[drew911d]

Wish there was anybody in Arizona with a Dave.. Really wanna see (hear) what it can do.

 

[draytonklammer]

Wish there was anybody in Arizona with a Dave.. Really wanna see (hear) what it can do.

I feel that, but for Montana.
Shucks.

Don't know how I feel about spending $9,000 blindly.

 

[phase0]

Right now I'm enjoying the Abyss so much. It seems like it's everything I could want in a headphone. I had an easy time parting with the Utopia. I still can't let go of my Audeze but they're also getting 0 play time. I just keep going "holy crap this is amazing!" every time I put on the Phi. I felt like it was a lot murkier at the CanJam trying to demo stuff which is weird. I'd tell everyone forget all the other headphone Abyss Phi is where it's happening This is what I really wanted all along when I got into the Utopia hype.

 

[draytonklammer]

Right now I'm enjoying the Abyss so much. It seems like it's everything I could want in a headphone. I had an easy time parting with the Utopia. I still can't let go of my Audeze but they're also getting 0 play time. I just keep going "holy crap this is amazing!" every time I put on the Phi. I felt like it was a lot murkier at the CanJam trying to demo stuff which is weird. I'd tell everyone forget all the other headphone Abyss Phi is where it's happening This is what I really wanted all along when I got into the Utopia hype.

Exactly why I am selling my Utopia.

I enjoy it for what it is. It's an amazing piece of tech.

That being said, for me Abyss > Utopia (can't wait for my Phi as all I hear is that it's even better)

 

[phase0]

Exactly why I am selling my Utopia.

I enjoy it for what it is. It's an amazing piece of tech.

That being said, for me Abyss > Utopia (can't wait for my Phi as all I hear is that it's even better)

Weren't you trying to sell your Abyss for a while? I enjoyed the Utopia. It's not a bad headphone by any means. Now that I'm on to the Phi I just think it's obviously next level by comparison. I don't think the Utopia can compete. I see other people keeping it on the same pedestal as an equal. I don't think it's an equal. I think it's totally outclassed by Phi. The thing Focal has is beautiful looks and finish. Then Phi has the weird look/style and the fit/adjustment options. i think demoing it is a little awkward.

 

[draytonklammer]

Weren't you trying to sell your Abyss for a while? I enjoyed the Utopia. It's not a bad headphone by any means. Now that I'm on to the Phi I just think it's obviously next level by comparison. I don't think the Utopia can compete. I see other people keeping it on the same pedestal as an equal. I don't think it's an equal. I think it's totally outclassed by Phi. The thing Focal has is beautiful looks and finish. Then Phi has the weird look/style and the fit/adjustment options. i think demoing it is a little awkward.

I had new toy syndrome for a little bit.

I picked up my Abyss to make sure it was still working to make sure the sale was fine.
Worked fine, but also ended up still being my favorite headphone to date.

Glad I wasn't really trying to quick sell it. I don't think I would have been able to sell it to be honest.

Even listening to my Utopia right now (while waiting for my Phi upgrade) is just lackluster in comparison.
It's NOT BAD at all. It's a fantastic headphone. That being said, the Abyss is better and I am sure the Phi will be even better.

 

[mulder01]

Yes in the US, but in the UK a new lite abyss is over 6K USD

Yeah you guys get screwed a bit on pricing over there...

We get a bit screwed over here with the Abyss pricing for some reason - when I bought mine 3 years ago the RRP was USD $5.5k (same as today) and AUD $6699 here. I think I asked nicely for a package deal with an amp and got it for just over $6k Aussie. That was when the only config you could buy was deluxe.

Now they have the lite for USD $4.5k and deluxe for $5.5k so the price of the deluxe has never changed, but now the RRP here is AUD $8.5k for deluxe and $7k for lite. For some reason the price went up 2 grand even though the US price has never changed. At first I thought it must be the exchange rate, but;

Susvara is USD $6k, or AUD $7.5k here.
Abyss Deluxe is USD $5.5k but AUD $8.5k here...
Makes no sense to me as to how the Susvara can be a grand cheaper when the US retail is $500 higher...
Maybe they don't want us Aussies to buy Abyss...

 

[Rossliew]

Could it be taxes? or perhaps the principal has slashed profit margins to dealers? So dealers have no choice but to hike the RRP? just my 2 cents...

 

[mulder01]

Well, taxes haven't changed, nor has the price of, say a 009.
AFAIK The retailer is also the importer for both Hifiman and Abyss so either way they get 2 bites of the cherry if they sell one.
I think maybe when the exchange rate was bad they put the price up (which is fair enough) but never put it back down again.
I suppose I shouldn't complain as I've already got mine Sucks for any potential new abyss customer though.

 

[Stjerna]

Could it be taxes? or perhaps the principal has slashed profit margins to dealers? So dealers have no choice but to hike the RRP? just my 2 cents...

The USD $4.5k for the Lite is without VAT, right? The VAT in Europe is usually high and included in the price (it's 25% in Sweden, where I live and I think it's 18% in UK). On top of this the dealers also want their share and they also need to protect them selves from currency changes to avoid the need for adjusting the price too often. All this increase the price for the customer and the increase may be different for different products (depending on how greedy ..
The Swedish price for Abyss Lite is 60 000 SEK. USD $1 = 8.95 SEK (incl exchange feedback) => USD $6700 Unfortunately...

 

[Rossliew]

I would tend to agree that when prices rise (for whatever reason) they don’t usually come down if the there’s a price reduction by the manufacturer or improvements in the exchange rate. So, I try to avoid this by purchasing used, where possible

 

[fredfung28]

Has anyone experience any high frequency that is too sharp on 1266 phi?
The sound of the “Si” “Tchai”, when singers sing, the sound pronounced before the word makes me feel too sharp and it’s not comfortable.
Sorry for my bad English, hope you would understand

 

[Thenewguy007]

Has anyone experience any high frequency that is too sharp on 1266 phi?
The sound of the “Si” “Tchai”, when singers sing, the sound pronounced before the word makes me feel too sharp and it’s not comfortable.
Sorry for my bad English, hope you would understand

Could it be the Headamp GS-X mk2 in your chain?

The GS-X mk2 has a reputation of being bright.

 

[jlbrach]

i have no such issues,there are recordings that are sibilant and there is nothing a loudspeaker or HP can do about it....no matter how good a HP is it cannot make up for poor recordings etc

 

[matthewhypolite]

i have no such issues,there are recordings that are sibilant and there is nothing a loudspeaker or HP can do about it....no matter how good a HP is it cannot make up for poor recordings etc

I'd even go as far to say that Better/More Resolving headphones make poor recordings sound worse. For example, when listening to poorly recorded tracks, the more forgiving HEK is an easy listen whereas the Abyss will point out each and every last flaw.