[sdwong]

I haven't tried with the Utopias, but with the other headphones the WA8 was incredibly enjoyable to listen with, but a bit behind on detail compared to my Yggy/S6 rig. If I was the kind of person who travelled for work a lot and listened for pleasure more than anything I would have bought the WA8. 

@AnakChan
 has the WA8 though so if he hasn't already with any luck he'll chime in with his thoughts.

I think one nice thing about the Utopias is how gracefully they scale down if the components used aren't TOTL. You only lose detail and the sound ends up, as other people have described, somewhat "in your head". You keep much of their coherency though.

The Sony Z1R is a different beast. It's very coloured, but can be very entertaining if you want to rock-out where the Utopias are more pure/polite. 

Thank you.

With close to 200 hrs of run in for the Utopia and 230 for the WA8. The combination do sound wonderful and enjoyable. I have read the Utopia scale well with "better" equipment and I do think so, given the transparent nature of the Utopia. Hence, I am willing to explore some TOTL electronics for the Focal.

 

[Fastnbulbous]

Since you're in Japan, I'm surprised you didn't also get a Stax SR-07 setup. Hopefully someone can do that shootout when MrSpeakers releases their Ether ES for reviews.

 

[MidFiMoney]

 
I haven't tried with the Utopias, but with the other headphones the WA8 was incredibly enjoyable to listen with, but a bit behind on detail compared to my Yggy/S6 rig. If I was the kind of person who travelled for work a lot and listened for pleasure more than anything I would have bought the WA8. 
 
@AnakChan has the WA8 though so if he hasn't already with any luck he'll chime in with his thoughts.
 
I think one nice thing about the Utopias is how gracefully they scale down if the components used aren't TOTL. You only lose detail and the sound ends up, as other people have described, somewhat "in your head". You keep much of their coherency though.
 
The Sony Z1R is a different beast. It's very coloured, but can be very entertaining if you want to rock-out where the Utopias are more pure/polite. 

This may sound like a silly question but I'm going to ask anyway haha. I purchased the Vega, partly based on your review. I find it to be an awesome counterpart to the Kaiser Encore, offering a nice change of pace. 
 
I've recently been watching the Utopia and I'm fairly certain it will be my end-game set of cans. However, I'm still interested in a full-sized headphone that offers a similar experience as the Vega. Aside from soundstage width, would you say the MDR-Z1R could foot the bill or am I way off? Thanks!

 

[Currawong]

  I agree that the Utopias are more "pure" but I wouldn't call them polite due to their excellent dynamics. I find they make my HD800S seem laid back. Is this what you meant by polite Amos?

 
I think I had that impression after listening with the Z1R to rock, which they deliver more aggressively. The Utopias are less in-your-face in comparison.
 

  This may sound like a silly question but I'm going to ask anyway haha. I purchased the Vega, partly based on your review. I find it to be an awesome counterpart to the Kaiser Encore, offering a nice change of pace. 
 
I've recently been watching the Utopia and I'm fairly certain it will be my end-game set of cans. However, I'm still interested in a full-sized headphone that offers a similar experience as the Vega. Aside from soundstage width, would you say the MDR-Z1R could foot the bill or am I way off? Thanks!

 
Not silly at all. I was expecting more similarity, but when I compared them just now, the Z1R, which I thought had a lot of bass, doesn't seem to have even as much as the Vegas, but has a more forward mid-range. The treble difference depends on the tips you like with the Vegas. I haven't tested the Sonys out of different amps yet either and I was using the Vegas out of the Continental V5, which is most like the Studio Six in presentation.

 

[MidFiMoney]

 
Not silly at all. I was expecting more similarity, but when I compared them just now, the Z1R, which I thought had a lot of bass, doesn't seem to have even as much as the Vegas, but has a more forward mid-range. The treble difference depends on the tips you like with the Vegas. I haven't tested the Sonys out of different amps yet either and I was using the Vegas out of the Continental V5, which is most like the Studio Six in presentation.

