2 things noted about the Abyss is that they have
(1) Great soundstaging (like an open field);
(2) Somewhat ringing/fatiguing highs.
IME, these 2 characteristics always seem to go together in both headphones and speakers.
It's as if the spatial information is somewhere in the very high frequencies.
Examples: HD800s, HE6s, several Grados, or speakers with Beryllium or Titanium tweeters (like JM Labs/Focal).
So the reports on the Abyss sound strangely familiar.
As if, here we go again, the phones sound open and spacious like speakers, but there are issues in the treble (ringing).
Same old story.
It's a rare bird of a system that can get both of these right, and a good design uses a somewhat closed in feeling for relaxing and musical tonality.
Thus, phones like HE500s, TH900s, and LCD3s strike an ideal balance in this (at least for me they do, and that's why I love all of these three as my go-to phones).
Phones like HD650s have the opposite problem and sound too closed and claustrophobic to me.
Edited by rgs9200m - 7/28/13 at 11:07am