Ifalna
100+ Head-Fier
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- Mar 3, 2012
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Utopia vs Clear is just a slight difference in frequency response. If you EQ them to the same target, you won't be able to tell them apart in double blind tests.I use to own the Clears for 6 to 8 months. I used them daily with the Topping A90 and Gustard A18. And to the people that claim the Clear are 85% of the Utopia. May I ask, what are you smoking? Id put the Clear at 60% of the Utopia. I'm 24 years old and have decent hearing going up to 18.2khz.
What you hear is a strongly elevated treble response that gives the illusion of "more detail". It WoW's you in the beginning but can (unless it hits your general preference) lead to fatigue in the long run.
You can see the same effects in Focals speaker lines, though there you also get the added benefit of notable lower distortions. Both Clear and Utopia has such low THD, that it's basically inaudible in real world musical content.
So basically you want a slightly higher output impedance... IIRC Arche does impedance matching to all Focals cans via pre-set profiles.Avoid any gear bellow £2000. You need high end gear that works well with it. Like the Focal Arche. The Topping A90 does not work well with the utopia. The sound is too analytical, dry sounding and not musical.
Not supposed to be a diss or anything, just putting what you experience/like in scientific perspective. I too use an EQ on my ADI-2 DAC that mimics a higher output impedance because "au natural" it sounded a bit cold to me.
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