[fiiom11pro]

My both are unique




NOMAX

Ps.lol

what is the other headset?

 

[catscratch]

My take on the Utopia vs 007 is a bit different. 007 is more resolving to my ears, especially the Mk1. It also soundstages and images better and is far less fatiguing. The Utopia does have a better and more realistic midrange tone however, and the 007 is a bit bass light and lacking bass impact while the Utopia has a fuller punchier bass. My main issue with the Utopia is how fatiguing it is - I can listen for maybe 20 minutes then my ears start literally hurting and I have to take it off. I'll probably be selling mine soon because of it. I do really like how it sounds and if it wasn't fatiguing I'd keep it. But a $4k headphone you can't use except for 20 minutes at a time is not much good to me.

The 007 is extremely fit dependent, and the if the fit is off, all sorts of problems start to happen. It is easily one of the least user-friendly headphones around and the whole physical design and headband structure needs a complete re-work from the ground up. First impressions matter and with the 007 you're almost guaranteed to have a bad one, you have to bend the headband to get the headphones to stay in place, you have to mess around with fit, get aftermarket amps, and for the Mk2 versions you may have to mod them (mine's still stock but not for long, probably). So I can totally see how so many people have such bad impressions of them, and how impressions are all over the place. But if you get the fit right, the sound is pretty damn great and to my ears close to perfect, except for a somewhat light bass and an occasionally off tone to the midrange that messes up certain vocals.

So the Utopia would be damn near perfect if it wasn't so fatiguing, while the 007 would be near perfect if the mids were a bit more realistic. Neither is totally right, but I tend to gravitate to the one that doesn't hurt me...

Spoiler

That's a lie and a half... I gravitate to the HD650

 

[Roasty]

My take on the Utopia vs 007 is a bit different. 007 is more resolving to my ears, especially the Mk1. It also soundstages and images better and is far less fatiguing. The Utopia does have a better and more realistic midrange tone however, and the 007 is a bit bass light and lacking bass impact while the Utopia has a fuller punchier bass. My main issue with the Utopia is how fatiguing it is - I can listen for maybe 20 minutes then my ears start literally hurting and I have to take it off. I'll probably be selling mine soon because of it. I do really like how it sounds and if it wasn't fatiguing I'd keep it. But a $4k headphone you can't use except for 20 minutes at a time is not much good to me.

The 007 is extremely fit dependent, and the if the fit is off, all sorts of problems start to happen. It is easily one of the least user-friendly headphones around and the whole physical design and headband structure needs a complete re-work from the ground up. First impressions matter and with the 007 you're almost guaranteed to have a bad one, you have to bend the headband to get the headphones to stay in place, you have to mess around with fit, get aftermarket amps, and for the Mk2 versions you may have to mod them (mine's still stock but not for long, probably). So I can totally see how so many people have such bad impressions of them, and how impressions are all over the place. But if you get the fit right, the sound is pretty damn great and to my ears close to perfect, except for a somewhat light bass and an occasionally off tone to the midrange that messes up certain vocals.

So the Utopia would be damn near perfect if it wasn't so fatiguing, while the 007 would be near perfect if the mids were a bit more realistic. Neither is totally right, but I tend to gravitate to the one that doesn't hurt me...

Spoiler

That's a lie and a half... I gravitate to the HD650

Have u tried a bit of eq?
Give it a shot! When I used eq with susvara it was a complete game changer. Just takes a few minutes to plug the numbers into Roon or whatever software u have.

Here are two to try. One is from oratory1990 and the other by Crinacle. I'm using the one from Crinacle as it sounds better to me.

https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/Au...oratory1990/harman_over-ear_2018/Focal Utopia

https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/Au...le/ears-711_harman_over-ear_2018/Focal Utopia

 

[catscratch]

Have u tried a bit of eq?
Give it a shot! When I used eq with susvara it was a complete game changer. Just takes a few minutes to plug the numbers into Roon or whatever software u have.

