[ppbb]

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.

Utopia treble peaked, muddied mids........not even close to accurate. Utopia has fantastic punch, resolution and imaging.

 

[xirxes]

Utopia treble peaked, muddied mids........not even close to accurate. Utopia has fantastic punch, resolution and imaging.

Just my opinion man. Utopia one of the brighter cans out there to me ears, other than Celestee. Driver physical clipping aside it is definitely treble forward to be kind.

 

[iamoneagain]

Utopia treble peaked, muddied mids........not even close to accurate. Utopia has fantastic punch, resolution and imaging.

I never had a treble issue and thought the Utopia had excellent punch, resolution and imaging. But then after owning the Expanse, I was shocked that the Expanse had much better resolution and positioning with stock cable than Utopia with Danacable Reference. On the Expanse, guitar is noticeably better. Background details are easier to hear and position. Vocals clearer.

Now the question of punch is interesting. Would have felt the Utopia would win but when I compared both back and forth for a week it was basically a tie. Think the Utopia has a hint more bass bloom giving it more weight on some songs but the Expanse hits just as hard, has more resolution and texture and more sub bass.

I’m listening out of Naim HE and it’s excellent for both Utopia and Expanse. Leans on the fun, rhythmic side of things. Think the Utopia will sound better out of more systems due to power constraints of the system but felt the Expanse was clear winner out of the Naim HE. And this system was designed for the Focal headphones.