[scolaiw]

Quote:

 
Did you use the TRS or the XLR port of the WA5? Big difference in power.

 
Yes I did. Hence why I felt the WA5 did it more justice. 
 

I recently learned that a pair of the Abyss may be paired with one of the new Cavalli Audio amps at the upcoming Chicago Head-Fi meet so if you are in the Chicago area you may want to stop by. The event is listed in the meet thread.

 

Yeah, the store I went to were actually bringing in a Cavalli amp for the purposes of demoing the Abyss, but alas, when I went it had not arrived yet. 

 

[DefQon]

Are there any plans for A2A to sell Cavalli amp's in the future? They are a mixed bag here of being worthy or not for the price and I want to hear one.

 

[scolaiw]

Yes, they are planning on selling them. You should head in after your exams to have a listen.

 

[Happy Camper]

If a direct competitor to the LCD-3s, why all the 800 references? From a price comparison, the 9s would be the natural comparison but since the 800 seems to have it bested, why bother?

 

[Hutnicks]

I'm curious about the pads as well. They look tapered like the MD's.
 
Not sure having a magnetically clamped pad on a planar magnetic driver is a great idea though.
 

 

[n3rdling]

Yup, I've wondered about the same thing - whether those magnets will interfere with the ideally uniform magnetic field already in place.

 

[scolaiw]

Quote:

If a direct competitor to the LCD-3s, why all the 800 references? From a price comparison, the 9s would be the natural comparison but since the 800 seems to have it bested, why bother?

I was able to directly compare with the LCD 3s, but since my most often used headphones are the HD 800, I could provide a better comparison which I felt would be more accurate than if I had used the LCD 3s. Having said that, I basically summarised the differences between the LCD 3s and the Abyss in the original post anyway:

Soundstage, airiness, instrument separation, speed of attack and imaging were all a pretty big improvement upon the LCD 3s.

Tone was more clinical and less euphonic than the LCD 3 but is by no means sterile.

Treble extension was better, more detailed and clearer.

Mids more recessed than LCD 3s and less lush/smooth sounding.

Bass had good slam and extension but ultimately loses to the LCD 3s. 
 

I'm curious about the pads as well. They look tapered like the MD's.
 
Not sure having a magnetically clamped pad on a planar magnetic driver is a great idea though.
 

Yeah, I was thinking about that too. And the magnets used to attach the pads on were by no means weak, fridge magnets. You had to use a decent amount of force to pop them off. However, from listening to them, either they managed to counter the effect or it's not noticeable, or maybe it actually helps in some way with the SQ. Who knows? 

All I can say is, the Abyss is by no means a flop. Just not worth the asking price. 

 

[grokit]

Well compared to say, the Ultrasone Edition 10, it's a great deal

 

[brat]

Thanks for the mini review!
 All auditions of the Аbyss end with the conclusion that although they are good, they are highly overpriced.
JPS Labs must reconsider their brave jump in the headphone world. 

 

[scolaiw]

Quote:

Well compared to say, the Ultrasone Edition 10, it's a great deal

Hahaha, I'd probably say it was around a similar level of overpriced-ness. Maybe the Edition 10 is a little worse by a notch. We'll see if the Edition 12 manages to trump them both in the being overpriced! 

 

Thanks for the mini review!
 All auditions of the Аbyss end with the conclusion that although they are good, they are highly overpriced.
JPS Labs must reconsider their brave jump in the headphone world. 

 

Thanks! Indeed they should. I suspect they are pricing it this way to make people psychologically place it in the same league as the STAX because a lot of people tend to think that the higher the cost the better the SQ (and try to justify that thought with their wallet). In fact, I suspect that is probably the same marketing technique employed by Ultrasone, especially with all the random metal editions. 

 

[DefQon]

The Ultrasones, Final Audio they are brands for a niche market being limited edition and all. The Abyss are not, the way JPS is thinking is that, "ohh audiophiles buying expensive headphones and amp's, let grab them by the balls and make them pay lots of $$$ for these headphones". 

 
I don't endorse such mentioned companies if there marketing logic surrounds greed (which in this case is). 

 

[grokit]

To be fair, Ultrasone and FAD do have some reasonably-priced offerings in their lineups as well.

 

[DefQon]

That's true. I want whatever the guys at JPS were smoking when they decided to come with up with the current price tag.

 

[wink]

Interesting review.
btw the Blue Hawaii is an electrostatic amp and should not be used with the Abyss.

 

[brat]

Quote:

btw the Blue Hawaii is an electrostatic amp and should not be used with the Abyss.

Why?! It will be interesting and... spectacular