection with the vocalist, it sounds like a recording - there are plenty of special effects, almost like a home theatre system, impressive but disjointed in respect of conveying the totality of the performance.
Clarity:
Abyss sounds a little muffled, the HE-1000 sounds so clear, not understanding/hearing the splashy treble people have been referring to? system synergy perhaps, HE-1000 sounds very high resolution, the Abyss while good is not in the same class. HE-1000 - greater contrast. Can feel the bass pressure building before the note, excellent attack, sustain and decay, Abyss seems to do special effects well. HE-1000 great extra texture, can hear inside the notes.
Comfort:
(my Partner) "The Abyss is forcing me to adapt to the headphone, I feel like I am having to concentrate on balancing the headphones on my head, constantly moving the headphone as my ears keep moving inside them - frustrating & annoying after a while but above all it is distracting, taking my focus away from the music" "Abyss fatigues me, HE-1000 I want to go on listening, just heavily engrossed in the music. Clear winner is the HE-1000 here. With the Abyss, I have become so used to them so that I have come to not be as aware of them, I was surprised that over a week I have picked the HE-1000's every time to listen to, now the Abyss feels uncomfortable and awkward again, fiddling with the fit a lot, gets better after having worn them for a while. Still they are distracting and I am constantly aware of them and that takes my 100% focus away from the music
Bass Performance:
Abyss - I was initially attracted as I think a lot of us are to the outstanding bass performance, I have never heard a headphone produce as much bass in such quantity and quality. My friend and fellow Head-fier Fririce0003 has had the Abyss for a lot longer than me, I have had mine for about 5 months. My 1st response when he asked what I thought of the HE-1000's was where has the bass gone, I said it is MIA and it seems to appear on certain tracks and then you are not aware of it on others. Burn in has helped the HE-1000 open up and the bass to deepen and develop. The bass really seems to have improved in the last 25 hours so I expect this to improve further. My gut feeling is that they need another 150 hours maybe more, I am keeping a spreadsheet which logs all of the hours on every piece of equipment. I will keep a check on this and report when I think they have stabilised and there are no more changes.
More needs to be discussed about the Abyss bass performance. Fririce0003 (Matt) and I discussed this at length this week and he said that he felt that the Abyss imparted a overly heavy bass imprint on every track and he opined that this was artificial - hence my initial comment re the HE-1000's "where has the bass gone". One of the features that was outstanding about the Kalliope in our comparisons with other SOTA DAC's is it has incredible bass performance. I now realise that the HE-1000's produce good, heavy bass with great extension and weight - when required by the music as part of the performance not in addition to it. The Abyss is more like a subwoofer in a surround system, the bass comes out of nowhere and is exaggerated to an extent. I think this why we like it. Men love bass, women less so, they find it annoying at times. I rarely hear a women say I like that speaker as it has more bass then the other, they don't seem to place it as high on their priorities. I think the HE-1000 has better proportioned bass than the Abyss and it does not run over imprinting it on most music. Its like the Abyss is always looking for a bass heavy track or maybe I am to show what it can do. I wonder how we would all feel if the Abyss was not as heavy in the bass frequencies., would it have gained the following that it has? The drawcard of the Abyss was the its bass performance. Would I have liked as much if it had the bases toned down.
Make no mistake the HE-1000 can produce heavy bass, but it is more tuneful like a well integrated 3-4 driver loudspeaker. I now feel that the Abyss bass is to much of a party trick and this has ultimately become unsatisfying over the long term.
Summary:
I think the HE-1000 and the Abyss both belong in any serious head-fiers collection, if I had to chose just one, it would be the HE-1000. No doubt this will not be a popular statement however I urge those that can afford both to to get a HE-1000 and then honestly look at how much you use it over time compared to the Abyss. I suspect the results will surprise you. The other major factor here is comfort, the HE-1000 feels substantial enough and the build quality is good. They are not as solid as the Abyss and I suspect that a large part of the budget went into the drivers not the rest of the headphone. I can live with that.
The treble has been much discussed and I have an observation on this, at lower gain the mid range is a little recessed and at higher gain the mid range becomes more prominent whilst the overall sound level doesn't seem to increase that much. These headphones are highly transparent, more so then the Abyss, they need plenty of power to sound their best, system matching is critical.
The comfort of the HE-1000 plays a big part in the attraction, once they are on I simply am not aware of them, unlike the Abyss which love it or not there is no doubt it is not the worlds most comfortable headphone. This limits its use and takes your focus away from the music.
I hope this is useful, Fririce0003 (Matt) will have his mid next week so I expect he will post his impressions. I will keep running them in 24/7 and report on any changes.
Simon
just post it, we are ready 
