Has anyone moved from the Empyrean to 1266 TC, or own both and can provide some comparative thoughts?
I've got a potential trade opportunity and curious to hear from those with experience with the two headphones.
Love my Empyreans, but the 1266 TC cost is extreme without letting something else I have go.
I'd likely buy the Empyrean again in future anyway, perhaps a different colour.
I've auditioned the Abyss and here are my thoughts on it.
With the Abyss, you can't move your head much at all with them on. You have a very light seal that ever so gently touches your ears, and if you move your head wrong or shift positions too much, you can lose that perfect fit that you worked so hard to achieve. Some people find a perfect fit and actually find them comfortable. Some people will struggle to find a perfect fit, and even once they do, they find them to be very awkward fitting and uncomfortable.
Many people who own the Abyss say that they put them on for a few songs and that's it. I've seen lots of people say that they put them on to listen to a few songs, and, they can't be bothered with wearing them for much beyond that point. I do see some people wearing them for a few hours a day but I can't imagine doing that. The Abyss were going to be my next big upgrade, but, I bought the Raal Requisites and quickly returned them which made me re-think the Abyss for reasons which I'll list. I was in SoCal once at a headphone show and tried the Abyss and the Raal Requisite SR1A. I had the Abyss and Raals on for... a few minutes, tops? Loved the sound from both. Recently, ordered a Raal SR1A and got a migraine from the pads (the ones near your temples) causing tension and pressure. Returned them because comfort was obviously an issue. It took about 15 minutes of wearing them for me to notice how uncomfortable I was feeling, so, it had me re-thinking the Abyss as well. While I easily tolerated the heaviness, the awkward fit, the fiddling around and adjusting them in order for them to sit properly, etc., I looked back on my brief time with the Abyss and realized that even though I could have dealt with that for a few minutes, I didn't know if I could deal with it for an hour or two.
As someone who can afford high end stuff, I avoid Audezes for example because they're heavy and strain my neck too much. I'm a female with a small head so this can all heavily play into it. I avoid Hifiman because I've had a few Hifimans fail on me due to quality control issues, but, I hear that's gotten a lot better. And likewise, I've been avoiding Abyss because of the awkward fit and comfort issues.
Headphones like the Abyss and Raal are more like "ear speakers" than headphones, so instead of going with one of those (because they both have comfort issues to me), I instead try to prioritize comfy headphones and upgraded my desk speakers for whenever I want that speaker experience. If you were to get an Abyss, I'd maybe get the Diana Phi and ask them if they have DMS modded pads, still. The Dianas have awkward fits too for some heads, but, there are mods Abyss can do perhaps to help with this. Knowing Abyss, though, they release new models relatively frequently. I wouldn't be surprised if, in the future, they released a Diana Phi TC with the TC drivers but with none of that awkward fit. Who knows what Abyss will release in the future. They seem to be perfecting their drivers more and more with each iteration and are making strides towards helping with comfort by recently releasing a new and improved leather strap for the 1266 models. I'd be thrilled to see what Abyss comes up with within a year or two.
I feel as though it's easy to say that you would be willing to trade off comfort for sound quality until you try wearing something awkward for a prolonged period of time. I used to be like this, too, but then I tried wearing Audezes for longer than half an hour and got bad neck pain. The Raals gave me a headache within 15-20 minutes. The Abyss, I only tried briefly, so I don't know how I'd fare with it over long listening sessions, but having dealt with some uncomfy headphones, I would take something comfortable over something awkward in my personal opinion.
The Abyss will also really be amp/dac/source dependent. If you pair the wrong amp with it, it'll show. If you pair the wrong dac with it, it will show. If you try to listen to a file (even if it is FLAC for example) but the mastering on it was garbage, then it'll show. Just some stuff to consider.