How are your pads oriented? Thick part on the bottom back?

I'll try it- Easy enough to test and compare between the two angles.

My Flux Mentor is awesome. Also note that if you're in the US, it's $1650 with the upgraded power cable, delivered. Shipping and PayPal fees are pricey from Ukraine.

For me, the "aha, subwoofer" moment came when I read some advice somewhere on this thread to hinge the headphones so that the front of the ear pads create a gap the front of my ears. A little distance and air away from my ears and BABOOM! I'm pretty sure the 1266 have ended my headphone search...

OOOhhhhh, wife's birthday and it's a milestone birthday. I hope I can attend, even for a short amount of time.

Don't know if this question has been asked/confirmed, but with Oct-Dec orders, how many orders could be placed before orders were sold out? Is that number less now with Jan-current orders so that the backlog isn't as large? At some point, I'd imagine supply and demand will reach equilibrium.

Let’s do it!! @VanHai let me know if you want help coordinating.

Just checked mine, by peeking through the vents, and it's got the blue board.

I upgraded my AC/IEC cable and it made a difference. It wasn't even a pricey one, but it helped a lot: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L2MBYWC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

I find myself only needing crossfeed with very specific recordings, such as early Van Halen, where the guitar is panned hard left and nearly nothing but reverb hard right. I find it not so great on headphones, but fine with speakers in the room.

I was expecting my new cable to be delivered this week, but got an email that it will be next week. Not a big deal at all. I'm just really looking forward to my first Norne cable. I'm really interested to do an A/B with my stock JPS labs cable to see if I can detect any difference in sound. I...

I'm really interested in hearing this DAC. Glad to know so many of you in the DMV area have purchased, as I hope to hear it at one of the local Head-Fi meets. Someone mentioned a listening opportunity on 6/1? Is that officially posted somewhere? Otherwise, I'll just drive up to LTA to hear it...

Looks great- Looking forward to mine arriving hopefully soon.

If I try this, would there be any degradation to sound quality mixing SE and XLR cables? Such as SE from DAC to tube amp and XLR from tube amp to Mentor.

I’ve been listening to my new Mentor for the past five days and really like it. Apparently, it will sound even better after 100 hours of burn-in. It packs a nice punch and it’ll take some to determine if I’ll like it better than my tube amps. There’s a certain “thickness” to the tube amps that I...

Agreed that the WA22 is phenomenal, but for hard to drive, low-sensitivity planars (Abyss 1266, Tungsten, Susvara), the horsepower of the Flux gets the job done.

Laptop->RME ADI2-> Amp

Flux Mentor arrived yesterday. Absolutely superb and impressively powerful solid state amp. Once I source some proper interconnects, I can try my WA22 as a preamp:

Quick observations, less than 24 hours after arrival: The Abyss 1266 (and I reckon other hard-to-drive, low sensitivity, planars) are driven to proper (dare I say, perfect) levels with stunningly full frequency range. These particular headphones are capable of so much sub-bass and bass and the...

It’s very different. It’s solid state, a lot more wattage, and I got it specifically to drive tough planar headphones like the Abyss 1266. The MZ3 is a phenomenal OTL tube amp and pairs well with just about everything else.

Yes, linear power supply, but for my MZ3 amp.

OK, new amp arrived today. Now I understand what scaling up the 1266 means. There was another x% available in my headphones and I needed a powerful, thick, punchy amp to bring the 1266 to its potential. I now believe the Flux Mentor does this in spades. This is my first and likely last, solid...

Ahh, that makes sense. OK- I just tried it on low and medium and it produces great sound on both. The volume knob past Noon behaves and is set differently on each gain setting, but the headphones are fully driven, even when on LOW. It is definitely loud enough. By that, I mean the push and girth...

Arrived! Total time from order to USA delivery was exactly two weeks. Right off the bat- I did not realize that I'd have to have the volume up so high on HIGH gain mode for the Abyss 1266. Sounds absolutely H-U-G-E thus far. It really is wide-reaching on the frequency range. I'll look forward...

Satan? My (former) best friend married her. I have seen the unholy embodiment of all that is pure evil. She’s a hair dresser from the Bronx.