[DefQon]

Quote:

May I kindly ask why a $3000 amp/dac isn't good enough for the Abyss? Not a personal attack but just a question from curiosity considering headphones will end up the way of high end audio soon with anything less than 20k classified as mid range.
 

Where did you get the $3000 figure from?
 
The NFB-27 is a $1500 DAC/amp all in one. The amp section is not the best as there are cheaper dedicated amp's that sound better. The DAC section is not bad. 

 

[gikigill]

It's from etherlites post where he mentions that a $3000 setup might not be enough.
A NAD M51 with the a Pass amp should be just fine considering it powers the HE6 well which I would assume are much more hungry than the Abyss.

I mention this because I have never found a single hp amp that had the grunt to power the HE6 properly and have been experimenting with vintage amps and I rate the HE6 as 90% of a Stax SR007.

 

[etherlite]

Well, looking on how people are setting it up with Liquid Glass, I assume that would be the standard. 
 
Although I was surprised that Joe suggested Tyll to pair the Abyss with Burson Conductor >.>

 

[preproman]

I guess my $1.5K F1J is not good enough for the Abyss then huh?  Really, we need to keep the price of gear separate from the impressions.  Unless it comes down to a cost per performance question.
 
I would have bought an amp and / or DAC with that money.  The Abyss will be around for a while.  The upstream gear is pretty important as well.

 

[wink]

Quote:citadel

lol, I know.... probably not the best match. I cant blow all my money at once.
ReplyQuote Multi

Why not? This is head-Fi and your wallet doesn't count.
 
Would be glad to help you burn the abyss in.
 
 
Quote:gikigill

May I kindly ask why a $3000 amp/dac isn't good enough for the Abyss? Not a personal attack but just a question from curiosity considering headphones will end up the way of high end audio soon with anything less than 20k classified as mid range.

I plan to get a BHSE in the future and this kinda thinking pisses me off that a $3000 solid state combo isn't good enough. I understand stat technology is complicated but solid state is simply inexcusable. Maybe we should just start at $10000 and encourage prices to go up even more.

That's not the way to look at it.
Synergy between components is far more important than price of components.

 

[gikigill]

No doubt wink, but when we start setting a dollar floor there might not be a ceiling to it. If we start deciding that anything less than $X000 isn't suitable for a particular purpose then heaven help us.

My humble AD900X sound better out of a refurbished $100 vintage amplifier than my iBasso combo worth multiple times more, a lot more punch and smoother sound. The dollar figure just becomes totally irrelevant in my personal and anecdotal evidence.

 

[etherlite]

Quote:

That's not the way to look at it.
Synergy between components is far more important than price of components.

True, plus self preference also plays a role.
 
My bad for setting up a base price, but IMO it'd be difficult to find a good enough system to run abyss below that price :/

 

[dBel84]

Quote:

Well, looking on how people are setting it up with Liquid Glass, I assume that would be the standard. 
 
Although I was surprised that Joe suggested Tyll to pair the Abyss with Burson Conductor >.>

 
The Abyss is more power hungry than the HE6. At this point the best synergy I have experienced with these headphones is the Liquid Gold - LAu ( the balanced SS Cavalli amp that is currently in production ) , the Liquid Glass - LG does a formidable job but the LAu really makes them shine
 
Quote:

I guess my $1.5K F1J is not good enough for the Abyss then huh?  Really, we need to keep the price of gear separate from the impressions.  Unless it comes down to a cost per performance question.
 
I would have bought an amp and / or DAC with that money.  The Abyss will be around for a while.  The upstream gear is pretty important as well.

agreed , cost of gear does not dictate performance nor synergy. Is the output impedance of the F1J much lower than the 80 ohms of the F1? I suspect the silicon carbide fets will drop this but there is more to output impedance than just the active device in use.
 
..dB 

 

[preproman]

Quote:

 
The Abyss is more power hungry than the HE6.

 
Yeah - Didn't Tyll do his review with the Abyss on the Conductor? 

 

[gikigill]

If it's more power hungry than the HE6, it needs it's own nuclear power plant. I would also check with state authorities to ensure it doesn't bring the entire power grid down.

 

[dBel84]

I think this is why the LAu works as well, it is essentially a small power amp but with the fidelity needed for headphones..dB

 

[purrin]

As dBel84 said, it's all about synergy. One does not need a mega-buck amp to enjoy this headphone. I'd look for power and low output Z to start. I did not like the AB-1266 from a variety of tube amps I tried. But I did enjoy them from the LAu, LG, Mjolnir (fully burned-in) and a Crest CA-2 speaker amp. AB-1266 is not nearly as tough as HE-5 or HE-6 to drive.

 

[M-13]

It sounded better out of the Liquid Glass than the Mjolnir right? Or was it close enough?
 
Quote:

If it's more power hungry than the HE6, it needs it's own nuclear power plant. I would also check with state authorities to ensure it doesn't bring the entire power grid down.

This is funny. You unbox the Abyss all excited. Plug it into your amp with glee and then... your entire neighborhood goes dark.

 

[VisceriousZERO]

Quote:

 
This is funny. You unbox the Abyss all excited. Plug it into your amp with glee and then... your entire neighborhood goes dark.

 
But your smile is still plastered on your face... coz you just don't care.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

Well, looking on how people are setting it up with Liquid Glass, I assume that would be the standard. 
 
Although I was surprised that Joe suggested Tyll to pair the Abyss with Burson Conductor >.>

And Joe recommended Tyll to run them off the EF-6 because pre-measurements on other gear looked wonky.
Quote:

I would have bought an amp and / or DAC with that money.  The Abyss will be around for a while.  The upstream gear is pretty important as well.

Definitely. Synergy is pretty important too.
 
Quote:

If it's more power hungry than the HE6, it needs it's own nuclear power plant. I would also check with state authorities to ensure it doesn't bring the entire power grid down.

LOL....hey if you do you're taking down the power in my area too. On the other hand, some of the vintage amp's are no slouch, actually some of them sounded better than dedicated headphone amp's costing 20x more.
 
Quote:

 
This is funny. You unbox the Abyss all excited. Plug it into your amp with glee and then... your entire neighborhood goes dark.

LOL!!! I can so imagine that happening.