Also, do you think that the Abyss will be very amp dependent?  The Burson is laid back in the treble area from what I heard during my brief listen.

Yes. No doubt. Amp and DAC dependent. My Mjolnir has become laid-back sounding over time to the point where it handled the treble peak very well. (It was initially on the unrelenting / "dogmatically vigilant" when new.)

The Burson HA160 (if that is what you are referring to) is also laid back, but that may not gel well with the slight depression near 5k. I don't think the depression near 5k sounds as deep as measured. I've seen this characteristic with planar type drivers and wonder if it's not at least partially a measurement artifact. (see SR-Omega, HE-500, etc.)

More subjective impressions extracted from shoutbox:

purrin:
Gotta go
Today at 01:05:06 PM

purrin:
I think the secret to the Abyss is how open it is. They designed to driver to require minimal damping. And without the out of control behavior that usually comes with minimally damped designs. In other words, the driver is near ideally damped as it is.
Today at 01:04:51 PM

purrin:
What I like most about it. It sounds like my EQ'd speaker setup (overall presentation)
Today at 01:03:29 PM

Elysian:
I do like the HE60 for the speed and immediacy, which is something the 007/009 does not have as pronounced.  For the Abyss, I wonder how much the performance is tied to the driver tech and materials, as opposed to geometry (how far the drivers are from one's ears and anything else that would affect general acoustics).
Today at 01:02:51 PM

Elysian:
Very interesting.  I'm likely picking up a LCD3 tomorrow.  Been enjoying orthos more than stats overall, though I don't think I'll get rid of my stats. Will keep a close eye out for meet impressions.
Today at 01:01:54 PM

purrin:
But I'm an oddball anyways because I've always preferred my modded Jades over the STAX 007/009. Just not into the STAX "ethereal" sound. Also like the Orpheus, which IMO doesn't have the STAX "etheral" sound either.
Today at 01:01:41 PM

dBel84:
thanks for the initial feedback , mimics much of my own experience
Today at 01:00:40 PM

purrin:
No measurements yet. Gotta hit a meeting for work soon. Maybe late tonight.
Today at 12:58:04 PM

purrin:
The Abyss doesn't have that much of a downward tilt as the 007. I think layering and very fine detail extraction is better too on the Abyss. That's with my DAC. Layering could rival 009, but I think Abyss is still better than 009 at extraction of low level information.
Today at 12:57:27 PM

purrin:
Also Abyss less laid back as 007mk1. 007mk1 is great because its fairly smooth - no rough edges. Abyss is probably a little rougher in the treble. But Abyss bass kills 007 bass. More articulate, more power, more accurate, deeper, lower.
Today at 12:54:21 PM

purrin:
Closest to Abyss would be 007mk1. But again Abyss has balls.
Today at 12:52:47 PM

purrin:
For the meet. Helping Alex and Joe out since they couldn't make it.
Today at 12:51:40 PM

purrin:
Some things better, some things not as good. But keep in mind I've never really liked the 009 that much. Abyss has balls.
Today at 12:51:21 PM

Elysian:
Did you buy the Abyss, or do you have it on loan?
Today at 12:51:21 PM

purrin:
I think it's better.
Today at 12:50:36 PM

iRo:
1 million question would be - is it better than 007 and 009? Looking forward to more impressions about Abyss.

Sounds like abyss would have been the headphone I always wanted-- too bad it's 5k.

I actually like a recession in the upper mid-lower treble area.  Finesse and speed of a stat with the muscle-bass of a planar magnetic and that tonal balance-- but it's 5k. 

The unimpressive distortion and treble roughness were expected given the design.  I do wonder if they thought to minimize distortion via spacer thickness experimentation.  Interested in hearing these this weekend...I'm expecting them to sound really open for an ortho given the lack of many materials on the back side.  Has anybody tried to run their LCDs without that thick jute mat-like square patch?  I imagine they'll sacrifice some square wave performance for a larger/less cluttered soundstage. 

Marv:  Is there any way to change the units on the y-axis to something more intuitive than .41 ms?  I also kinda miss seeing both channel FR plots on the same graph so we can easily spot channel imbalances.

Stapsy: Ortho bass impact is due in large part to the excursion of the diaphragm.  Stronger magnets can increase the strength of the field as well.  As for the treble issue, I have a feeling it has to do with the metal trace.  I have a rough idea of how to fix that but I'll have to research a bit more.