[Spawn300Z]

If I don’t have Andrew Jones’s loud speakers I might keep the TC due to it is uniqueness, which acknowledgingly is the most loud speaker sounding headphone. Yet a 3K vela could beat TC out of water in every single aspects.

Plus few use TC for accountic music and vocals, as the commonly known caveat for TC.

I tweaked BHSE with Carbon’s extensions and resolutions. I recently tweaked SUS with TC’s industrial textures cold bass and slam and dimensions yet with the same drawback of recessed vocals.

Long time ago, an IEM engineer friend told me it is all tuning game. My experience of turning SUS into TC reaffirmed that.

How did you tune the Sus into a TC?

 

[hifixman]

How did you tune the Sus into a TC?

I will invite another TC owner with a TOTL TC system to come to experience and will make a video to illustrate the result.

 

[DJJEZ]

I will invite anothet TC owner with a TOTL system to come to experience and will make a video to illustrate

i wonder who this owner will be

 

[Spawn300Z]

But what did you do

 

[hifixman]

i wonder who this owner will be
You must know him Summit FI Headphone Audio Club member He also owns Shang SR with 3SE Elite

 

[hifixman]

But what did you do

People take me too often for granted and even insane so I am going to keep my intellectual properties lol plus it requires more stuff and money than just buying a TC. Plus it is just similar not 100% in that there are so many other factors and variances that affect the sound.

 

[DJJEZ]

i wonder who this owner will be
You must know him Summit FI Headphone Audio Club member He also owns Shang SR with 3SE Elite

yes i know who your talking about

 

[hifixman]

yes i know who your talking about

There will be whole lotta interesting shootout lol

 

[simorag]

Sound is not homogenic, frequency response seems all over the place.
I miss the tonality of the Susvara and the Pulsar, everything sounds very dry.
Bass is exaggerated, and sounds unnatural, I listen mostly to acoustic music (classical/jazz) and the bass is not real, it does sound like that. E.g. I hear a pianist pounding on the pedals and it sounds out of context, way too emphasized.

I got three AB1266 (OG, Phi, TC) and cold out of the box they all sounded a bit weird, with very recessed, almost nasal mids, and relatively one-noted bass, and the feeling of a disjoint tonal balance. They settled down pretty fast though - I'd say one or two days, with modest further "burn-in" (to my ears).

Finding the right fitting is crucial with the AB-1266, and the golden rule there is that the pads have to just touch your skull / jawbones, with little to no pressure, but you need to be careful about not creating "bass ports" anywhere (gaps around the whole circumference of the pads), unless you do it on purpose to further enhance bass quantity, potentially at the expense of balance and distortion. As shown in the videos, you achieve that by a combination of frame and pad adjustment.

I am a total fan of the AB-1266 bass and - especially - sub bass. It has depth, resolution, speed and of course slam and oomph. Atmospheric / low-rumble ambient noise, organ, tympani attack overtones are spectacular.

If you find it exaggerated / unnatural it may be a matter of taste of course, but also a clue that you have not yet reached the 'perfect' fit.

This cable is immensely expensive too. I need to give it a listen first

It may be hard pill to swallow, but I truly believe that the Superconductor cable is a must for the AB-1266, especially for acoustic music. I tried many cables before surrendering to splurge on the wildly expensive SC, but in retrospect I would have saved my money if I had bought it straight away. The SC improves the timbre of the 1266 in every way IMHO - more meat in the mid-bass region, richer / more forward midrange, silkier highs - without compromising on their trademark strengths (speaker-like presentation, bass, speed, transparency).

With the AIC-10, the additional (and quite effective) tuning variable is the selection of the tube. My personal preference with the AB-1266 for classical / acoustic music is my beloved 1950's CV491 KB/DA Mullard .

Have you progressed in your search for speakers for the Riviera? The other day I was to go on a little trip to two different dealers to try AN J LX, Cube Audio Nenuphar Mini, and Soundkaos Vox speakers. Those three plus the Deville I would love to hear. Unfortunately I had to cancel.

Not yet, my priority at the moment is still the DAC. I am on an interesting journey (literally, as early next week I will travel to Stockholm just to auditioning some source gear... ), which I want to keep exploring before moving to the speaker topic. The speakers I would audition first are the 98dB AN-E/SPe HE, but please let us know about your own tests when you have the chance!

 

[Axel]

I got three AB1266 (OG, Phi, TC) and cold out of the box they all sounded a bit weird, with very recessed, almost nasal mids, and relatively one-noted bass, and the feeling of a disjoint tonal balance. They settled down pretty fast though - I'd say one or two days, with modest further "burn-in" (to my ears).

