[mwilson]

I don't know what's more dreadful - the prospect of kids running around with dripping ice cream at a theme park, or wearing the Abyss in public. I'm forced to put up with the first, but draw a line at the second. Though, there's always that Jecklin Float to kick it up a notch. 
 
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Hey Nick....I was just there a few weeks back and got to enjoy it! Took the family to Disneyworld for a glorious week of heat and sun! 
 
Meanwhile, back in Toronto, we got flurries today. 

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

I don't know what's more dreadful - the prospect of kids running around with dripping ice cream at a theme park, or wearing the Abyss in public. I'm forced to put up with the first, but draw a line at the second. Though, there's always that Jecklin Float to kick it up a notch. 
 

I'm gonna go with option #1. 

 

[wink]

Option #3 is best..
Neither of the above.

 

[spritzer]

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I doubt if even many fellow Icelanders are as esoteric as you are. I've read your posts. You know a lot about Head-Fi gear.
 
You dissuaded me from purchasing an 009/BHSE rig.

 
You should try then 009 as you might like them.  I'm known to be a bit picky... 

 

[magiccabbage]

those yokes are fairly ugly alright but nothing i have ever seen is as ugly as the akg k1000!
I mean come on what were they thinking peter andre wouldn't wear them!! Horrible.

 

[mwilson]

Like he said, give them a try if you have a chance; you just might find them to your liking. Also, the 007/BHSE is a great-sounding combo, if you're not stuck on the 009s.
 
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You dissuaded me from purchasing an 009/BHSE rig.

 

[mwilson]

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those yokes are fairly ugly alright but nothing i have ever seen is as ugly as the akg k1000!
I mean come on what were they thinking peter andre wouldn't wear them!! Horrible.

 
 
Whenever I see the k1000, this comes to mind:
 

 

[DefQon]

I like the look of the K1ks looks unique. I use to really hate the look of the Lambda frame stats but after hearing its sound, boy did I like them. If these Abyss headphones do turn out to be 009 killer wonder how the 4 big companies will respond.

 

[mwilson]

If the Abyss would offer all the transparency and detail resolution offered by the 009, while retaining the bass rendering that's characteristic of orthos, and cost around $2-3k, it might have been a contender for the "009 killer" title.
 
As it is, pegged at the same price point, even if it sounds like I mentioned above, it simply would be a welcome addition to the TOTL headphone roster, not a killer of anything by any means.
 
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I like the look of the K1ks looks unique. I use to really hate the look of the Lambda frame stats but after hearing its sound, boy did I like them. If these Abyss headphones do turn out to be 009 killer wonder how the 4 big companies will respond.

 

[Dr. Roberts]

Quote:

 
You should try then 009 as you might like them.  I'm known to be a bit picky... 

 
I'm a bit picky myself. I loved the HD 650 in its day but have no interest in the 800. Adore the HE-6 properly tube-amped from the speaker taps, the LCD-3 with the Bakoon Amp 11-R, and the ATH W3000ANV plugged into an EAR HP4 rolled with NOS RCA's.
 
Do I really need to shell out another 11k when I already have doubts about the sound signature of the 009? Seems as though I will never become a member of the Stax Mafia.
 
Thanks to the one individual that actually listened to the headphone in question and took the initiative to post his impressions. Doesn't sound like the Abyss will be admitted to this household either.

 

[Operakid]

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The tone on the 009 doesn't suit me at all but I also never felt they were truly superior to the other Stax flagships.  More impressive, yes, but they never gave me anything new.  I'm long past being moved by impressive treble and associating it with better detail retrieval. 
 

 
I had to comment on this even though my comment is off topic.  I have a long history in high end audio as a retailer and then manufacturer, seems I've heard it all come and go.  Most of all I am a music lover.  I totally agree with Spritzer here.  If the 009 were priced to come in under the 007 and submitted as a cost savings version from Stax I believe all (or most) would hail the continuing superiority of the 007, calling the 009 lacking body, too much treble, and not solid enough presentation.  
 
To go back on topic, these magnetic planars have a big flaw, technically, not being symmetrical push-pull.  In my experience, all such drivers really lack something in terms of directness and clarity.  Non-symmetry of a driver, in terms of force change versus displacement in both directions, is something very much to be avoided in driver design and results in both increased harmonic distortion and intermodulation distortion when multi-tone testing is done.    
 
As for looks, they more remind me of medical equipment or orthodontic gear.  Not bad for testing of prototypes but hardly the look of finished, refined product, IMO.     

 

[tintin220]

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The price is absolute roadkill and I seriously doubt some small fry company can come out with a headphone that can compete with the TOTL Stax stuff. These will probably go for 4.8 - 5k locally once released.

 
Why not? The comments here seem in general negative, even though no one has heard the headphones. Is there any reason some "small fry" company can't produce something top tier? Isn't that basically what Audeze was just a few years ago?
 
Often with startups, they are founded by experts who either came from other companies or developed new technologies themselves. And not infrequently, a startup can come and redefine a market. From my knowledge of planar development, the latest strides in the technology come from new materials and nanotechnology to develop thinner membranes. A few materials science researcher at MIT recently developed a membrane thats only a few atoms thick. I'm not saying this is anything near what Abyss put out, but the idea that the TOTL Stax, etc. phones are untouchable is unfounded.
 
Before we bias ourselves to whether or not these phones are good, maybe we should wait for more impressions or get people to listen on their own. I'm betting a lot of people's views are influenced by the poor aesthetics of these headphones and assuming since this is a small company, these must be bad.
 
And maybe the are. But there is no information right now to guess one way or the other.

 

[paradoxper]

These sounded pretty-ok at RMAF. So I have no idea what strides were made since that time.
However I'm hoping they improved on bass. Initial impressions were very reminiscent of a SR-007.

 

[Operakid]

I would never say a small company could not come out with a great product, 3 decades ago I had a new company and came out with an outstanding product.  However, if this company really has the chops to come out with a state of the art product then they should have been smart enough to make them more finished looking, and certainly they leave themselves open to doubt when they use a single sided, non push-pull driver.  Finally, add to this the fact they priced them 2x the price of any headphone out there, and 5x  the price of the most expensive headphone of similar drive technology, the LCD-3.

 

[mwilson]

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Why not? The comments here seem in general negative, even though no one has heard the headphones. 

 
I'd say most negative comments were aimed at their looks.
 
 
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Is there any reason some "small fry" company can't produce something top tier? Isn't that basically what Audeze was just a few years ago?

 
There's no reason a small company could not develop a top-tier product, and Audeze is a perfect example in this regard. However, the price point of their mainstream debut product was wisely kept within the range of masses, at below $1k.
 

Before we bias ourselves to whether or not these phones are good, maybe we should wait for more impressions or get people to listen on their own. 

 
What's certainly unhelpful to get more people to listen and eventually post impressions is their policy of not providing evaluation units to even trusted members, the unavailability of a refund option, and, as of the time of my post, the only way to even listen to this new, untested and unproven product is to shell out a $300 or so fee to the cable co. for a loaner. So, given this, I'm not surprised that we mostly deal with speculation. It's a situation they chose to create.