[Drumonron]

While the Utopia is quite close to my ideal headphone, I found myself frustrated from time to time while listening to music. Nevermind. It may be just that my ears need some rests.
I will buy back the Utopia again, if I miss it much.

Judging by your recent posts, you seem burned out on Headphones and perhaps it's time for a break. Good luck!

 

[dontfeedphils]

Has anyone felt the need to replace their earpads yet? I've had mine for about a year and a half with, I'd guess, an average of 16 hours of listening a week, on the low side.

 

[pervysage]

All I know is that I have never found my Utopia to be bright (paired with a Danacable Lazuli Reference cable)

Overly bright headphones definitely annoy me.

 

[MacedonianHero]

I must respectfully disagree.

The Lazuli Ref cable allowed my Utopia to sound musical for the first time. I was close to abandoning them as too analytical prior to getting that cable.

Your ears, my ears I suppose.

The other improvement with the Lazuli cable that I've noticed right off the bat is the increased sounstaging (regardless of headphone: Utopia, HE1000V2, etc...).

 

[pataburd]

All I know is that I have never found my Utopia to be bright (paired with a Danacable Lazuli Reference cable)

Overly bright headphones definitely annoy me.

Never bright [always "just right"] for my ears, too--and without the Lazuli. : )

 

[montanari]

"Exactly as recorded" could be a stretch. But listening to the Utopia's with the Hugo 2 don't alter the sound much regardless of cable in my opinion. What I'm saying is the Utopia's are very revealing of your upstream gear. You can really hear each components influence on the sound with the Utopia's.

I saw your audio Gear spoiler, do you prefer hugo or hugo+pathos with the utopia?

 

[emrelights1973]

The other improvement with the Lazuli cable that I've noticed right off the bat is the increased sounstaging (regardless of headphone: Utopia, HE1000V2, etc...).

and the price tag...

don't get me wrong I own expensive interconnects, speaker cables etc but even I could bot gt my self to buy one, using Kimber CU because I need a balanced, shot cable...

 

[x RELIC x]

All I know is that I have never found my Utopia to be bright (paired with a Danacable Lazuli Reference cable)

Overly bright headphones definitely annoy me.

Never bright [always "just right"] for my ears, too--and without the Lazuli. : )

I'm using the stock cable and I've never found the Utopia bright either. See my signature for a reference to what I like. In fact, I'd say the brightest headphone in my collection is my LCD-XC. I don't like bright headphones as well.

 

[Slim1970]

I saw your audio Gear spoiler, do you prefer hugo or hugo+pathos with the utopia?

Between the two my preference is straight out of the Hugo 2. With the Pathos in the chain the lose of dynamics and transparency are obvious with the Utopia’s. I didn’t like this paring. I’m still going through my headphones to see which of them benefits the most from tubes. The Utopia’s is not one of the to my ears.

 

[montanari]

Really? I liked them from dna stratus and ear hp4 very much.both My two cans(th900 is the other)
Not so impressed from The ifi
I also liked them from rogue rh5 hybrid, but the fostex less..Too dark..
I m looking for a cheaper option for both with a touch of warm, without loose dynamics. And a clear upgrade from The hugo straight. Saw also the fosgate signature but maybe is very similar to the pathos..

 

[Slim1970]

Really? I liked them from dna stratus and ear hp4 very much.both My two cans(th900 is the other)
Not so impressed from The ifi
I also liked them from rogue rh5 hybrid, but the fostex less..Too dark..
I m looking for a cheaper option for both with a touch of warm, without loose dynamics. And a clear upgrade from The hugo straight. Saw also the fosgate signature but maybe is very similar to the pathos..

I think I’m more of a solid state guy or I need to find the right tubes to bring out the Utopia’s qualities on the Pathos. The stock tubes on the Pathos might be the limiting factor. The Pathos Aurium is a nice amp and it does infuse a ton of warmth into the Utopia’s. I wish I still had my TH900’s to see how they sound on the Pathos. My Beyerdynamic T1.2’s sounded like crap out of the Pathos but my PM2’s sounded great out of it. With the stock tubes on some recordings the mids sounded off. It could be the recordings or tubes or a combination of both. I need to try some different tubes.....

 

[montanari]

Or maybe to get top quality from valve amp we/i need to not go cheap
Thank you

 

[Slim1970]

Or maybe to get top quality from valve amp we/i need to not go cheap
Thank you

Design and implementation I’m sure has a lot to do with it. But the choice of tubes plays a big part as well when it comes to sound. Headphone compatibility plays a part too.

 

[montanari]

I have an artisan valve amp to try These days at home. Single ended class a with Ecl82 and 2output transformer
Doesn t sound dull at all but a bit noisy and not such an upgrade from The hugo
As i wrote i liked the ear hp4 the most for both My cans. Maybe the treble could be a bit less roll off,but Put the missing mids to the th900 and soft a bit the utopia That also sounds deeper than hugo
The rogue maybe even better but Too dark for the fostex

 

[pataburd]

Between the two my preference is straight out of the Hugo 2. With the Pathos in the chain the lose of dynamics and transparency are obvious with the Utopia’s. I didn’t like this paring. I’m still going through my headphones to see which of them benefits the most from tubes. The Utopia’s is not one of the to my ears.

Am having very good success with the Utopia and a hybrid amplifier [heavily upgraded Bada PH-12, w/3x 6SN7 + Toshiba MOSFETs]. A lot is said about the detail and dynamics of the Utopia, but tubes help exploit their other strength: a pure and captivating tonality.

Will run the Utopia SE from the hybrid amp and balanced from the [incoming] ecp SS amp.

Innards for the upgraded Bada PH-12 [VenHaus caps, BlackGate caps, Vishay and Tantalum resistors, UP-OCC copper wiring, Linkwitz crossfeed, heat sinks, etc.--thanks again, Fitz!]:

Topside photo of stock configuration [will post topside picture of the actual Fitz-improved amp when I get back to my apartment].