[up late]

i'm relieved

 

[jlbrach]

snobbery?my god it is snobbery to speak of MP3 with 20K worth of gear....snobbery?....the snobbery might well be telling people to spend 20K on equipment not an extra 10 bucks to listen to lossless files....amazing,people are actually actively arguing in favor of MP3 with tens of thousands of dollars of equipment...buy a ferrari if you want to drive to the supermarket and back but dont be surprised if people ask why?....i am not and will never suggest MP3 does not have a place or speak ill of somebody for listening to MP3 in the car or on the treadmill etc but with a chord dave and abyss Phi?....my fault for reading the follow ups i guess

 

[Joe Skubinski]

These are my favorite sources. You haven't lived until you've heard a studio master tape or copy played from a well maintained reel to reel, pure analog!

In trade shows gone by my buddy Bruce from Puget Sound Studios would bring one of these to play in our room. No audiphile is exempt from the emotional grab of analog masters.

 

[matthewhypolite]

These are my favorite sources. You haven't lived until you've heard a studio master tape or copy played from a well maintained reel to reel, pure analog!

In trade shows gone by my buddy Bruce from Puget Sound Studios would bring one of these to play in our room. No audiphile is exempt from the emotional grab of analog masters.

 

[up late]

snobbery?my god it is snobbery to speak of MP3 with 20K worth of gear....snobbery?....the snobbery might well be telling people to spend 20K on equipment not an extra 10 bucks to listen to lossless files....amazing,people are actually actively arguing in favor of MP3 with tens of thousands of dollars of equipment...buy a ferrari if you want to drive to the supermarket and back but dont be surprised if people ask why?....i am not and will never suggest MP3 does not have a place or speak ill of somebody for listening to MP3 in the car or on the treadmill etc but with a chord dave and abyss Phi?....my fault for reading the follow ups i guess

please stop misrepresenting the positions of those who do not share your particular point of view. no one is "actively arguing" that mp3 is better than lossless, nor are they "actively arguing" for mp3 streaming services on the basis of cost. they are just not dismissing mp3 as a viable alternative to lossless like you are. honestly, this kind of audiophile dogma can border on the religious at times.

the audiophile in me dictates that i use lossless music files. the rational part of me acknowledges that i may struggle to discern an audible difference between 256kbps and lossless. the audiophile in me would attribute that to the quality of my "signal chain". the rational part of me would point out that i am not a bat.

 

[phase0]

These are my favorite sources. You haven't lived until you've heard a studio master tape or copy played from a well maintained reel to reel, pure analog!

In trade shows gone by my buddy Bruce from Puget Sound Studios would bring one of these to play in our room. No audiphile is exempt from the emotional grab of analog masters.

The Sonoma Acoustics room at RMAF had a nice reel to reel machine. I had a chance to sit and listen to a couple tracks. I was pretty meh on Sonoma until I heard the R2R system and wow! That blew me away. That was the first time and who knows if I'll ever have the chance again but I would highly recommend seek this out and try it. That was one of the best moments at RMAF last year for me (as well as being able to switch to the Abyss).

I spend a lot of time at the computer and via friends and various chat/IM/blog/etc systems and I get tons of music links that aren't lossless via youtube or soundcloud, mixcloud, etc. I prefer lossless where ever possible. One way I was trying to prove it to myself is to listen to a YT stream of a song I have lossless and then re-listen to the lossless copy. It's like it wakes up and can breath, has life again. Sometimes I almost think having good equipment is a curse because nobody else does and the state of things out there is what everyone accepts and exchanges. It's a little bit isolating to be a FLAC snob but I do agree with the folks who would say after spending so much on gear it would seem to reason that you would want the best quality recordings possible. That said I still end up watching YT links and I don't feel bad about it. If I like it I try to find it lossless.

The main this is you enjoy your music and your gear. If it's comfortable and moves you, does something meaningful for you then that's what matters.

Edit: In the spirit of sharing music... I've been on a Delerium kick...
- Delerium - Ray (Feat Kristy Thirsk)
- Delerium - Stopwatch Hearts (Feat Emily Haines)

 

[PetarCV]

Why do some people have an urge to totally dismiss lossy audio and portray the difference between lossless and lossy as so big and dramatic?
The reality is that highest quality lossy and flac aren't that different at all and that a lot of us can't even detect the difference. So what's the point of pretending that it's a huge difference?
According to flac warriors, one is not supposed to enjoy a high-end headphone if the source is not lossless? That's a pretentious attitude. I don't think that in a scenario where you only had lossy audio, you'd just stop using your TOTL headphone and switch to listening through laptop speakers and 100$ headphones.

 

[matthewhypolite]

Why do some people have an urge to totally dismiss lossy audio and portray the difference between lossless and lossy as so big and dramatic?
The reality is that highest quality lossy and flac aren't that different at all and that a lot of us can't even detect the difference. So what's the point of pretending that it's a huge difference?
According to flac warriors, one is not supposed to enjoy a high-end headphone if the source is not lossless? That's a pretentious attitude. I don't think that in a scenario where you only had lossy audio, you'd just stop using your TOTL headphone and switch to listening through laptop speakers and 100$ headphones.

