[citadel]

Quote:

 
Repost >.> 

sorry 

 

[Ceja-Blu]

The obvious has been discussed to an ugly rant of the unreasonable and pointless- $5,500
buys a headphone that claims to be the best sounding headphone in the market.
Deal with it.  Many more will come. 
For most of us mortals, with excellent incomes and a deep love of music and audio, JPS may well offer Holy Water bottled in a 24K Gold-Karat container and blessed by the Pope.
$5,500 buys many audio delights including excellent amp/dacs, cables and a number of top-of-the-line headphones currently available.
On first reading and detailed study of JPS's physical product design and Logo-  oig! that is a hideous looking pair of cans for that obscene price-point, just my own opinion.  Design a classic and timeless work of art with a sound to match and I'll personally save for five consecutive winters to buy it.   The "goth" "rock" letter logo is a disappointment and the frame and earphone housing is NOT sexy, smart, intelligent, alluring, or remotely lustful or sexy.  IMHO.
Build an undeniably beautiful physical frame and enclosure and advertise it as the true Oasis of Planar headphones for under $2,000-  you will get my musician brain to pause and take heed, while reaching for my wallet.
Look, I bought a damn MacBook Pro to listen to my music!  For the money, it makes me want to listen to music every day. It's the coolest and most beautifully simple machine in my entire $150,000 dollar studio.
Go figure

 

[Audio Jester]

I thought what Jude wrote in the buying guide was interesting in relation to how much the pads affect the sound. For those who own the HP did you find the same outcome with varying the pads?

 

[scolaiw]

Quote:

The obvious has been discussed to an ugly rant of the unreasonable and pointless- $5,500
buys a headphone that claims to be the best sounding headphone in the market.

At least for $5,500 you are getting something. Whether it's the best or just in the top 100 headphones (an exaggeration) ever made, it's still there. You could always be spending $1 million on a pair of diamond studded Beats....

 

[Ceja-Blu]

At least for $5,500 you are getting something. Whether it's the best or just in the top 100 headphones (an exaggeration) ever made, it's still there. You could always be spending $1 million on a pair of diamond studded Beats....

So true... The leather case alone rounds off the purchase. Diamond studded Beats? You're killing me

 

[gikigill]

If you have to justify it using something as absurd as Beats, you probably don't have a good justification to begin with.

 

[thune]

Arguments against the price of the Abyss headphones just re-enforce its exclusive status, and certainly look petty in the eyes of people happy to pay for them. Like it or not, the market for unique and new TOTL headphones is large enough to make the JPS strategy seem quite reasonable, especially as they establish themselves in the market. If the AB-1266 is successful, JPS has suggested that newer products (at lower pricepoints) might be added to the line: So hope for that. Nipping and carping about the price of their totl product is a waste of time.

 

[citadel]

Quote:

Arguments against the price of the Abyss headphones just re-enforce its exclusive status, and certainly look petty in the eyes of people happy to pay for them. Like it or not, the market for unique and new TOTL headphones is large enough to make the JPS strategy seem quite reasonable, especially as they establish themselves in the market. If the AB-1266 is successful, JPS has suggested that newer products (at lower pricepoints) might be added to the line: So hope for that. Nipping and carping about the price of their totl product is a waste of time.

 
 
Amen. +1
 
i find the looks argument to be in a similar vein. I love how these cans look in person, but at the end of the day, I don't care if they are pink with purple spots. 

 

[Currawong]

The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn't any other test. If the machine produces tranquility, it's right. If it disturbs you it's wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed. -- Robert Pirsig
 
I think I need to put this back in my signature.

 

[dBel84]

Quote:

The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn't any other test. If the machine produces tranquility, it's right. If it disturbs you it's wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed. -- Robert Pirsig
 
I think I need to put this back in my signature.

 
 
This brings to mind a quote from Nelson Pass " [size=10pt]There is no such thing as a [/size][size=10pt]perfect[/size][size=10pt] amplifier. Every audiophile and his associated equipment has specific needs, but in each case there is such a thing as a [/size][size=10pt]best[/size][size=10pt] amplifier - the one that makes you happy."[/size]

 

[VisceriousZERO]

Quote:

The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn't any other test. If the machine produces tranquility, it's right. If it disturbs you it's wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed. -- Robert Pirsig
 
I think I need to put this back in my signature.

