[boyda87]

Amp and source buddy

To an extent I agree. Obviously an amp and source can make a huge difference. That being said I couldn't recreate what he was hearing when running it through my el-cheapo budget dac and an old matrix m stage hpa1. I can definitely understand his point on price, but that's about it. I will say that if he can listen to a $300 dollar headphone and enjoy it as much as I do my utopias then he's a lucky man. This hobby is really expensive and we tend to chase the dragon when it comes to TOTL headphones, amps, and sources.

 

[336881]

Thanks for the tip. I actually stumbled upon that site when Google-ing "how to remove dog hair from records."


I stopped by a big record store near where I was working today and picked up a few albums, new and used. I think your warning was spot on and going forward I need to do some research before making a purchase: I'm kinda disappointed in a "special edition" of The National's "Boxer", which is a great album........ the vocals sound incredible, but some of the instruments sound fuzzy. It was $40. Steely Dan's Greatest Hits (they are pretty cheesy but hey, it was $8 for a double LP!) sounds much better, though the Utopias are incredibly revealing of all those clicks and pops.

Well I would keep going back to the record store if I were you and avoid discogs. What classic records sell at your record store for $15-25 costs a good $60-70 on discogs. Really savy record buyers by collections before they get to the record store for a $1-2 per record. The record store is only going to give you 10-50 cents a record for your collection so do not plan on making any money on this venture.

 

[Zhanming057]

Merry Christmas!

 

[baiyy1986]

What do you guys think of zeos review? I disagree with almost everything ...

a poor unnutritive daily show

 

[baiyy1986]

And I miss Tyll...

 

[up late]

And I miss Tyll...

not everyone is replaceable

 

[boyda87]

And I miss Tyll...

We all do. I didn't always agree with his assessments, but he definitely gave the community a thorough review of headphones that actually gave you an idea of what he heard compared to what he measured. My ears didn't match his, but I could reliably use his baseline to give me an idea of whether I would actually want to listen to a pair of phones. No two people will hear the same headphones (or amps, sources, etc) the same way. What is valuable is to be able to compare their baseline to your baseline to know whether you should check the headphone out. A consistent baseline is a valuable thing that is missing in this hobby. I just hope Tyll is enjoying his retirement.

 

[baiyy1986]

We all do. I didn't always agree with his assessments, but he definitely gave the community a thorough review of headphones that actually gave you an idea of what he heard compared to what he measured. My ears didn't match his, but I could reliably use his baseline to give me an idea of whether I would actually want to listen to a pair of phones. No two people will hear the same headphones (or amps, sources, etc) the same way. What is valuable is to be able to compare their baseline to your baseline to know whether you should check the headphone out. A consistent baseline is a valuable thing that is missing in this hobby. I just hope Tyll is enjoying his retirement.

Tyll is still the only one I can watch many times. Second is Currawong. but their style is very different. Tyll teach me what is the reference. Currawong is more music lover. Also, It looks like Currawong still update his old video for review perfection.
Aornic and Hawaiibadboy are also superb.
The kid from majorHiFi looks legit.

 

[Dan Lee]

I have watched reviews from Zeos, Currawong, Tyll, and many others and though I believe that Tyll was by far the most technical reviewer Zeos was always the most entertaining. Obviously he is insane with regard to his Utopia review but he has been spot on for others. In all honesty I prefer his style of review to the technical ones simply because I care more about how it sounds and what it does for you. Technical specs are all well and good but some headphones sound great when the specs would lead you to believe they wouldnt and vice versa. I have watched some of Z's reviews even when I knew I would never buy the item just because the guy can be hilarious sometimes. If you want a good laugh one of his Audio Gd reviews is epic. But to each their own my friends there is a place for all of these guys and one should not take the opinion of just one review or reviewer. Instead read and watch multiple reviews to get an overall understanding. Anyway thats my soap box speech done.

Thanks for all the help @TSAVAlan and @TSAVJason you guys are awesome.

And... back to the focal Utopia. Assuming we all partaking in this thread love the Utopia does anyone have a favorite backup headphone one that is more mellow and smooth in presentation without being undetailed but perhaps more euphonic or u shaped or whatever your preference may be? I am currently spending a lot of time with my Ether 2s and have been trying to decide which I prefer between those and the LCD-Xs. Right now it is slightly in favor of the Ether 2s as on certain tracks it is so ethereal as to give me goosebumps.

