Mmmm....Super LCD 3.  I spent lots of time w/ two more LCD-3s at the SHOW.  So that's like 7-8 LCD3s I've heard now?  Still haven't duplicated that sound that made me think of putting the HD800 up for sale.  That was a good 48 hours.

Low distortion is probably a better indicator of clean and articulate bass. The old Denon D series, Darth Beyers, many Ultrasones, all have laid back presence regions with treble peaks, but their bass quality is bad. Even the HE500 has this tonal characteristic, and the HE500 bass tends to be one-note-ish unless driven by a power amp.

IMO HE500 is really held back by stock earpads, where pleathers are too warbly and stuffy, and velours are too edgy and bright. The Jergpad project is still ongoing between myself and another avid modder going by name of Modulor on H-Fi (who has sold a large batch of the modded pads earlier this year, and plans to make and sell a much larger batch later this month). It's amazing how "right" we can push the HE500s to sound with these fairly extensive pad-specific mods.

Marv, do you think you are down for another measurement/impressions from the upcoming September batch of the newest revision of Jergpads? Much has changed relative to the scrappy pads I sent you some months ago, both in terms of sound attenuation and in terms of durability/quality. If you are down I'll ask Modulor about it.


Edit: might be preferable to take this to PMs.

I had a solid few hours trying these Abyss cans out with a Cavalli LAu at a mate's house the other day, along with some other high-end cans by Stax, Audeze, Fostex and Sennheiser, plus an assortment of amps and DACS (and cables I would never pay for with my own money). Yes, they're extremely ugly, like something those burly "outlaws" on Discovery biker build-off would weld together from plumbing material in their sheds. They do sound very good with the LAu, however. Very, very good.

Thing is, they weren't envelope pushing good to my ears. Again, I stress, to my ears - In terms of clarity, resolution and overall imaging, they were handily spanked by the Stax 009 + Woo Audio WES at the meet-up. Same could be said for a Senn HD800 I tried there (though I can't recall the model of amp it was paired with). In terms of pure musicality/ euphonia, the LCD3 + Alo Studio Six I tried bested them for the genres I listen to, and I'm not even a fan of the Audeze sound in general. The Fostex TH-900 (yes, a closed can ... gasp) + GS-X MK2, to my mind, remains the most entertaining combo out of all the high-end rigs I've tried, easily besting the Abyss + LAu and LCD3 + Alo Six in terms of "high from music" moments and presentation.No other combo makes me want to bounce and bob around as much. I don't really care if the Fostex's get slagged off by "true audiophiles" for being too hi-fi sounding or whatever. Obviously there's some bias here if you look at the equipment listed in my profile, but it's equipment I bought after comparing them with everything available in the market, so it's somewhat justified, in my mind.

Back to the Abyss. Yes, they're definitely high-end headphile cans. Their biggest selling point is their speed, to my ears. But considering what I've tried, what I've owned in the past and what I currently own, along with my musical preferences; the most I'd expect to pay for these would be LCD2 + aftermarket cable money - or about $1500 max to be precise, but even that feels overpriced considering the increased enjoyment I get from a TH-900, which is also about $1500 (cheaper than that where I live, actually). If I were in a forgiving/generous mood, I might strongly consider the Abyss at any price below $2000, but considering their current market price (plus the price of a Cavalli LAu), no way. I'd rather save for a SR009 and upgrades to my WES for that money.

Disclaimer; I don't consider myself an audiophile. I concentrate on enjoyment first and foremost, and how much a can/dac/amp combo entertains me with the genres of music I listen to (electro, house, lounge, math/post rock, acid jazz, fusion, instrumental hip-hop, vintage pop). I don't bother with graphs and charts and audiophile vocabulary. I'd rather share a beer and hang out with "lowest common denominator" peasants that own direct drive Technics 1200s than elitist audiophiles with their whatever-flavour-of-the-month designer brand turntables. Judge my utilitarian/simpleton impressions as you see fit. It's the view of the common uneducated bloke, for the most part.

Cheers.