[PhazeCrive]

Depends on your amp and the amp's control on the driver. Off of my A90 I don't really like the TC...at all. But off of my Galaxy A50 phone it hits and punches FAR better and it opens up the ability to alter the sound to your liking. Kinda sad when a cheap a$$ phone is harder hitting, more detailed, and more open sounding than a 1500 dollar Topping rig...

Recently saw a video by our own Sajid Amit and he says he's been using the 1266 off of a DAP and sounds amazing. Don't buy into the notion that you need top notch amplification for the TC. That's just preferred as anything is, really. If my phone can make these sing, so can a high end DAP. The TC will just scale on a home system that's all. For your local music browsing, as in not streaming, using youtube or just watching a vid, these can reach a pretty loud level off of portable. But if you are using a DAP for thay, you'll want a bit more juice. But local music is totally fine. Feel free to try. These are headphones and no matter how you put it, they are portable. You wouldn't be able to freely take them off and move them if they weren't.

Yes, definitely watch your amplification.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Depends on your amp and the amp's control on the driver. Off of my A90 I don't really like the TC...at all. But off of my Galaxy A50 phone it hits and punches FAR better and it opens up the ability to alter the sound to your liking. Kinda sad when a cheap a$$ phone is harder hitting, more detailed, and more open sounding than a 1500 dollar Topping rig...

Recently saw a video by our own Sajid Amit and he says he's been using the 1266 off of a DAP and sounds amazing. Don't buy into the notion that you need top notch amplification for the TC. That's just preferred as anything is, really. If my phone can make these sing, so can a high end DAP. The TC will just scale on a home system that's all. For your local music browsing, as in not streaming, using youtube or just watching a vid, these can reach a pretty loud level off of portable. But if you are using a DAP for thay, you'll want a bit more juice. But local music is totally fine. Feel free to try. These are headphones and no matter how you put it, they are portable. You wouldn't be able to freely take them off and move them if they weren't.

Yes, definitely watch your amplification.

@Sajid Amit what dap did you use for the TCs that sounded so good?

 

[DJJEZ]

@Sajid Amit what dap did you use for the TCs that sounded so good?

 

[jlbrach]

thats what IEM's are for...some of the TOTL IEM's are incredibly good and if you use a hugo 2 or Mojo 2 you are in business...the idea of using a DAP with the TC is with all due respect a bit silly...the TC aint a portable HP lol

 

[PhazeCrive]

"Best bass on the go" and look at the thumbnail.

TL;DW he said the TC off of the A&K ultima dap has not only more but better detailed bass than the Legend EVO. That is very interesting. Great impressions man, thanks.

 

[jlbrach]

Depends on your amp and the amp's control on the driver. Off of my A90 I don't really like the TC...at all. But off of my Galaxy A50 phone it hits and punches FAR better and it opens up the ability to alter the sound to your liking. Kinda sad when a cheap a$$ phone is harder hitting, more detailed, and more open sounding than a 1500 dollar Topping rig...

Recently saw a video by our own Sajid Amit and he says he's been using the 1266 off of a DAP and sounds amazing. Don't buy into the notion that you need top notch amplification for the TC. That's just preferred as anything is, really. If my phone can make these sing, so can a high end DAP. The TC will just scale on a home system that's all. For your local music browsing, as in not streaming, using youtube or just watching a vid, these can reach a pretty loud level off of portable. But if you are using a DAP for thay, you'll want a bit more juice. But local music is totally fine. Feel free to try. These are headphones and no matter how you put it, they are portable. You wouldn't be able to freely take them off and move them if they weren't.

Yes, definitely watch your amplification.

your phone cannot make the TC sing...it can play music through them but it is almost a shame to spend now 6k for a HP like the TC and then play it through your phone

 

[jaboki]

Off of my A90 I don't really like the TC...at all. But off of my Galaxy A50 phone it hits and punches FAR better and it opens up the ability to alter the sound to your liking. Kinda sad when a cheap a$$ phone is harder hitting, more detailed, and more open sounding than a 1500 dollar Topping rig...

Just to double check, are you saying the Galaxy A50 runs the Abyss 1266 Phi TC better than the Topping A90?

You are referring to this right? https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/galaxy-a50/

 

[jlbrach]

the topping a90 isnt a great choice for such a great HP but a phone?.come on..sadly there seem to be a number of people who will never really know how good the TC is despite paying a ton of money for it

 

[PhazeCrive]

The frequency response is better off the phone. There is deeper bass and the tuning of it allows for more details to pop through. More bass presence means you can leave gaps in the seal and the sub bass wont roll off so early like it will on the A90. That amp is a bit too lean and boring in the bass.

