[up late]

Not trying to put you on the spot, but can you be more specific? I'm genuinely interested in others opinions. The longer I spend with the Stellia the more I feel it was designed as a DAP friendly headphone and tuned to a specific genre. Utopia for me is more of a reference headset. I'm having real fun with the Stellia with the SP2KCU with a custom balanced copper cable right now. I'd never take the combo outside the flat though, so maybe the target audience has a team of bodyguards?

oh i think that you are. fwiw, the stellia sounded like a closed-back version of the utopia to me in that it was warmer with a touch more bass presence. the treble was shelved-down relative to the utopia. the utopia had noticeably more treble energy and seemed more incisive, whereas the stellia had a more relaxed presentation. while the stellia's bass seemed to be more elevated than the utopia's, it was also somewhat amorphous in comparison. if you are expecting the stellia to rival the utopia for clarity, then you should probably lower your expectations as it is a closed-back headphone after all. that said, the stellia reminded me of the utopia just as the hd820 reminded me of the hd800s. they don't sound the same (how could they? we're comparing open-back and closed-back models here) but they do bear more than a passing resemblance to my ears, and i suspect that they're supposed to, but you'd have to ask the headphone designers at focal and sennheiser about that.

 

[Caruryn]

Heyy,i know.I bought one to keep you guys company and spread the word outside.

 

[Caruryn]

Listening to them for the first 15 min they sound very neutral and coherent out of the SP1000M balanced but a bit too smooth.Imaging is spot on and soundstage decently wide to have each instrument occupy its own space with no overlap but depth is very good.Vocals are a bit pushed back, bass has good texture but seems a bit slow.Hopefully there will be improvement with 100+ hours but in terms of signature you wouldn't think these are $3000 when first hearing them,nothing jumps out,i was expecting crazy detail from impressions on web but not yet hearing it.

 

[turbomustang84]

I had always thought that Headphones had to be hard to drive to sound great.

I was amazed that a cheap cmoy would make the Stellia's sing. .

For the music I listen to nothing compares to the Stellia's.

Glad to have had them the day Tool released fear Inoculum

I never took them outside because they were trusted to me on the loaner tour but if they were mine I would have taken them everywhere

 

[Admiral Kolchak]

Listening to them for the first 15 min they sound very neutral and coherent out of the SP1000M balanced but a bit too smooth.Imaging is spot on and soundstage decently wide to have each instrument occupy its own space with no overlap but depth is very good.Vocals are a bit pushed back, bass has good texture but seems a bit slow.Hopefully there will be improvement with 100+ hours but in terms of signature you wouldn't think these are $3000 when first hearing them,nothing jumps out,i was expecting crazy detail from impressions on web but not yet hearing it.

Several Head-Fiers (including myself) have been through the same. Being relatively new to the hobby I did not have an opinion on burn-in, but after the Stellia I am a believer.
The only thing I can say is, give it time my friend. You should be positively surprised after 100/150 hours.

 

[teknorob23]

Several Head-Fiers (including myself) have been through the same. Being relatively new to the hobby I did not have an opinion on burn-in, but after the Stellia I am a believer.
The only thing I can say is, give it time my friend. You should be positively surprised after 100/150 hours.

i can only echo this and add that both these and the utopia benefit more from 150hrs or more burn in than any other headphone I’ve owned and the ak should have more than enough juice to make them sing

 

[Admiral Kolchak]

i can only echo this and add that both these and the utopia benefit more from 150hrs or more burn in than any other headphone I’ve owned and the ak should have more than enough juice to make them sing

This may (MAY) have to do with the Beryllium drivers. ZMF pre-burns their Be drivers, which I understand they do not do for their non-Be drivers. Somebody with technical expertise may confirm this please?

 

[up late]

the right driver in my utopia failed after a year of use. both drivers were replaced and i was relieved to find that it didn't sound any different.

 

[xenoVa]

Is Stellia bassier/ warmer/ darker/ smoother than Elegia? Apparently this is the general consensus.

 

[teknorob23]

Is Stellia bassier/ warmer/ darker/ smoother than Elegia? Apparently this is the general consensus.

yes to more bass, no to darker, difference in warmth is marginal and yes probably smoother. Levels of detail, separation and dynamics are what really set them apart for me

 

[xenoVa]

As far as I read most people drive Stellia/ Elegia with home setups. Anyone here drives them with portable gears like Mojo, ifi xDsd or similar bluetooth amps, smartphones, digital audio players ?

 

[Topbanana]

As far as I read most people drive Stellia/ Elegia with home setups. Anyone here drives them with portable gears like Mojo, ifi xDsd or similar bluetooth amps, smartphones, digital audio players ?

I have the Ifi x-dsd and runs the Stellia no issues at all.

 

[xenoVa]

I have the Ifi x-dsd and runs the Stellia no issues at all.

Cool! You connect the xdsd via cable or bluetooth? And how good is the sound quality of the pairing?

 

[Topbanana]

Cool! You connect the xdsd via cable or bluetooth? And how good is the sound quality of the pairing?

Both using a note 9 as the source. The USB quality is much better than the Bluetooth, but less convenient! I'll go back and try in now I have a balanced cable but it was only something I was playing with while waiting for the SP2K as a better driver. Obviously not as good as that but for £400 v £3400 I'd say it was punching above it's weight! Soundstage and bass are a little muted but turned the x-bass and 3D options on and I think it's good enough. Give me a week to get home and I'll go back and try it again and let you know more

 

[noplsestar]

As far as I read most people drive Stellia/ Elegia with home setups. Anyone here drives them with portable gears like Mojo, ifi xDsd or similar bluetooth amps, smartphones, digital audio players ?

I am using the Stellia with my Calyx M DAP and since the amp section isn’t the strongest, I feed the signal into the VorzAMP Duo II. Great sound on the go!