How do you like the Luxman P750u? i've been going back and forth between that and the Benchmark to pair with my incoming Bartok
Nice setup. Those 3 boxes are around £30k, so quite a bit more than the Bartok with HA. I would also be interested in how the Luxman sounds as well; have you had an opportunity to compare to something like the HPA4?
Oh and there is no news on any new firmware for the Bartok; I don't think its on the near term horizon unfortunately.
Wow, that is an incredible setup. I too am looking forward to your impressions of the Luxman. Also, it is very interesting to hear about the changes in the Utopia. I have them and agree with your original sentiments about them being a bit light on bass when partnered with certain equipment.
My Previous setup is the Schiit Mj2/ Gumby A1 stack. And upgraded to Rossini w/ Clock and Luxman P750U.
I have both setup in house for a while before I sold the Schiit Stack.
Demoed the Bartok and Rossini with my pair of Utopia
Bartok w/ AMP vs P750u
In short
Bartok DAC only with P750U or a great AMP according to taste
Bartok w/AMP for ultimate transparency and neutral presentation (Best one box Simple solution witoutvneed for interconects )
The AMP with the Bartok is really good in performance. After side by side comparison with Luxman. I can safely say that both of them have similar depth and width of the stage. But the sound signature is different.
Bartok AMP is more analytical, it scales really high in terms of technicality. Position of the vocals is 1 step further compared to the P750u.
The Bartok amp might be a bit clean or too neutral. While the P750u is on the slightly analoge side of neutral. It really depends on the taste of music. Bartok AMP have a more neutral and faster bass response compared to P750U. It is very balance and neutral across the entire spectrum. While P750U does smooth a bit of the high frequency and make the presentation more euphonic.
Pairing the Bartok with Utopia is like pairing a analytical amp with an transparent headphone. It makes the presentation a bit too sterile for my taste. But if you are aiming for ultimate transparency and detail retrieval, Bartok and Utopia is about the best you can get.
Utopia: P750u vs Mjolnir 2
P750u with the Utopia really opens up the stage compared to the Mjolnir 2. It is like sitting at the 4-6 row in the concert hall, compared to sitting on the 1st row (Mjolnir 2). Vocals are more concentrated and solid with the Luxman. I actually started to notice that the Mjolnir 2's presentation a bit strange (the vocals is inside my head and in my face) when I bought the THX 789 and a few portable players and tested my headphone on those.
In terms of tonality, Vocals on the Mjolnir 2 is slightly warmer (Amperex tubes). Vocals are closer to my face on the Mj2. Bass slam is similar but Mj2 have a slight edge over the P750u because of the slightly warmer signature, it has the initial slam but really lack the texture and virbration after wards. Bass on the Luxman is neutral but more detail and texture, generally much higher quality of bass on Luxman.
In terms of detail, the Luxman edges over the Mj2. The main reason due to class A solid-state implementation. The Mj2 would smooth out some of the detail, especially some micro aspects and in the high frequencys and hihat instruments. What makes the Luxman so good is that does help to remove the metalic sound of the utopia but does it in a way that it does not sacrifice any detail. Instruments are further apart and depth is better on the Luxman. There are much more blank space between each instruments with the luxman.
Sorry, I never auditioned the HPA 4. But I have a THX 789 for comparison with P750u.
The THX 789 is a simplified amp. Generally less depth, less width, less texture. It is too clean in sound. It only presents the initial tone for the entire music. For example, the bass it presents the initial hit clearly and perfectly, but unable to presents the remaining texture and decay well enough. Similar to the vocals and other instruments. You would generally missed out a lot of texture on the THX789 as it over simplified the music.