I hope they settle down. I have yet to have one (full) day of burn-in.

Finding the right fitting is crucial with the AB-1266, and the golden rule there is that the pads have to just touch your skull / jawbones, with little to no pressure, but you need to be careful about not creating "bass ports" anywhere (gaps around the whole circumference of the pads), unless you do it on purpose to further enhance bass quantity, potentially at the expense of balance and distortion. As shown in the videos, you achieve that by a combination of frame and pad adjustment.

I am a total fan of the AB-1266 bass and - especially - sub bass. It has depth, resolution, speed and of course slam and oomph. Atmospheric / low-rumble ambient noise, organ, tympani attack overtones are spectacular.

If you find it exaggerated / unnatural it may be a matter of taste of course, but also a clue that you have not yet reached the 'perfect' fit.

Thanks for the tip.
I have been playing with them, all sort of directions.
So far, sound has changed but not something that I can say - "this is it". Meaning, it still sounds lacking to me, in many ways.

It may be hard pill to swallow, but I truly believe that the Superconductor cable is a must for the AB-1266, especially for acoustic music. I tried many cables before surrendering to splurge on the wildly expensive SC, but in retrospect I would have saved my money if I had bought it straight away. The SC improves the timbre of the 1266 in every way IMHO - more meat in the mid-bass region, richer / more forward midrange, silkier highs - without compromising on their trademark strengths (speaker-like presentation, bass, speed, transparency).

Cables make a difference, but if the basic tonality and sound quality is not there the cable cannot perform miracles. I have yet to come across a cable that made miracles (of any type).
So before I spend more money on the Abyss, I want to know if it's even in a general direction I want to follow.

With the AIC-10, the additional (and quite effective) tuning variable is the selection of the tube. My personal preference with the AB-1266 for classical / acoustic music is my beloved 1950's CV491 KB/DA Mullard .

That's easier to swallow, and I may order one just to try out with it. Thanks @simorag !

Not yet, my priority at the moment is still the DAC. I am on an interesting journey (literally, as early next week I will travel to Stockholm just to auditioning some source gear... ), which I want to keep exploring before moving to the speaker topic. The speakers I would audition first are the 98dB AN-E/SPe HE, but please let us know about your own tests when you have the chance!

Good luck and have fun!
BTW, most of my listening is done through speakers. It's a completely different experience and bumpier journey than headphones.

 

[moosemp]

simorag said:
Not yet, my priority at the moment is still the DAC. I am on an interesting journey (literally, as early next week I will travel to Stockholm just to auditioning some source gear... ), which I want to keep exploring before moving to the speaker topic. The speakers I would audition first are the 98dB AN-E/SPe HE, but please let us know about your own tests when you have the chance

have nice and fruitful yourney

I guess I am on my way to change dac. Dcs? Weiss? Rockna? I need some time

 

[moosemp]

What I would buy if I could afford now- Soulnote series reference 3 line, sacd player first…..then dac and clock. Then network transport. Ehhhhhh. Sweet dreams

 

[Ragnar-BY]

What I would buy if I could afford now- Soulnote series reference 3 line

Looks interesting. Have you heard it?

 

[hifixman]

Looks interesting. Have you heard it?

With aic10 alone, both soulnote and esoteric are the superb sources, which also share many sonic similarities featured as the Japanese sound. Eso could be slightly more technical with much better measurements while Soulnote is more musical as the least ESS sound ESS chip DAC, also coming with tons of details. The ESO all in one with an external master clock is more budget friendly and its built in preamp is decent enough to work beautifully with power amp afc 10, definitely better than the built in pre of Dave. It is definitely my favorite source with aic10. Otherwise it takes P3, D3, Z3 and X3 at a price tag around 70K USD for my AFC10.

For the source link of soulnote 3 series streamer, dac, and clock, one needs a giant audio rack to accommodate all these ridiculously big boxes as big as many TOTL speaker power amps. The most popular and best sold unit in 3 series is S3, the DAC& CD/SACD player, especially in Asia.

It is important for demo while it has been crowned by so many reputable reviewers, Hifi websites and magazines in Asia, it might not be your thing, including some friend I respect a lot close to owning everything. Soulnote will attend Florida show

 

[moosemp]

Looks interesting. Have you heard it?

Yes I heard sacd player with top Vermouth cables and Fulianty hp amp that I ordered during Warsaw show. I need nothing else as far as cd/sacd is concerned