I love the dichotomy between sites on audio "consensus'".
People on this site seem to love Chord, people on other sites love Schiit, and others love Metrum or MSB or whatever.
From the people I've spoke with who've tried a ton of TOTL dacs many of them hate Chord's lower end stuff, but even they tend to admit Dave can edge out Yggy. Gotta be something there.
Just joined the Utopia club btw. Anyone have an Eddie Current amp with the Utopias? Currently using WA7s and a Cayin iDac-6 and itching to upgrade.
I use Eddie Current - first a little background, so I am less rando. I like clean and clear, but I hate glare, or treble peaks. I've recently come to find I like bass that is complete, but I also hate excessive distortion. Let me put a few of these into perspective - HD800, regardless of amplifier used, was simply too much. HD800S tames this, a little, and adds some bass - using a distortion trick, which I do not find to be too much. Denon AH-D2000 had too much distortion, on many amplifiers - TH-X00 also could distort the bass too much for my taste. Focal Utopia has zero distortion, and plenty of bass, and I love it for this! But it does have, to my ears, a small hint of too much treble - not in the same way as the HD800S (yes, it still can have too much treble). The Utopia is just a quantity issue for my ears - not a quality issue.
Eddie Current Black Widow (second generation, all-in-one chassis) is one of my two favorite amplifiers for HD800S. It has a magical way of reinforcing the bass without losing quality or details on the highs. But this combination, I personally found not to my liking on Utopia. I like the bass as-is, without any added "je ne sais quoi" that is part of the Black Widow secret sauce. In solid state, I prefer my HeadAmp GS-X mk2 or even my Rupert Neve Designs RNHP.
Eddie Current Zana Deux S is semi-permanent connected to my Utopia. The tubes trick my ears, ever so slightly taming the highs of the Utopia. Everything else is just clean and pleasurable. Until I have the chance to hear Balancing Act (or anything newer...) this is my Utopia go-to. I'm using a Yggy for my source - I am on the tour for the Hugo 2, so am keen to compare these.