Here are two to try. One is from oratory1990 and the other by Crinacle. I'm using the one from Crinacle as it sounds better to me.

https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq/tree/master/results/oratory1990/harman_over-ear_2018/Focal Utopia

https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq/tree/master/results/crinacle/ears-711_harman_over-ear_2018/Focal Utopia

I have, though not those particular settings. I've gotten it to the point where the treble doesn't really sound too sharp or overly peaky, but it's still fatiguing. It sounds completely fine and normal, and then 20-30 minutes in my ears make it very obvious that I need a break. No idea why. Maybe there are peaks in there somewhere that I don't hear, I'm certainly not 18 anymore, and I'll give the two above a shot. I had similar issues with the Clear, though it took longer to manifest, I could listen for a couple of hours at a time but eventually, same thing.

I expect most people won't have these problems.

 

[Roasty]

I have, though not those particular settings. I've gotten it to the point where the treble doesn't really sound too sharp or overly peaky, but it's still fatiguing. It sounds completely fine and normal, and then 20-30 minutes in my ears make it very obvious that I need a break. No idea why. Maybe there are peaks in there somewhere that I don't hear, I'm certainly not 18 anymore, and I'll give the two above a shot. I had similar issues with the Clear, though it took longer to manifest, I could listen for a couple of hours at a time but eventually, same thing.

I expect most people won't have these problems.

Ah ok. Give the crinacle eq a shot. And perhaps add a high shelf filter to attenuate the highest frequencies a bit more. If it doesn't work then it is quite a pity. Bite the bullet, move on and try other headphones. Maybe Meze Empy or a ZMF offering. Good luck man!

 

[thecrow]

I thought the empy were really good for what they did and how much they cost. Great comfort, build, nice pleasant highs. I cant say they were similar to the Utopia though. One thing that made me sell my Empyrean were that the empy kept putting me to sleep, but the Utopia kept me listening for hours.

I’m assuming you also needed to, or looked at selling them, because you were buying the susvaras, and the utopias were more keepers than the empys

 

[up late]

My take on the Utopia vs 007 is a bit different. 007 is more resolving to my ears, especially the Mk1. It also soundstages and images better and is far less fatiguing. The Utopia does have a better and more realistic midrange tone however, and the 007 is a bit bass light and lacking bass impact while the Utopia has a fuller punchier bass. My main issue with the Utopia is how fatiguing it is - I can listen for maybe 20 minutes then my ears start literally hurting and I have to take it off. I'll probably be selling mine soon because of it. I do really like how it sounds and if it wasn't fatiguing I'd keep it. But a $4k headphone you can't use except for 20 minutes at a time is not much good to me.

The 007 is extremely fit dependent, and the if the fit is off, all sorts of problems start to happen. It is easily one of the least user-friendly headphones around and the whole physical design and headband structure needs a complete re-work from the ground up. First impressions matter and with the 007 you're almost guaranteed to have a bad one, you have to bend the headband to get the headphones to stay in place, you have to mess around with fit, get aftermarket amps, and for the Mk2 versions you may have to mod them (mine's still stock but not for long, probably). So I can totally see how so many people have such bad impressions of them, and how impressions are all over the place. But if you get the fit right, the sound is pretty damn great and to my ears close to perfect, except for a somewhat light bass and an occasionally off tone to the midrange that messes up certain vocals.

So the Utopia would be damn near perfect if it wasn't so fatiguing, while the 007 would be near perfect if the mids were a bit more realistic. Neither is totally right, but I tend to gravitate to the one that doesn't hurt me...

Spoiler

That's a lie and a half... I gravitate to the HD650

i would describe the sr-007mk2 as having a darkish sound signature. i haven't compared the sr-007mk2 and utopia directly but i imagine that the latter would sound brighter. the sr-007mk2 had ample but not impactful bass that was somewhat loose to my ears. with regard to fit, the sr-007mk2 remains one of the lightest and most comfortable headphones i've worn. a non-fatiguing headphone all round as i recall.

 

[joseph69]

Very similar to Utopia.

Nah, not at all.
Total opposites to my ears.

