[Galm]

I have driven the Utopias off the Chord Dave and the combination is sublime. I find that the Utopias scale really well and not only are they easy to drive but sound good through a few different amps ( I have tried Chord Dave, Sony Ta-ZH1ES and Woo Audio). At the end of the day I would figure out what I want to spend and definitely audition the combo before I decide!

Again lol, I can't audition. I would freakin' love to. Nowhere near anything.

 

[Acemcl]

That's rough.... the good news is that the general consensus seems to indicate that these HP's are something special. Hopefully there's a dealer you trust who can ship these out to you and will accommodate a potential return in light of your situation

 

[336881]

I was also didn't realize that Dave has an amp... So expensive I never looked at it closely lol.

If I have WA7 Fireflies but am capable of upgrading this summer... Should I? What tube amps pair well with it that are under like 4K (prefereably like 2.5k).

Edit: not sure what MTME is... But I obviously would prefer to try this stuff out. I don't live near any meets or high end audio shops. Yeah Middle America.

Double Edit: Now I get what MTME is. Sorry, nowhere near there. I'd love to if I could.

I would just end it and get a Teton: $4k headphone amp/ $1k preamp but that is just me.

 

[Allanmarcus]

Again lol, I can't audition. I would freakin' love to. Nowhere near anything.

Your profile doesn't say where you live, but you are talking about spending over $6000 on headphone gear. Assuming you live in the united states, it would be worth your while to find a head-fi meet that you can drive or fly to. Even better, find a meet in a city with a great dealer (like SoCal). Hell, just fly to SoCal and check out Jason's store.

 

[Galm]

That's rough.... the good news is that the general consensus seems to indicate that these HP's are something special. Hopefully there's a dealer you trust who can ship these out to you and will accommodate a potential return in light of your situation

That's something I've yet to find. I would totally pay for a dealer to ship me like display units or loaners or something to try different gear. Because I would definitely settle on something and give them business.

 

[x RELIC x]

Could someone clarify what they mean by this thing being easy to drive? Like does the Utopia sound just as good out of a Chord Dave than it does out of a Dave to an amp? I was planning on getting a nice amp, but if it doesn't need more than just an Yggdrasil or Hugo 2... I mean my wallet will be happy but I find that somewhat odd.

Edit: Also tube or ss? I prefer tube usually.

I was also didn't realize that Dave has an amp... So expensive I never looked at it closely lol.

If I have WA7 Fireflies but am capable of upgrading this summer... Should I? What tube amps pair well with it that are under like 4K (prefereably like 2.5k).

Edit: not sure what MTME is... But I obviously would prefer to try this stuff out. I don't live near any meets or high end audio shops. Yeah Middle America.

Double Edit: Now I get what MTME is. Sorry, nowhere near there. I'd love to if I could.

Easy to drive as in a portable device with enough power could drive them. Personally, I would say the Utopia is revealing of upstream gear rather than scales well. Scaling well would imply that it needs copious amounts of power to reveal what it could do, like, say, an HE-6. With the Utopia I find that the more transparent the source the better the Utopia shines, even with modest power output.

As for the DAVE it has far and away more power than the Utopia ever needs.

Spoiler: Regarding DAVE's headphone output

Regarding the implementation of the DAVE's headphone output, technically the DAVE doesn't have a conventional separate built in amp and it drives headphones from the DAC's analogue stage. The design (like with all Chord DACs) is done this way to reduce components in the signal path for higher fidelity to the source. Not all DACs can do this however because they typically have high output impedance and very low Current output from their analogue out. Typically, conventional amps usually have 4 output stages (I/V conversion, buffering, filtering, gain) compared to Chords DACs which need only one output stage (I/V conversion) to drive headphones given their very low impedance, high Current output and exceptional Current linearity. This pairs well with the Utopia's revealing nature and I find it to be extremely transparent direct from the DAVE without sounding thin or peaky at all, of course IMO.

The Utopia also sounds great out of the powerful Liquid Gold amp as well but I find the overall presentation to not be as nuanced, compared directly to the DAVE's headphone output, which is pretty easy to hear from the Utopia.

 

[joseph69]

I would totally pay for a dealer to ship me like display units or loaners or something to try different gear. Because I would definitely settle on something and give them business.

You can borrow the Utopia from The Cable Company which is located in New Hope PA for 5% of its retail price & shipping costs for 7-10 days (or more if you would like) just ask for Ethan. I would highly recommend doing this before purchasing the Utopia. If you decide you want to purchase the Utopia, your 5% will be applied to the cost.

 

[Galm]

You can borrow the Utopia from The Cable Company which is located in New Hope PA for 5% of its retail price & shipping costs for 7-10 days (or more if you would like) just ask for Ethan. I would highly recommend doing this before purchasing the Utopia. If you decide you want to purchase the Utopia, your 5% will be applied to the cost.

Wow awesome! Only catch is do they only sell Utopias at MSRP? May still be worth it anyway, but that's a lot more cash.

 

[zachawry]

So, I am an idiot, and left my Utopias on top of my tube amp for about an hour while it was on.

It gets kinda hot...the Utopias felt pretty warm to the touch on the surface that was in contact with the amp.

They sound just fine...Should I be worried about anything?

 

[nvfan]

Aliens?

 

[ubs28]

The Focal Utopia is super revealing of the gear that it is connected to. Never thought that professional converters from Apogee were that bad next to a Chord Dave untill I tried with the Focal Utopia.

 

[FLTWS]

You can borrow the Utopia from The Cable Company which is located in New Hope PA for 5% of its retail price & shipping costs for 7-10 days (or more if you would like) just ask for Ethan. I would highly recommend doing this before purchasing the Utopia. If you decide you want to purchase the Utopia, your 5% will be applied to the cost.

Thanks to Ethan and Cable Co I've been able to audition in-home every TOTL phone out there over the past year (except Stax). I believe the rental fees accumulate and can be used to make any purchase from them (cables, electronics, etc.), at least it did for me. It's way more cost effective than airfare.

 

[joseph69]

Wow awesome! Only catch is do they only sell Utopias at MSRP? May still be worth it anyway, but that's a lot more cash.

I'm not sure of the price of the Utopia as of now, but when I borrowed them they were fairly new arrivals to TCC so my 5% fee was based on $4K. You don't have to make a purchase from TTC if they're charging full price on a purchase (which I doubt because I always received a discount on any purchases) but at least you get to hear them in home on your system, and if you like them you could buy used if you wish.

Thanks to Ethan and Cable Co I've been able to audition in-home every TOTL phone out there over the past year (except Stax). I believe the rental fees accumulate and can be used to make any purchase from them (cables, electronics, etc.), at least it did for me. It's way more cost effective than airfare.

I've been doing the same for about the last year as well. I've tried every TOTL headphone I was interested in (except Stax which I bought blindly) and this was the best way to hear these headphones in my system. And yes, whenever you borrow your 5% fee accumulates towards any purchase from TCC. You really can't go wrong.

 

[Whitigir]

That is a very nice system

 

[joseph69]

That is a very nice system

Thank you, and likewise!