[snormal]

I think musicality is quite different from taste...being musical is like you have great techniques with touches with your instruments, it's a world apart from only being technical.
To me HD800 is undoubtly a great headphone but with faults. It has clarity and good separations, but the fake soundstages and analytical character makes it only a great monitor headphone...

 

[JustinS]

  Hi,
 
At the beginning I found the HD800 close to the Abyss. But after months with the Abyss I found the HD800 lifeless with irrealistic soundstage and poor texturing.
It lacks palpability, richness that gives the beauty of the music.
Even the SR007MKI beats IMHO any HD800 rigs
 
I heard the HD800 with Beta 22, Woo WA5, Balancing Act, McIntosh MC225, Audio Research D70MKII, Threshold SA3.9s. I used DHC Cable and Anax 3.0 mod. I never been satisfied with any rigs, it always sounded lean.
 
I'd take the SR007MKI with any amp and it sounds so musical and soulful.
 
Finally I think that you hear technicality with the HD800, better details, better soundstaging, better clarity, better imaging...but seems the music more realistic ? I think no because you lose musicality. It's like a band who each member is the better on it's own domain but they didn't play together. Wooo see the solo guitar ! Wooo the singer sing like no other ! But it sounds weird because everyone plays on his side.

Totally the same as my experience with them, they were moved on very quickly after purchase! Luckily I didn't lose too much money, one thing is for certain, I don't miss them. I would love to try the Abyss on my Mcintosh MHA100 though.

 

[nickif]

 

[Kiats]

Congrats! Enjoy!

 

[subtle]

So JPS Labs guys...can we get a version without some $2k boutique voodoo headphone cable?  You know, a version that would actually cater to 95% of the general headphone market that doesn't buy in to the cable hype?  Even with that ridiculous frame and headphone band I'd at least give these things a shot at the $3k range.  Just give the public a basic star quad option so you can actually sell more than five or six of these things a month.

 

[JustinS]

Congratulations nickif!!! Very nice

 

[mulder01]

  So JPS Labs guys...can we get a version without some $2k boutique voodoo headphone cable?  You know, a version that would actually cater to 95% of the general headphone market that doesn't buy in to the cable hype?  Even with that ridiculous frame and headphone band I'd at least give these things a shot at the $3k range.  Just give the public a basic star quad option so you can actually sell more than five or six of these things a month.

I wondered the same thing.  The biker bag probably isn't necessary either.  

Cheaper cables and no bag would probably only drop $1000 off the price though and I'd say since they are a cable company, they will probably keep their stance on the importance of expensive cables.  I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Taft81]

my setup:
 
Ayon Cdt+skyllaII -> Leben Cx300xs upgrade => Abyss
 
i love my set up, and still looking for improvement in the future.
 
 
 

 
 
i use speaker out to drive abyss

 
 
thanks

 

[mulder01]

Did you cut the XLR plugs off your abyss cables?

 

[Xecuter]

Yeah was wondering this too. Pretty crazy if he has.

 

[Taft81]

nope, i use female furutech xlr to banana connector
 
thinking about it but not ready to make the cut haha

 

[bmichels]

Another "elegant" way to drive direct the ABYYS ?  "only" $ 12.500 per pair 

. 
 
Icon Audio flagship limited edition MB81 monoblocks : 100 kg/pair,  2x200watts !
 
Preview on ULTRA HIGH-END.        Each GU81 valve is 1 Kg and 26 cm tall !

 

[wink]

A better way to drive the Abyss. 2 of these, or 4 for balanced mode...
 

 

[mulder01]

I know you're probably joking with that last floorstanding mono thing, but is a speaker amp for these really any more beneficial than a good headphone amp?
 
If you have a digital reading on your volume control that gives you -XX dB, every 3dB increment is a 50% step in power output.  So on a headphone amp that puts out 4 watts per channel at 00dB (full volume) it puts out 2 watts at -3dB, 1 watt at -6dB, half a watt at -9dB, a quarter of a watt at -12dB, an eighth of a watt at -15dB etc etc.  So unless you're listening to a 4 watt headphone amplifier at almost full volume, chances are you're using less than 1 watt of power.  Even 1 watt of power into floorstanding speakers will actually give you a pretty high volume level.  I was watching a video review on the ALO studio 6 which has 4x headphone outputs on the front and they said in the ALO offices they were running sets of speakers off the headphone outputs.  
 
So besides flexibility and an increased range in products, is there any other reason to use buy a speaker amp for the abyss over a dedicated headphone amp.  Is there any point having an extra 49 or 99 watts that you're not using?  I mean, it's nice to have power to spare, but a 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 watt headphone amp has power to spare too
 
I mean, I'm guessing people buy them because they want to just have one amp for speakers and headphones, but is that not the case? 

 

[cladane]

Point taken. This reasoning is convincing. I suspect that brands like McIntosh making the MHA100 had it: one product two markets.
But perhaps a speaker amp could have a better soundstage due to the extra power needed? A techy here to confirm ?