[gintamafans]

This is how I see it, if you want the best of a silver cable can give you (transparency, details and air) , and the musicality of copper, then it's Danacable. A copper cable that does better than a silver cable but doesn't sacrifice it's own characteristic. IMO DANACABLE IS THE BEST with UTOPIA!

 

[Toolman]

  This is how I see it, if you want the best of a silver cable can give you (transparency, details and air) , and the musicality of copper, then it's Danacable. A copper cable that does better than a silver cable but doesn't sacrifice it's own characteristic. IMO DANACABLE IS THE BEST with UTOPIA!

You have certain got me very interested in this cable as well  

 ...may I know which other cables have you compared the Danacable with for you to jump to this "conclusion"?

 

[gintamafans]

 
You have certain got me very interested in this cable as well  

 ...may I know which other cables have you compared the Danacable with for you to jump to this "conclusion"?

I would say compared to some of the well known cables that I have and borrowed from my friend, mostly silver though. Because those were all LCD cables and LCD is quite good pairing with silver IMO.

 

[Toolman]

If they are LCD cables, so you are just basing them on Audeze headphones or have you hear them on an Utopia? and how do they compare? are they of the same price range? because Danceable Lazuli Reference are not cheap no matter how you cut it, as one could have an Elear plus a couple hundred bucks of loose change for one of these cables

 

[gintamafans]

  If they are LCD cables, so you are just basing them on Audeze headphones or have you hear them on an Utopia? and how do they compare? are they of the same price range? because Danceable Lazuli Reference are not cheap no matter how you cut it, as one could have an Elear plus a couple hundred bucks of loose change for one of these cables

Price range varies from low to high but they are similar, and I bought an adapter from Norne Audio to do these test so I can use all audeze cables on my Utopia. One thing I said in the other thread is that Utopia will truly shine when paired with a good cable like Dana, and when it is used with the stock cable it is performing less than half of what it can do.

 

[SurFi]

 
Price range varies from low to high but they are similar, and I bought an adapter from Norne Audio to do these test so I can use all audeze cables on my Utopia. One thing I said in the other thread is that Utopia will truly shine when paired with a good cable like Dana, and when it is used with the stock cable it is performing less than half of what it can do.

 
"Utopia will truly shine when paired with a good cable like Dana, and when it is used with the stock cable it is performing less than half of what it can do" is a fairly strong statement.
 
I'm not being critical, since the DanaCable is on my list and I'd love to double the performance of the Utopia via the stock cable. Can you elaborate? As Toolman has pointed out, the Lazuli Reference is priced at a point where I could add a closed back headphone and a lesser aftermarket cable to drive it for the spend. In fact, if the Utopia's performance is doubled, it is a very easy justification for me to make the purchase!
 
 
Also, are you okay with my adding your cables to the list I've been compiling?
 
Thanks!

 

[musicman59]

  What do you mean by "warm sound signature" when you're describing the Moon Neo 430? I'm asking because I remember Tyll including this amp in the recent Big Sound writeup and selecting this amp as an in-house reference because of it's neutrality. Do you hear this amp as warm?

I have listened to the Moon Neo 430 twice at meets and to me its sound is on the warmer side of solid state amps but I do not remember the source so it could be also that.
 
I did not listen to it with the Utopia but I did with the HE-6 in balanced mode.
 
IMO the MHA100 is more neutral sounding than the 430. That is not bad just different and it all depends on your sound preference.

 

[musicman59]

 
You have certain got me very interested in this cable as well  

 ...may I know which other cables have you compared the Danacable with for you to jump to this "conclusion"?

Not with the Utopia but with the HE1000 I have compared the DanaCable to the WireWorld Platinum Nano Eclipse (OCC Silver), WireWorld Nano Eclipse (OCC Copper), Wywires Red, DHC Complement4 (Copper) and MIT Vero Reference.
IMO the DanaCable (Not Reference) was better than all of them with the MIT in a close second.
 
I have listened to the Utopia with the Moon Audio Black Dragon and Dana Reference and I personally prefer the Dana.
 
This is just based on sound because in ergonomics the DHC and Dana are at the bottom of the list. All the other ones are more flexible and specially lighter.

 

[sheldaze]

Not sure I agree with the need for such accessories to go with Utopia. Currently listening to the stock cable straight from a Grace Design m9xx. In the song by Sting, Moon Over Bourbon Street, I've never heard the deep drum in the background so strongly (actually never noticed it before, mixed too closely with the sound of the bass notes) nor the wolf howling at the end of the song.

 

[gintamafans]

   
"Utopia will truly shine when paired with a good cable like Dana, and when it is used with the stock cable it is performing less than half of what it can do" is a fairly strong statement.
 
