I see Todd the Vinyl Junkie is offering $1,000 off the Utopia and $300 off the Elear with the trade in of any used, clean, working headphone for the month of September. OK, just saw the Cable Company is as well. Apparently this is a Focal promotional offer.

The Be subject has been hashed through ad nauseam three times thus far over the last 148 pages.  If you still feel the need to opine on the subject please start a thread to the effect "The Utopia will lead to a slow, hideous death...at best".  Otherwise, as noted above, don't buy them if they...

Schiit Yggy is an incredible DAC at a great price for all you get.  The only caveat would be that it will not play DSD.

Thanks Jason and jamto8.  From all of the above I definitely see a pair of Utopia cans and Elear pads in my future.

Perhaps Jason can help with this question:  Will a Utopia balanced cable be available to fit the double 'Pono style' balanced outputs?  I am thinking of the new Ayre QX-5 Twenty which has this setup for its balanced connection.

I appreciate the initial comment.  That said, do you consider any headphone "$4K nice"...e.g. LCD-4; Abyss?  Some context would be great.

I'm pretty much in the same boat; I was initially trying to decide between the HEK, Abyss, and LCD-4.  I'd pretty much decided on the LCD-4 until the Utopia came along last month.  Waiting to hear more impressions and may have to ultimately scrimp, save, and buy two of the above.