[bosiemoncrieff]

How do the Utopia fare against SR009?

My sense is that the $3k promotion is an admission that they should have been priced at $3k all along. I for one refuse to pay more than that.

 

[TSAVJason]

How do the Utopia fare against SR009?

My sense is that the $3k promotion is an admission that they should have been priced at $3k all along. I for one refuse to pay more than that.

The SR009 is no doubt a sweet headphone. It's got attributes that are well engineered and some that fail. AIR, it's got great space. It's relatively linear and images very well. Not a lot of amp choices if you want the 009 to really perform as good as it can. It's been the darling of EStats for quite a while and it deserves its reputation.
(Note: it's worth waiting for the MrSpeakers Ether E before pulling the trigger on any electrostatic headphone).

The Utopia is also a very sweet headphone. First you'd guess it's "portable", not so stationary in where you use them. It's a product that has had build hiccups in its initial releases. As a Dynamic headphone it's presentation is of course different than an 009. Sound is as you'd expect from a very nicely designed dynamic headphone product in its price range. It's more on axis listening like a speaker but also has a great sound stage ......to me, a bit more intimate warmth. It is very scalable and it loves all kinds of amps & DAC's DAP's

I happen to like them both but for me it's 85% Utopia.

 

[joseph69]

My sense is that the $3k promotion is an admission that they should have been priced at $3k all along.

Where is this $3K promotion available for the Utopia?

 

[Allanmarcus]

Where is this $3K promotion available for the Utopia?

In September at your focal dealer. $1000 trade in on as new headphones that retail for $60 or more.

 

[Zojokkeli]

Who has seen Focals newest promotion? It's happening in September!!

Do you know if this is NA only, or do we get a similar campaign in Europe? I'd be tempted to get Utopias at 3k€.

 

[Whitigir]

How do the Utopia fare against SR009?

My sense is that the $3k promotion is an admission that they should have been priced at $3k all along. I for one refuse to pay more than that.

The SR009 is no doubt a sweet headphone. It's got attributes that are well engineered and some that fail. AIR, it's got great space. It's relatively linear and images very well. Not a lot of amp choices if you want the 009 to really perform as good as it can. It's been the darling of EStats for quite a while and it deserves its reputation.
(Note: it's worth waiting for the MrSpeakers Ether E before pulling the trigger on any electrostatic headphone).

The Utopia is also a very sweet headphone. First you'd guess it's "portable", not so stationary in where you use them. It's a product that has had build hiccups in its initial releases. As a Dynamic headphone it's presentation is of course different than an 009. Sound is as you'd expect from a very nicely designed dynamic headphone product in its price range. It's more on axis listening like a speaker but also has a great sound stage ......to me, a bit more intimate warmth. It is very scalable and it loves all kinds of amps & DAC's DAP's

I happen to like them both but for me it's 85% Utopia.

I agree with Jason here. Both deserves to be owned by "you"! If you really love music !

 

[joseph69]

In September at your focal dealer. $1000 trade in on as new headphones that retail for $60 or more.

Thanks. I was aware of the trade in for September, but didn't realize the discount was $1K. Also, I thought there was some other promotion going on besides this one when I read the post #4216.

 

[TSAVJason]

Where is this $3K promotion available for the Utopia?

Do you know if this is NA only, or do we get a similar campaign in Europe? I'd be tempted

I don't know if it's North America or global

 

[kingkikapu]

anybody else sensing a small amount of vibration on larger transients? It almost sounds like something is loose in there.

 

[GryphonGuy]

anybody else sensing a small amount of vibration on larger transients? It almost sounds like something is loose in there.

Nope. Tight as a Beryllium drum as always. Are you being presented with clipped sounds from wall-of-sound compressed audio? That can make crackle sounds. Or some other form of vibration. For instance, I never realised the cartridge on my turntable was resonating at certain frequencies until I had the utopia. A quick tighten of a fraction of a millimetre turn on the screws on the headshell and problem solved...thanks to the Utopia's transparency.