Hey,

I dont think anyone has urged to totally dismiss lossy audio. MP3 was invented in the 1980s, and it was done so to solve a specific issue in the world, i.e. bandwidth and storage premiums. Almost 4 decades later, does MP3 still have it's uses? sure. But the great need for it is a thing of the past, we now live in an age where storage is cheap, internet is cheap (comparatively to the 80s), and lossless audio is readily available to all. Are there still scenarios in which mp3 would be preferable, of course. All we're saying is, that if you're spending thousands of dollars on equipment, to extract every minute detail from your source material, then why mp3? If i were to estimate the total cost of my headphone hifi rig, id say its anywhere between $18-22K. Why on earth would i spend that kind of money on headphones/dacs/amps/cables/etc and not spend a mere 100 bucks a year to have access to the best quality source material?

If i could easily have access to analog audio, i'd very much do that as well. The rig Joe posted above is delicious, and i'd love to hear that some day, let alone own it! hell yea. But luckily lossless audio is no longer prohibitive, and not something i even have to debate with myself. Do i have the storage? yes. Do i have the internet speed? yes. Can i afford it? yes. Is it worth it? doesn't matter, its 100 bucks, why not, i've spent 20 times more on a headphone cable.

And eventually, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Spotify, will offer lossless options. We'll live in a world, where everything is lossless, and this discussion wouldn't even matter anymore.

In closing, you've upgraded to the Abyss Phi? Treat it well, feed it some lossless audio and enjoy the marvelous resolving capabilities of this amazing headphone.

 

[jlbrach]

Why do some people have an urge to totally dismiss lossy audio and portray the difference between lossless and lossy as so big and dramatic?
The reality is that highest quality lossy and flac aren't that different at all and that a lot of us can't even detect the difference. So what's the point of pretending that it's a huge difference?
According to flac warriors, one is not supposed to enjoy a high-end headphone if the source is not lossless? That's a pretentious attitude. I don't think that in a scenario where you only had lossy audio, you'd just stop using your TOTL headphone and switch to listening through laptop speakers and 100$ headphones.

The question is not whether or not MP3 has a place...it does....the question being debated here is why one who has invested a large amount of time and resources to obtain and learn all about the highest priced and TOTL playback equipment and then choose to save 10 bucks a month to listen to MP3....the question is even odder given that the same people arguing that they cannot hear a difference between Lossless files and MP3 will pay thousands of dollars for new cables for their HP's or interconnects for their DAC/AMP connections or conditioners for USB or fortunes for power cords etc in order to hear that last 1%......it is truly weird.....if you are spending the money and time to obtain the last 1% why would you not use the highest quality files to listen to?

 

[PetarCV]

What you guys are saying is that the only place for lossy audio is to be played on laptop speakers and cheap headphones, which I don't agree with.
Does it make sense that one who spends a lot on cables and other gear should also invest in lossless audio? It sure does. But what I don't get is why exaggerate the difference between high-quality lossy and lossless? A number of us here agree it's a difference that is hard to discern (if at all). You keep saying that it's pointless to use a high-end headphone if playing lossy, but why would someone who can't notice a difference be obsessed about it?

 

[AxelCloris]

This is not the proper place for a format discussion. Let's please keep to the original topic, the Abyss AB-1266.

 

[FLTWS]

Folks,
I've posted my review of the just released Dana Cable "Ultra" substitute headphone cable for my Abyss 1266 Phi here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/danacable-user-feedback.826110/#post-14016006

It is not unflattering to either the Ultra or the stock JPS Labs cable that came with my Phi (and I do really like both for their subtle differences).

OK, got it sorted, review is up in Head Gear.

 

[jhai]

Folks,
I've posted my review of the just released Dana Cable "Ultra" substitute headphone cable for my Abyss 1266 Phi here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/danacable-user-feedback.826110/#post-14016006

It is not unflattering to either the Ultra or the stock JPS Labs cable that came with my Phi but I wouldn't post it here (with a spoiler) without Joe's permission.

I'm attempting to figure out how to get it into the Head Gear section but this would be my 3rd Head Gear review and each time has been a very difficult proposition for me going through all the gyrations and now I'm being told it's too long. AARRGGHH!! I'll continue to try however.

OK, got it sorted, review is up in Head Gear.

Folks,
I've posted my review of the just released Dana Cable "Ultra" substitute headphone cable for my Abyss 1266 Phi here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/danacable-user-feedback.826110/#post-14016006

It is not unflattering to either the Ultra or the stock JPS Labs cable that came with my Phi but I wouldn't post it here (with a spoiler) without Joe's permission.

I'm attempting to figure out how to get it into the Head Gear section but this would be my 3rd Head Gear review and each time has been a very difficult proposition for me going through all the gyrations and now I'm being told it's too long. AARRGGHH!! I'll continue to try however.

OK, got it sorted, review is up in Head Gear.

 

[Zoomaz]

Folks,
I've posted my review of the just released Dana Cable "Ultra" substitute headphone cable for my Abyss 1266 Phi here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/danacable-user-feedback.826110/#post-14016006

It is not unflattering to either the Ultra or the stock JPS Labs cable that came with my Phi (and I do really like both for their subtle differences).

OK, got it sorted, review is up in Head Gear.

Great review, have you used the Lazuli Reference with the Abyss Phi and and if so could you comment on the differences between the Ultra and Reference

 

[The Piper]

Great review, have you used the Lazuli Reference with the Abyss Phi and and if so could you comment on the differences between the Ultra and Reference

I have owned both and the Ultra is noticeably better than the Reference. It is not a subtle difference and is more than you would normally get going from a dated Reference to a new Reference from the same company. Expensive but the very best I have heard.