The JPS Labs: Abyss AB-1266 Impressions Thread
Jan 27, 2020 at 8:57 AM Post #10,096 of 22,297
Sorry to dig up this old post, but I believe the quoted statement about how Audeze 4 pin mini XLR (female) cable plugged into Abyss (3 pin mini XLR male) will short the Abyss may be wrong?

After some googling, I found these pinouts re Audeze and Abyss.


AbyssPinout by drjlo2, on Flickr

So on both Audeze and Abyss mini XLR, pin 1 will be hot and pin 3 cold. Pin 2 is not connected on Abyss and pin 4 on Audeze is hot but will not connect to Abyss which has no pin 4.
I also found some old posts where people said it works to plug Audeze cable into Abyss, that pins line up fine (no pin 4 obviously), just the outer housing is tight-fit.
https://www.changstar.com/www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1061.130.html

I just bought an Audeze cable to try on my Abyss, so anyone else tried this?
The last picture looks like cow udder lmao
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 9:11 AM Post #10,097 of 22,297
Yes I am the one that picked up the Bartok. This past weekend my friend brought over a bunch of his gear and we had a mini meet. He just picked up a fully upgraded MSB premire stack and brought is new Traformatic Primavera and formula s.

The Primavera is really amazing with the abyss. It is the best that I have ever heard it sound. With the MSB it was incredible. I can not afford this combo though it is in excess of $50k for the amp and dac.

That being said we listened against his Dave and mscaler combo too. In the end I am glad that I went with the Bartok it is more to my liking ( I would really like to get the rossini but $). I have no intentions on upgrading my dac for a good long while now.

He did let me keep his formula s to audition for a while too. The formula sounds incredible with the abyss and Bartok.

Here is a photo from the proceedings. Please forgive the traformatic on the box and the Dave on the floor ( we did move it to a solid surface for listening.) The traformatic is huge though.


I got my “C” s mixed up.

Lots of nice equipment. However you did nothing for the sound bu stacking equipment on top of each other, as well as putting the Dave on the carpet. It has more of (negative) impact on the sound than you think.
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 9:28 AM Post #10,098 of 22,297
I got my “C” s mixed up.

Lots of nice equipment. However you did nothing for the sound bu stacking equipment on top of each other, as well as putting the Dave on the carpet. It has more of (negative) impact on the sound than you think.

We moved in another table for the Dave and formula later. I didn't take a picture of it at that point there was so much gear in the room. My other friend brought his auris nirvana too. The Dave and mscaler were on a table side by side with the formula too. The MSB and formula are both designed to be stacked components. I really wish I could afford the MSB it was really good too. But I would still rather have the vivaldi. I don't see much about MSB or dCS here on headfi. They seek to be more prevalent in the 2 channel world.
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 3:00 PM Post #10,099 of 22,297
Received my new TC just a few hours ago. Very promising but it's obviously too soon to express any impression. The headphone really needs some solid burn-in since it sounds very close and fairly unbalanced across the spectrum (especially in the mids). I find it surprisingly comfortable! It didn't took me long to find the right adjustment for my head and while it does weight a bit, you really get to appreciate the total absence of any clamping force on the sides...

More details impressions later on. :)
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 3:15 PM Post #10,100 of 22,297
Received my new TC just a few hours ago. Very promising but it's obviously too soon to express any impression. The headphone really needs some solid burn-in since it sounds very close and fairly unbalanced across the spectrum (especially in the mids). I find it surprisingly comfortable! It didn't took me long to find the right adjustment for my head and while it does weight a bit, you really get to appreciate the total absence of any clamping force on the sides...

More details impressions later on. :)


If the Abyss (or any other headphone) is that far from optimal when sent to the customer, how can the manufacturer test them for accuracy against the defined standard?

I doubt JPS is sending out untested units, so something isn't connecting with the "night and day" burn in variance.
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 3:19 PM Post #10,101 of 22,297
Maybe you are right and the whole concept of burning-in is just placebo. Or maybe the 1266 are not that good after all! :wink:
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 3:25 PM Post #10,102 of 22,297
the TC are that good and although burn in is real the TC should sound wonderful from the moment you first listen to it
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 3:28 PM Post #10,103 of 22,297
Did they sound great from the very first moment in your case?
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 3:39 PM Post #10,104 of 22,297
Did they sound great from the very first moment in your case?
Mine sounded really good the first moment out of the case. I also generally do not subscribe to the philosophy that you need to burn-in equipment. I think a lot of the "burn-in" is really just you getting used to the sound. I know others disagree, but that's just me. Either way, you need to give the headphones some listening to for an extended period of time to get used to them and to determine if you want to keep them
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 3:45 PM Post #10,105 of 22,297
Mine sounded really good the first moment out of the case. I also generally do not subscribe to the philosophy that you need to burn-in equipment. I think a lot of the "burn-in" is really just you getting used to the sound. I know others disagree, but that's just me. Either way, you need to give the headphones some listening to for an extended period of time to get used to them and to determine if you want to keep them

I agree, getting your ears used to the new headphone plays a substantial role. But I personally still believe that the actual burn-in of the device is important.
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 3:47 PM Post #10,106 of 22,297
Did they sound great from the very first moment in your case?

You really need to play around with fit to get the best sound. This involves expanding or contracting the headband, rotating the headband for toe in/out and rotating the pads. There are a few posts with different suggestions, but I suspect that's what is not optimized right now for you. Burn in could help, but it's not (and never is) night and day, IMO.
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 4:30 PM Post #10,107 of 22,297
Did they sound great from the very first moment in your case?

Mines did. And when I get a new headphone, I usually do an initial listen, then burn them in without listening to them at all, then listen again post burn in. So in my case "getting used to it" is not a factor as I don't listen to my cans during burn in.

But, yes, my abyss sounded great out of d box, and even better after burn in.
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 4:38 PM Post #10,108 of 22,297
Mines did. And when I get a new headphone, I usually do an initial listen, then burn them in without listening to them at all, then listen again post burn in. So in my case "getting used to it" is not a factor as I don't listen to my cans during burn in.

But, yes, my abyss sounded great out of d box, and even better after burn in.


That's very much what I'm planning to do and the outcome I'm expecting to achieve.
 
Jan 27, 2020 at 6:45 PM Post #10,109 of 22,297
I just received Formula S and Powerman. I'm starting to like it, I didn't care for it the second I got it hooked up. Could have been from shipping that I didn't like it over my GS-X mini. I'm going to say it's more lively in the treble. Same amount of power in low end as the mini. The mini wasn't the right synergy when compared to the Formula S. I'd say the warm nature of the mini held it back I only say this because I'm enjoying the music more now.
 
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Jan 27, 2020 at 7:19 PM Post #10,110 of 22,297
I just received Formula S and Powerman. I'm starting to like it, I didn't care for it the second I got it hooked up. Could have been from shipping that I didn't like it over my GS-X mini. I'm going to say it's more lively in the treble. Same amount of power in low end as the mini. The mini wasn't the right synergy when compared to the Formula S. I'd say the warm nature of the mini held it back I only say this because I'm enjoying the music more now.

How long is just received? You definitely need a few hours of warm-up and I’d say 100 hours of breakin at least to get a good idea of how it sounds.
 

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