Lappy27
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2012
- Posts
- 327
- Likes
- 180
I knew that Utopia's are microscope that can reveal any changes of components/cables/accesories whatsover. But what I didn't know until last week-end, it's the tremendous bass capabilities of these fantastic headphones. I used to agreed with most people here that said the Utopia's are just a bit shy on bass and just a bit peaky on treble and with an average soundstage. Of course, all the rest is simply stellar. Speed, clarity, timing, details, natural timbre, etc.
I recently replaced my two sources of music (Mac Mini powered by a LPSU for streamin with Tidal and an Auraliti PK90 USB music player from my external SSD) by a Streamer made by Magna HiFi called the Mano. This streamer is made to output a really clean I2S signal via HDMI to compatible dacs (i.e. Audio GD, Holo Spring, PS Audio among others). My dac is a HDMI modified dac/preamp/headphone amp in one box Audio GD Reference 10.32. It's a R2R dac based on 4 PCM 1704UK chips that I configured in NOS (Non-oversampling) mode.
With the Mano at work, the bass became absolutely visceral. Huge, huge step from my old sources. And this is coming from a guy who used to have the Audeze LCD-2v2 for about 4 years. The impact is simply stunning. Bass quantity largely improved too. Goes deeper too. I would certainly compared it as a boost of 3 db in bass region at least. The treble is also much smoother. The whole experience is simply more musical. The sound is just much more full and fleshy now. I suppose that the power supply and quality of components used in the Mano are responsible for these improvements (along with proper cabling with excellent power cord and HDMI cable).
All that to say, that the Utopia's are more than capable to bring fantastic bass presence to the table. Not OK bass, not satisfactory bass, not good bass, FANTASTIC bass presence.
When people are saying that Utopia's performance are really dependant of the source(s), it is an absolute truth. I'm now a real world experience firm believer of that theory.
I recently replaced my two sources of music (Mac Mini powered by a LPSU for streamin with Tidal and an Auraliti PK90 USB music player from my external SSD) by a Streamer made by Magna HiFi called the Mano. This streamer is made to output a really clean I2S signal via HDMI to compatible dacs (i.e. Audio GD, Holo Spring, PS Audio among others). My dac is a HDMI modified dac/preamp/headphone amp in one box Audio GD Reference 10.32. It's a R2R dac based on 4 PCM 1704UK chips that I configured in NOS (Non-oversampling) mode.
With the Mano at work, the bass became absolutely visceral. Huge, huge step from my old sources. And this is coming from a guy who used to have the Audeze LCD-2v2 for about 4 years. The impact is simply stunning. Bass quantity largely improved too. Goes deeper too. I would certainly compared it as a boost of 3 db in bass region at least. The treble is also much smoother. The whole experience is simply more musical. The sound is just much more full and fleshy now. I suppose that the power supply and quality of components used in the Mano are responsible for these improvements (along with proper cabling with excellent power cord and HDMI cable).
All that to say, that the Utopia's are more than capable to bring fantastic bass presence to the table. Not OK bass, not satisfactory bass, not good bass, FANTASTIC bass presence.
When people are saying that Utopia's performance are really dependant of the source(s), it is an absolute truth. I'm now a real world experience firm believer of that theory.
