[MacedonianHero]

  Can anyone comment specifically on classical music, and how the Utopia fares in comparison to cans like the HD800 and Stax 009? Thanks.

 
All are outstanding for classical and likely among the best I've heard for that genre. The HD800's offer incredible imaging and the best of the three IMO. I personally prefer the HD800S over the HD800 headphones. That said, the Utopia's pull out a bit more from the recording and are better balanced (tonally speaking) and locate things with razor sharp precision. The SR-009s are like a magnifying glass into the recording and I think still up the ante a bit more. I find the SR-009s to image a bit better than the Utopias. Picking between the SR-009s and Utopias is a hard choice, I'll need a few more weeks with the Focals. That said, I do prefer both the SR-009s and Utopias over my HD800S headphones...though none of them are going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[The Walrus]

And Elear arrives. I'm impressed. But it really needs EQ'in in the 8 - 16 KHz band. It's a bit dark sounding otherwise. 
Anyone thinks the same? What about Utopia? 

 

[MacedonianHero]

  And Elear arrives. I'm impressed. But it really needs EQ'in in the 8 - 16 KHz band. It's a bit dark sounding otherwise. 
Anyone thinks the same? What about Utopia? 

 
So far, I've found the Utopia's spot on and I don't feel the need for any EQ'ing. Actually with regards to their tonality, I find them virtually spot on. The Elears are the darker headphones, but I hope to hear them very soon...look to rock the market in the $1k range.

 

[TMRaven]

  And Elear arrives. I'm impressed. But it really needs EQ'in in the 8 - 16 KHz band. It's a bit dark sounding otherwise. 
Anyone thinks the same? What about Utopia? 

 
 
I found them pretty robust in that range.  I actually eq 10khz down by 2db or so.  I EQ 4-5khz up by about 3db, as I find that to be the area where they're recessed the most.

 

[x RELIC x]

Don't be so modest! I always like to get Tyll's take on new headphone releases and it was googly-moogly good, but your review is the catalyst for my upcoming purchase.

I appreciate all the great descriptions because it all sounds too good to be true! There really hasn't been anything negative that would make me hesitate purchasing this world class headphone except the price; however, this may be one of the first at this point that is truly worth it.

While I'm quite enthusiastic about the Utopia and would agree with a lot of Tyll's views about them I would always recommend an audition if you can. I'd hate to see someone purchase based solely on my enthusiasm and then not like them. That said, as I've mentioned before, if they didn't meet my (very high) expectations I was going to return them. Well, that didn't happen.

 

[moshen]

   
You are more than welcome to like synthetic music...I prefer the real stuff. 

 Can I ask how old you are? 
 

 
I'm 38. But that's besides the point. I have an extremely diverse group of music friends that include folks your age and older who love all sorts of music including completely embracing or solely focused on hip-hop & electronic. The more I travel the world and go out for music the more I realize how silly it is to typecast age and music demographics. Your comment is a joke, but that along with asking my age still continues to reinforce my comment about perhaps needing to get out of your social/musical bubble
 
I'm planning on buying the Utopia it will mostly be to listen to electronic & hip-hop..

 

[MacedonianHero]

   
I'm 38. But that's besides the point. I have an extremely diverse group of music friends that include folks your age and older who love all sorts of music including completely embracing or solely focused on hip-hop & electronic. The more I travel the world and go out for music the more I realize how silly it is to typecast age and music demographics. Your comment is a joke, but that along with asking my age still continues to reinforce my comment about perhaps needing to get out of your social/musical bubble
 
I'm planning on buying the Utopia it will mostly be to listen to electronic & hip-hop..

 
I'm 44 and I suppose I'm a little more settled in my music. You are right, my comment was a joke...see that's where the "

" comes in. 

 I'm more of a melodic driven music fan. I have Tidal so I have access to copious amounts of electronica and hip-hop. Tried to go down that route many times and they just aren't not for me...really, doesn't get me going like rock, metal, jazz, or classical music. Country is another genre that many have tried to get me into and I've tried, but in the end I didn't get it.
 
I personally wouldn't go with the Utopia's for hip-hop...for me the best I've heard with that genre are the Lawton LA-900s. The TH-900s had a treble that was on the trouble-some side of things...but the Lawton mods fixed this completely, tightened up the bass even more and offered an outstanding headphone that would offer the thump down low for hip hop.

 

[gintamafans]

   
I'm 44 and I suppose I'm a little more settled in my music. You are right, my comment was a joke...see that's where the "

" comes in. 

