[Andrewteee]

Well I went and ordered a pair thru headphones.com. They have free overnight shipping and 365 day return policy. Figure if I like it better than the Focal Utopia, I’ll put those up for sale. I just got a job promotion, so this is my gift to myself. I’ll post some impressions tomorrow night.

Congrats on the promo. I just caved in too. Similar case, getting my bonus on the 15th.

 

[xirxes]

Congrats on the promo. I just caved in too. Similar case, getting my bonus on the 15th.

Both of you read the fine print though. You will be up for 10% restocking fee if you return at a minimum, lots of other arbitrary potential addons.

I ordered from DCA because they had only 5% max, but only 15 days

 

[iamoneagain]

You will know immediately once you try both. Utopia will need a new name

I’ll know soon enough but can just give a general comparison between the two? The biggest worry I have is about bass slam. That was sort of the turn off for the Stealth based on reading reviews. It seemed like if didn’t have a great seal, people had issues with the bass. I’d imagine with the Expanse, you don’t have to worry about the seal. And Dan mentioned that he was able to give more energy to that area because of the open design.

The Focal Utopia can also have issues with bass on the wrong system and fortunately the Naim HE has the best bass and slam out of the setups I’ve tried, which was Hugo 2, Chord Dave, and Focal Arche.

 

[iamoneagain]

Both of you read the fine print though. You will be up for 10% restocking fee if you return at a minimum, lots of other arbitrary potential addons.

I ordered from DCA because they had only 5% max, but only 15 days

Yeah, kind of figured that but headphones.com had free overnight and 365 days return, no upfront sales tax. Figured I’d need a month or more with both headphones to know for sure.

Also, I wasn’t sure if buying from Dan Clark directly was actually out of San Diego and standard free shipping would be next day.

 

[xirxes]

I’ll know soon enough but can just give a general comparison between the two? The biggest worry I have is about bass slam. That was sort of the turn off for the Stealth based on reading reviews. It seemed like if didn’t have a great seal, people had issues with the bass. I’d imagine with the Expanse, you don’t have to worry about the seal. And Dan mentioned that he was able to give more energy to that area because of the open design.

The Focal Utopia can also have issues with bass on the wrong system and fortunately the Naim HE has the best bass and slam out of the setups I’ve tried, which was Hugo 2, Chord Dave, and Focal Arche.

I just commented on this in the official expanse thread but here’s my canned answer:

Utopia is treble peaked, muddied mids from unrefined bass as compared to Expanse. The details on utopia will feel brittle and thin compared to the weight added by Ex.

As to slam, if you hear these new cans (after 75-100 hour burn in) and think there is not good macro dynamics/no slam then I would argue that there is one of our up to all three things happening at once:

1- Your chain is potentially the limiting factor. A very discerning DAC and powerful yet slightly warmer than neutral amp is required to juice this fruit just right.

2-Your ears have been inundated with overbalanced and elevated bass via V shaped cans or EQ for so long that this is what you have come to expect/require as a baseline and see anything shy as inferior. When you hear the removal of distortion and muddying of mids due to low quality and over quantity of bass in the Expanse, the music becomes revealed in a way akin to removing a wet blanket from a speaker.

3-You simply prefer a heavier bass signiture than what is presented in Expanse/Stealth as a “natural normal correct live listening reproduction” of the music.

2&3 are hard to separate but they can be with attention and time. 3 is not “wrong” but a personal preference that you can EQ in to expanse if you would like, but I argue that heavily overbassed and V shaped cans have a much harder/impossible time EQ’ing that out to reach “natural” sound.

 

[Andrewteee]

Both of you read the fine print though. You will be up for 10% restocking fee if you return at a minimum, lots of other arbitrary potential addons.

I ordered from DCA because they had only 5% max, but only 15 days

I get weird about returning used things like headphones. I'll just sell them (or another pair or two) in time. I like to live with things for a while anyway.

 

[iamoneagain]

I get weird about returning used things like headphones. I'll just sell them (or another pair or two) in time. I like to live with things for a while anyway.

