[mulder01]

Buying an Abyss today, it's about damn time.

I think my audition was way too short to have recognized the potential.

I'm hoping to do a comparison between the LCD-4, Abyss, HEK and Focal Utopia.

 
ha, crikey.  And just cross your fingers that nobody else releases another $4k headphone in the meantime...
 
Fostex must be about due to throw their hat into the ring

 

[draytonklammer]

I sure hope nothing else will release haha.

I'm mainly battling the LCD-4 and Abyss. My Abyss arrives Tuesday. I've heard it'll outclass the LCD-4 and give me a special experience in comparison. I love speakers and the loudspeaker comparison excites me.

I'll have to post my thoughts.

 

[tassardar]

I sure hope nothing else will release haha.

I'm mainly battling the LCD-4 and Abyss. My Abyss arrives Tuesday. I've heard it'll outclass the LCD-4 and give me a special experience in comparison. I love speakers and the loudspeaker comparison excites me.

I'll have to post my thoughts.

I don't think it will out right beat lcd4. That is very personal. But it should give you a special experience

 

[up late]

i don't think that it will either. and yes, personal preference is just that. both are worthy of consideration if you're in the market for a totl planar magnetic can.

 

[Torq]

I sure hope nothing else will release haha.

I'm mainly battling the LCD-4 and Abyss. My Abyss arrives Tuesday. I've heard it'll outclass the LCD-4 and give me a special experience in comparison. I love speakers and the loudspeaker comparison excites me.

I'll have to post my thoughts.

They do different things well.
 
The LCD-4 is more laid back, darker, warmer, smoother, slower-sounding and perhaps a little recessed in the mid-range compared to the Abyss with a much smaller soundstage.  At the same time, the LCD-4's mid-range is pure liquid, they're easier to use, and they're probably a bit more even handed across the board.
 
Most of those traits can be either positive, negative, or both, depending on what you listen to and what your preferences are.
 
While I tend to find the Abyss more fun to listen to, my LCD-4 still get plenty of use and might well be the more accurate transducer.

 

[draytonklammer]

It slightly concerns me that everyone who stood with the Abyss is now so fenced
 
Regardless, I guess in the end this longer listening session is for me, although I will say some of the buying power came from reading through the last 50-100 pages of the thread.
 
Hoping I don't have buyer's remorse. I just want to be impressed to say the least.

 

[tassardar]

It slightly concerns me that everyone who stood with the Abyss is now so fenced

Regardless, I guess in the end this longer listening session is for me, although I will say some of the buying power came from reading through the last 50-100 pages of the thread.

Hoping I don't have buyer's remorse. I just want to be impressed to say the least.

It's not that we don't think the abyss is the best, but I Guess abyss is not a new headphone. The hype is gone and all you get is mainly honest opinion. Anyone who bought it now is rather well informed or has auditioned. It's also really hard to say what's better since at this level preference makes one of biggest determinant and not technical prowess. Lastly, JPS do not have a loyal following. I'm sure people who bought abyss here is cause it's good and not cause they support and love this company. With abyss their main headphone, they don't even a house sound to talk about haha.

But hey, if you ask me, I enjoy abyss the most out of all the others. I didn't like lcd4 and he1000 no matter how much I auditioned. Doesn't excite me. I owned the hd800S for 2 months and thought it was the best till I tried the abyss. It Beats the hd800s in very perimeter but the size of the soundstage, probably the absolute wee bit better separation and more forward voice which I enjoyed on limited tracks. Sold my hd800s away just today with no regrets.

 

[Torq]

  It slightly concerns me that everyone who stood with the Abyss is now so fenced
 
Regardless, I guess in the end this longer listening session is for me, although I will say some of the buying power came from reading through the last 50-100 pages of the thread.
 
Hoping I don't have buyer's remorse. I just want to be impressed to say the least.

Not sure what "fenced" means in this case ... "on the fence" perhaps?
 
In which case, let me clarify ... I'm not on the fence.
 
If I had to choose between the Abyss and the LCD-4, based on having owned both for months, I'd keep the Abyss without hesitation.
 
In terms of raw numbers the LCD-4 might edge it out in terms of technical accuracy, but in terms of musical enjoyment and fun the Abyss is, for me, definitely the better headphone for my purposes.  The Abyss still wins, for me, in terms of detail/resolution, soundstage, dynamics, slam, articulation.  The LCD-4 has a more liquid mid-range, but it's also a little recessed in comparison.
 
