The Abyss

[justin]

well here, its around 400k but you just sign a 2-year lease and write it off as a business expense.  you could be down to net cost 5k/month + gas and insurance

[kevin gilmore]

 

I would not even use that crap on furniture from ikea

 

[morphsci]

My point exactly.

[DefQon]

The build quality of the Lampi stuff is also horrendous

 

Unfortunately but true. Although the L4 I played around with, the innards was a lot better than the one's posted few pages back, but it still doesn't have that professional feel to it. I dunno there is too much bs in the audio realm market to know what exactly you're buying and you can't ever just rely on reviews and specs. 

[atothex]

 

lol I applaud you for not going with a super obvious/crass image of "liquid gold".

[roadtonowhere08]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vJ4zrB41mg

[spritzer]

Unfortunately but true. Although the L4 I played around with, the innards was a lot better than the one's posted few pages back, but it still doesn't have that professional feel to it. I dunno there is too much bs in the audio realm market to know what exactly you're buying and you can't ever just rely on reviews and specs. 

 

That's indeed the problem and it's just confounded by idiots who take to defend something when they have no basis for comparison and indeed don't understand what is wrong in the first place.  Then on top of this most reviews are just useless verbal diarrhea where nothing of substance is ever found.  Just take the review of the Abyss, Gutendverg (my name for him as it is funny in Icelandic... ) basically lists all the crap he got at a massive discount but does he say anything bout the sound?  Strengths, weaknesses, how the transducers behave on different amps?  Nope. it's just the "I sounds GOOD!!!" bs you find in most of these reviews... 

 

Now I'm not asking for that magnum opus of a SR-007 review but something which lists what's good, what's bad and why this product is special. 

[forbigger]

pardon my ignorance.....is the guy with aventador the RSA ray samuels ?? The first pics show some blurry pic of a person who resemble him but unsure 100% if thats him.

 

If that's really him then justin should increase all his products 3 fold......

 

Edit : looks like thats really the RSA Ray Samuels. License plate from Illinois and hes from Skokie. Couldnt be that much of coincidence

Edited July 2, 2013 by forbigger

[Nanoha]

pardon my ignorance.....is the guy with aventador the RSA ray samuels ?? The first pics show some blurry pic of a person who resemble him but unsure 100% if thats him.

 

If that's really him then justin should increase all his products 3 fold......

Yes that is Ray Samuels from RSA

[forbigger]

gosh......and when someone stiff him for $500 he posted it on his web front page.......drives aventador + gtr and bitch big time over $500

[aardvark baguette]

after comparing the LCD1 to the LCD2, I think I'm done with heavy headphones.

 

I'm going to get an HD800 at some point and that will probably be it.

[guzziguy]

That's what I've done.  I rarely listen to my other headphones.

[Leonardo Drummond]

Well, in Brazil a Lamborghini Aventador was worth R$2.800.000 in 2011 (Lamborghini Aventador chega ao Brasil por R$ 2,8 milhões), more and less USD1.550.000 at that time. Most of that price are indirect taxes. You are not going to make such money with a small business because government is your main partner.

 

On the other hand, if your parents found a legal - or illegal - way to make a fortune in Rio de Janeiro, do not worry, you are going to inherit 96%.

 

It is not the same in UK (HM Revenue & Customs) or USA (26 USC § 2001 - Imposition and rate of tax).

 

One should ask the effects of such percentages in donations to charity, health, universities or foundations (Charitable Giving at Death Reported on Estate Tax Returns).

 

Donations to education allow critical mass to debunk bad business (True to your school: US college donations rise dramatically in 2011). 

 

So maybe you are in the wrong country.

 

A "little" off-top, but yes, you're absolutely right. Things here are pretty messed up. We live in a country with Norwegian taxes and Cambodian services. All due to a broken social structure from its root and corruption culture. It's not exclusive to politicians, it's everywhere, it's just how Brazilians deal with things – the infamous "Brazilian way".

 

To top it off, we have an accommodated style of dealing with problems in the country, we just watch and complain on the internet. Happily, with the current protests, it seems that this reality may change. We'll see!

Edited July 2, 2013 by Leonardo Drummond

[justin]

how many at the top in Brazil are actually paying those taxes?

[Leonardo Drummond]

Well, it's hard to get past them, and although some people do manage to evade some of the income taxes (not saying this is right), the majority of people – even among the very rich – pay them, and get nothing in return.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Leonardo Drummond

[jgazal]

how many at the top in Brazil are actually paying those taxes?

 

There is no simple answer to your question. 

 

This is the total tax revenue (arrecadação tributária) as percentage of the GDP (Produto Interno Bruto):

 

http://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/Publico/estudoTributarios/estatisticas/CTB2011.pdf

 

The TTR/GDP does not tell you who is paying those taxes.