That's actually good news to me. I like the Vega bass but sometimes it's a bit too much for me. And who doesn't like forward mids??? I know I do! The MDR-Z1R shall remain on the list for now.

 

[eantala]

Fantastic thread, please keep it coming.  Since I got the Utopia a month back Ive been pleased and haven't used anything else.
I need to dust off my hd800 and LCDx and do a comparison myself!
 
I feel the Utopia will be my last headphone but I only got a Taurus Mk2 / nad m51.  Im really wanting to upgrade to something that will maximize them just not sure yet (I don't have the money to buy a Dave though) so I'll have to do more reading.

 

[Oregonian]

Currawong,

Have you considered the Pioneer Master 1 as a potential "king"? I ask because I got one and it is quite an improvement over the Sony and Ether I auditioned a while back...............I've been attempting to unseat the HE-6 as my personal king and this is after a few hours of listening it's impressed me as much as I've ever been impressed.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

  Fantastic thread, please keep it coming.  Since I got the Utopia a month back Ive been pleased and haven't used anything else.
I need to dust off my hd800 and LCDx and do a comparison myself!
 
I feel the Utopia will be my last headphone but I only got a Taurus Mk2 / nad m51.  Im really wanting to upgrade to something that will maximize them just not sure yet (I don't have the money to buy a Dave though) so I'll have to do more reading.

I have yet to use the Taurus mk2 with the Utopia... Interesting combo. The Utopia doesn't need that kind of power but it would be interesting to know the synergy with it. what you used any other amps with the Utopia?

 

[phaeton70]

Utopia and Taurus are a great combo. power is more than enough, and the timbre of Taurus (slighlty on the warm side) is perfect IMHO for the Utopia.
 
to have a better combo I needed to upgrade my 300B with new and better tubes, so now I'm using Utopia with my custom 300B, but Taurus is definitely a good amp for those little cute french cans 

 
 
PS using a non balanced cable both with Taurus and 300B

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

Utopia and Taurus are a great combo. power is more than enough, and the timbre of Taurus (slighlty on the warm side) is perfect IMHO for the Utopia.

to have a better combo I needed to upgrade my 300B with new and better tubes, so now I'm using Utopia with my custom 300B, but Taurus is definitely a good amp for those little cute french cans   

PS using a non balanced cable both with Taurus and 300B

I never got warmth from the Taurus.... I will try it again when I go back to the store to see if my opinion of that changes. I always got a ton of power out of it though!

 

[Currawong]

Currawong,

Have you considered the Pioneer Master 1 as a potential "king"? I ask because I got one and it is quite an improvement over the Sony and Ether I auditioned a while back...............I've been attempting to unseat the HE-6 as my personal king and this is after a few hours of listening it's impressed me as much as I've ever been impressed.

 
I kept missing out on sitting down and giving them a proper evaluation when I was at the last couple of Tokyo shows.  I'll have to see if I can't borrow a pair in the future.

 

[boomtube]

Curious if anyone is using Violectric V281 or 280 with their Utopia's...if so, your impressions?

 

[purk]

The Utopia most impressive feature maybe it's ability to sound completely awesome out of portable source. I have great results out both the zx100 and zx2. You cant even listen to the hd800 and hek v2 out of those two players with good results.

 

[Currawong]

The Utopia most impressive feature maybe it's ability to sound completely awesome out of portable source. I have great results out both the zx100 and zx2. You cant even listen to the hd800 and hek v2 out of those two players with good results.

I find it degrades far more gracefully than other cans with less than stellar gear, merely losing detail without losing character.

 

[Mortalcoil]

Nice thread Currawong.  Keep the impressions coming.  I have the feeling that you are being very objective on your opinions thus far, which is a good thing IMO.  I have recently seen a couple of reviews that seem to lean towards the LCD-4, very biased impressions me thinks.
 
Looking forward to more comments and "GO TEAM UTOPIA" yay .........