ABYSS Headphones JOAL
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First of all, I’m not an expert or claim to be. Coming from that, all user experiences are varied. That’s because we all are different 
. But what I do know is when I find something of value that I thoroughly enjoy, I’m going to try and convey that information to you and hopefully it will make some sense. I’m not a fanboy either, I bought these cold…
So we begin:
The every 6 month statement from me…”(I’m Pretty sure) These will be My final major purchase aka “endgame” headphones”… lol.
I pretty much bought these without a large amount of research. I veered away from my norm of complete search, review checking, comparisons, ad-naseum…like I normally would have done in all my previous purchases. I wanted to support another US company, knowing the earpads were like WTHeck $$$, and I’ll be the first to admit these puppies are expensive. But so dang easy to swap and at my age I needed this. But this time of headphone purchasing, just read a few impressions, and said what the heck, why not? So I ordered from the Abyss website and I will say right now, Norm is the real deal with customer service. And he led me through a relatively pain free experience to complete the transaction in spite of my several errors. So we begin (again) here.
I’ve mostly used the Shanling M5 ultra on low (Now on Medium) gain with volume set at 26-28 depending on the music with the Abyss JOAL. And the Questyle M15c.
For a majority of my listening, I do so at low volume levels as not to disturb my wife or anyone else nearby. So, all My thoughts revolve around these low volume Parameters.
I am particularly impressed with the Great clarity even at lower volume levels. A big plus for me, for an open back doesn’t seem to have a lot of leakage. This seems to be an Incredible match with the M5 ultra.
Regarding the treble:
I have certain “pesky” sensitivities, and I can say as an owner, there are none present here, no sibilance, weird peaks, etc. The JOAL has One of the nicest treble presentations I’ve ever heard, I’ve had several other headphones. Btw, I didn’t need a graph to tell me if I liked it or not…. I bought it pretty much cold, knowing nothing about Abyss. I took a chance, and I am glad I did. Wow…Enjoy the Music
I’ve Been listening with the stock pads and love the sound. And I wanted to try the suede bass-ported pads I had purchased also to compare, yeah, exPensive. Talk about the easy pad swap, wow. I needed this in my waning years of musical enjoyment, I was getting tired of “stretching”, trying to fit new pads on various sets…
Re: Bass-Ported Pads.
With suede bass-ported pads, the upper frequencies seem to be a bit more extended but still not harsh or sibilant in any way. Which is good for me as I can’t do any treble anomalies. The bass was also a bit enhanced to an enjoyable point without over-doing it, no bleed whatsoever, nice. I do like the ported pads and it is nice to change up, takes about 30 seconds lol. So the suede pads added a possible softer presentation, (as some had compared to the leather ported ones) so didn’t experience the softer side, I did get a different presentation plus musical enjoyment…The mids are better than I had expected. A small nudge forward, not much but are very true to the recording/mixing you have on your music and ever so slightly warm. But, I don’t how they pulled it off even with poorer quality recordings, there’s no harshness. Amazing feat of tuning…
The JOAL are fairly neutral, slightly warm in the mid bass and I guess that’s why the mids are as good as they sound. I’m certainly very pleased with the overall performance, and I haven’t even talked about the comfort. The overall comfort level is in my top 3, and actually #1 or #2 in my all time favorites. From the weight to the headband, near perfect for me. I have a smallish head and all I require is the first notch of the magnetic band extension. To wrap up the all the babbling, I love what I’m hearing, maybe you will too. Just Enjoy the Music…
Cheers
. But what I do know is when I find something of value that I thoroughly enjoy, I’m going to try and convey that information to you and hopefully it will make some sense. I’m not a fanboy either, I bought these cold…So we begin:
The every 6 month statement from me…”(I’m Pretty sure) These will be My final major purchase aka “endgame” headphones”… lol.
I pretty much bought these without a large amount of research. I veered away from my norm of complete search, review checking, comparisons, ad-naseum…like I normally would have done in all my previous purchases. I wanted to support another US company, knowing the earpads were like WTHeck $$$, and I’ll be the first to admit these puppies are expensive. But so dang easy to swap and at my age I needed this. But this time of headphone purchasing, just read a few impressions, and said what the heck, why not? So I ordered from the Abyss website and I will say right now, Norm is the real deal with customer service. And he led me through a relatively pain free experience to complete the transaction in spite of my several errors. So we begin (again) here.
