I had been using the Focal Utopia's stock cable as well as the Kimber Axios, both of which I thought were "pretty good". Thus I was skeptical as to how much improvement the Lazuli Reference would actually be - however, seeing that they had an excellent return policy, I decided it was worth exploring the Lazuli for myself. All I can say is that I was literally blown away by the Lazuli Ref, and after about 50 hrs+ of use, I can honestly say that they are a significant improvement over the Utopia stock cable, and even somewhat more surprising, the Kimber Axios as well. I should say that I'm using them balanced from a GS-MkII (as was the Axios). Much has already been said about the Lazuli's strengths, which I certainly agree with in spades -- but if I had to single out one characteristic that sets the Lazuli apart, I would say that it is it's phenomenal ability to extract micro details from a recording and to portray them as part of a unified, very realistic picture of the music as a whole. My bottom line is that the Lazuli Reference is the "real deal" -- I can't recommend it highly enough, even to skeptics who feel that all headphone cables sound alike. Perhaps many do but not the Lazuli Ref, which is in a class by itself. I honestly can't find anything that I don't like about it.