 I'm more of a melodic driven music fan. I have Tidal so I have access to copious amounts of electronica and hip-hop. Tried to go down that route many times and they just aren't not for me...really, doesn't get me going like rock, metal, jazz, or classical music. Country is another genre that many have tried to get me into and I've tried, but in the end I didn't get it.
 
I personally wouldn't go with the Utopia's for hip-hop...for me the best I've heard with that genre are the Lawton LA-900s. The TH-900s had a treble that was on the trouble-some side of things...but the Lawton mods fixed this completely, tightened up the bass even more and offered an outstanding headphone that would offer the thump down low for hip hop.

 
 
So Utopia is not for hip-pop? Main stream music? Like Adele or One Direction?

 

[Vigrith]

Not to further derail the thread but I can't believe some people are still associating genres with age groups and implying maturity leads to some sort of musical elitism in 2016. Good grief.

Ps. Looking forward to snatching an Elear upon European release.

 

[moshen]

   
Cool..I'm 44 and I suppose I'm a little more settled in my music. You are right, my comment was a joke...see that's where the "

" comes in. 

 I'm more of a melodic driven music fan. I have Tidal so I have access to copious amounts of electronica and hip-hop. Tried to go down that route and just not for me...really, doesn't get me going like rock, metal, jazz, or classical music.
 
I personally wouldn't go with the Utopia's for hip-hop...for me the best I've heard with that genre are the Lawton LA-900s. The TH-900s had a treble that was on the trouble-some side of things...but the Lawton mods fixed this completely, tightened up the bass even more and offered an outstanding headphone that would offer the thump down low for hip hop.

Yea, it was a joke but we both know there is truth to how you feel there and it's a half kidding rib
 
Anyway, elevated or V shaped responses aren't for me. Which is why I like and own my HE1000 for both genres. It's warm of neutral but not too much tilted. For straight techno the HE1000 could use some more dynamics which is why I'm interested in the Utopia.

 

[moshen]

Not to further derail the thread but I can't believe some people are still associating genres with age groups and implying maturity leads to some sort of musical elitism in 2016. Good grief.

Ps. Looking forward to snatching an Elear upon European release.

Yea, I feel bad for derailing a bit but it deserved to be called out. Anyway I will report back with Utopia and my favorite genres soon..

 

[MacedonianHero]

 
Yea, it was a joke but we both know there is truth to how you feel there and it's a half kidding rib
 
Anyway, elevated or V shaped responses aren't for me. Which is why I like and own my HE1000 for both genres. It's warm of neutral but not too much tilted. For techno the HE1000 could use some more dynamics which is why I'm interested in the Utopia.

Not at all, I really don't care what music people like...I care more if they don't like music. 

 Says a lot more about the person I think.
 
Forgot to mention the "V" of the TH900s was improved quite a bit with the LA900. Let's just say if I had the LA900s instead of the TH-900s, I'd still own them. The Utopias are very balanced/neutral (likely the most so of any headphone in my collection), but I think some more rumble down low would be more enticing for hip-hop. I personally preferred the HE-1000s with hip-hop...and yes, the Utopia's are more dynamic, Daft Punk was excellent with both headphones.

 

[up late]

@macedonianhero - tyll hertsen was struck by the "dynamics" of the utopia. has it struck you similarly and how does it compare to the sr-009, lcd-4 and hd800 in this respect?

 

[MacedonianHero]

@macedonianhero - tyll hertsen was struck by the "dynamics" of the utopia. has it struck you similarly and how does it compare to the sr-009, lcd-4 and hd800 in this respect?

 
I agree with him. In terms of dynamics, I think it's right there with the very best. I am writing a review for them and it should be out in a few weeks. But along with the SR-009s, the Utopias are among the top.

 

[pervysage]

   
I personally wouldn't go with the Utopia's for hip-hop...for me the best I've heard with that genre are the Lawton LA-900s. The TH-900s had a treble that was on the trouble-some side of things...but the Lawton mods fixed this completely, tightened up the bass even more and offered an outstanding headphone that would offer the thump down low for hip hop.

 
+1 On the LA-900. I have Lawton modded TH900's and they are fantastic with hip-hop and other bass heavy music. Stock TH-900's are definitely problematic in the treble regions and part of the reason my TH-900 was sitting on the sideline collecting dust for a while. But the Lawton mods have breathed new life into them for sure and currently get all my head time.
 
I have a Utopia on the way and think it will offer a good contrast headphone when I listen to other stuff. I am still hoping it will be good for mainstream stuff as well though. We shall see.