[kingkikapu]

All are really good on the Utopia. Silky and warm with great transparency but still needing a DAC would be the Cavalli. Including DAC the 430HAD is neutral and detailed. The Chord and Headamp are good but not the same game as the Cavalli Gold or SimAudio 430

 
I am up in the air about DAC's at present.  I can either go TT and be done with it or do something more dedicated.
 
The 430 is sort of my favourite right now, but no balanced outs for monitors.
 
Tyll is probably right about GSX-Mk2 being a bit on the bright side for Utopia, but I have a few planars kicking round too that are on the warm side.
 
 

  I have both the Moon Neo 430HA and the GSX-MKII and both are fantastic amps no doubt. Id have to give the nod to the MOON of the 2 simply because it adds a bit more power, tone, and tiny bit of warmth (to my ears at least. Others say it is dead neutral). The Headamp is a bit lean in comparison. All 3 will be plenty powerful enough as well. I haven't heard the Liquid Gold but from what I have heard is that the Gold will have slightly more bass than the 430HA while the 430HA has "mids to die for" from a comparison I read before. Gold is also only able to be bought used but they are hard to find because a lot of people love it. Might need to put up a 'Wanted post' in the classifieds. Hope this helps. I might sell my MOON 430HA with DAC later on (maybe in 2 months or so) depending on whether it is still worth having when I get the Chord DAVE. There is also Ragnarok (I'll also be selling) which is warmer then the Headamp GSX-MKII for cheaper.

Keep me in mind when you flip the 430.  It is sort of my preferred unit right now, other than it doesn't have balanced outputs, but I am willing to maybe sacrifice my monitor connection if there is an attributable difference to the amplification vs going the route of say a HugoTT.  From what I hear the DAVE drives Utopia just fine.
 
Dave is just too much money for me to commit.  DAC's feel so volatile right now.

 

[crrrddddeeeee]

Keep me in mind when you flip the 430.  It is sort of my preferred unit right now, other than it doesn't have balanced outputs, but I am willing to maybe sacrifice my monitor connection if there is an attributable difference to the amplification vs going the route of say a HugoTT.  From what I hear the DAVE drives Utopia just fine.
 
Dave is just too much money for me to commit.  DAC's feel so volatile right now.

 
Yeah I am not going to sell the 430HA unless I feel the DAVE does everything as good or better. I've already heard that having the 430HA with the DAVE does make an amazing pair so I probably won't sell it. I really do wish the 430HA had balanced outputs for monitors too! I might just buy RCA to XLR cables or make my own eventually. I don't have that great of monitors anyway so the poor cabling for the monitors won't really be of much importance lol

 

[kingkikapu]

   
Yeah I am not going to sell the 430HA unless I feel the DAVE does everything as good or better. I've already heard that having the 430HA with the DAVE does make an amazing pair so I probably won't sell it. I really do wish the 430HA had balanced outputs for monitors too! I might just buy RCA to XLR cables or make my own eventually. I don't have that great of monitors anyway so the poor cabling for the monitors won't really be of much importance lol

 
RCA isn't the end of the world for the run to your monitors I suppose.  At best we're talking, what, 10 feet?  If need be, run good quality, decently shielded RCA cables (I like blue jeans).  Run them as orthogonal to all the other wires if you can manage it.  Your noise should be minimal for the frequencies we're talking about.  I just like to run XLR because active monitors can actually perform noise cancellation, plus they have double the amplitude of unbalanced.  Either way, I'm focused on maximizing my head-fi experience.  Speakers come a distant second.
 

 

[HiFiGuy528]

See us this weekend at CanJam NYC with Focal and Kimber Kable.
 
http://www.canjamglobal.com/nyc2017
 

 

 

[jibzilla]

  Anyone willing to chime in on high end amplifier recommendations for Utopia?  I am trying to decide between Moon Neo 430HA, Cavalli Audio Liquid Gold, Chord HugoTT, Headamp GSX-Mk2.  I also require balanced outputs for active studio monitors. Thoughts?

 
Ravenswood. coughhaveoneforsalecoughcough

 

[crrrddddeeeee]

RCA isn't the end of the world for the run to your monitors I suppose.  At best we're talking, what, 10 feet?  If need be, run good quality, decently shielded RCA cables (I like blue jeans).  Run them as orthogonal to all the other wires if you can manage it.  Your noise should be minimal for the frequencies we're talking about.  I just like to run XLR because active monitors can actually perform noise cancellation, plus they have double the amplitude of unbalanced.  Either way, I'm focused on maximizing my head-fi experience.  Speakers come a distant second.

Excellent points! Yeah I'd be running the cables 6-8 feet per monitor so nothing long. That double amplitude is quite nice but oh well. I only listen to them at about 1/4 -1/3 volume (XLR) anyway so they would be fine at half that amplitude lol. I'd love a great pair of speakers but the cost to performance ratio is so much worse that headphones so I'll stick with experiencing great sound while learning what I like haha

 

[phaeton70]

Hello Utopian-mates

 
 
I was wondering...what's the general consensus so far about type of amplification for Utopia. I mean type, not specific model, i.e. after a couple of A/B with my 300B and my Taurus, I slightly prefer the SS to the VT.... is this a shared opinion? 
 
I have to decide if to invest in more "synergic" tubes (now using EML Mesh, maybe not so good for Utopia, while with HEK they are simply fantastic) or just buy a totl SS. thoughts?

 

[ddanois]

Demand for the Prion has been very high recently, hence the longer wait time, but delighted to learn mine should be ready for shipping tomorrow.

