Thanks for the info.
That's a good point. My best friend is actually the person who started the Abyss impressions thread, and he also likes his HD 800 (even in stock form) more overall. I haven't spent enough time with them to know for sure which I prefer, but it seems those mods are the real deal, and at a significantly lower cost.
If you publish a comprehensive tutorial on your best modifications, be sure to PM me the link!
Oh, and I am especially curious how a stock HD 800 with only the "triple mod" (but not SAA or other mods) measures up.
Say there…
I've listened to the Abyss and while they certainly can be impressive, for what I treasure in listening to music, they strike me as affectatious, in that while they can be initially quite impressive, they wouldn't withstand the test of time, at least for me.
IOW they sounded too good, too impressive, which is a phenomenon I learned about and wrote in my post about the Bose 901 speakers in the cookbook thread.
The mods I have made to my 800's are extensive and involving but, as is my intention, fully reversible.
I have only applied these tweaks to one other set of 800S's and that owner is still fussing and figuring.
The thing is, when the degree of system resolution takes a mother may I step up, (which can happen with mods to the 800's) then the rest of the system, with all of its strengths and weaknesses, becomes an issue, or can be depending upon what your criteria for what truly is 'Better'.
My mod to the 800's are very different than anything I have seen elsewhere, as it addresses different operational criteria.
I aim my mods at vibration management, and not at dampening frequency 'aberrations'.
Also it should be noted that whenever one starts mucking around with a given design and changing it, there are ALWAYS unexpected consequences, especially when the design is 'tight' in the first place.
And 800's are a VERY tight design with multiple design solutions seemingly buried in unsuspecting components which makes for a complex interaction between various acoustic and electrical and mechanical components.
IOW when 800's are modded some of their operational parameters (those that can be measured) can tend to look 'worse' than stock.
IOW I am still experimenting with the specifics of how I apply my mods.
And it takes a while to do this because I have to let these changes fully settle in before I fully know if they truly are 'Better', or not.
However, for me anyway, what I aim at is a superior musical experience, and I continue to refine the implementation of what and how I mod the 800's to dial them in, which allows the music I listen to, to 'blossom' and reach new levels of SQ.
And the triple tweaks are usable for any headphone (assuming a suitable EQ curve is available) as they mostly address whole system tweaks.
The Sonarworks compensation for the 800's is or can be, a real eye opener, and when used along with the
SSBB and
PRT can be transformative, again if the rest of the system isn't the limiting factor.
JJ