[Kiats]

Glad you are enjoying it, Mulder01. I had the same problem when I first got it: it wouldn't leave my head during my waking hours... Pesky little critter!

 

[rdreyer]

  But in the interest of fairness, I'll admit it was hard to get a good fit.  I have quite a big head and found that although you can bend the headband outwards, it didn't help because I just ended up with a massive gap at the bottom of my ears, because when you bend the headband out, the angle of the drivers bends out as well, so they are slightly pointing down, but my head is a bit v shaped as well, so the drivers ideally need to be facing upward a little, but if I bend them inward to get the right angle, they aren't wide enough.  I sorted it out by taking the headband off and doing some more forceful adjustments so they were wider and the vertical parts of the headband were angled inwards.

I have a very wide head, and had similar problems initially with the Abyss. The metal headband was fully stretched out, and the sides of the headphones were bent way outwards, to relieve clamping. The leather headband was spread almost fully horizontally, and not conforming to my head. JPS Labs first sent me a leather headband with looser elastics, and then extended the metal headband by half an inch. This solved all my issues, and I can now wear the Abyss for hours without discomfort. In fact, they are by far my most comfortable headphones.
 
Renaud

 

[isquirrel]

That certainly is true, performance per dollar vs speakers was a big draw card for me too.
Wouldn't of happened to be the Melbourne audio and av show by any chance?
If it was I made the mistake of going to the A2A stand first, gotta drop by their store with my music server and WA5 tubes for a nice long listen to the tubes in the WA234 with the abyss

After that most of the speaker rooms were rather underwhelming. Though the Telos room on the too floor was nice, the prices not so much

My feeling also, I thought that the average sound at the show was disappointing, by far and away the best sound was the DaVinci/Woo 234/Abyss combination. Really wished I hadn't listened to it as I have ended buying the DaVinci and most likely the Woo 234's. Damn. I agree re getting out of the upgrading cycle it makes sense to make a few sacrifices now and go to straight to endgame directly. My partner refused to listen to the Abyss based on its looks - apparently I looked like Frankenstein....!
 
I hope I can spend some more time with the Abyss, wished I lived in Melbourne, although I can see with A2A round the corner it would become expensive! 

 

[Fririce0003]

My feeling also, I thought that the average sound at the show was disappointing, by far and away the best sound was the DaVinci/Woo 234/Abyss combination. Really wished I hadn't listened to it as I have ended buying the DaVinci and most likely the Woo 234's. Damn. I agree re getting out of the upgrading cycle it makes sense to make a few sacrifices now and go to straight to endgame directly. My partner refused to listen to the Abyss based on its looks - apparently I looked like Frankenstein....!

I hope I can spend some more time with the Abyss, wished I lived in Melbourne, although I can see with A2A round the corner it would become expensive! 

Oh wow, must be happy with that purchase, the DaVinci is a wonderful DAC! Ends up being cheaper and more enjoyable going the end game route as soon as possible, the DaVinci and WA234 is certainly end game worthy too. Though I'm sure once the DAC comes in you'll have to convince your wife to listen to one song, that's all it'll take

 

[isquirrel]

I am sure she will as she loves music, its funny how turned off she was by the aesthetics of the Abyss. I have a feeling though that if she spent some time with them it would be a different matter.
 
In the meantime I had a to buy a 2nd pair of LCD-3's for her and the same Nordost cables......

 

[Fririce0003]

I am sure she will as she loves music, its funny how turned off she was by the aesthetics of the Abyss. I have a feeling though that if she spent some time with them it would be a different matter.

In the meantime I had a to buy a 2nd pair of LCD-3's for her and the same Nordost cables......

I'm still surprised how worked up people get about the looks, they're not the best looking, but you can't see them whilst they're on. And I don't think they'd make particularly good portable cans
Oh well buying new gear is always a good bit of fun, nothing beats that feeling of that drive home with a new pair of cans. Also wouldn't mind if Nordost expanded their headphone cable range, some Valhalla cables might go nicely with the abyss

 

[Xecuter]

Yeah the design actually allows a large amount of ergonomic tailoring especially since you can adjust clamp width, cup seal and can ask JPS to customize if you have some odd anatomy.
 
If you are worried about how good you'll look with them on, then maybe ponder why you are actually buying high-end headphones..

 

[up late]

if you think audiophiles spend big bucks on high end gear based on sound alone then you should think again

 

[Fririce0003]

if you think audiophiles spend big bucks on high end gear based on sound alone then you should think again

If only that weren't the case, imagine if they could just put it in a simple case that does the job and spend the rest on the actual design...
For me personally it goes; sound quality, build quality, features, usability and then it being aesthetically pleasing is just a bonus. Price to performance is also up there but is easily swayed by a combination of aspects :S

 

[up late]

if it was just spent on a design that produced good sound then the high-end probably wouldn't exist. personally i'm attracted to gear that sounds and looks good.

 

[mulder01]

I think it definitely helps if stuff looks nice.  Abyss have kinda shot themselves in the foot in that department.  I mean, the look may appeal to some, but I think the majority of people (even the ones that bought a pair) would prefer if it looked a little nicer.  And when you're spending that sort of money, you kinda have a right to be fussy.  They look badass sitting on the stand, but you do look a little frankenstien-ey when they're on your head.

 

[sathyam]

I think it definitely helps if stuff looks nice.  Abyss have kinda shot themselves in the foot in that department.  I mean, the look may appeal to some, but I think the majority of people (even the ones that bought a pair) would prefer if it looked a little nicer.  And when you're spending that sort of money, you kinda have a right to be fussy.  They look badass sitting on the stand, but you do look a little frankenstien-ey when they're on your head.

This is like deja vu over and over. These headphones are ugly. Even people who own these HPs agree. Debate over. Pages over pages of the same set of comments, that it is butt ugly is not helpful in this impressions thread. If you feel the need to vent about the looks of this headphone, why don't you create another thread?

 

[up late]

lose the attitude. mulder01 is a new abyss owner and is entitled to express his opinion about any aspect of the can he likes. he also happens to be reasonable about it.

 

[isquirrel]

I doubt its going to be helpful to Abyss to start a thread titled - Ugliest Headphones

 

[Fririce0003]

I doubt its going to be helpful to Abyss to start a thread titled - Ugliest Headphones

I would've said there are headphones just as unsightly... But then I remembered the custom design featured a couple posts ago...