Phone/DAP won't get as loud but I think as summit-grade audiophiles we know by now that louder doesn't mean better. I just tried it with the phone as a portable solution around the house, much like Sajid. It's not preferred but to say it's bad is a lie. It does work and get loud enough but it would be silly to say it's better than some Class A amps I've tried. I just think Topping is a flat out no-go with the Abyss. Might get 10% of the TC's capabilities but 10% of the TC is still better than 150% of a lot of headphones.

And I know how good these are. I'm always hyped about how they'll sound when I tweak the system or try something new at a store. Just trying different things until I can afford the endgame amps. It's about the journey.

Please take with a grain of salt. I live in the basement where the temperatures frequently hit in the 40s. It's very cold down here, and my TC is often icy to the touch. Abyss ships this headphone saying low temperatures may affect their operation. Moving to portable and taking them upstairs where it's warm and cozy could entirely be the reason I think they'e more detailed than downstairs in the cold. Things always slow down in the cold but I would never guess to this extent.

 

[Drewligarchy]

Guys -

Your not going to believe this, but I just discovered The stone cold best pairing for the Abyss TC! In hunting for amps, I've been through a Violectric v281, a Formula S and Powerman, a Benchmark HPA4, an Enleum amp 23r, a Woo Wa33 Standard Edition, and a Woo Wa33 Elite Edition.

All pale in comparison to this DAC/AMP Combo:

That's right - the San Disk Clip! I can't get the volume loud enough to hear the words the vocalists are saying, and there isn't really much bass, sound stage or tactility. But, If it could get louder, I can't imagine anything competing with the bass on this thing. And the sound stage would be huge! Y'all should sell me your amps and dacs, and you should sell them to me at a steep discount, because once word gets around how good this is - they are gonna be worth nothing more than pennies on the dollar.

I don't mean to be a jerk, but no. You can't get anything close to what the Abyss TC can deliver on a phone. It's just physics. There are some high-powered DAPs if you insist on a portable experience that could sound OK but a Samsung Galaxy anything - just no. You can't EQ your way around it, and if you really want to use EQ - get a PC software player with one. I'm usually completely open to others opinions on things, and usually don't comment before I listen - but in this case - a priori - I'm going to just assume, based on your postings so far, that you haven't heard the TC on a really good setup. And, the Topping A90 must be really really bad, if it's outperformed by a Snapdragon SOC soundcard. If you really want to use a phone as a source, you are better off getting a pair of CIEMs. My 64 Audio A18s don't sound half bad on my iPhone. You are just leaving so much performance on the table; even an Focal Utopia or LCD-5 could sound OK on a phone - but the Abyss TC, just no.

 

[Ritvik]

I own the Phi Tc and don't really like it all that much. More of a Hifiman and Audeze person.

But it really does need proper amplification.
I've tried it with the Cayin N6ii (T01 amp, 4.4mm output), the Cayin N8 (best I've heard the TC from a portable source), the Venture Electronics Megatron (just for the heck of it, its built for VE's own earbuds) and none them can even get close to what this headphone is capable of on a decent full sized rig.

The SMSL SP400 sounded miles ahead of any of the above and so did the Wells Audio Milo.

 

[PhazeCrive]

Well I no longer have the Mini on hand. Would've liked to try that. Probably wouldn't bother with the phone if I did.

I don't mean to start anything, I am just posting what I hear. I simply could not enjoy the TC off of the A90. The soundstage is very in your head and the bass is kinda...not there. When you pull these apart and leave a gap in the seal, the bass completely rolls off due to the A90's linear FR. Trust me, it's no fun.

Linearity doesn't work in headphones imo. Rooms add bass and roll off treble and presence frequencies. Works great with speakers though. On headphone where the driver is centimeters from your ear, there isn't a whole lot of space for the treble to die down and for the bass to pick up. This is why I was getting a really lean and bright experience with A90. But off my phone it's completely different. It starts sounding really big and wide with no roll off in the sub bass, but a boost in that region. I assume this is what people mean by that speaker like presentation, and really it only gets better. I mean it's a dumb little phone after all. Can't compete with a Formula S. But as it stands, I could live with this for a few months while I save up for some endgame equipment. It's definitely not bad coming from a guy who's been through dozens of headphones that all suck, including a few in the 1500 dollar range. TC is just a different beast.

 

[ahossam]

Has anyone ever tried 1266 TC with McIntosh MHA200? The amp looks gorgeous!

 

[rreynolds]

Has anyone ever tried 1266 TC with McIntosh MHA200? The amp looks gorgeous!

I have. Not a crazy amount of bass impact, but it does get the headphone loud enough to exert some dynamics. Warm sounding amp, I found it tamed the sibilance in some songs by a bit.

 

[ahossam]

I have. Not a crazy amount of bass impact, but it does get the headphone loud enough to exert some dynamics. Warm sounding amp, I found it tamed the sibilance in some songs by a bit.

Can you say that MHA200 feels underpowered pairing with 1266 TC?