[drew911d]

Awesome, would Love to hear your impersonations.

 

[drew911d]

To be honest, @Ciggavelli , I've enjoyed your posts very much over the past few years. Your posts have influenced me a lot.

 

[drew911d]

Damn, my only next comparison I'm diying to try is the Riviera AIC 10 vs the WA 33 EE JPS.

 

[mammal]

Well, dudes. You might not like it, but the Riviera AIC-10 is an exceptionally awesome amplifier for the Abyss HP. Quite expensive, but, holy chat!

Also own AIC-10 and love it. I don't think it is as clean sounding amplifier as Viva Egoista 845, and if I didn't have already good integrated solid state amplifier that comes 90% to Egoista, I think I wouldn't get Riviera. AIC-10 adds the necessary coloration I wanted for 1266 mids, makes it sound better than Susvara or Valkyria, which both excell in mids. It even makes it dead close to HE-1 in mids. This being said, I wouldn't recommend AIC-10 blindly to others, as I don't think you are getting the best out of 1266 for EDM that way. I haven't tube rolled yet though, so let's see how that changes things.

 

[NOMOS]

Hello.

Can some owners of the orignal 1266 please send me their EQ settings?

I feel like the voices are just a little thin and that can be fixed with EQ.

Thanks!!!

If you want to try these settings

 

[Frankie D]

Also own AIC-10 and love it. I don't think it is as clean sounding amplifier as Viva Egoista 845, and if I didn't have already good integrated solid state amplifier that comes 90% to Egoista, I think I wouldn't get Riviera. AIC-10 adds the necessary coloration I wanted for 1266 mids, makes it sound better than Susvara or Valkyria, which both excell in mids. It even makes it dead close to HE-1 in mids. This being said, I wouldn't recommend AIC-10 blindly to others, as I don't think you are getting the best out of 1266 for EDM that way. I haven't tube rolled yet though, so let's see how that changes things.

How often do you have to bias the tubes on the Riviera and is it easy? Tks.

 

[mammal]

How often do you have to bias the tubes on the Riviera and is it easy? Tks.

As far as I know you don't need to bias tubes on Viva Audio, Riviera nor Woo Audio tube amplifiers, but correct me someone if I am wrong.

 

[spotforscott]

Also own AIC-10 and love it. I don't think it is as clean sounding amplifier as Viva Egoista 845, and if I didn't have already good integrated solid state amplifier that comes 90% to Egoista, I think I wouldn't get Riviera. AIC-10 adds the necessary coloration I wanted for 1266 mids, makes it sound better than Susvara or Valkyria, which both excell in mids. It even makes it dead close to HE-1 in mids. This being said, I wouldn't recommend AIC-10 blindly to others, as I don't think you are getting the best out of 1266 for EDM that way. I haven't tube rolled yet though, so let's see how that changes things.

Just to add to the discussion here and echo what was said earlier about how we all hear differently - so important you listen for yourself.

I own the TC (powered by AIC-10, Valkyria (powered directly from DAVE) and Sr1a (powered by JotR) and for my listening preferences (acoustic - string and piano, jazz, 70's rock, blues and female vocal), the best combo is the Valkyria directly out of the DAVE. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE what the AIC-10 does for the TC but it's strengths are more with other genres. I find the timber more natural through the V and SR1a. Only reason, I prefer the V to the SR1a is that it adds a lot of weight and not just in the bottom, everything - I love the way you really "feel" the music with the V.

Anyways, I fully recognize why everyone really likes the TC (particularly with the AIC-10) but there is no "best headphone" as we do all hear different and have different music preferences.

 

[mammal]

Just to add to the discussion here and echo what was said earlier about how we all hear differently - so important you listen for yourself.

I own the TC (powered by AIC-10, Valkyria (powered directly from DAVE) and Sr1a (powered by JotR) and for my listening preferences (acoustic - string and piano, jazz, 70's rock, blues and female vocal), the best combo is the Valkyria directly out of the DAVE. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE what the AIC-10 does for the TC but it's strengths are more with other genres. I find the timber more natural through the V and SR1a. Only reason, I prefer the V to the SR1a is that it adds a lot of weight and not just in the bottom, everything - I love the way you really "feel" the music with the V.

Anyways, I fully recognize why everyone really likes the TC (particularly with the AIC-10) but there is no "best headphone" as we do all hear different and have different music preferences.

I couldn't agree more. If I was listening to the type of music you are, Valkyria would really work well. I haven't had a chance to listen to SR1a, have that planned for end of August though. I expect SR1a to present itself more with more air, compared to Valkyria which is more "meaty". Have you had a chance to compare Valkyria to Susvara, would be interested in reading your impressions on that front.

 

[spotforscott]

I couldn't agree more. If I was listening to the type of music you are, Valkyria would really work well. I haven't had a chance to listen to SR1a, have that planned for end of August though. I expect SR1a to present itself more with more air, compared to Valkyria which is more "meaty". Have you had a chance to compare Valkyria to Susvara, would be interested in reading your impressions on that front.

No, I haven't had the pleasure of listening to the Susvara. Maybe one day...

 

[Frankie D]

As far as I know you don't need to bias tubes on Viva Audio, Riviera nor Woo Audio tube amplifiers, but correct me someone if I am wrong.

I know it is not needed on Viva. I was not aware that was the case on the Riviera as well. Tks.

 

[rmsanger]

Hello. Newish to this forum. I'm in the market for my next headphone. I've decided on the 1266. Has anyone paired it with a Burson Conductor 3X? If so I'm curious if the Burson has enough power for the Abyss. Also if sonically if they have a synergy together. Thank you and I look forward to any responses.

I went with the Soloist 3XP and found it a great pairing with my Phi TC and I much prefer it to the Conductor 3XP which I had in house ~ 2weeks. Burson makes a far better headphone amp stage than dac implementation (IMO). I've rolled the op amps and found the Sparkos duals to be better than either Vivids or V6 Classics (again IMO). The only thing I'm not considering is looking at their upgraded power supply and perhaps using the Soloist in power amp mode and another amp with volume control.

Is it end game (no) but it's far better than the mountain of MidFi amps I went through previously.

 

[mitchb]

I got my Abyss 1266 Phi TC and they sound good with my Auralic Taurus Mk2. I wait with anticipation my Niimbus US 5 Pro amp. So far so good.

 

[vonBaron]

The Niimbus is way better.

 

[paradoxper]

One thing that I dislike about the TCs is they make other headphones that are supposed to sound good, sound bad in comparison

TOTL problems I guess

Outside of SR1a even with stats this is so true. And it is so satisfying.