[xxx1313]

I see a lot of people having the desires to use SusVara with Full scale home speakers amplifier by using specially made Adapter by Hifiman. In the mean while ? I am having my mind blown by Utopia out of a Walkman...yes....a Walkman. To me, this is a huge winner already

Right. One does not need a material battle to drive the Utopia to a really great sound.

 

[matthewhypolite]

The Utopia really is spectacular in its efficiency, the most efficient of all my high end cans.

 

[up late]

that's another thing i like about the utopia over its planar magnetic and estat rivals

 

[Imusicman]

I have the Liquid Gold (9W) sitting outside the pictures and all I find with my headphones is that it adds the sweet Cavalli signature, and slightly reduces the transparency from the DAVE direct. There really isn't a power issue direct from the DAVE for me. I don't have the LCD-4 or HE-6 or difficult to drive headphones so it's not a concern to me at all. I'm sure others will disagree, but I'm in the camp that enough power with a little headroom is simply enough for my listening levels, after that the unused power is a waste to me, unless cranking the volume to max and destroying your hearing and headphones.

Good design and implementation are far more important to me than an unused max power spec. Being the Utopia thread, I can say the DAVE powers them fine at -30 to -40 volume (depending on the track), which is less than half the output capabilies of the DAVE, so no worries about power with the Utopia for me.

I Totally agree.I don't fall into the "more power must be better camp". -30 is plenty loud enough for me even on the quietest of tracks. -35 to -30 is my usual range.

 

[Imusicman]

How does the Hifiman Susvara compare to the focal utopia?

Hi there. Hope all is well with you since we last exchanged messages. I tried the Susvara recently at the London CanJam and I have to say it left me cold. It was a huge disappointment to me. I honestly thought it would blow me away given the price tag. I would take the Utopia over the Susvara any day of the week. Putting the price to one side, for me it just seemed bright & thin sounding for want of a better expression. There has been quite a few head-fiers with similar findings commenting on this in the London CanJam thread. It might be worth giving it a read if you haven't already done so. I much preferred the HE1 V2 and the Edition X V2 over the Susvara but each to their own I guess.

 

[AnakChan]

Hi there. Hope all is well with you since we last exchanged messages. I tried the Susvara recently at the London CanJam and I have to say it left me cold. It was a huge disappointment to me. I honestly thought it would blow me away given the price tag. I would take the Utopia over the Susvara any day of the week. Putting the price to one side, for me it just seemed bright & thin sounding for want of a better expression. There has been quite a few head-fiers with similar findings commenting on this in the London CanJam thread. It might be worth giving it a read if you haven't already done so. I much preferred the HE1 V2 and the Edition X V2 over the Susvara but each to their own I guess.

I can't speak for the Susvara in London CanJam as I don't know what it was driven by but from the little experience I've had with the Susvara (3 times in the past 3 months - 2x at shows, 1x Hifiman office), as mentioned in the Susvara thread I believe it's particularly sensitive to what's driving it. If the amp isn't powerful enough to drive the Susvara it can sound very underwhelming. In my correspondence with some folks, even something like the EC Balancing Act wouldn't do it justice as such at least in the shows in Tokyo the Susvara was driven by the EF1000. Often one would read about trying to have the Susvara driven off by a speaker amp taps via the HE-Adapter.

Having clarified that point, assume the Susvara is being driven "properly", personally I find the Susvara and Utopia to be rather different and can't say whether one is better than the other technically - however tonally their signatures are different and that'll be up to the listener's personal preference. I actually feel the Susvara to sound more on the wholesome warm side of the fence whilst the Utopia to be more tonally balance. I didn't find the Susvara to sound bright nor thin (which was what lead me to think if it was the amp used in CanJam, but again, I wasn't there).

I don't have the Susvara but I've had the Utopia since Dec '16 and in my little public and private Susvara demo sessions, from the tonal signature perspective I think they both compliment each other. It's more the technical qualities that I'm more curious about the Susvara vs the Utopia.

 

[Whitigir]

The Utopia really is spectacular in its efficiency, the most efficient of all my high end cans.

And that is a huge "win" in my opinions. Not to mention the Utopia can scale so well to your arsenal. Btw, IMO, I found Hybrid cables are great with Utopia !