And as an aside, my recorded LP's all sound relatively crushed sonically...also thanks to Utopia transparency. I purchase only CD or 44.1kHz material again now thanks to DAVE+Utopia combination.

Regards
GG

 

[meomap]

anybody else sensing a small amount of vibration on larger transients? It almost sounds like something is loose in there.

I think I know what is wrong with your Utopia.
Either it's call Rattle or Flapping. It's irritating to hear.
Do you hear it on Right or Left driver?

Certain sub-bass frequency in music or movies that can create that sound.
Music = I can hear from the big acoustic bass played, but the rattle sound started almost at the end of the bass instrument ended. I thought something was loose inside. Took out the pad out, inspected, and put it back on = still the same.
Movies = I remembered a bomb sound or something with sub-bass frequency. Again the rattling sound also started at the end of decaying ended.

Did you feel your Utopia sounds like that?

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

Where is this $3K promotion available for the Utopia?

In September at your focal dealer. $1000 trade in on as new headphones that retail for $60 or more.

That's correct. It's very cool stuff!

 

[Svatopluk]

anybody else sensing a small amount of vibration on larger transients? It almost sounds like something is loose in there.

The Utopia is very efficient and may not work well if the amps impedance is set to high. That was my experience when I tried pairing the Utopia with the HDVA600. Even with the volume set relatively low, the bass was still overwhelming for my taste. I can definitely see how a combination of of poor impedance matching and to much volume could cause a problem when combined with recordings containing exaggerated levels of sub-bass.

If you don't mind my asking. What amp are you using and are you aware of the decibel level you are listening at?

 

[jlbrach]

the Dave is absolutely perfect with the efficient Utopia....

 

[kingkikapu]

The Utopia is very efficient and may not work well if the amps impedance is set to high. That was my experience when I tried pairing the Utopia with the HDVA600. Even with the volume set relatively low, the bass was still overwhelming for my taste. I can definitely see how a combination of of poor impedance matching and to much volume could cause a problem when combined with recordings containing exaggerated levels of sub-bass.

If you don't mind my asking. What amp are you using and are you aware of the decibel level you are listening at?

I'm running Utopia through a HA-1 Dac/Amp combo with gain level set to high with -20dB on the dial which is fairly low on the non-linear curve. We're not talking super loud here. Windows sound is usually set to 100% and I also have a +4dB boost on bass frequencies to make the bottom of Utopia a little more to my liking. I've been running the bass boost for months (+6dB was causing mild clipping on extremely bassy tests so I backed it off to 4dB). I don't recall any clipping/rattling for months with that setting. I'll try running the gain on low with a higher volume and see if there is a difference. Its a very subtle rattle that occurs on larger bass transients and sometimes on the trailing note of mid frequencies. I first noticed it on the left channel, but it also happens on the right channel, but almost never together. I've been wondering if the source is a poor master with rare clipping, so I've been trying all sorts of different sources (DSD, FLAC, Spotify, Youtube). The effect is subtle and not happening all the time, but my ears zero in on it pretty quick because Utopia is so damn clean usually.

Test 1:
Listening to Hollies - Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress (1993 remaster) on Spotify right now with the volume turned up to -14dB and can hear faint buzz/rattle in right channel preceding either the bass guitar strum beat or that with a combination of the bass drum getting kicked. Man it's faint, but its there sometimes. Replaying the song on low gain with volume at -1.5 dB to 0 dB and can still hear a faint rattle in right channel on the same note combinations, albeit perhaps a bit more faint/infrequent. Hard to volume match the different gains.



Test 6 (I played 4 additional songs before finding another candidate):
Listening to Bush - Everything Zen on spotify volume -14.5 dB High Gain. At about 30 seconds in there is a bass guitar melody accompanying singer and I hear slight rattling again in right channel. Switching to low gain and attempting to volume match brings about the same rattle. I'm thinking then it's not to do with gain selection, but either one of two possibilities:

1) My 4dB bass boost is now clipping. Odd as I had no issues with this for months...
2) Something has come loose within the Utopia?