You won't be disappointed. Peter builds a great product. 
 
I paired mine with a set of Prion XLR interconnects between Dave and the 430HA. Absolutely amazing!

 

[ddanois]

I'll answer that for you. Yes it has a driver failure. His Utopia is from the original launch product. Amazingly it failed 6 months later while the other few from that build failed right away. The good thing is Focal stands behind their products and TSAV stands behind all its sales. He's right we took 2 days to get him back up and enjoying a new Utopia again. A day longer than his original purchase took.

No kidding...They're already half-way thru my initial burn in cycle! Outstanding. 

 

[TimeLord]

  Hello Utopian-mates

 
 
I was wondering...what's the general consensus so far about type of amplification for Utopia. I mean type, not specific model, i.e. after a couple of A/B with my 300B and my Taurus, I slightly prefer the SS to the VT.... is this a shared opinion? 
 
I have to decide if to invest in more "synergic" tubes (now using EML Mesh, maybe not so good for Utopia, while with HEK they are simply fantastic) or just buy a totl SS. thoughts?

For the Utopia, finding a neutral amp is the key. It does not want coloration. Tubes tend to add color intentionally with the whole euphonic distortion thing. So unless you can find a neutral tube amp, I'd narrow my search to neutral SS amps.
 
The Cavalli Liquid Gold is a good example of a neutral SS amp.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

I only missed your impression about focal utopia!!
I'll grab my popcorn and wait...

 
Haha, I'm flattered 

 
I want to reserve comment on them until I've had a change to listen to them on my new amp that should be here (hopefully) by the end of the month.  So far I have been using them directly out of a Chord DAVE and I did have a GSK Mk2, also driven by the DAVE.  I don't like the GSK with them - it really added nothing over the DAVE directly.  I've owned the GSK more than once now and everytime I feel it's just not the amp for me, so take that for what it is worth.  What I do like about the Utopia's is the transparency and details.  They are very revealing.  I spent a little time with a Carbon+009 setup and the Utopia's aren't that far off for resolution.  With extremely complex passages the 009's pulled ahead but for most else they were basically on par, IE excellent.  
 
I find the mids/vocals, particularly the high mids to be a bit...  I don't know the word...  Dry?  Flakey?  Lifeless?  Sterile?  I'm not sure but I feel that that is their weak point.  Despite what others are saying, and this is only a suspicion at this point, that they will actually play very well tubes as I think that 'life' that tubs bring will really help the musicality of the Utopia's.  Again, I have to wait for my new amp to arrive to really make an assessment.  
 
Anyway, only time will tell with these for me.  

 

[TonyNewman]

   
Haha, I'm flattered 

 
I want to reserve comment on them until I've had a change to listen to them on my new amp that should be here (hopefully) by the end of the month.  So far I have been using them directly out of a Chord DAVE and I did have a GSK Mk2, also driven by the DAVE.  I don't like the GSK with them - it really added nothing over the DAVE directly.  I've owned the GSK more than once now and everytime I feel it's just not the amp for me, so take that for what it is worth.  What I do like about the Utopia's is the transparency and details.  They are very revealing.  I spent a little time with a Carbon+009 setup and the Utopia's aren't that far off for resolution.  With extremely complex passages the 009's pulled ahead but for most else they were basically on par, IE excellent.  
 
I find the mids/vocals, particularly the high mids to be a bit...  I don't know the word...  Dry?  Flakey?  Lifeless?  Sterile?  I'm not sure but I feel that that is their weak point.  Despite what others are saying, and this is only a suspicion at this point, that they will actually play very well tubes as I think that 'life' that tubs bring will really help the musicality of the Utopia's.  Again, I have to wait for my new amp to arrive to really make an assessment.  
 
Anyway, only time will tell with these for me.  

 
+1. There is something in the Utopia treble that can get a bit 'peaky' and does not combine well with some components. I could imagine the GSX-Mk2 or Taurus being poor matches. A warmish tube rig (or SS) might be a better setup for many folks. For me, I like using the M9 amp with the Utopia - it tames down the treble quite a bit. Ditto my 300B amp with TA300B tubes. I don't like the Utopia with a dead neutral dac/amp chain behind it for longish sessions.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

How are the Utopia's right out of the M1?  I see you are back to running amps.
 
Roon finally let me download 1.3 today so playing around with the new DSP engine may help, too.

 

[TonyNewman]

  How are the Utopia's right out of the M1?  I see you are back to running amps.
...

 
Technically brilliant. Just amazing detail / dynamics / punch / clarity, BUT that treble peakiness does induce fatigue for me after about an hour or so. It's a pity, because otherwise the SQ is just pure amaze-balls nectar of the Gods type of thing.
 
So I bought a warmish amp to help tame the treble energy - Audio-GD Master 9. That does work, but you do lose some of that amazing technical stuff. Like so many things in audio, its a trade off.

 

[ubs28]

Technically brilliant. Just amazing detail / dynamics / punch / clarity, BUT that treble peakiness does induce fatigue for me after about an hour or so. It's a pity, because otherwise the SQ is just pure amaze-balls nectar of the Gods type of thing.

So I bought a warmish amp to help tame the treble energy - Audio-GD Master 9. That does work, but you do lose some of that amazing technical stuff. Like so many things in audio, its a trade off.

I don't hear that. What I am hearing is that the Utopia not just has excellent bass extension but the treble extension is also very good, better than the HD 800 and HD 800 S (they roll off the treble earlier in comparison to the Utopia).

So maybe if you have a DAC that suffers from "digitus", then I can see how it will be not nice.