Well really what got me was the free overnight shipping and no sales tax. So for $3999, I get them tomorrow. Figured the return policy was good if somehow the Naim HE was underpowered, which I don’t think will be the case. Or Utopia happen to hit my preference more. But yeah, don’t plan to just keep them around for 11 months and then return them at that point.

 

[Keksstein]

I*m coming from HD800 and Utopia, now I have the Expanse for testing from my HiFi dealer. Incredible sounding headphone, I really love it. But I have some problems with the "airtight" seal from this headphone. I'm getting an air pressure feeling after a few minutes, I also can hear my heartbeat as pressure feeling in the background after a while. Anyone else having problems like this? Will this get comfortable after a wile? It is my first headphone (except for IEMs) that has a seal between transducer and ear, perhaps I need a while to get used to? Thanks!

regards,
Jan

 

[xirxes]

I*m coming from HD800 and Utopia, now I have the Expanse for testing from my HiFi dealer. Incredible sounding headphone, I really love it. But I have some problems with the "airtight" seal from this headphone. I'm getting an air pressure feeling after a few minutes, I also can hear my heartbeat as pressure feeling in the background after a while. Anyone else having problems like this? Will this get comfortable after a wile? It is my first headphone (except for IEMs) that has a seal between transducer and ear, perhaps I need a while to get used to? Thanks!

regards,
Jan

I do not believe that there is a seal here, and certainly less of a seal than Stealth. I’ve not experienced this so cannot speak to its remedy sorry.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

I do not believe that there is a seal here, and certainly less of a seal than Stealth. I’ve not experienced this so cannot speak to its remedy sorry.

Agreed

 

[Keksstein]

Thank you both. That means, if you use your Stealth/Expanse without Signal, you cant hear noises from your body or anything?
The Expanse isolates noise much better than my other headphones, perhaps this is what confuses me. Had no closed headphone on my head since years. Hope I get used to.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

Thank you both. That means, if you use your Stealth/Expanse without Signal, you cant hear noises from your body or anything?
The Expanse isolates noise much better than my other headphones, perhaps this is what confuses me. Had no closed headphone on my head since years. Hope I get used to.

They let sound in. They do not completely attenuate external noises.

 

[xirxes]

Thank you both. That means, if you use your Stealth/Expanse without Signal, you cant hear noises from your body or anything?
The Expanse isolates noise much better than my other headphones, perhaps this is what confuses me. Had no closed headphone on my head since years. Hope I get used to.

It is what I call a “semi-open” configuration. I believe what you are feeling is the AMTS that is a physical presence between ear and outside. You will get used to it. As to bodily sounds honestly that seems psycho-somatic in nature and I’m sure it’s something that you can cease experiencing in time if you choose to. Not every set of cans is right for every person, but to each their own. Good luck

 

[iamoneagain]

I don’t like having them in my head when music is not playing. It’s almost like theres the feeling of noise canceling going on. You can still hear outside sounds but you don’t want to hold a conversation with anyone with the music stopped and headphones on. It’s more closely to feeling of closed can the open. One of the reasons I wanted it. The Utopia was too open. And most closed headphones had closed in feeling, so didn’t want that. The Stealth doesn’t but also don’t like it’s sound signature.

 

[ra990]

I*m coming from HD800 and Utopia, now I have the Expanse for testing from my HiFi dealer. Incredible sounding headphone, I really love it. But I have some problems with the "airtight" seal from this headphone. I'm getting an air pressure feeling after a few minutes, I also can hear my heartbeat as pressure feeling in the background after a while. Anyone else having problems like this? Will this get comfortable after a wile? It is my first headphone (except for IEMs) that has a seal between transducer and ear, perhaps I need a while to get used to? Thanks!

regards,
Jan

That's just the feel of the semi-open design. I get this claustrophobic feeling with closed headphones after a while, which is why I sold Stealth. Unfortunately, the lack of air due to the not completely open design of the Expanse has the same effect on me. You might be similarly sensitive to that.