I’ve mostly used the Shanling M5 ultra on low (Now on Medium) gain with volume set at 26-28 depending on the music with the Abyss JOAL. And the Questyle M15c.
For a majority of my listening, I do so at low volume levels as not to disturb my wife or anyone else nearby. So, all My thoughts revolve around these low volume Parameters.
I am particularly impressed with the Great clarity even at lower volume levels. A big plus for me, for an open back doesn’t seem to have a lot of leakage. This seems to be an Incredible match with the M5 ultra.
Regarding the treble:
I have certain “pesky” sensitivities, and I can say as an owner, there are none present here, no sibilance, weird peaks, etc. The JOAL has One of the nicest treble presentations I’ve ever heard, I’ve had several other headphones. Btw, I didn’t need a graph to tell me if I liked it or not…. I bought it pretty much cold, knowing nothing about Abyss. I took a chance, and I am glad I did. Wow…Enjoy the Music
I’ve Been listening with the stock pads and love the sound. And I wanted to try the suede bass-ported pads I had purchased also to compare, yeah, exPensive. Talk about the easy pad swap, wow. I needed this in my waning years of musical enjoyment, I was getting tired of “stretching”, trying to fit new pads on various sets…
Re: Bass-Ported Pads.
With suede bass-ported pads, the upper frequencies seem to be a bit more extended but still not harsh or sibilant in any way. Which is good for me as I can’t do any treble anomalies. The bass was also a bit enhanced to an enjoyable point without over-doing it, no bleed whatsoever, nice. I do like the ported pads and it is nice to change up, takes about 30 seconds lol. So the suede pads added a possible softer presentation, (as some had compared to the leather ported ones) so didn’t experience the softer side, I did get a different presentation plus musical enjoyment…The mids are better than I had expected. A small nudge forward, not much but are very true to the recording/mixing you have on your music and ever so slightly warm. But, I don’t how they pulled it off even with poorer quality recordings, there’s no harshness. Amazing feat of tuning…
The JOAL are fairly neutral, slightly warm in the mid bass and I guess that’s why the mids are as good as they sound. I’m certainly very pleased with the overall performance, and I haven’t even talked about the comfort. The overall comfort level is in my top 3, and actually #1 or #2 in my all time favorites. From the weight to the headband, near perfect for me. I have a smallish head and all I require is the first notch of the magnetic band extension. To wrap up the all the babbling, I love what I’m hearing, maybe you will too. Just Enjoy the Music…
Cheers
Syan25
Too costly for me.
LostnAmerica
Yeah, me too until I received my surprise social security backpay. 
In the past, Abyss’s pricing has put their products out of reach for a lot of people. With their new entry into the market, while still expensive, it will likely allow them to reach a wider audience. I purchased JOAL with my own money, and they were not sent to me for review. This is my first full-review and with it, I hope that I’m able to help some people in the market for a new headphone in this price range.
First I want to address the marketing behind JOAL. Take a second to go read the product page, it comes off as a bit cringey and I have to scroll down a considerable amount past all the marketing hoopla just to get to the actual product info and specs. This type of marketing may appeal to the average consumer in the sub-$300 headphone range, but I don’t think anyone buying the JOAL will be making their purchasing decision from the word salad on the product page. I would think that most people in the market for a $1900 headphone will be reading extensive reviews and opinions, watching videos, and may even try to audition it for themselves if possible.
Unboxing, Initial Impressions, Warranty
I was fortunate enough to audition JOAL at CanJam NYC this year. The friendly Abyss employee got me set up at a table and explained the amp pairing and was there to answer any questions I had. I knew right away I wanted a pair, and after a few days of contemplating, I decided to go for it.
Lets cover what comes with JOAL. Opening the box you’re presented with a nice carrying case with the headphones inside, and a box that has the cable that terminates into 4.4mm balanced, and the optional cable adapters. I opted for the “complete” package which includes a ¼”, 4pin XLR, and 3.5mm adapters.
Taking the JOAL out of the case and feeling it for the first time, the first thing you notice is how well it’s built. I would venture to say that the build quality is akin to that of an Apple product, and that’s the highest possible praise I can give it. If Apple was to design a high-end open-back planar headphone, I would think it would feel similar to this. The industrial design has a Apple-like feel. The thinness of the chassis is almost unbelievable, and it’s hard to understand how they were able to make it so thin and still have a functioning driver in there. The size adjustment is smooth and satifying. Abyss did an incredible job on the build of these.
