[dannybgoode]

dannybgoodeKeep both. I did,even though my preference is with the Utopia.

I really can't! Hope fully moving house this week and pretty much tripling the mortgage so money is as free as I'd like.

It is tempting but honestly, after last night's a/b, I couldn't see the Utopia getting much head time.

The HEK's are so close to what I'm looking for its scary. I used to have a Musical Fidelity A3.2 amp, Rega Saturn CD player and Rega RS5 speakers and that combo just sounded so right to me. Sure it wasnt the pinnacle of hi fi but not one person who heard it could resist tapping their feet and nodding along to the music. It just had a beautiful balance and timing to it and I'm getting that with the HEK's.

I'm just waiting on my Trilogy 931 to ship and I think I'll add a Schiit Gungnir so i have a second listening station. That said i love the sound of the Rega Dac and given what they go for second hand i may just get a second one of those leaving me funds for a turntable and phono stage.

 

[strangecargo]

Out of curiosity, how much play time did you guys put into your Utopias before they fully settled in? Mine have been "cooking" since Sunday and their sound still seems to be evolving...

 

[dannybgoode]

Out of curiosity, how much play time did you guys put into your Utopias before they fully settled in? Mine have been "cooking" since Sunday and their sound still seems to be evolving...

2-300 hours seems to be the norm-assuming you even believe in such things. Which, for the record, I do...

 

[strangecargo]

2-300 hours seems to be the norm-assuming you even believe in such things. Which, for the record, I do...

Oh, I'm totally in the same boat. I've noticed it for just about any loudspeaker/headphone I've ever owned. In the case of the Utopias, there's a degree of sibilance in vocals and a harsh opacity in certain types of snappy, dynamic percussive sounds that's slowly fading over time and being replaced with texture and detail.

 

[FLTWS]

I just took delivery of my Utopias on March 1st. I had been demoing the dealers unit for a week in home at that time. The dealer's demo unit was new as of 1st week of January. He burned them in (not sure how many hours) before sending them out to the first prospect on his list. I got them 7 weeks later, I was probably #5 to audition this pair. They sounded good enough that on the last day of demo I listened that morning drove to the dealer and  bought the last pair in the stock.
 
The new out of the box sound was okay but different from the demo pair I'd auditioned earlier that day, highs and lows seemed not so good, midrange was fine. I've been listening daily for 2 to 3 hours since getting them and exercising them with music for an additional 12 hours a day. I'm over 100 hours at this point and the sound has changed for the better since I started the process. I'll just do listening from this point on.
 
Ear burn-in? I don't think so. Had a similar experience with HD800 over a 4 month period, bass response in particular suddenly seemed to improve dramatically. I did about 100 hours "conditioning" the HD800 after purchase, mostly listened daily for a few hours after that but suddenly around 4 months of almost daily use I put them on for a session one day and it was WTH, where'd that bass come from?. I notice very little conditioning difference with electronics (excepting Yggy) and some very small changes with cables (but after 40 - 50 hours on the cables I own - no difference that I can perceive) . Dynamic drivers seem to need to "settle in", maybe the surround materials need it. Didn't notice much difference with my Oppo's planar magnetic drivers over time.
 
Maybe we hear what we expect to hear based on all the conflicting comments we read and choose those aspects we decide for ourselves "sound" right or logical. In any event it's nothing worth arguing over as to whether it's makes a difference or not. Sooner or later any piece of gear should get to that "broken in" stage. Provided you hang on to it for at least a few months. And if, in fact, none of this gear requires breaking in, so what? Live your own bliss.

 

[Whitigir]

250-300 hours or u can put it on a stoves for 20 seconds and it is burned in

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

250-300 hours or u can put it on a stoves for 20 seconds and it is burned in

Wrapped up in tin foil and put on the grill for 25 minutes is what I do.... but in all seriousness when we get new cans in we automically start burning in our demo unit. I didn't get to hear the before and after to see if there was much diffrence (not saying that there wasn't ect). I wish I could have heard it to try and vocalize the change if possible. Dan Clark of Mr Speakers talked about burn in and other topics at our store when he came. I didn't think about the drivers needing to move back and forth enough to settle in.

 

[TSAVJason]

Wrapped up in tin foil and put on the grill for 25 minutes is what I do.... but in all seriousness when we get new cans in we automically start burning in our demo unit. I didn't get to hear the before and after to see if there was much diffrence (not saying that there wasn't ect). I wish I could have heard it to try and vocalize the change if possible. Dan Clark of Mr Speakers talked about burn in and other topics at our store when he came. I didn't think about the drivers needing to move back and forth enough to settle in.

Oven? 25 minutes? Hahahaha Vince has gone off the deep end

 

[boomtube]

My Utopia's just got delivered...now I have to try and drive the speed limit to my P.O. box to sign for them!

 

[Lappy27]

  Oh, I'm totally in the same boat. I've noticed it for just about any loudspeaker/headphone I've ever owned. In the case of the Utopias, there's a degree of sibilance in vocals and a harsh opacity in certain types of snappy, dynamic percussive sounds that's slowly fading over time and being replaced with texture and detail.

+1
 
My Utopia have now about 550 hours and they are still improving.
 
I will write it again. Beryllium is a metal well known to be really long to burn and to sounds really good!
 
It took a couple months for my Utopia car speakers to sounds excellent. At first they were nothing special really. Now, it's another story for sure!

 

[draytonklammer]

My Utopia's just got delivered...now I have to try and drive the speed limit to my P.O. box to sign for them!

They're great, can't wait until you try them.

 

[LeMat]

 
 
 
I will write it again. Beryllium is a metal well known to be really long to burn and to sounds really good!
 

 
Since when "burning" headphone is doing anything to the metal! C'mon... It's a super solid metal on top of that!! It's all the moving parts that are getting somewhat more flexible (rubber) but certainly not the metal itself! 

 

[Lappy27]

   
Since when "burning" headphone is doing anything to the metal! C'mon... It's a super solid metal on top of that!! It's all the moving parts that are getting somewhat more flexible (rubber) but certainly not the metal itself! 

Since:
 
1- It's well documented on some French car speakers forums (they are really high and knowledgeable on Focal) that Beryllium take a lot of time to sound smoother, musical and open.
 
2- I had the chance to experimented the above statement myself with both my car speakers and my headphone. I have no EE backgroud but I really doubt that a suspension thinner than a human hair take that much time to get improvment.
 
Could it be the overall assembly, the magnets? I will put my money on the material, hence Beryllium.

 

[Whitigir]

More like the magnet, the coils and the surround materials...not the beryllium itself ..but I am speculating

 

[FLTWS]

  My Utopia's just got delivered...now I have to try and drive the speed limit to my P.O. box to sign for them!

LOL, report back so we know you made it safely back home.