[TheMiddleSky]

Closer than TH900? You seem to own that too. Always thought TH900 was closest you can get to sub-woofer.

Not comparable, 1266 TC will provide much closer of subwoofer effect. It's not about the quantity, but the rumble effect and impact on sub bass notes.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

I would say: Your Utopia has one or two defective drivers - I already had one

I don't think so, but perhaps they changed the internal recently. If you eager to test:



Always remember to start the volume from zero, and then start gradually raise it up. Stellia produce clean bass notes here without problem.

 

[BowWazoo]

Track no.7 "Things go wrong",
and no.8 "Ein Nenner" on the Utopia,
makes you believe, that headphones can produce structure-borne sound!

 

[Ciggavelli]

Closer than TH900? You seem to own that too. Always thought TH900 was closest you can get to sub-woofer.

I have the Th900mk2 as well. The Fostex is the 2nd best bass headphone I've ever heard. The TCs do beat them though. You get even more quantity and quality. The TC slam is crazy

 

[hakunamakaka]

Track no.8 "Ein Nenner" on the Utopia,
makes you believe, that headphones can produce structure-borne sound!

Nice track! I thoroughly enjoyed electronic music with this headphone. Try to give it a go for something like ANNA - The Dansant (Original Mix) if it is up for your taste. No other headphone in my books managed to bring intensity and buildup of such music like Utopia did

 

[BowWazoo]

What do you say to the cool bass in this track?

 

[MattKaye]

It's pretty impressive that the utopia is still such a well done headphone even many years after it's release. A quality tube amp with it sounds wonderful with just about all music genres.

 

[up late]

and this track from the album that i'm listening to as i type this post sounds pretty impressive out of the utopia

 

[BowWazoo]

Today it's been two weeks,
that I've been in "Utopia-rehab".
Fortunately, this morning the distributor contacted me and confirmed that my Utopia is repaired, and will be shipped today.
For the first track,
i will roll a very thick one, tomorrow...

 

[r343]

I am in middle of relocating situation so assembled cheap and temporary setup for Utopia, will upgrade much heftier once done with stuff.

Purchased budget Topping D10s, SMLS SP200 and Loxjie P20 tube amp.

Utopia in stock form is rather bland from SP200, sound plays thinner side, there's little kick or heft to be found, sort of ethereal presentation. Volume gets too loud after 9-10 clock so horrible range of volume control, yikes. Details were fine.

Loxjie P20 adds thickness and bass kick, i like how engaging sound becomes! Slight veil lands on treble so there's some muddiness and grain compared to SP200 however Utopia is so resolving anyways so it does not bother me nearly as much as thinness of SP200 and volume can be turned up without sibilance. Interesting how it's more veiled yet sounds more exciting than SP200.

Then tested oratory1990 EQ with SP200 versus P20 without EQ, surprisingly EQ did not fix SP200 and it remained more or less the same thin character, much preferred Loxjie P20 without EQ compared to SP200 even so.

Finally tried EQ to P20 and it was bloaty mess, cause tubes already gave bass boost and removed tip of treble energy

 

[BowWazoo]

Get all the amps up to the same volume (without EQ),
get a switch, and do a little blind test.
The differences you thought you heard,
will vanish into nothing.
You can't even hear the difference of THD 0.5% vs. 0.005%.

 

[r343]

Get all the amps up to the same volume (without EQ),
get a switch, and do a little blind test.
The differences you thought you heard,
will vanish into nothing.
You can't even hear the difference of THD 0.5% vs. 0.005%.

No they don't. Loxjie has high impedance output (47 ? or so) from balanced which will effect frequency response of Utopia.

 

[BowWazoo]

Yes you are right.
I mixed up the P20.
Balanced, it even has about 100 ohms.
In my opinion far too much for the Utopia

 

[donkeywalker]

Do people feel the Utopia have probably the worst build quality of high end headphones? It creaks real bad, and the plastic enclosure's fake piano paint looks worse than my logitech. The headband leather is untreated and react to oil and dust easily. Now with the added issues of glues in driver housing and possible mechanical failures in the headband, it just feels like the sound performance doesn't match up with its industrial design at all. Comparing with a Meze Empyrean it's really a night and day difference. I really hope there is a new face lift coming that fixes these short coming while keeping the sound and I will buy them in a heartbeat

 

[dontfeedphils]

Do people feel the Utopia have probably the worst build quality of high end headphones?

No