On that note, Abyss offers a 10-year warranty with JOAL, so if something does fail, you are covered in that 10-year period. Abyss calls this industry leading, but ZMF offers a lifetime warranty on their drivers. Still, 10 years is a considerable warranty period and significantly better than what you get from competitors such as HiFiMan (1-year) and Meze (2-years).
Cable
The cable with the JOAL faced some early criticism due to it resembling some cheaper cables available on Chinese websites. This criticism was unwarranted, and I think people should’ve waited until they had the cable in hand before forming opinions. The cable is excellent quality, lightweight, extremely flexible and fits the overall theme of the JOAL being lightweight and comfortable – which I’ll get more into shortly. The use of a 2.5mm connector rather than the more popular 3.5mm had some people scratching their heads. However, Abyss says this is necessary as the headphones are so thin, they need to use the thinner connector. This has the added benefit of placing any strain from the connector onto the metal of the headphone itself rather than the small plug. It’s a system that has proven the test of time in the rest of their lineup, and I have no issues with it here, even if I can’t use the other 3.5mm cables I already own. If I have one small nitpick, the carbon fiber on the cable’s splitter & plug feels a bit out of place. Matte black would’ve been more fitting, in my opinion.
Fit
JOAL is the most comfortable headphone I’ve worn. Period. I cannot stress enough how comfortable these are on your head, to the point where you can completely forget that you’re wearing them.
The plush earpads (more on this soon) and suspension-style strap distributes the weight perfectly, and I have 0 complaints.
Initially I was worried about the lack of earcup swivel, but it’s a non-issue as the pads are so soft they compensate for the slight differences in head shapes. This also alleviates a potential failure point.
These will be my new work headphones and gaming headphones, as I can easily wear them for hours at a time.
Pads
Abyss has a pad system that uses magnets to attach the pads to the chassis. It’s a very well designed system and feels extremely high quality with how the pads latch onto the chassis. This makes pad swapping a breeze, and taking them off to clean takes seconds.
The quality of the included “vegan Ultrasuede pillow top soft” pad is excellent. It’s soft, comfortable, and feels well made.
With that said – replacement pads are $295 and up. This makes pad swapping prohibitively expensive. For reference, you can purchase almost 4 different ZMF pads for that price and have 4 different flavors to switch between. I understand the magnetic system adding cost and complexity, but the price is extreme and I hope Abyss can bring it down to something more easily digestible.
Sound
I initially kind of scoffed at the name “JOAL” standing for “Jack of All Listening”, but after listening, I think the name is fitting for the type of tuning the headphone has.
I’m not a fan of overly bright headphones, or overly detailed headphones. For this reason, I’ve never been much of a planar fan in general as most of them I’ve tried (save for maybe the ZMF Caldera) have been just too much. On a lot of planars, detail can be like drinking out of a fire hose, and the brightness leaves me feeling fatigued after short listening sessions. That is not the case with the JOAL.
They need decent power and I need to go a bit higher on the volume knob compared to the ZMF Atrium Closed and HD6XX that I’ve been comparing them too. I found I like the way they sound out of the Asgard 3 a lot, maybe something to do with it being Class A biased? I’m not sure. Either way this seems to be a great pairing.
I would say the overall tuning is neutral, maybe leaning slightly warm. They can sound wide at times, and intimate at others which is interesting but they’re never overly wide. Vocals are present, clear, and a bit forward. They’re are never lost in the mix have a nice weight and never feel thin. Detail retrieval is great, without being overbearing. While nicely extended, there’s nothing fatiguing about the treble. Fitting it’s name, there’s nothing I listened to that sounded bad on these. Poorly recorded songs weren’t unbearable like they can be on some highly-detailed headphones.
The bass can dig fairly deep before rolling off, and it has that fast planar bass, but it doesn’t dig as deep or hit as hard as something like the head-rumbling ZMF Atrium Closed, or the head-punch you can get from something like the Audeze LCD-2. Still, it’s able to reproduce well-controlled bass when asked to do so, but they aren’t bass cannons.
