Sorry, no. I was distracted and forgot to. FYI the Utopia owner was experiencing buyers remorse over the Mainline/HD800 combo. *shrug* Again, I heard it on several sources and while a good headphone, the price is still not justified. Then again I don't think any of the top tier prices are - but that's me. There has to be a better way to make good headphones cheaper. Maybe I'll make it a mission.
I'm not sure if you are talking about the recent meet or not here. I'm just going at jump out on a limb and assume you are, so totally ignore me if this is not the case and I'll be over here with my foot in my mouth
At the meet you were listening to a Carbon - not a vanilla KGSS. So keep that in mind; the Carbon is a very top tier estat amp where as a KGSS is not quite of the same pedigree. I would also like to say that I may have overly down played how I feel about the Utopia's. I don't really have buyers remorse persai, I just feel that the Utopia's really only have one downside and that downside happens to be a very important aspect of a headphone to me. I am very much drawn towards the large sense of spatiality of HD800's presentation which nearly every other headphone by contrast is very much lacking, the 009's and Utopia's included. If the Utopia's offered this, they would be by far and wide my preferred choice.
But they don't.
What they do offer is nearly everything the 009's offer in terms of resolution and transparency but with a more natural, rich tone and a very firm bottom end. For reference, I am using DAVE->Utopia's vs DAVE->DIY T2->009 so there is a consistent source and headphones are being fed as pretty much as clear a signal as possible. The 009's still offer a unique fluttery/enthral quality that the Utopia's lack. That quality, however, is akin the HD800's soundstage - something that is a unique characteristic that some may or may not be grabbed by. It isn't essential for "great sound" and isn't something measured by someone like Tyll. Anyway, in the comparison I have a very hard time putting the 009's ahead of the Utopia's as far as detail retrieval. The Utopia's are truly, in my eyes, the answer to the 009's that non-estat guys have been waiting for. I would not be surprised if Focal used the 009's as their reference 'to beat' when designing the Utopia's.
I will also add that my daily 'go to' is still the DAVE->HD800SDR's and the trusty HD800's absolutely hold their own against the Utopia's (and to the 009's) as far as their detail retrieval goes - in most cases. Where the 800's fall behind is on "background" noises (I don't know the right term here) - if something is placed farther away on the stage - is can get muddied and I think this may be a result of the large soundstage that the 800's project. For example, if someone is playing guitar front and centre stage, everything is there on the HD800, the decay of the vibration of the string, the reverb in the guitar cavity, the fingernails hitting it and so on. If that guitarist walks away to the far back/side of the stage, even with their own mic and the details roll off. There is something odd going on there with the 800's but they can't resolve side to side as well as dead centre.
The second time they lose the battle is on larger complex passages - here both the Utopia's and 009 quickly pull ahead in their ability to resolve. Take any well recored orchestra or choir and you can't pick out individual... Anything... on the 800's. Here, the Utopia's and 009's muscle shows in full force. The 009's, if I had to chose, would still likely have the edge over the Utopia's here but with other sacrifices that I would not be willing to take. There is still one headphone out there would easily best best both for resolution, however.
I also want to add that comparing a Mainline to a Carbon really isn't a fair fight. Both are DIY products but a Carbon - in raw parts cost - is several, several, several times more costly and is far more complex in its design. Keep in mind that the BOM for a Carbon will come from places like Mouser and the like. Bottlehead likely sources parts from similar places to create their BOM. Once that's done they add markup to the whole package (which they should for all their R&D, management and so on). My point is the 'efficiency' of money being used to build your own Carbon is higher than buying a Bottlehead kit - you've cut another layer out of the chain. Just the same that buying a kit and building it is a more 'efficient' use of money than buying a pre-made amp.
I think I have always been very clear that I am a HUGE fan of the Mainline, but given enough money, it does not represent the apex of the headphone amp food chain. In my long winded way, what I am trying to say is that I suspect that your Mainline had more to do with the lost details than the HD800's themselves. At least, that is my suspicion.