I have several headphone rigs, two of which I'd consider "high end" or "TOTL"; they're currently in different locations (I have multiple homes), and the Abyss lives with the rig that I spend the most time with.

 

[draytonklammer]

Awesome, thanks for the clarification.

Quite honestly I'm excited because I like fun headphones. I think with what I've heard the Abyss will become my go-to.

Can't wait for Tuesday.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

So here's something interesting about the Abyss...
 
In adding to the whole 'the Abyss takes time to get the fit right' discussion after switching out my Pass amp for a DAVE I didn't care for the Abyss.  Today I spent some time refitting them and all of a sudden they are excellent again.  It seems the ideal physical fit can also be different based on the source.
 
In my case, the Pass was much more bass heavy than the DAVE so I found the Abyss thin sounding with the DAVE and missed that big iron sound.  After rotating the pads and adjusting the band that sound is back.  I'm willing to bet that if I wore them like this with the Pass they would be overly bass heavy.  
 
At least that's my subjective experience.  Fit is indeed a unique thing with these.  They are speaker like in this sense - careful attention to placement is needed
 
I'm glad I am loving the Abyss again!!

 

[draytonklammer]

Glad to hear that. Can't wait to mess around fitting it to my head and setup.

Hoping to enjoy it more than the LCD-4. I like being impressed.

 

[mulder01]

  It slightly concerns me that everyone who stood with the Abyss is now so fenced

 
There's nothing that I'm on the fence about - I think it's no secret that I love the 1266 - I just avoid chiming in with fanboyish excitement every time someone asks a question because I don't think it helps the thread to have a handful of people repeatedly gushing every couple of posts.  I think this thread has managed to stay fairly honest and level headed (comparatively) which is what a forum should be.  
 
Having said that, time to step out in front of the Abyss marching band and start twirling the baton because f--k me, they're good.  
 
Honestly, I have tried most flagship cans, and you pick up one after the other, you think, oh yeah, this one's a it better at X and this one's a bit better at Y and they're all good but just a matter of taste as to which is "better".  But then when I put on the abyss I sat up and was like "oh get f---ed!" and was looking at all the gear that was plugged in to see if there was anything funny going on and was looking at the properties of the song files I was listening to to make sure I wasn't just listening to the best recorded song in the world or something and tried a number of different songs that I thought would be bad recordings to try and trip them up, but no, they were just that much better.  Since then, the HEK came out, the LCD4 came out, I tried pretty much every flagship IEM and my opinion didn't change.  
 
IMO I think people are being fairly diplomatic and generous when they say the LCD-4 has attributes that some may prefer like being darker and a more intimate soundstage.  Yes, some people may prefer that type of sound, but generally speaking, that's kinda the opposite of what the general audiophile community is looking for.
 
Maybe the slightly subdue level of enthusiasm on this thread is partly due to what tassardar said earlier about JPS only having one product and no massive army of loyal fans that feel like they have to constantly sing their praises, which, tbh, seems kinda like what is happening over on the LCD-4 thread.  Not trying to have a go at LCD-4 fans, but I just feel like some may have written off the Abyss and gone PFFT! $4.5k! what a joke!  Then Audeze releases something for $4k (about 10% cheaper) and they all hand over their wallets without a second thought.  I would wager that even if some of them did get a chance to audition the Abyss and 4 side by side and prefered the Abyss, they may not say so.  But as much as I like the Abyss, if someone comes up with a better headphone, I will buy it, and I will tell people that I sold my Abyss and bought X and why, but IMO, nothing so far has come close.

 

[draytonklammer]

Thank you for posting that. I am trying to hype myself up.

I WANT the Abyss to be better to my ears because I love being blown away.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

Few things live up hype.  Particularly when we build things up in our minds.  I sincerely hope you aren't disappointed: I know you've been wanting a pair for a long time now.  They are *just* headphones, however. 
 
Out of interest, what are you using upstream?

 

[draytonklammer]

Few things live up hype.  Particularly when we build things up in our minds.  I sincerely hope you aren't disappointed: I know you've been wanting a pair for a long time now.  They *just* headphones, however. 

Out of interest, what are you using upstream?

Spotify and my 430HAD.