I'm not being critical, since the DanaCable is on my list and I'd love to double the performance of the Utopia via the stock cable. Can you elaborate? As Toolman has pointed out, the Lazuli Reference is priced at a point where I could add a closed back headphone and a lesser aftermarket cable to drive it for the spend. In fact, if the Utopia's performance is doubled, it is a very easy justification for me to make the purchase!
 
 
Also, are you okay with my adding your cables to the list I've been compiling?
 
Thanks!

Okay, double is not an exaggeration but I have to explain my points first so some people might not get me wrong as what double is. Though I  would still say it is less than half of Utopia can do with stock, and not double the performance of Utopia, because I think the stock cable is like a limitation lock. With the stock cable some heard it closed and some heard it small in soundstage, and some even said that Utopia doesn't have any signature in it making it quite boring, and in my words when all these are fixed then it is the true Utopia. So, a bigger soundstage, much more transparency, greater depth of music, more musicality, better sounding in all areas high mid low to me is what that 50% of Utopia is missing with the stock cable. And since now Danacable offers a discount and 30 days return policy, I think you should definitely give it a try....Like seriously, the improvement with my Dana Lazuli Ref is not subtle...it is far more than I think it could do, and I was even a bit skeptical about it when I blind purchased. Then, when I put it on, I was just WOW...more dynamic and musical than Stax 009 and a transparency almost like 009?! The word is like this...."what more could you possibly get than this?" 

 

[Svatopluk]

 
Price range varies from low to high but they are similar, and I bought an adapter from Norne Audio to do these test so I can use all audeze cables on my Utopia. One thing I said in the other thread is that Utopia will truly shine when paired with a good cable like Dana, and when it is used with the stock cable it is performing less than half of what it can do.

If the Utopia with Dana really sounds twice as nice as the stock cable, I'm definitely staying away. I fear my head could very well explode if the Utopia performed at twice it's current level.

 

[ubs28]

But isn't the Utopia designed to be used with the stock cable? Any change in sound deviates what the engineers at Focal had in mind? 

 

[Hansotek]

But isn't the Utopia designed to be used with the stock cable? Any change in sound deviates what the engineers at Focal had in mind? 

Not necessarily. Even a $4K headphone has some budgetary design restrictions. Whatever stock cable they chose would have to be realistically mass produced on the time and budget scale required. You can rest assured there is probably an engineer over there that wishes they were able to offer a more premium stock cable. This is simply a reality of the democracy of industrial design. Not everyone can have their way.

Besides, Focal has been in the high-end audio game long enough to know that audiophiles will likely replace it with an aftermarket cable of their choice anyway. That being understood, there is little advantage to cutting into profit margins or making the price even more prohibitive in order to offer a slightly better cable.

 

[gintamafans]

  But isn't the Utopia designed to be used with the stock cable? Any change in sound deviates what the engineers at Focal had in mind? 

LOL except Abyss, I don't think any headphone making company has had put any thoughts onto the cable. And I believe those engineers at Focal was only thinking about comfort versus sound when getting that cable, especially of how they have come up with a 4meter long stock cable. And every company wants to make extra profit out of everything and getting the best cable to come with the headphone is really impossible. Just think about all those cable companies, how many years have they been designing cables? It took Focal 4 years to develop the headphone, so you think will they put another 4 years into cable development for one headphone? And cables aren't their specialty, which they have to develop from scratch; therefore, any chance you think they should  waited and keep wasting money when there are so many aftermarket cables? Though in businessman perspective of theirs it is just about money, if they were to include a very good cable with Utopia, how much it is gonna be? $6000? Then how many headphones they can sell? And how many of us would buy a $6k headphone?

 

[god-bluff]

LOL except Abyss, I don't think any headphone making company has had put any thoughts onto the cable. And I believe those engineers at Focal was only thinking about comfort versus sound when getting that cable, especially of how they have come up with a 4meter long stock cable. And every company wants to make extra profit out of everything and getting the best cable to come with the headphone is really impossible. Just think about all those cable companies, how many years have they been designing cables? It took Focal 4 years to develop the headphone, so you think will they put another 4 years into cable development for one headphone? And cables aren't their specialty, which they have to develop from scratch; therefore, any chance you think they should  waited and keep wasting money when there are so many aftermarket cables? Though in businessman perspective of theirs it is just about money, if they were to include a very good cable with Utopia, how much it is gonna be? $6000? Then how many headphones they can sell? And how many of us would buy a $6k headphone?

And what exactly is wrong with Focal's cable. It's just a cable and it's a decent length for listening & relaxing at home