Love it Currawong.

 

[VortexBlast]

I did post my first impressions in another thread recently but this is the more appropriate place to post it.
 
So 2 days ago I went to my local Jaben store and they had something quite special. It was the Abyss.
 

 
I was baffled on why they would stock these super expensive headphones that doesn't really measure like a $5500 headphone according to Innerfidelity. But anyway, they told me that they had already sold one unit to a rich fellow so I definitively need to have a listen.
 
I was using my HP-P1 through a Bakoon HDA-5210 mk3 Amp.
 

 
First thing you notice is the very weird looks and it's not a looker but the materials and build quality make up for it. When I held it, I was surprised on how light it was, lighter than my HE-500. The construction is very solid and exquisite and it will take a lot of force to actually break it or even flex it and the pads are real leather which is nice.
 

 
In terms of ergonomics it didn't do well. There are not many ways to adjust the fit but even if you get a perfect fit, it will still be weird to wear it on the head and not very comfortable to my head at least. The pads can be removed or rotated easily thanks to magnets and pegs but what about the sound? Can it match the SR-009 in sound at this price point?
 

 
Note: The first listen was done on high gain and the pads didn't create a seal at the bottom of my head but they said it was fine.
 
First time listening was a bit disappointing actually. It was very much behind the SR-009 and worse than the LCD-3.
The first thing I noticed is the very, very sharp and sparkly treble that was hurting my ears quite badly.
Second are the lows. They are similar in quantity and quality as the HE-6 but not as much quantity as the LCD-2/3 but I was more impressed with its tightness and speed. It really was fast and dynamic.
Mids were very good with nice instrument separation with forward and airy vocals but not as rich as the LCD-2/3. Soundstage and imaging was impressive and detail retrieval was amazing but it's not as resolving as the HD800 so it plays nicely with less well mastered music but overall the frequency response was fairly neutral with an elevated treble that really was fatiguing.
After I gave my impressions to the people who work there, they said that they didn't find it bright, rather very dark in fact. They then wondered if the lack of seal messed the treble and bass so they rotated the pads a bit and now it sealed my head perfectly. I also put it in low gain after that.
 
Second time listening was much, much better. The bass is now much more present and has actually a bit more quantity than the LCD-2/3 but with much better speed and dynamics and impact which makes it a very fun sounding headphone, the music just jumps around and never misses a beat.
The annoying treble was toned down but still very much present, around the same quantity as the HE-6 but still sparkly sounding that gives a kind of unnatural, unrealistic metallic tone to cymbals and the likes.
I also noticed that the vocals were a bit thicker and richer. It was still airy and I could hear the singer breathe in and out but it was still bested by the LCD-2/3. Then I did play a bit with the clamping force by pulling the drivers a bit further away from my ears and I noticed a much more elevated bass response which I think is normal in planar magnetic, my HE-500 exhibits the same thing as well.
Overall, after a perfect seal, I think that this is a great headphone that deserves to be in the top of the line group but I do not think that it's as good as the SR-009. Better than the HE-6? Very much. Better than the LCD-3? It was a bit better but not $3500 better.
This headphone sounds like as if an HE-6 married an LCD-3 and had a baby but still, If this headphone had a price of around $2500 then I would think that it's definitively worth every single penny but $5500? I would think not twice but a multiple of times and probably just go with the SR-009 and be done with it. It's a valiant effort for a first timer but it still has a long road to reach the peak of the mountain.
 
TL;DR: A very good headphone that overcomes the criticisms of the HE-6 and LCD-3 but still behind the SR-009 and a price that's very much not worth it. But when you do get a good and perfect seal with just the right clamping force, this is a very, very fun headphone.

 

[M-13]

^Wow great photos and nice impression too. I hear the Bakoon plays nice with the Audezes.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

^Wow great photos and nice impression too. I hear the Bakoon plays nice with the Audezes.

At 1 W into 32 ohms, while playing nice is possible, being ideal (especially at that price) is another thing. 

 

[VortexBlast]

Quote:

At 1 W into 32 ohms, while playing nice is possible, being ideal (especially at that price) is another thing. 

 
The one tested there is the almost impossible to find even to look for information, Japan only model HDA-5210 Mk3 which I think pumps out even more wattage than the international Bakoons.
It can even drive the HE-6 effortlessly.