Finally got my first pair of $2000 high-end headphones. I have my Thieaudio Vahalla $2000 IEM, so it was only fitting that I get an equally priced headphone. Up until now, the 109 Pros were my most costly headphones. Before that, I had the HiFiMan Edition XS. So when I walked into Audio46 in New York and tried them on while using my portable DAP M33, I was impressed based on my memory of the 109 and Edition XS sound. And although I needed to turn up the volume to 60 on my M33 to get real volume out of it, I knew that my desk setup should provide more power.
But I still didn’t buy it then. I wanted to go home and watch and read as many videos and forums as I could before throwing down basically $2k. All the videos were pretty much the same. Praise and more praise for the JOAL (Jack of All Listening). Everything from the fit, comfort, resolution, bass, and timbre was all areas of great praise from YouTubers. I also saw comparisons between it and the POET by Meze, which I listened to.
The reviews seem to favor the JOAL over the Meze Poet. I found them very close in performance, but the JOAL felt better to me and looked better on my head. I’m just really tired of the oversized headphones that make you look like Doc from Back to the Future. The POETS, although not as loud as my Edition XS, still presented that bulk I just want to leave behind. So picking up the Abyss JOAL just really had me excited about getting something that could truly be great without being oversized.
So after finding out about the 10-year warranty and the majority of people’s love affair with it, I pulled the trigger. The unboxing was truly lackluster, I must say, coming from the 109 Pros. But the build quality felt on par with Meze. But the looks couldn’t compete, of course, even though I find myself really fond of looking at the JOAL. It’s just not the wood and gold treatment you get with Meze; let’s just be real here.
So, finally getting to the sound, something hit me right away. My Edition XS stats show 18 ohms with 92dB. However, the JOAL is 30 ohms with 93dB. So, based on that, it should run with more efficiency than my HiFiMAN Edition XS, but it doesn’t. I have to run the JOAL at higher volumes, while I can run the Edition XS at far lower volumes, which is very interesting and questionable. So the first thing I did was understand that I have an EQ’d XS. I use Peace EQ, and it really is a game changer. And outside of the ability of soundstaging and timbre, there is only so much that EQ can correct and mimic, which is why I understand why people don’t even bother buying high-end headphones. Unless it’s a fit thing, most people will be absolutely fine with a $200 XS and close the shop as an endgame. Truly, the Edition XS is a headphone that punches well above its cost, and buying it will deliver you anything you really want for 90% of the people in the world.
Now, to the 10% crazy people like myself. Those of you looking for a headphone that delivers on timbre, realism, tonality, and comfort should truly consider the Abyss JOAL if you can spend the cash for it. The ability of this headphone to shape and settle onto your head and face shape is sick. In fact, I consider the JOAL a faceprint scanner. Once you allow it to set itself, it won’t truly fit anyone else like it does your face and head, and I love that aspect. Knowing this is fitting itself and forming itself just for me is a special feeling, I must say. And you literally can tell. The fit became perfect over hours of wearing throughout the day today. Now it feels like it was built for me, but it didn’t feel like that when I first put it on. Even the sound has settled in like fine wine. The vocals are the best I’ve ever experienced in my life. The bass is so rich and perfect settles right in its own space without dipping into other areas. The planar drivers are fast and highly detailed. The openness of this headphone is like listening to heaven sing from a distance and yet all around you. Every single genre of music is played at its best possible ability, no matter what the demand is. Even the tonality and extension of notes on instruments and vocals spread out in the distance. It is the single best audio experience of my life. Oh yeah…don’t let me forget to mention how perfect the cable is. The best cable I’ve ever felt in my life for headphones or IEMs. It’s like picking up silk. It flows so effortlessly and has zero memory. The gold and white strands are so beautiful…they look like ribbons of light.
At first, I was truly disappointed in the sound and comfort, no lie. It just didn’t kill it like I thought something that cost the money that it did should have, even when I tried to EQ it. It literally took the better part of the whole day of wearing these things for it to settle in on my head shape and seal. And while it might not be true burn-in that it went through, it is a clear difference in sound than what I heard early that day. Some say it does burn in. Abyss says no. Some have shown actual charts to prove it, and yet people still say no. Is there an “ear” burn-in? Sure. Is that what I went through? I don’t believe so, or at least I don’t think that was the only thing that happened. The way the pads finally conform to my face and head affected the seal, and I believe that is most likely the biggest thing I believe I experienced.
Ultimately, the biggest advance is…time is needed for headphones regardless. I cannot stress enough that this was the advice that counts. You have to allow time with the earphones for several hours, maybe even a week, before you assume anything after 30 minutes in a store or audio conference, good or bad. There is so much at play that you literally have to adjust, allow time, and get used to the sound before you can properly accept things. But just a day with these from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. made so much difference…night and day, literally. Now I’m in love with the sound and fit. It’s one of those things that makes you feel connected to it. It feels so good and welcoming…almost, dare I say, safe-like. I love how much openness it has, being a true open-back headphone. Others that claim to be open-back don’t bring in your surroundings like these do. It’s like I don’t have anything blocking my ears, and yet the sound is powerful like a closed-back. The vocal presence is unlike anything I’ve experienced in headphones ever. They are so perfectly natural and realistic. No coloration to make them seem too unbelievable or anything. The timbre is the best I’ve heard, period, in IEMs or headphones. The tonality and imaging are so perfectly done on this. Even the soundstage is wide and yet intimate at the same time.
To help put this into true form, nothing I have experienced in my life, IEMs or headphones, has what this thing has in sound ability. It is something truly magical. I truly believe this was money well spent, all $1800 of it, and that’s a rare thing for me to say about audio products because they typically don’t live up to their price tag for me, even if they are good. I have made a habit of telling others that the earphone or headphone never performs at the level of the asking price—until today! This thing, once again, like I said above, has a 10-year warranty that they stand by and is made in America. This is how much faith they have in it. I’ve seen videos where they have run over some of their products with a truck, and they were perfectly fine. Now, I won’t be testing it out, but I’ve heard from so many other people who have their products that they are perfectly happy, and their product, after years, still looks new.
Look, at the end of the day, I don’t have to wait for this product before I give it my rating. I give this my DIAMOND AWARD for Perfection. There is not a single thing I could ask for in a headphone that this has not delivered on. It has no flaws and is the very best I’ve ever experienced in my life for sound.
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