To wrap up my sound impressions, to say “jack of all trades (listening), master of none” would be appropriate. There are things other headphones do better whether it’s more detail, more extended highs, or deeper bass. But the JOAL does all these well, and that lends it to have a tuning that works for most, if not all genres of music. It’s inoffensive, easy to listen to, and I think it’s going to be difficult for someone to not like the sound that JOAL produces.
In this hobby we tend to own multiple headphones because they all bring something different to the table. They all have their own strengths, and it’s nice to switch it up depending on our mood and music choice that day. The JOAL can easily be a one and done headphone is that’s what you’re after.
Competition
There’s A LOT of competition at or below the price of the JOAL. HiFiMan has the Arya Unveiled, which I haven’t heard, but the exposed driver and 1-year waranty would have me hesitant to buy. ZMF has a few options. The Auteur Classic has a somewhat similar, enjoyable tuning but is heavy and lacks the comfort, detail, and clarity of JOAL. Still the thick vocals on the Auteur Classic are some of the best I’ve ever heard. The Bokeh can be considered too, but have a totally different tuning. I think the most direct comparison people will look to make is against the Meze POET, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to try one yet.
Conclusion
This is a new market for Abyss, and they enter a price category where they face significant competition. But what sets JOAL apart from the rest is it’s comfort, tuning, warranty, and build. With other brands you may get a few of those things, but JOAL is the whole package.
What you’re getting with JOAL is a headphone that has class-leading comfort, an easy and enjoyable tuning, and a design and build that an Apple engineer would be proud of.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review!
First I want to address the marketing behind JOAL. Take a second to go read the product page, it comes off as a bit cringey and I have to scroll down a considerable amount past all the marketing hoopla just to get to the actual product info and specs. This type of marketing may appeal to the average consumer in the sub-$300 headphone range, but I don’t think anyone buying the JOAL will be making their purchasing decision from the word salad on the product page. I would think that most people in the market for a $1900 headphone will be reading extensive reviews and opinions, watching videos, and may even try to audition it for themselves if possible.
Unboxing, Initial Impressions, Warranty
I was fortunate enough to audition JOAL at CanJam NYC this year. The friendly Abyss employee got me set up at a table and explained the amp pairing and was there to answer any questions I had. I knew right away I wanted a pair, and after a few days of contemplating, I decided to go for it.
Lets cover what comes with JOAL. Opening the box you’re presented with a nice carrying case with the headphones inside, and a box that has the cable that terminates into 4.4mm balanced, and the optional cable adapters. I opted for the “complete” package which includes a ¼”, 4pin XLR, and 3.5mm adapters.
Taking the JOAL out of the case and feeling it for the first time, the first thing you notice is how well it’s built. I would venture to say that the build quality is akin to that of an Apple product, and that’s the highest possible praise I can give it. If Apple was to design a high-end open-back planar headphone, I would think it would feel similar to this. The industrial design has a Apple-like feel. The thinness of the chassis is almost unbelievable, and it’s hard to understand how they were able to make it so thin and still have a functioning driver in there. The size adjustment is smooth and satifying. Abyss did an incredible job on the build of these.
On that note, Abyss offers a 10-year warranty with JOAL, so if something does fail, you are covered in that 10-year period. Abyss calls this industry leading, but ZMF offers a lifetime warranty on their drivers. Still, 10 years is a considerable warranty period and significantly better than what you get from competitors such as HiFiMan (1-year) and Meze (2-years).
Cable
The cable with the JOAL faced some early criticism due to it resembling some cheaper cables available on Chinese websites. This criticism was unwarranted, and I think people should’ve waited until they had the cable in hand before forming opinions. The cable is excellent quality, lightweight, extremely flexible and fits the overall theme of the JOAL being lightweight and comfortable – which I’ll get more into shortly. The use of a 2.5mm connector rather than the more popular 3.5mm had some people scratching their heads. However, Abyss says this is necessary as the headphones are so thin, they need to use the thinner connector. This has the added benefit of placing any strain from the connector onto the metal of the headphone itself rather than the small plug. It’s a system that has proven the test of time in the rest of their lineup, and I have no issues with it here, even if I can’t use the other 3.5mm cables I already own. If I have one small nitpick, the carbon fiber on the cable’s splitter & plug feels a bit out of place. Matte black would’ve been more fitting, in my opinion.
