[mulder01]

 
I know that statement. And regarding the distortion mentioned: it goes away as soon as there is any kind of damping either on the front or the back of the driver, no need for a closed-back kind of seal (my wording may have been imperfect in that regard).

 
But were you saying that you thought it might cause damage to the driver over time if you play music without them on your head?  Or have I misunderstood

 

[plakat]

   
But were you saying that you thought it might cause damage to the driver over time if you play music without them on your head?  Or have I misunderstood

No, thats correct: it sounds rather bad and I'm thinking wether the driver might get damaged. It only occurs when I completely take it off my head though: e.g. covering a part of the cups with my hands stops it.

 

[Joe Skubinski]

Low frequency damping (or 'control' as an easier to understand term) is set averaged between a complete seal and loosely coupled to your head. By varying the distance from the side of your head, you can slightly vary low frequency damping to suit your tastes in bass. This is by design, what we consider the 'tuned range' of the headphone.

If you are playing music with heavy bass content at moderately loud levels and the headphones are off your head (such as laying down on the table), so there is no surface near the front baffle (or outside it's tuning range), low frequencies will have greater distortion. As soon as any surface nears the baffle, bass control is restored. No damage to the driver will occur regardless. The only way to damage the transducer is with excessive power or physically by something such as a screwdriver going through it.

 

[FiftyKilo]

Thank you Joe for the explanations, I was a little bit confused that I can damage the headphone (when he will arrive next week) with wrong handling.
Regards
Ralf

 

[Music Alchemist]

@zardon
 
Would you be willing to tell us more how the Abyss, SR-009, HE 90, and R10 sound in comparison to each other? Most people don't have the luxury of being able to hear all of them.
 

 
Awesome. But don't worry about the driver. (See below.)
 

  You have to keep in mind that 44kHz in computer terms is not 44kHz audio frequency

 
Umm, yes it is, in digital audio terms. Just read this, this, and this article to clear up any confusion.
 
To be even more clear, here is the data for a standard lossless Red Book audio file.
sample rate: 44.1 kHz
sample size (aka bit depth): 16 bit
bit rate: 1,411 kbps
 
DSD does have playback merits, but is more complex and essentially a different master anyway.
 

 
Yeah, I was pretty sure those drivers wouldn't get damaged just from playing music. XD

 

[mulder01]

 
Umm, yes it is, in digital audio terms. Just read this, this, and this article to clear up any confusion.
 

 
They don't really necessarily directly address the differences between the two.  The digital samples of the wave are taken at 44100 times a second.  This is off the link you sent me:
 

 
So that's one wave, sampled at 13 points, then it is the DAC's job to make it look like the green line.  The more blue dots you have, the truer it will be to the original shape.
 
And this is another one:
 

 
Which is 1 audio cycle/Hz represented by many digital cycles Hz
 
If anyone can explain to me why I'm wrong without just linking a page with general information then I am happy to try and understand.  If what the first article is saying is true, and the signal will end up perfect out the other end of the DAC regardless, but you know that's not true and that there are big differences between DACs...

 

[Music Alchemist]

 
This isn't even debatable. Just read the articles or the endless discussion in the Sound Science section.

 

[plakat]

If you are playing music with heavy bass content at moderately loud levels and the headphones are off your head (such as laying down on the table), so there is no surface near the front baffle (or outside it's tuning range), low frequencies will have greater distortion. As soon as any surface nears the baffle, bass control is restored. No damage to the driver will occur regardless. The only way to damage the trasducer is with excessive power or physically by something such as a screwdriver going through it.

 
Thanks for the clarification. Yes, I saw that effect: covering the driver even partially stops the distortion. And yes, I listened to electronic music, not devoid of bass.
 
I'm still amazed by its ability to project a wide and stable soundstage, keeping all the fine details even when confronted with heavy bass.
 
Ad DACs: many of the differences are actually in their analog output stages I guess... So even if the same DAC chip is used two products may sound different.

 

[djd1122]

Been using the abyss now for some time and tried around 15 amplifiers. While its common knowledge, the carvalli liquid gold is a remarkable pairing for this headphone. The abyss sound very good or even great with some other amplifiers but with the liquid gold they are pure magic. Synergy, dynamics and speed are as good as i have ever heard from a headphone. I frequently forget i have Headphones on my head. From metal to orchestral they handle it all.

I prefer the pairing to my stax 009 and blue hawaii and in some instances even my he90 setup. I still refer to the sony r10 at times.

Abyss are worth every penny but you really do need the liquid gold to get the magical sound. 24 bit flac files help create real to life quality....