 

So we have to investigate which kind of taxes is being imposed. Here we have a chart with collection according to the type of taxation:

 

http://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/Publico/estudoTributarios/estatisticas/CTB2011.pdf

 

Most of the revenue comes from excise taxes (bens e serviços) and payroll taxes (folha de salários). Rice has a 7% excise tax rate in Sao Paulo State and it is consumed by the vast majority of Brazilians. People with high income are usually entrepreneurs or businesspersons with income to travel abroad and bring Veblen goods with their luggage that may not be taxed.

 

To answer your question directly, there is a study that shows this chart of tax burden according to the per capita family income  (renda familiar per capita) in 2002/2003: 

 

 

http://ppe.ipea.gov.br/index.php/ppe/article/viewFile/1224/1072

 

So a person with with R$120 family income is giving R$24 in taxes. If you exempt excise tax on rice, they would probably eat better. 

 

IMHO, people on the top are not equally taxed.

 

In Brazil there are at least 37 taxes. The following chart shows the total revenue per tax. "ICMS" is an excise tax. "ITCD" is the inheritance/estate tax (in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro the inheritance tax has a 4% flat rate no matter the amount of estate):

 

http://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/Publico/estudoTributarios/estatisticas/CTB2011.pdf

 

 

Here we have ”Summary of Collections Before Refunds by Type of Return, FY 2011”, in USA:

 

 

Type of Return Number of Returns Gross Collections

(Millions of $)

Individual income tax

143,607,800

1,331,160

Corporation income tax

2,312,909[2]

242,848

Employment taxes

29,445,812

767,505

Excise taxes

522,165

49,338

Gift tax

207,858

6,572

Estate tax

11,128

2,507

 

http://www.irs.gov/uac/SOI-Tax-Stats-Tax-Stats-at-a-Glance

 

Estate tax is lower, but most of the imposition is exempted since Americans are rather donating their fortunes instead of leaving it to the government. Such flow has an impact in education, private foundations etc. Low and simple taxation during lifetime and high taxation at death. So you keep having the "self-made mans".

 

If you want to compare the TTR/GDP with other countries, including USA:

 

 

Not saying such view is right. The economy of taxation is a complex subject. Unfortunately people do not have the knowledge and data to reach meaningful conclusions, they do not dig deeper, whether is audio electronics or taxation. Anyway, everyone is entitled to have an opinion.

[Tyll Hertsens]

Okay, I've had a bit of time with these now, and I've got to say I think they're pretty damned good so far.

 

So good, that I've sent Tats an email asking for some 009s (still have Stretch's Blue Hawaii---forever grateful mate, please let me know when you're ready for it), and Doug in hopes I can borrow and L-2 to pair with my 800s. I feel the need to do these things because, well, the Abyss seems fucking good from here 3 days into listening.

 

Very fast sounding.  I liked the balance, the LCD-3 sounded thick and somewhat hard in comparison, and the HD 800 thin without body. I reckon I need Dougs magic to ratchet the 800s up a bit. Suffice it to say, these cans do seem to be playing in this league.

 

Measurements were less than stellar though, seems like they're a bit rough in time. Joe says I should try to measure them using the EF6. I'll give that a go as they do seem to sound a bit clearer on the EF6 Vs. HR Max. 

 

We'll see how things pan out over time, but for now I guess I've got to say these are prolly worth a listen for those who have fat wallets.

Edited July 6, 2013 by Tyll Hertsens

[forbigger]

wow.....now cant wait for the comparison to the 009. if its at the same league then i will be very very interested. problems lately for the 009 (imbalance) have left me really worried about the durability in long term.

[n_maher]

Very interesting turn of events.

[Tyll Hertsens]

It ain't over yet.

[justin]

how is the weight?

[Tyll Hertsens]

It's not as bad as I thought it would be. They actually feel more planted on my head than the LCD-3, but the HD 800 is far more comfortable. Still a bit weird, though. You really can tune them a bit with positioning things around.  Wish I could tilt the earcups.

 

Beginning to hear the problem in the treble. They're lightning fast, but a bit hazy. Cymbals and snares don't sound quite as natural as on the HD 800.

 

I'm gonna shut up now. Impressions tend to wobble around a bit as listening progresses and I start to really hear what's going on. And really need to get the top-end gear in to solidify the relationship with the competition. 

Edited July 6, 2013 by Tyll Hertsens

[kevin gilmore]

What's the sensivity?

May have the perfect amplifier

[Tyll Hertsens]

Needs 0.321Vrms into 48 Ohms. 2.5mW for 90dB

 

We've chatted about this before, I just kinda don't buy the general thought that you need 5 Watts or whatever to drive Orthos.

 

The HE6 seems a little zingy to me as well...don't really trust it.

 

Lemme know if you think you've got something for me. Need the box HWL in inches and weight and I'll send you a UPS label.

[spritzer]

That "use a speaker amp" line is just BS.  This has more to do with the voltage swing of the speaker amps as the HF idiots think that means more power.  

 

What they really need is current and while it isn't a whole lot, the amp has to be able to deliver it quickly.  Same can be said about the HD800 though with its wonky impedance.