[DefQon]

I wouldn't say stats are harder to engineer, people do ESP headphones all the time, check out winsettawong's thread on his diy stat headphone. What's difficult about e-stat is getting the measurement and mixture right, micro thickness and plate thickness etc, this attributes to either good or bad sound. Then there comes the right amount of voltage you want to feed it through proper amplification. 
 
Speaking of Nakamichi's, I'm getting the Dragons soon. 

 

[Hutnicks]

Quote:

I wouldn't say stats are harder to engineer, people do ESP headphones all the time, check out winsettawong's thread on his diy stat headphone. What's difficult about e-stat is getting the measurement and mixture right, micro thickness and plate thickness etc, this attributes to either good or bad sound. Then there comes the right amount of voltage you want to feed it through proper amplification. 
 
Speaking of Nakamichi's, I'm getting the Dragons soon. 

Stats are far easier to make, but as you say much more difficult to make well.
 
There was a French bloke who had an amazing blog on how he tensioned his membranes and assembled his headphones.
 
Then again when I think about 5 grand for a headphone. I think esp950 and killer amp. OR that's a lot of play money for mylar and a tensioning rig.
 
Or I could just buy the guy down the roads SR40 rig for 60 bucks and repair it.

 

[grokit]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the natural crossfeed that seemingly must be part of the Abyss presentation as the earcups are not sealed to the head. This is one of the more interesting attributes of it to me, as only out of production headphones like the Jekelin Float and the AKG K1000 do this (that I am aware of).
 
Or not, I could be totally off base here but it's an intriguing possibility.
 

 

[scolaiw]

Quote:

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the natural crossfeed that seemingly must be part of the Abyss presentation as the earcups are not sealed to the head. This is one of the more interesting attributes of it to me, as only out of production headphones like the Jekelin Float and the AKG K1000 do this (that I am aware of).
 
Or not, I could be totally off base here but it's an intriguing possibility.
 

They seemed pretty sealed to my head.... I don't think they're intended to be used so loose such that the earpads provide no support overall. Otherwise they could've just gone with no earpads. You could loosen the fit I suppose, but that's not how it was designed. 

 

[conquerator2]

Kinda off topic, but...
Speaking of planarmagnetic and electrostatic headphones....
Why exactly does an electrostatic HP need a special electrostatic amp?
Why, for instance, cant one use a sufficiently powerful speaker amp/ integrated with enough wattage and current?
Also, hows it with the DACs for electrostats? Are there any rules/requirements one should follow?
Thanks!
(So far only owned dynamics and magneplanars and as I have no idea as what goes into the making of anelectrostatic HP,  I d  be really curious about that, especially with the Jade II approaching 

)

 

[n3rdling]

If you want to direct drive electrostats you need an amp with a LOT of voltage gain.  Current is very low.  I believe the KGSS/BHSE have a gain of about 1000x and output voltage swing of something like 1400Vpp isn't unheard of with electrostatic amps.  This is order of magnitude higher than your typical dynamic HP amp or speaker amp.  You can however use a transformer to step up the voltage output of a speaker amp to make it suitable to drive electrostats (think Stax SRD series or Woo WEE).

EDIT:
Another reason you can't use a normal amp to drive an electrostat is the need of a bias line.  The stators each require a signal line (L-, L+, R-, R+) from the amp and an extra line to give the diaphragm a constant DC charge at the set bias level for the headphones.  This charge is what reacts to the signal charge on the stators to push and pull the membrane and create sound.

 

[DefQon]

Planar in a way work in a similar concept to ESL except rather than a membrane being driven in push pull affect and only part of the diaphragm the whole surface of a stator is charged and driven resulting in a balanced effect.

 

[faverodefavero]

Great first impressions review! Thanks. My thoughts where:
 
I look at...
 
Stax 009 = 5000$
 
Audez' LCD-3 = 1900$
 
HiFiMan HE-6 = 1200$
 
Sennheiser HD-800 = 1100$
 
 
... then I see a 'boutique expansive cable company made right-out-of-a-90s-heavy-metal-videoclip-looking headphone' for 5000$. 
 
Are you serious (...)?! Ridiculous price, terrible looks. And the way JPS talks about all the "new technology" they put on Abyss, in their website just seem duboius, and nowhere near profissional and serious as the HD800 or 009 information.

 

[grokit]

I would love to have an Abyss hanging about, but I would hate to part with the $5K

 

[dBel84]

The Abyss sits quite comfortably amongst its peers
 

 

[faverodefavero]

I would love to have an Abyss hanging about, but I would hate to part with the $5K :angry_face:

They might be good headphones. I would spend 5'000.00$, but in a Stax 009 (if I ever am up to expending that much for a headphone)

 

[dBel84]

Quote:

They might be good headphones. I would spend 5'000.00$, but in a Stax 009 (if I ever am up to expending that much for a headphone)

 
I preferred them to both the SR009 and SR007 , bass had more impact but yet was just as nimble. High level detail was well separated and soundstage was expansive. Mids on the Abyss sound more focused which is one thing I preferred on either stats and LCD3. It is not distracting but the natural timbre ( probably a function of tonal decay ) is clearly defined , while the extended decay can be quite pleasant.

 

[stacker45]

Quote:

Great first impressions review! Thanks. My thoughts where:
 
I look at...
 
Stax 009 = 5000$
 
Audez' LCD-3 = 1900$
 
HiFiMan HE-6 = 1200$
 
Sennheiser HD-800 = 1100$
 
 
... then I see a 'boutique expansive cable company made right-out-of-a-90s-heavy-metal-videoclip-looking headphone' for 5000$. 
 
Are you serious (...)?! Ridiculous price, terrible looks. And the way JPS talks about all the "new technology" they put on Abyss, in their website just seem duboius, and nowhere near profissional and serious as the HD800 or 009 information.

 
Who care's if they're made by a cable company, they could be made by John Deer for all i care, has long as they sound good, for me, that's the most important thing.
 
As i have said before, Ferrucio Lamborghini went from manufacturing farm tractors, to high end sports cars.
 
And finally, looks is the least of my worries when buying something that i will wear indoors, and mostly when i'm alone, i mean, come on, it's not like you're going to have to wear them standing on a float at Macy's parade.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

The Abyss sits quite comfortably amongst its peers
 

Is that a Yamaha YH-1 on the left hand side?

 

[stacker45]

This is a lot of fire power, i spy my beloved Grado HP1000.