 
What name brand and model DAC, interconnects, and power cords do you have on your DAC and Liquid Gold?

 

[bmichels]

Been using the abyss now for some time and tried around 15 amplifiers. While its common knowledge, the carvalli liquid gold is a remarkable pairing for this headphone. The abyss sound very good or even great with some other amplifiers but with the liquid gold they are pure magic. Synergy, dynamics and speed are as good as i have ever heard from a headphone. I frequently forget i have Headphones on my head. From metal to orchestral they handle it all.

I prefer the pairing to my stax 009 and blue hawaii and in some instances even my he90 setup. I still refer to the sony r10 at times.

Abyss are worth every penny but you really do need the liquid gold to get the magical sound. 24 bit flac files help create real to life quality....

 
have you tried the ABYSS with some TUBE Amps ? (I have an Eddie Current 445)
 
which other amps are "as good as the liquid gold" with ABYSS ?

 

[plakat]

After spending several hours scanning my music library yesterday evening (till late into the night) I have to say the Abyss does fine with everything I found.
 
Obviously there were many pure electronic or mainly electronic titles, ranging from Massive Attack and the like, over Deep House, 90s House and into Drum&Bass, but also Funk like Hot Pants Road Club (Austrian act, very energetic nevertheless), Pop (Paul Simon, Graceland -- still very nice, Madonna), Rock (if Queen, Simple Minds and U2 count and Classics like Dvoraks Symphony #9.
 
Over the course of this evening again I was impressed by the dynamic and detailed presentation. Oh, and did I mention there is bass? It does not obscure anything, but shows good attack, depth and definition. I still have to try bending the headband a bit more, I might have been too cautious so far.
 
The Phonitor 2 is not bad at driving the Abyss btw. Even on default gain setting (using the XLR inputs) is reaches levels I'd rather not use for sustained listening. Still I prefer the V281, which seems to deliver more juice down low and has a bit smoother treble. So the next step will be to remove the default attenuation (-10dB) in the DAC2 and see if that can serve as a transportable setup...
 
After some hours I do get a bit of a sore spot on the top of my head. Still comfort is far better than expected, given the weight.
 
Edit: Another interesting effect: it does indeed give peace of mind. Scanning head-fi has become more quiet starting yesterday, moving from "maybe I should look into this" to just "ah, nice..."
 
I don't know wether I'll pursue the MOON route as I'm quite satisfied with the DAC2+V281 combination. And after finding out that the the CEntrance M8 has its low output impedance setting is on the right most position when viewed from behind (not left most as I thought) it delivers more than enough output for taking the Abyss with me on holidays.

 

[zardon]

I don't know wether I'll pursue the MOON route as I'm quite satisfied with the DAC2+V281 combination. And after finding out that the the CEntrance M8 has its low output impedance setting is on the right most position when viewed from behind (not left most as I thought) it delivers more than enough output for taking the Abyss with me on holidays.

If you have the funds and want a good upgrade when on the move consider the chord hugo. its expensive, and a little large but its the best portable pairing ive found for the abyss. I use it with an astell and kern ak240 and its a heck of a good portable setup, all fits in a small case and perfect for hotels.

 

[Music Alchemist]

If you have the funds and want a good upgrade when on the move consider the chord hugo. its expensive, and a little large but its the best portable pairing ive found for the abyss. I use it with an astell and kern ak240 and its a heck of a good portable setup, all fits in a small case and perfect for hotels.

 
If you bring the Abyss with you to hotels, I think it's safe to say that you've got most or all of us beat. You have won the Head-Fi game. *bows in adulation*

 

[bmichels]

HUGO is powerful enough to get all the full potential from the ABYSS !??

 

[plakat]

If you have the funds and want a good upgrade when on the move consider the chord hugo. its expensive, and a little large but its the best portable pairing ive found for the abyss. I use it with an astell and kern ak240 and its a heck of a good portable setup, all fits in a small case and perfect for hotels.

I would consider the Hugo, but unfortunately I'm bit of a design nut... and the Hugo disqualifies unfortunately in more than one regard. I just don't get the light color thing (i.e. I don't *want* something like that near me), I don't like the volume pot (for lack of a better word), I don't like the cheap look of the exterior (I know its robust and everything, it just doesn't look good to me and the jacks are almost unusable with better connectors because they are recessed).
 
I do like its FPGA implementation of a DAC and would be interested in that. But not in this package... Sorry for the rant -- its a sign of frustration with the aspects mentioned