[FLTWS]

My God they are beautiful

It sounds beautiful too.

 

[MacedonianHero]

My God they are beautiful

They sound beautiful too! Loving mine right now out of my DAVE.

 

[GryphonGuy]

They sound beautiful too! Loving mine right now out of my DAVE.

Agreed.

With DAVE's accuracy regarding transients and timbre and the Utopia's ability to give you your source chain's sound transparently, DAVE+Utopia are an ideal combination for me.

Regards
GG

 

[MacedonianHero]

Agreed.

With DAVE's accuracy regarding transients and timbre and the Utopia's ability to give you your source chain's sound transparently, DAVE+Utopia are an ideal combination for me.

Regards
GG

The speed, tonality and transparency are simply amazing with this combination! Agreed completely.

 

[LCMusicLover]

I would add the new Benchmark HPA4 to the list of highly recommended amps for the Focal Utopia. The Utopia/HPA4 pairing is magic - easily equal to the GSX MkII, which I have also owned at one time. In fact sometimes I feel that the HPA4 may slightly improve on the SQ of the GSX, but this is hard to prove since I'm relying on auditory memory. I do favor the "footprint" of the HPA4 over GSX - it takes much less space (1 unit vs 2), and it has the best stepped attenuator available (which sometimes drove me nuts with the GSX).

Along the lines of 'very pricey' amps, any more opinions on Utopia via Cayin HA-300? I saw @Level5's post on the pairing, which left me wondering. While @Level5 mentioned the relatively low impedance of the Utopia, in a later post it appears that wasn't really an issue. Mostly, I think he didn't feel that the amp helped his Utopia, but he didn't really criticize the sound of the pairing.

Anyone else able to chime in?

 

[wasupdog]

It’s an excellent pairing and I’m saying this as firsthand info. Did you see Andy Kong’s posts on the ha-300 thread about this?

IMO, the best amps for the utopia are high quality tube amps.

 

[up late]

^ as long as they're low impedance

 

[LCMusicLover]

It’s an excellent pairing and I’m saying this as firsthand info. Did you see Andy Kong’s posts on the ha-300 thread about this?

IMO, the best amps for the utopia are high quality tube amps.

Thanks for the response.

I searched the ha-300 thread -- you're right, there's lots of stuff there. It's a bit 'Oh, I love my new amp' ish though. Certainly continues to whet my appetite.

Mind you, I've certainly posted quite a bit of 'Oh, I love my new headphones' stuff, especially on Auteur thread. It's hard not to when you find that you really do love your new gear.

 

[emrelights1973]

Hmmm that’s a great question. Are you freeing to the phonetor x?

The new xe maybe

 

[LCMusicLover]

Dekoni Elite fenestrated sheepskin pads just arrived from Massdrop.

Turns out it is easy to swap pads. A little unnerving the way you have to tug pretty firmly to get the release started. Once you’ve popped one ‘peg’ out, it’s easy to slip a butter knife under and pop the other 4 loose.

I’d call it a pretty significant change — sucks some of the detail out, especially up top. For example, it almost completely eliminates the ‘clanginess’ of the guitar in ‘Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire’ off Joni Mitchell’s For the Roses. Noticeable enough that it jumped out immediately, even though the swap takes about a minute, so the A/B comparison is compromised.

I would also say that the pads shift the tonality a bit toward ‘warm’. I don’t mind that, but the loss of detail hurts. Also, the soundstage might shrink a bit with the Dekonis. Overall I guess I think they make Utopia less special. The difference is more noticeable than Plenue 2 vs Opus#2/ Sonica DAC vs Pontus, or between silver & copper cables.

I guess that if, in your system, Utopia seem somewhat bright or shrill, or bass-lite, you might really like this mod.

Update: I hear the bass as ‘not as clean’ from Dekoni vs stock pads.

 

[joseph69]

Dekoni Elite fenestrated sheepskin pads just arrived from Massdrop.

Turns out it is easy to swap pads. A little unnerving the way you have to tug pretty firmly to get the release started. Once you’ve popped one ‘peg’ out, it’s easy to slip a butter knife under and pop the other 4 loose.

I’d call it a pretty significant change — sucks some of the detail out, especially up top. For example, it almost completely eliminates the ‘clanginess’ of the guitar in ‘Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire’ off Joni Mitchell’s For the Roses. Noticeable enough that it jumped out immediately, even though the swap takes about a minute, so the A/B comparison is compromised.

I would also say that the pads shift the tonality a bit toward ‘warm’. I don’t mind that, but the loss of detail hurts. Also, the soundstage might shrink a bit with the Dekonis. Overall I guess I think they make Utopia less special. The difference is more noticeable than Plenue 2 vs Opus#2/ Sonica SAC vs Pontus, or between silver & copper cables.

I guess that if, in your system, Utopia seem somewhat bright or shrill, or bass-lite, you might really like this mod.

Update: I hear the bass as ‘not as clean’ from Dekoni vs stock pads.

Sounds like the Dekoni Elite fenestrated sheepskin pads are taking the magic right out of the Utopia.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Sounds like the Dekoni Elite fenestrated sheepskin pads are taking the magic right out of the Utopia.

Yes. Not horrible, but just diminished.

 

[joseph69]

Yes. Not horrible, but just diminished.

When exploring with different pads (not due to comfort) I've always found there is nothing like the 'stock' pads. I'd think a lot of R&D goes into this, which is why they use what they use.

 

[TSAVJason]

When exploring with different pads (not due to comfort) I've always found there is nothing like the 'stock' pads. I'd think a lot of R&D goes into this, which is why they use what they use.

I’d agree to that, although, I’ve seen and heard some cool mods on lots of cans. So far Focal seems less mod friendly (being pad specific)

 

[Svatopluk]

When exploring with different pads (not due to comfort) I've always found there is nothing like the 'stock' pads. I'd think a lot of R&D goes into this, which is why they use what they use.

I think it's the New Zealand lambskin. French lambskin obviously effects the sound in some negative way.