The sr-007mk2 had ample but not impactful bass that was somewhat loose to my ears.

The 007Mk2 (with port mod & springs removed) had one of the tightest, impactful bass I've ever heard. So much so, that I couldn't help but turn the volume up to dangerous listening levels, which wasn't a good thing.
However, without the mods, I agree that the bass wasn't impactful, as well as being slightly loose too.

 

[Roasty]

I’m assuming you also needed to, or looked at selling them, because you were buying the susvaras, and the utopias were more keepers than the empys

the headphones that have remained in my collection each have some "wow" factor going for them.

the empy did everything decently well, but I realized that for me, its wow factor was comfort. unfortunately, that wasn't a big priority for me. also, when I had the empy, I kept it in rotation, but for some reason each time it was the empy's turn, i wasn't really looking forward to it, and would occasionally skip its turn.

perhaps the sound sig is not to my taste or system synergy is poor. I was anxiously waiting for a new empy pad to come out but that didn't seem like it was happening any time soon. in the end I didn't see a point in keeping it around.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

what is the other headset?

some cheap sennheiser headphone, please just focus on utopia

My take on the Utopia vs 007 is a bit different. 007 is more resolving to my ears, especially the Mk1. It also soundstages and images better and is far less fatiguing. The Utopia does have a better and more realistic midrange tone however, and the 007 is a bit bass light and lacking bass impact while the Utopia has a fuller punchier bass. My main issue with the Utopia is how fatiguing it is - I can listen for maybe 20 minutes then my ears start literally hurting and I have to take it off. I'll probably be selling mine soon because of it. I do really like how it sounds and if it wasn't fatiguing I'd keep it. But a $4k headphone you can't use except for 20 minutes at a time is not much good to me.

The 007 is extremely fit dependent, and the if the fit is off, all sorts of problems start to happen. It is easily one of the least user-friendly headphones around and the whole physical design and headband structure needs a complete re-work from the ground up. First impressions matter and with the 007 you're almost guaranteed to have a bad one, you have to bend the headband to get the headphones to stay in place, you have to mess around with fit, get aftermarket amps, and for the Mk2 versions you may have to mod them (mine's still stock but not for long, probably). So I can totally see how so many people have such bad impressions of them, and how impressions are all over the place. But if you get the fit right, the sound is pretty damn great and to my ears close to perfect, except for a somewhat light bass and an occasionally off tone to the midrange that messes up certain vocals.

So the Utopia would be damn near perfect if it wasn't so fatiguing, while the 007 would be near perfect if the mids were a bit more realistic. Neither is totally right, but I tend to gravitate to the one that doesn't hurt me...

Spoiler

That's a lie and a half... I gravitate to the HD650

Had similar experience with Utopia before. Could be problem came from synergy of set up though. Anyway, if you have chance to try Diana (both Phi or V2) I guess it may suit you well.

 

[vonBaron]

My both are unique




NOMAX

Ps.lol

What is this headphone?

 

[Roasty]

Had similar experience with Utopia before. Could be problem came from synergy of set up though.

Yea I agree. With my current setup, Utopia is far from lacking in bass and far from cold, thin or bright. However, when i had the Utopia plugged into the benchmark hpa4, it got tiring pretty fast.

 

[Nomax]

What is this headphone?

HE 1 and Utopia without Pads

NOMAX

 

[joseph69]

Yea I agree. With my current setup, Utopia is far from lacking in bass and far from cold, thin or bright.

100%
I couldn't agree more.

 

[6PANDEMONIUM6]

Between the 007 mk.1s and the Empyreans I preferred the Empyreans by a large margin. The 007s have a very strange tuning. I couldn't wrap my head around what sort of sound signature they were going for. They were well built and pretty comfortable but so are the Empyreans. Also, it is much simpler to drive the Empyreans.

If I'm going to listen to an estat I want something airy and bright. Not dark and hazy like the 007s.

I think that I may just like bright and airy headphones more in general though. Which is why I think the Utopia will be right up my alley.