[Whitigir]

Good point, we all have different tastes. I find the treble of the HD800S to be rolled of to much with any source and the treble of the HD800 to bright when paired with the wrong source.

The treble of the Utopia is just right for my ears but I'm old so that may be the reason it sounds so good.

I can tell you that I am not old (enough) and utopia treble can only come close to Stax Sr900....the reason why I have to have sr900 setup as well....Utopia is not bright, it is just right, and the limitations is it physical technology in comparison to Stax

 

[drbobbybones]

Looks like Bob's pair was significantly more treble forward than the others. It's funny how the two review samples just so happened to be so far out of the norm for whatever reason.

If Tyll gets to test that many LCD-4's, I would not be surprised if Audeze winds up on the short end of the consistency stick.

Actually, Bob's pair was very much in line with the other Utopias measured. Tyll's pair was the only oddball.

This is gonna come down to personal preferences. I very much prefer the sound the Utopia over the LCD-4, and I am sure mine is in line with the other 6 measured. It's all about your ears and how you like your headphones to sound. Bob and Tyll both like a little more warmth and low end than I do, and that's okay. They're entitled to their opinion. Their opinion doesn't decrease my enjoyment of my Utopias.

 

[Whitigir]

Actually, Bob's pair was very much in line with the other Utopias measured. Tyll's pair was the only oddball.

This is gonna come down to personal preferences. I very much prefer the sound the Utopia over the LCD-4, and I am sure mine is in line with the other 6 measured. It's all about your ears and how you like your headphones to sound. Bob and Tyll both like a little more warmth and low end than I do, and that's okay. They're entitled to their opinion. Their opinion doesn't decrease my enjoyment of my Utopias.

Exactly ! If anything, reviews are just a glare of what you may or may not like in a general picture only and so it never will be the final nail for you to decide upon anything. That is why we have head-fi and a huge discussion thread for such matters.....and it keeps on draining my damn wallet

 

[LaCuffia]

what's funny is that Utopia haters see the Inner-fidelity/Bob Katz articles as some sort of vindication of their position...I was reading some posts on the Super Snobby Audio Friends forum and the tone is like, "see, I told you the Utopia was bright and it sucks!" I have no skin in the game having never heard the Utopia though I tried the Elear and liked it lot so I can see how some would view Focal as the benchmark for top tier headphones.

 

[Whitigir]

Lol, there will always be haters

 

[Allanmarcus]

Actually, I've very active on that other forum and here. There are folks there that like other headphones more than the utopia, just like here. There are a-holes there just like here. They are a much smaller community and generally well informed, but their tolerance for (forum) noise is very low.

As for the utopia and measurements, I know that Tyl likes warmer headphones than I do, so if they sound "right" to him, they will be too warm for me. I was surprised I liked the utopia as much as I do, and now it makes sense. That said, I'm leaning heavily towards my TH900 as my main headphones. I like them as much as the utopia, and it think through a good tube amp with good tubes, both sound awesome. I have a decision to make

Another interesting note. The price of used utopias had dropped below $3000. $2800ish seems to be the going price now.

 

[chromazones]

I find the utopia is very fussy with recordings, it highlights how bad some of my music sounds through them

Which is exactly as it should be with any high fidelity device. If one dislikes some of one's recordings within that context there is no value in shooting the messenger. Of course, if you prefer a coloured sound which is sympathetic to less well recorded material then that is perfectly valid.

 

[Whitigir]

Which is exactly as it should be with any high fidelity device. If one dislikes some of one's recordings within that context there is no value in shooting the messenger. Of course, if you prefer a coloured sound which is sympathetic to less well recorded material then that is perfectly valid.

Exactly, and the weight on the Utopia is not because of the headband but the gigantic magnet design . It has the largest and deepest, most powerful magnet construction for the voicecoil that I have seen so far

 

[AFWannabe]

If frequency response was the only thing that mattered in headphones, I'm sure it will be possible to replicate the frequency response of high-end headphones for much less, but, I don't think they would be equivalent in anything else...

 

[Liu Junyuan]

Actually, I've very active on that other forum and here. There are folks there that like other headphones more than the utopia, just like here. There are a-holes there just like here. They are a much smaller community and generally well informed, but their tolerance for (forum) noise is very low.

As for the utopia and measurements, I know that Tyl likes warmer headphones than I do, so if they sound "right" to him, they will be too warm for me. I was surprised I liked the utopia as much as I do, and now it makes sense. That said, I'm leaning heavily towards my TH900 as my main headphones. I like them as much as the utopia, and it think through a good tube amp with good tubes, both sound awesome. I have a decision to make

Another interesting note. The price of used utopias had dropped below $3000. $2800ish seems to be the going price now.

You enjoy TH-900 as much as Utopia? That is interesting. You could save a lot of money that way.

 

[LaCuffia]

I am surprised at the used prices for mint condition Utopias. Perhaps some form of market correction. But I guess it's not going to become some super rare Sony R10 in the years to come. It seems like they've sold pretty well even given the price tag.

 

[Allanmarcus]

You enjoy TH-900 as much as Utopia? That is interesting. You could save a lot of money that way.

'
Yep. I'm doing a lot of comparison listening.

Update. The Fostex are certainly funner, but the Utopias are better, more balanced, and tighter. Not gonna save any money here

 

[rrahman]

I'm surprised there isn't more outrage over the discrepancies in measured Utopia's. It seems w/ the exception of Tyll's and Jude's first review pairs all subsequent Utopia's are flawed. It would be reassuring if people who feel they have one of the non bright variants could get their headphones measured and post them.

 

[Allanmarcus]

I'm surprised there isn't more outrage over the discrepancies in measured Utopia's. It seems w/ the exception of Tyll's and Jude's first review pairs all subsequent Utopia's are flawed. It would be reassuring if people who feel they have one of the non bright variants could get their headphones measured and post them.

I like the way mine sounds. If it were warmer I do not think I would like it. It does benefit from a good tube amp or a warm SS amp.

 

[x RELIC x]

I'm surprised there isn't more outrage over the discrepancies in measured Utopia's. It seems w/ the exception of Tyll's and Jude's first review pairs all subsequent Utopia's are flawed. It would be reassuring if people who feel they have one of the non bright variants could get their headphones measured and post them.

I actually think mine would be closer to Tyll's and Jude's as I even noted in my impressions review that I could use a little more treble with my pair, and I'm 'allergic' to overly bright sound for my tastes. I'd love to have mine measured to find out.