 

[boyda87]

Tyll is still the only one I can watch many times. Second is Currawong. but their style is very different. Tyll teach me what is the reference. Currawong is more music lover. Also, It looks like Currawong still update his old video for review perfection.
Aornic and Hawaiibadboy are also superb.
The kid from majorHiFi looks legit.

I will gladly vouch for Currawong's reviews. I don't always agree with his end results but you can usually bank on the consistency. In a perfect world we would have had a combination of Currawong and Tyll for reviews. I need to watch the other folks you mention. I definitely owe all of the in-depth reviews on the Utopia a thank you. I may have never tried the Utopia otherwise. The utopias have spoiled me, but I'm glad I spent the money on them. As it stands the only headphones I'd even consider auditioning for my system are the Susvara and the SR-009s. Considering the cost of both of those

 

[Fogelstrauss]

I have watched reviews from Zeos, Currawong, Tyll, and many others and though I believe that Tyll was by far the most technical reviewer Zeos was always the most entertaining. Obviously he is insane with regard to his Utopia review but he has been spot on for others. In all honesty I prefer his style of review to the technical ones simply because I care more about how it sounds and what it does for you. Technical specs are all well and good but some headphones sound great when the specs would lead you to believe they wouldnt and vice versa. I have watched some of Z's reviews even when I knew I would never buy the item just because the guy can be hilarious sometimes. If you want a good laugh one of his Audio Gd reviews is epic. But to each their own my friends there is a place for all of these guys and one should not take the opinion of just one review or reviewer. Instead read and watch multiple reviews to get an overall understanding. Anyway thats my soap box speech done.

Thanks for all the help @TSAVAlan and @TSAVJason you guys are awesome.

And... back to the focal Utopia. Assuming we all partaking in this thread love the Utopia does anyone have a favorite backup headphone one that is more mellow and smooth in presentation without being undetailed but perhaps more euphonic or u shaped or whatever your preference may be? I am currently spending a lot of time with my Ether 2s and have been trying to decide which I prefer between those and the LCD-Xs. Right now it is slightly in favor of the Ether 2s as on certain tracks it is so ethereal as to give me goosebumps.

I recently purchased Empyreans and think they are a bit more laid back, while still being detailed enough to enjoy them

 

[Dan Lee]

I have heard of the Empyreans but haven't read any reviews yet. Im gonna have to check those out now. Have you listened to the Xs or Ethers before? If so how would you say they compare.

 

[Fogelstrauss]

I have heard of the Empyreans but haven't read any reviews yet. Im gonna have to check those out now. Have you listened to the Xs or Ethers before? If so how would you say they compare.

Unfortunately not, no. I don't know any other hifi geeks personally and my local dealer does not have those 2 for demo. Gonna buy my next cans in about 2 months, there is one room left in my home without a proper setup. Wanna try out susvara, heard good things about them

 

[Dan Lee]

Wow man if you own the Utopia and Susvara I believe you will literally have no reason to ever buy another headphone as the Utopia will fill the detailed as all hell perfect sound need and the Susvara from what I understand will fulfill the buttery smooth every so beautiful and lush presentation of sound need. My god I am jealous just thinking about that haha. What kind of DAC and AMP are you running? I currently have the Gungnir multibit hooked to an Ican Pro and am wondering if there is a better DAC option for me. Thinking about the Yggy but I love MQA in its partially unfolded format and have thought about Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ as well for the MQA reason. But ultimately best sound overall wins out just not sure where that is in the 2K to 2.5K region yet.

 

[baiyy1986]

Now I own both utopia and clear, people say clear is 95% utopia?
That 5% must be a huge margin.
Utopia is Utopia, Clear is Clear. They are different.
Over the year I heard people say TH-0xx is better than TH-900, same thing happen here again.
People can have a different taste so they can prefer different can, but that is a subjective opinion.
HD600 is still my favour for tonality but I would never compare it to other cans. Because they are in a different league.
Now they are saying elex is better than clear makes me wonder.