[ken6217]

I feel that changing the earpads and arm position influence the bass and soundstage a lot, but not much for the brightness... I should say, it is sibilance for some instruments and some vocals bother me a lot(a lot of pain for my eardrum.....). I played Brahms and Beethoven violin concerto and the violin sounds perfect with no sibilance at all.

Except for this annoying issue, I would say I love everything about TC lol

Trying to figure it out now....
1. Anyone tried to DSP or EQ the 1266 phi TC? I'm thinking to -3db @ 9khz or 11khz
2. I saw a mod from https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/new-abyss-ab-1266-v2-incoming.4163/page-4


I'm very surprised that looks like I am the only one who has this issue...... Maybe something wrong with my system...? Surface pro6(fidilized)->mscaler->dave->formula s+powerman ...

Thanks guys!

Try the mod and let us know how it sounds.

 

[henryxiao]

I am very very sensitive to sibilance and spikes, expecially after 4khz
The TC is phenomenal that it can resolve calculus if yiu wanted to, without the sibilance
I do however have many bad recordings that I love, I mean mp3, 128 horribly mastered stuff. I listen with thr TC on those too but definitely more sparingly as pain comes in after just a few tracks.
Poop in is poop out.
If course with quality masters or at least Tidal for example I have no issues.
Some tracks are just built with spikes ect.

Are you also using formula S? I'm thinking if I go to a tube amp that would make the treble brightness/sibilant disappear

 

[InstantSilence]

Are you also using formula S? I'm thinking if I go to a tube amp that would make the treble brightness/sibilant disappear

I am not!

 

[mvvRAZ]

I’ve only heard the 2018 Phi CC (waiting on a custom colored TC currently), but I wouldn’t say that vocals are sibilant on it - there’s a certain harshness to them, but it’s as a result of a treble peak that’s higher than the usual 6-8k that messes up vocals I believe - maybe somewhere above 11k?

 

[MatW]

The local hardware store did not have larger O rings, but I found a good Dutch website with a minimum order quantity of 10 per size. For those of you in Europe, what you're looking for is called "O-ring NBR70 shore A", with a thickness of 3 mm (4 mm is probably too thick). The types 213, 215, etc are meaningless in Europe. You need to choose an internal diameter. The internal diameters suggested by Joe work out to 27 to 28.5 mm. The stock one is ~24 mm. I ordered 25, 27, 28, and 30 mm. I'll report back on what works best for me. It will vary for you, of course, so I would suggest getting a range as well. Assuming these work well, I will have a few spare sets, which I'll be happy to mail to fellow headfiers.

Update: I am currently using the 30 mm version, which is ~6 mm wider than the stock version that comes with the new headband. Mind you, with my ears/head, I need the cups to be pretty low. With the 30 mm rings, I have about half a centimeter space left between the top of the headband and the frame. You can't go much beyond 30 mm, I think, and most of you will probably want to use smaller rings. In terms of thickness, in retrospect I think a 4 mm ring may fit as well, with added strength as a benefit. Let's see how long the 3 mm version lasts. (Update within the update: 4 mm is too thick and won't fit).

With the new headband and the larger o-ring, the comfort has dramatically improved compared to the old headband. I also do not (yet) experience this 'bunching up' effect that others have mentioned.

 

[jlbrach]

I am very very sensitive to sibilance and spikes, expecially after 4khz
The TC is phenomenal that it can resolve calculus if yiu wanted to, without the sibilance
I do however have many bad recordings that I love, I mean mp3, 128 horribly mastered stuff. I listen with thr TC on those too but definitely more sparingly as pain comes in after just a few tracks.
Poop in is poop out.
If course with quality masters or at least Tidal for example I have no issues.
Some tracks are just built with spikes ect.

if you are going to listen to 128 mp3 with an abyss tc not only doesn it make little sense but it almost has to sound abysmal....it is not true that using TOTL equipment with low quality mp3 will make it sound better...in fact it will make it sound worse by making obvious its flaws

 

[ken6217]

if you are going to listen to 128 mp3 with an abyss tc not only doesn it make little sense but it almost has to sound abysmal....it is not true that using TOTL equipment with low quality mp3 will make it sound better...in fact it will make it sound worse by making obvious its flaws

Very true. I remember many years ago when I got my first nice twichannel system, I couldn’t believe how everything sounded so real. Unfortunately I could only listen to music that was very well recorded, but didn’t like because everything I did like sounded like crap because of how poorly they were recorded.

 

[InstantSilence]

if you are going to listen to 128 mp3 with an abyss tc not only doesn it make little sense but it almost has to sound abysmal....it is not true that using TOTL equipment with low quality mp3 will make it sound better...in fact it will make it sound worse by making obvious its flaws

Yes I know, I know, I'm not here to get doctored on what I should do or not do with whatever I have.
There are some recordings that I love recorded long ago, at a local shop and the experience is one of nostalgia and not high rez bliss.
With that said I still like to listen to them with thr TC as that's all I have an can afford right now.
I even used the *crap in, crap out * example in my post regarding to the 128kbs mp3... I guess you missed it by a mile.

 

[jlbrach]

nobody is "doctoring" you...if you put up comments you will get responses and there is no malice intended

 

[Bonddam]

I get away with AAC off Apple Music because I listen to EDM which is not hard to record to make sound good. Once I put on some other type of music it might sound poor.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Throw some tubes in your chain and crappy quality songs sound somewhat less crappy

 

[Bonddam]

I got big tubes making me love the TC.

 

[ken6217]

I got big tubes making me love the TC.

Thats what she said.

 

[Bonddam]

Damn skippy

 

[Bonddam]

Only problem I have with the TC is I need to sit still in same positions each time with the headphone pushed forward and toed in. If I move my head the bass moves to one side only so it's not my sit back and relax headphone.