[Rhamnetin]

Midrange is fine. Does not sound recessed by much to my ears- just not as full as the LCD. I like it better...- more real to life.

I believe I spoke to quickly in my last post. I just burnt in another two hours- and the improvement is substantial. Much faster response, better definition. Still not STAX speed but improving quickly. Much punchier as well.

I think I need to give them 100 hours before commenting again. My initial impressions were just that- initial.... and not at all final.

By the way I have a augio-gd HE-9 amplifier...

I think it depends on the amp and especially DAC used with Stax. I made my SR-009 sound... not nearly as fast as right now, like it was trying to be something else.

But yeah I had similar impressions with the original AB-1266; fast but not well driven SR-009 fast. Interesting that you hear the LCD-4 as having a deeper sound stage, I wouldn't have expected that but it does indeed have good depth.

That's interesting. I noticed no change at all from 0 hours right up until yesterday.

Yeah I only thought I heard burn in with two headphones (both dynamics) but none of the others I have owned, so I just attribute any changes to brain burn in.

 

[mulder01]

They sound NOTHING like a HD800 except the soundstage contrary to all I have read.

I'm surprised ANYONE said these sound like a HD800...

 

[matthewhypolite]

Midrange is fine. Does not sound recessed by much to my ears- just not as full as the LCD. I like it better...- more real to life.

I believe I spoke to quickly in my last post. I just burnt in another two hours- and the improvement is substantial. Much faster response, better definition. Still not STAX speed but improving quickly. Much punchier as well.

I think I need to give them 100 hours before commenting again. My initial impressions were just that- initial.... and not at all final.

By the way I have a augio-gd HE-9 amplifier...

I think 150 is the sweetspot

I'm surprised ANYONE said these sound like a HD800...

This

 

[simorag]

They sound NOTHING like a HD800 except the soundstage contrary to all I have read

In my experience, the Abyss Phi is a totally different beast compared to the HD800, being the bass / sub-bass response the most obvious differentiator.

As for the soundstage, what I noticed is that they are about equally wide (and well out of your head), but with the HD800 and HD800S I felt that the soundstage was often unnaturally three-lobed, with the music coming from three main areas around my head (far left, far right and center), while the Abyss Phi provide a more cohesive and realistic presentation. Also, soundstage depth is noticeably better with the Phi IMO.

What amp are you using for the Phi?

I am happy with the Eleven XI Audio Formula S + Powerman combo. It is at the same time very transparent (almost on par with the DAVE direct drive), nuanced / layered and capable of extreme dynamics with full control. I would define it a fairly neutral amp, with a very slight touch of warmth, especially when used in high gain mode.

How do you feel the midrange/vocals on the Abyss are compared to those headphones? Do they feel a little recessed?

When I first got the Phi I felt that the vocals were recessed compared to the HD800S and LCD-4 I was coming from. After some break-in and brain adjustment, that feeling was mitigated, but still there.

Now that I am using the CC pads since a few weeks, I would say that one of the easiest to detect changes they provide over the original - to my ears - is that they move you a few steps towards the music, and the vocal presence / forwardness is increased.

I just burnt in another two hours- and the improvement is substantial

I kept hearing changes for the first 50 hours of so, mainly about bass and resolution, could not swear if it were my ears or the headphone burning-in.

 

[mulder01]

the violectric 281 is quite good

+1 on the v281
Plenty of power and versatile enough to go right down to IEMs without noise. Reasonable price (considering it's flagship status) and nice and musical - warmer sounding, but also detailed and effortless.

 

[FLTWS]

A number of Head-Fi-er's hold the v281 in high regard. I'll hope to get a listen someday. Seems to be a true balanced design.

 

[Rhamnetin]

A number of Head-Fi-er's hold the v281 in high regard. I'll hope to get a listen someday. Seems to be a true balanced design.

It definitely is balanced, though its use of opamps and small power transformer for the price make it questionable especially at that price.

 

[koven]

A number of Head-Fi-er's hold the v281 in high regard. I'll hope to get a listen someday. Seems to be a true balanced design.

I'm in that boat as well. At used prices of ~$1600 it is perhaps the best bang for buck end-game SS IMO.

 

[mulder01]

$1600? Should have done my research. Sold mine in mint condition for about $1000... whoops

 

[koven]

$1600? Should have done my research. Sold mine in mint condition for about $1000... whoops

Ha.. at that price, I bet it sold the same day you posted. I typically see them around 1500-1600 USD second-hand. Hifishark.com is a great place to gauge prices FYI.

 

[weasel1979]

What about an Hifiman EF-6, would that be a good match for the Abyss?

 

[Thenewguy007]

A new review of the CC pads

https://audiobacon.net/2018/08/31/abyss-ab-1266-phi-cc-lambskin-not-your-daddys-ear-pads/

Seems the takeaway is that the sound is more spacious, but smaller sounding. Faster transients & tighter bass, but also less musical & thinner sounding.

 

[FLTWS]

I'm glad I have both, so I can have my sound either way but the CC's give me more of what I want. Listening primarily to large scale classical works I find the CC's really help with complex scoring clarifying the textures and inner voices of the different instrument groups.

I don't notice any particular aspect of the sound that isn't an improvement over the original pads. But since the pads come at the end of the chain everything ahead of it, especially the recording's quality, will affect the sound at the end of the chain.

 

[matthewhypolite]

A new review of the CC pads

https://audiobacon.net/2018/08/31/abyss-ab-1266-phi-cc-lambskin-not-your-daddys-ear-pads/

Seems the takeaway is that the sound is more spacious, but smaller sounding. Faster transients & tighter bass, but also less musical & thinner sounding.

I don't agree with this at all.

I'm glad I have both, so I can have my sound either way but the CC's give me more of what I want. Listening primarily to large scale classical works I find the CC's really help with complex scoring clarifying the textures and inner voices of different groups.

I don't notice any particular aspect of the sound that isn't an improvement over the original pads. But since the pads come at the end of the chain everything ahead of it, especially the recording's quality, will affect the sound at the end of the chain.

I do however completely agree with this.

 

[FLTWS]

A new review of the CC pads

https://audiobacon.net/2018/08/31/abyss-ab-1266-phi-cc-lambskin-not-your-daddys-ear-pads/

Seems the takeaway is that the sound is more spacious, but smaller sounding. Faster transients & tighter bass, but also less musical & thinner sounding.

I went back and re-read the review again.

Not sure if your equating "smaller sounding" with "The CC pads give you a holistic view of the performance – a few rows back". And, " You hear the big picture.", I took both of Jay's comments as a good thing. I don't like "in my face" perspectives and in particular with full symphonic music things get muddled up to me. The way I hear the new pads "a few rows back" and "big picture" is the sound stage (and my distance from it) is now larger in all dimensions, placement is a bit more more specific, instrument outlines are sharper and don't overlap as much, the stage now has more breathing room.

I don't find the CC's thin sounding at all, but the tighter control of lower frequencies might give that that impression. If the original pads are warmer and give a sense of "bloom" to the lower frequencies and the CC's don't, tightening up those areas a bit, it's working well for me as my equipment in general including cables have signatures that tend towards the warm side of neutral, so using the same gear with the new pads presents a cleaner (but not antiseptic) sound to my ears allowing for a slightly better reveal.