Topic: Abyss planar headphones by JPS Labs (Read 21630 times)

MuppetFace · « **Reply #30 on:** October 15, 2012, 07:47:44 AM »

Very interesting regarding the horn speaker quality of the Abyss. I'm not too happy to read that, TBH, as it serves as a potential means of justification for me down the road when it comes to grappling with whether or not to get these.

That's actually the impetus behind Final Audio's dynamic IEMs which are so controversial: they're trying to voice them to be like vintage horn speakers. I suppose "vintage" is key here, since the dynamic FADs are *ridiculously* colored, and I imagine modern implementations, while distinct, are much less so.

donunus · « **Reply #31 on:** October 15, 2012, 11:28:42 AM »

some vintage horns are pretty colored though. My old Audio Technica AD2000 reminded me of some horns.

arnaud · « **Reply #32 on:** October 15, 2012, 01:09:24 PM »

I probably come across as a stax fanboy agressing any attempt at challenging the 009 (and tgere must be some truth to this) but, honestly, comments of headphone zing being reminiscent of horn systems is a big turn-off personally. Maybe this because I haven't been lucky with my previous auditions of avangarde and other lansche audio plasma tweeter speakers. I wonder how much this is related to the undamped plastic diaphragm... Would'it be far fetched to guess it is nicely ringing freely in the mid highs to give you this sense of speed?

I want to see this thing go through Marv's stethoscope!

anetode · « **Reply #33 on:** October 16, 2012, 09:14:55 AM »

Quote from: Tari on October 14, 2012, 04:58:18 PM

But here's where they're wrong - you don't immediately transfer that cost to potential customers and build it into the price to fully offset the costs you've incurred. You make a first product that's darn good for a price that consumers just can't help but try it. (Especially in this case, when the company has plenty of pure profit revenue from their cables) you make back the costs after a couple fairly priced models that also entrench you as a company with good products and decent prices. Going straight to statement, let alone one with an unheard of price (for a company that has not been in the market!) reeks of opportunism, taking advantage of a market they consider "ripe for the picking."

Hear, hear!

Quote from: arnaud on October 15, 2012, 01:09:24 PM

I want to see this thing go through Marv's stethoscope!

I doubt the prototype would fare well. Between the two demo locations I listened to these for a good half an hour and despite the claims of ultra-low distortion and fast response, the detail just wasn't at the high-end level JPS wants to play at. And it wasn't that the Abyss sounded awful (the glare/sharpness was noticeable but didn't ruin the experience), it simply didn't sound much better than "ok". Their sound starts to fall behind by the time you reach the Paradox/Mad dog/HE 400 price range.

Anathallo · « **Reply #34 on:** October 19, 2012, 08:25:48 PM »

Really interesting video on the phones from RMAF. I always like Tyll's coverage of stuff - he's always polite and positive, but is open to stating his opinion on products he enjoys while constructively criticizing flaws.

I've found that my tastes closely mimic Tyll's, with a small preference towards brighter cans. Always a treat reading his posts in innerfidelity.

/brownnosing

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/canjam-rmaf-2012-jps-labs-abyss-prototype-planar-magnetic-headphone

arnaud · « **Reply #35 on:** October 19, 2012, 11:48:28 PM »

x2 on Tyll's fair coverage. Just saw the video for the absyss and, while it started bad (focusing on the diaphragm material / trace as if it was all to it) and ended bad (price), I feel the manufacturer came across reasonably well overall. I guess they just need to figure out how to streamline production to reduce the costs if this sounds more like a 500-1kUSD product (unless 5kUSD is a good place to be as far as profit margins, but they aren't gonna sell too many pairs...).

The Headphone Viking · « **Reply #36 on:** October 20, 2012, 01:49:34 AM »

I was just pondering why the magnets would be placed the way they are. And from a measuring stand-point it actually makes good sense. If you have nothing to obstruct the air pressure from leaving the outside of the can, it has nothing to reflect off of back in the direction of the ear, where as the magnets on the other side will have all of the sound reflecting/being stopped by them get released out of the cups. This, in theory, should create a headphone with no audible resonance on the side of the cup that you are listening to. The sound will ofcourse be some what blocked by the magnets, but not more than with any other planar headphone, and the sound that does come through, should be completely clean of interference from the cups, in a perfect scenario...
Does this make sense/seem reasonable? 5000$ for figuring that out is a bit much though (understatement of the year)

arnaud · « **Reply #37 on:** October 20, 2012, 03:12:15 AM »

That's all wishfull thinking unfortunately. You'll get reflections from the back side even if there is nothing in front of the membrane, because of drastic change in acoustic impedance. The way to see is how some waves reflect back from the open end of a duct (you wouldn't get a standing wave inside an organ pipe otherwise for example) even if there is nothing but an open duct. Change the shape of that duct (flange, progressively evasive like a trumpet, and you'll get totally different acoustic behavior).

As for the oll of the sound reflecting/being stopped, I have no idea wth you mean there!? A typo I guess? Anyhow, this can is a cylinder + cylinder earpads with no acoustic damping whatsoever, so it's bound to ring like mad (acoustic and diaphragm resonances) from the midrange up. Hence my eagerness to see objective performance data for this

Quote from: The Headphone Viking on October 20, 2012, 01:49:34 AM

I was just pondering why the magnets would be placed the way they are. And from a measuring stand-point it actually makes good sense. If you have nothing to obstruct the air pressure from leaving the outside of the can, it has nothing to reflect off of back in the direction of the ear, where as the magnets on the other side will have oll of the sound reflecting/being stopped by them get released out of the cups. This, in theory, should create a headphone with no audible resonance on the side of the cup that you are listening to. The sound will ofcourse be some what blocked by the magnets, but not more than with any other planar headphone, and the sound that does come through, should be completely clean of interference from the cups, in a perfect scenario...
Does this make sense/seem reasonable? 5000$ for figuring that out is a bit much though (understatement of the year)

n3rdling · « **Reply #38 on:** October 20, 2012, 04:52:55 AM »

I have a very hard time believing they tested hundreds of different magnet/diaphragm configurations

rhythmdevils · « **Reply #39 on:** October 20, 2012, 05:30:25 AM »

It's an interesting idea that magnets on the back create more coloration than magnets on the front. I instinctively thought the opposite. But after thinking about it, it doesn't seem implossible given the backwave orthos put out. Though you have to wonder why they would have such a closed back on the phones. He talks about the grill giving great "diffusion" and I have to wonder about what he's talking about here. I can't imagine that spider web design doing anything better than a simple metal grill. With no damping it seems like a transparent grill would be best. But who knows, orthos are mysterious creatures. Looking forward to hearing more about these.

Author Topic: Abyss planar headphones by JPS Labs (Read 21630 times)

MuppetFace

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donunus

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arnaud

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anetode

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Anathallo

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arnaud

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The Headphone Viking

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arnaud

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n3rdling

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rhythmdevils

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Author Topic: Abyss planar headphones by JPS Labs (Read 21630 times)