 

[musicman59]

I can't speak for the Susvara in London CanJam as I don't know what it was driven by but from the little experience I've had with the Susvara (3 times in the past 3 months - 2x at shows, 1x Hifiman office), as mentioned in the Susvara thread I believe it's particularly sensitive to what's driving it. If the amp isn't powerful enough to drive the Susvara it can sound very underwhelming. In my correspondence with some folks, even something like the EC Balancing Act wouldn't do it justice as such at least in the shows in Tokyo the Susvara was driven by the EF1000. Often one would read about trying to have the Susvara driven off by a speaker amp taps via the HE-Adapter.

Having clarified that point, assume the Susvara is being driven "properly", personally I find the Susvara and Utopia to be rather different and can't say whether one is better than the other technically - however tonally their signatures are different and that'll be up to the listener's personal preference. I actually feel the Susvara to sound more on the wholesome warm side of the fence whilst the Utopia to be more tonally balance. I didn't find the Susvara to sound bright nor thin (which was what lead me to think if it was the amp used in CanJam, but again, I wasn't there).

I don't have the Susvara but I've had the Utopia since Dec '16 and in my little public and private Susvara demo sessions, from the tonal signature perspective I think they both compliment each other. It's more the technical qualities that I'm more curious about the Susvara vs the Utopia.

I agree with you. I also own the Utopia for sometime and listened to the Susvara at Axpona. I think the Susvara is a nice headphone but I have a real problem justifying it's price (50% more than the Utopia or LCD4) when it really did not blow me out of my chair when I listened to it.

 

[Whitigir]

Another win on Utopia to me is the control of "treble". This special part of treble, which creates sibilant, and is a unique problem to Headphones only due to how close the drivers are to the ears. Utopia has this very little special section controlled so well that every other spectrums are still showing details, extends all the way, balanced, Dynamic, and no Sibilants. I don't know how people do not take this serious enough. But this and the efficiency are the 2 main reasons are the unique features in sonic performances that Utopia is offering.

Utopia is an art !

 

[paul2qute]

Hi there. Hope all is well with you since we last exchanged messages. I tried the Susvara recently at the London CanJam and I have to say it left me cold. It was a huge disappointment to me. I honestly thought it would blow me away given the price tag. I would take the Utopia over the Susvara any day of the week. Putting the price to one side, for me it just seemed bright & thin sounding for want of a better expression. There has been quite a few head-fiers with similar findings commenting on this in the London CanJam thread. It might be worth giving it a read if you haven't already done so. I much preferred the HE1 V2 and the Edition X V2 over the Susvara but each to their own I guess.

Cheers for the reply mate, hope your well too

 

[meomap]

Another win on Utopia to me is the control of "treble". This special part of treble, which creates sibilant, and is a unique problem to Headphones only due to how close the drivers are to the ears. Utopia has this very little special section controlled so well that every other spectrums are still showing details, extends all the way, balanced, Dynamic, and no Sibilants. I don't know how people do not take this serious enough. But this and the efficiency are the 2 main reasons are the unique features in sonic performances that Utopia is offering.

Utopia is an art !

It is a win if QC dept is well controlled with their product coming out of production.

 

[Whitigir]

It is a win if QC dept is well controlled with their product coming out of production.

Neither me nor my friend have issues with Utopia out of the box, and those are two physical Headphones brand new out of the box. All this quality control issues I hear about are only around the internet. So if you ask me ? I don't believe it.

 

[meomap]

Neither me nor my friend have issues with Utopia out of the box, and those are two physical Headphones brand new out of the box. All this quality control issues I hear about are only around the internet. So if you ask me ? I don't believe it.

Believe it friend.
Focal is holding my 3rd for further evaluation due to rattle sound for right side driver.

 

[Allanmarcus]

yep. I had to return my utopia as well to fix a rattle in the headband. Once replaced, the replacement works great.

I think the main issue with "quality control" we are reading about on the 'net is the unit that Tyll had when he did his initial review vs the other units he has tested, and the discrepancy between them. There are always going to be manufacturing defects, and the process should only get better with focal's experience over time.

 

[meomap]

yep. I had to return my utopia as well to fix a rattle in the headband. Once replaced, the replacement works great.

I think the main issue with "quality control" we are reading about on the 'net is the unit that Tyll had when he did his initial review vs the other units he has tested, and the discrepancy between them. There are always going to be manufacturing defects, and the process should only get better with focal's experience over time.

His unit is in summer of 2016.
Mine is June of 2017.
A year a part.