Fit
JOAL is the most comfortable headphone I’ve worn. Period. I cannot stress enough how comfortable these are on your head, to the point where you can completely forget that you’re wearing them.
The plush earpads (more on this soon) and suspension-style strap distributes the weight perfectly, and I have 0 complaints.
Initially I was worried about the lack of earcup swivel, but it’s a non-issue as the pads are so soft they compensate for the slight differences in head shapes. This also alleviates a potential failure point.
These will be my new work headphones and gaming headphones, as I can easily wear them for hours at a time.
Pads
Abyss has a pad system that uses magnets to attach the pads to the chassis. It’s a very well designed system and feels extremely high quality with how the pads latch onto the chassis. This makes pad swapping a breeze, and taking them off to clean takes seconds.
The quality of the included “vegan Ultrasuede pillow top soft” pad is excellent. It’s soft, comfortable, and feels well made.
With that said – replacement pads are $295 and up. This makes pad swapping prohibitively expensive. For reference, you can purchase almost 4 different ZMF pads for that price and have 4 different flavors to switch between. I understand the magnetic system adding cost and complexity, but the price is extreme and I hope Abyss can bring it down to something more easily digestible.
Sound
I initially kind of scoffed at the name “JOAL” standing for “Jack of All Listening”, but after listening, I think the name is fitting for the type of tuning the headphone has.
I’m not a fan of overly bright headphones, or overly detailed headphones. For this reason, I’ve never been much of a planar fan in general as most of them I’ve tried (save for maybe the ZMF Caldera) have been just too much. On a lot of planars, detail can be like drinking out of a fire hose, and the brightness leaves me feeling fatigued after short listening sessions. That is not the case with the JOAL.
They need decent power and I need to go a bit higher on the volume knob compared to the ZMF Atrium Closed and HD6XX that I’ve been comparing them too. I found I like the way they sound out of the Asgard 3 a lot, maybe something to do with it being Class A biased? I’m not sure. Either way this seems to be a great pairing.
I would say the overall tuning is neutral, maybe leaning slightly warm. They can sound wide at times, and intimate at others which is interesting but they’re never overly wide. Vocals are present, clear, and a bit forward. They’re are never lost in the mix have a nice weight and never feel thin. Detail retrieval is great, without being overbearing. While nicely extended, there’s nothing fatiguing about the treble. Fitting it’s name, there’s nothing I listened to that sounded bad on these. Poorly recorded songs weren’t unbearable like they can be on some highly-detailed headphones.
The bass can dig fairly deep before rolling off, and it has that fast planar bass, but it doesn’t dig as deep or hit as hard as something like the head-rumbling ZMF Atrium Closed, or the head-punch you can get from something like the Audeze LCD-2. Still, it’s able to reproduce well-controlled bass when asked to do so, but they aren’t bass cannons.
To wrap up my sound impressions, to say “jack of all trades (listening), master of none” would be appropriate. There are things other headphones do better whether it’s more detail, more extended highs, or deeper bass. But the JOAL does all these well, and that lends it to have a tuning that works for most, if not all genres of music. It’s inoffensive, easy to listen to, and I think it’s going to be difficult for someone to not like the sound that JOAL produces.
In this hobby we tend to own multiple headphones because they all bring something different to the table. They all have their own strengths, and it’s nice to switch it up depending on our mood and music choice that day. The JOAL can easily be a one and done headphone is that’s what you’re after.
Competition
There’s A LOT of competition at or below the price of the JOAL. HiFiMan has the Arya Unveiled, which I haven’t heard, but the exposed driver and 1-year waranty would have me hesitant to buy. ZMF has a few options. The Auteur Classic has a somewhat similar, enjoyable tuning but is heavy and lacks the comfort, detail, and clarity of JOAL. Still the thick vocals on the Auteur Classic are some of the best I’ve ever heard. The Bokeh can be considered too, but have a totally different tuning. I think the most direct comparison people will look to make is against the Meze POET, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to try one yet.
Conclusion
This is a new market for Abyss, and they enter a price category where they face significant competition. But what sets JOAL apart from the rest is it’s comfort, tuning, warranty, and build. With other brands you may get a few of those things, but JOAL is the whole package.
What you’re getting with JOAL is a headphone that has class-leading comfort, an easy and enjoyable tuning, and a design and build that an Apple engineer would be proud of.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review!
