BTW Anax, should be chiming in soon.

On setup #1 (same was Ultrabike's listen) Mr. Axelrod's Store in Redondo Beach (forgot the name)

The Abyss sounded very well behaved with a possible exception of some tizziness around the 10k region? I would say just past the siblance zone. The extent of this was minor to my ears. It was more prevalent with MJ's Billie Jean (not sure which recording, but I suspect it's based on the bass-lite version a la the SACD) Pixies, Alison Kraus, Police, and a few other recordings I used did not trigger this tizziness as much as the MJ track. (I didn't bother with classical because I was not familiar with any of the specific recordings they had on hand.) I know Ultrabike felt the treble was a little bit bright. At this point, I think possible minor treble issue, but still inclusive. I did feel the rest of the spectrum was well balanced.

I know some others had described it as bass-lite on HF, however I would not describe the Abyss as bass-lite at all. Although if you are coming from an LCD2/3, it could very well sound bass lite. Bass was very clean and articulate. One of its strong points for me. I loved the bass. Quantity was just right, and bass quality bettered anything I have heard from a headphone.

Overall, I'd say it sounds like an HE6, but without that nasty etch of the HE6 and with much better bass. Tight, articulate, controlled, fast. Maybe a tad more bass volume than the HE6. This is a good thing. Comfort was excellent for my larger than average sized head. Tonal balance is similar to a studio-monitor type neutral, but with a little mid-high treble tizz (not that bad.)

I have to admit that I was impressed with this listen, even though I could not ascertain the headphones resolving capabilities. It does sound clean, but doesn't have quite the effortlessness of the 007/009/Jades.

Setup #2 Cable Company

Very nice tonal balance here. Maybe with a slightly dark tilt (see my EQ'd Fostex BK-16 kit FR graphs) to get the idea - "living room neutral" as opposed to "studio-monitor neutral". Zero treble issues. Unfortunately, the bass sounded muffled - veiled - slower with this headphone. Are there production variances here? (I don't think these are even officially in production yet.) Direct comparison with Anax modded HD800s. HD800 killed it in bass performance, resolution, layering, but lost in tonality. This setup was hampered by Mytek DSD 128 DAC. We are talking glare galore with both headphones. Just nasty, but since we knew how this Mytek sounded, we took that factor out of the equation.

FYI

Mr. Axelrod would not allow other headphones to be plugged in for a comparison.
Cable Company would not allow us to use our own recordings (although they had some stuff we were very familiar with.)

Anax was not a big fan, but I know our priorities have diverged a bit. I liked the Abyss in setup #1 very very much. I would even go so far as to conditionally recommend it over the STAXen and other top orthos because the 007mk1 are no longer being made, not all people find the 009 tonal balance agreeable, the LCD3 is too laid back, the HE6 stabs my ears (not to mention the HE6 still has that slight slight hint of that "HiFiman one-note / indistinct bass" thing going on.) It should be noted that not all people will find studio monitor neutral acceptable. Think UERM, but with a slight peak around 10kHz. Also again, the presentation is still very ortho like - in that it does not have the relaxed presentation of the e-stats. This is setup #1 of course.

The Abyss on setup #2 is very debatable. The bass muddiness compared to the HD800 - that is not acceptable considering that the HD800 while very good in the bass, isn't the best. Overall, it didn't sound as clean as the setup #2. I mean, we are talking about HD650 bass quality here. It went from great quality bass on setup #1 to WTF on setup #2.

There are other ortho experts here who can chime in, so I sincerely hope it's not a case of the ortho diaphragm becoming looser and thus resulting in a more veiled / muddy presentation as we have all anecdotally seen with the "bad"  LCD2/3s shipped my way. (Although Audeze gets credit / kudos for fixing these issues with their customers ASAP.) This of course is all conjecture. However, I am suspicious because headphones shouldn't sound THAT different, despite different DACs/amps. Given the expected low volume of this product, we will probably never get close to the truth.

I'll head back tomorrow and give it another shot.

Someone needs to ask the Cable Co / JPS guys if they can plug the "better" Abyss into the other setup to see if the sound changes like the other unit, or visa versa. I know they wont let you guys use your own material or bring in outside headphones, but surely they wouldn't object to you swapping amps?

...Or maybe they would. I actually wouldn't be surprised.

That thought did cross my mind, but that won't happen. Cable Company and Mr. Axelrod are in separate buildings. Also Mr. Axelrod is very protective of this stuff. Sort of a slight altercation he got into with Anax. Mr. Axelrod chased Anax out the door into the hallway (like followed him in a very creepy manner), not to diffuse the situation, but to make a strong point to Anax that he (Mr. Axelrod) was in the right and Anax was in the wrong. Of course once in the hallway in public view, he sort of altered his tact and started to act civil and shit.

Long story...

Also the dude at the Cable Company refused to do a comparative listen to the Anax modded HD800 and the Abyss. He just said the conditions were not optimal and the Abyss was better in every way. Anax's HD800's were modded, other excuses, etc. Although he did eventually concede that comparing pro-cons was not his job.

WTF?! I think I'd like to hear this one.

And I thought I was pissing off these reps by just asking where their damn speaker was crossed over. (For the record, a lot of these guys didn't know). Ugh...