[wink]

Quote:isquirrel

 I noticed today that some people in the CanJam SoCal event have mentioned a modded Abyss. Does anyone here know what they are referring to?

Send Marv a pm......

 

[Faddius]

Just connected the Abyss to my system for the first time. Only about 20 mins in but holey moley the bass kick is insane. Not in a techno way but in a more natural way like im listening to a live rock band and you can feel the air whoosh past every time the drummer kicks with the bass drum.

Fun times ahead.

 

[icebear]

...mmmh after only 20 min. you already start posting on the internet instead of deep diving into listening and forgetting about anything else.
Must be a really captivating experience with your new Abyss

 

[reddog]

Most of my Indian music is from the CDs I have bought during visits to India and Indian stores here in the US. HDTracks has some albums, not many, but a few good to start:

http://www.hdtracks.com/world/indian

I suggest: Indian Architexture
, Zakir Hussain & The Rhythm Experience
, A Meeting by the River
, Bourbon & Rosewater
, Tabula Rasa
, Southern Brothers
 to start with.The last few are more fusion but are heavily indian classical

Thanks for your recommendations, I like music from all over the world and will look up the music you have suggested.

 

[isquirrel]

Positively loving the Abyss, haven't even thought about listening to any other headphone, magic combination with TSRP 6SN7's, Takatsuki 300B's and Mullard Metal base rectifiers.
 
The sound is incredibly real and very smooth and intimate. Awesome ! Glad I (finally) joined the club 

 

[pearljam50000]

If he would have got a new HD800 he would not have posted for 3 days (;

...mmmh after only 20 min. you already start posting on the internet instead of deep diving into listening and forgetting about anything else.
Must be a really captivating experience with your new Abyss

 

[mulder01]

Was just reading this off the SoCal impressions:
 
"As an aside, many show attendees commented that Abyss’ AB-1266, as driven by the Wells Audio Headtrip amplifier, produced some of the finest sound to be heard in all of CanJam."
 
I don't think that amp has ever even been mentioned here.  Mind you, it's US$7k...
 
 
Quote:

  ...mmmh after only 20 min. you already start posting on the internet instead of deep diving into listening and forgetting about anything else.
Must be a really captivating experience with your new Abyss

 
Ah leave him alone, it's an exciting time - sometimes you just can't wait to tell everybody
 
 

If he would have got a new HD800 he would not have posted for 3 days (;

 
I really don't get what all the fuss is about with the HD800 - To me, they look and feel plastic-y and cheap, they're uncomfortable and the music is really shoved down your throat.  When I auditioned them, I think I went from a relatively laid-back female vocal track (which sounded fine)  to "Thirsty Dog" by Nick Cave at the same volume (which is a track with really harsh sounding guitars at the start that I use to test how harsh a pair of headphones can be) and I nearly impulsively threw them off my head it was that full-on.  I understand that they have their purpose if you work in music or listen very critically or only to certain genres or whatever, but I definitely wouldn't consider them an overall enjoyable listen.  

 

[wink]

I don't think sitting in front of blaring trumpets is enjoyable. but if the HD800 does a great job of reproducing that feeling then it's doing it's job. All I need is to stop listening to trumpets blaring down a microphone.
 
i.e. stop listening to Nick Cave playing Thirsty Dog through HD800's.  The realism is the problem. Don't do it. 

 

[pearljam50000]

The HD800 is like Genelec monitors, very polarizing sound, you either like the brutal and revealing sound or you don't.
Most people prefer a more musical and pleasant sound, which makes sense.

 

[wink]

..... but the more musical and pleasant sounds aren't realistic.
 
Aye, there's the rub.....  sayeth the immortal bard.

 

[pearljam50000]

Thats exactly why i like the HD800 (;
I want the truth, even if it's ugly, in real life when you hear a cymbal being hit or a trumpet, the metallic sound is not very easy on the hear, but that's exactly how i like it on my headphones, because it's real, i don't want the highs to sound "smooth" or "silky".

..... but the more musical and pleasant sounds aren't realistic.

Aye, there's the rub.....  sayeth the immortal bard.

 

[mulder01]

But the Abyss does sound realistic - it's just that the detail isn't shoved down your throat.  I would liken the experience to putting on a pair of glasses and not realising you had bad eyes until just now - all the detail that you never noticed before is now there, but it's presented to you in a nice seamless way so that you can enjoy and appreciate it.  
 
Imagine you are sitting in a park, birds chirping, kids playing, dogs running around, joggers going by, then a maintenance guy goes past with a lawnmower.  On the Abyss, the lawnmower going past sounds like a lawnmower going past.  On the HD800, there is a crazy person that comes up behind you, puts your arms behind your back, puts his other hand around the back of your neck, and pushes your head right next to the lawnmower motor and yells at you "See!  It's a lawnmower! Do you hear it!  Sounds like a lawnmower, hey?!"  and I'm like yes, I know, this doesn't make it any better, please let me go.

 

[pearljam50000]

lol
You *really* hate the the HD800 don't you?
But that's OK ,we all hear differently.
Anyways i hope the Abyss is not much better than HD800 because i will never be able to afford it anyways haha, 5000$ is just too much(for me).
You can buy speakers for that amount , that will blow your mind.

 

[up late]

the hd800 does have that treble spike which can make harsh recordings sound worse. it's called the "face tweeter" for a reason.

 

[mulder01]

it does have that treble spike which can make harsh recordings sound worse. it's called the "face tweeter" for a reason;

 
They call it the face tweeter??
 

  lol
You *really* hate the the HD800 don't you?
But that's OK ,we all hear differently.
Anyways i hope the Abyss is not much better than HD800 because i will never be able to afford it anyways haha, 5000$ is just too much(for me).
You can buy speakers for that amount , that will blow your mind.

 
Look, I see that the HD800 has it's fans, and if someone who was just coming into the high end head-fi market asked me what they should be looking at, the HD800 would be one of the first things I recommend to them - although I don't like it myself, I recognise that a lot of people think it's the best headphone at any price and it deserves credit even if it's not my cup of tea.  (Though I will still give my opinion).  Thing is, I'm a one headphone sort of guy, and I don't see the point in spending a large sum of money on something that's not good at everything.  Why spend so much on a pair of high end cans, for the purpose of getting extra enjoyment out of listening to music, then not enjoying half of your music collection because it doesn't present well on the HD800.  Having said that though, if you DO like the way all your music presents on the HD800 then perhaps the Abyss isn't the headphone for you.  But then again, some people own both.  So I dunno.  If different cans for different genres is your thing, then I can understand that too.  And as you say, we all hear differently anyway.
 
Also, I previously owned a pair of speakers around the same price before I crossed over to head-fi and I thought the Abyss was well ahead in terms of sound quality, which was another thing that helped justify the price for me - I was willing to spend $5k on speakers for my musical enjoyment, so why couldn't I spend $5k on something else for my musical enjoyment that sounded even better?  Admittedly, the fact that it's that much money for a pair of headphones is hard to get past, but I guess I eventually got past it.  If you believe the claim on their promo poster, they're QUITE A BIT better than $5k speakers...