My opinion in a nutshell:
1. I heard the abyss under pretty nasty conditions (who in his right mind uses an ipod line out to drive a Lau/abyss pair?). As expected, it was thus meh at best.
2. Apparently, I failed to read the noticed when I tried it, was trying to make a seal but there was no way to adjust the system for that to happen (I must be falling outside the average population head size the can was designed for).
3. I find the can ugly looking and too expensive for me to consider it a complement to my rig (
considering I'd also need to get an amp...). Maybe the lower models coming will be more attractive to me (but I just don't imagine myself with two full blown amps at home though).
4. My listening impressions are likely skewed because I had (and still have to some extent) strong reservations against various part of the design including the single stator, light damping applied to orthos (i just don't like many of what I feel are "underdamped" orthos that have been released in the past year, alpha dog before the mod, lcd-x for instance ). Some people refuse to hear about objective stuff, I probably read too much into theories and measurements
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5. Let's face it,
I seem to be an incurable stat fanboy. I have been swayed by the stat sound for a few years now. The 009 has put a damper on my headphone quest, except for portable gear maybe. I don't perceive the lack of body some find with it and absolutely crave the resolved, low distortion sound and natural voices & treble. I have an omega 2 mk1 when the mood strikes for different / warmer sound. Really, there's limited room for another product.
My comment on the 009 being out of fashion over on the french forum was just humour, maybe that was not very good joke eric
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