[HiFiHawaii808]

I haven’t listening to tube amps but the Naim Uniti Atom HE has given the Utopia’s the thickest, warmest sound with zero harshness of the amps I’ve tried. That would be the original Hugo, Hugo 2, Chord Dave w/mscaler and Focal Arche. The Naim is not the most resolving but has great texture especially in the bass and music has plenty of weight. Very enjoyable.

As for a timber, I generally found all the amps to be somewhat similar, with the headphone cable making the bigger difference. I’ve only tried the Danacable Lazuli Reference and love the changes it brings. Guitar has more crunch and mids have are just so rich.

Interesting that so many people love that Danacable. I'll have to give it a listen sometime.

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

…i find that the utopia's 'headstage' (for want of a better descriptor) does vary depending on the recording - ymmv.

Just want to echo this as much has been said about the Utopia having a small soundstage.

It’s very much recording dependant. I have been surprised by a wide soundstage with some recording that made me wonder “is this still the Utopia??? It’s supposed to have a small soundstage.” I think by it’s design the Utopia reflects the recording accurately. By comparison the HD800 always portrays a wide stage and sometimes for worse things can sound diffuse and the music can lose coherency.

Also, if you play around with EQ it’s apparent that certain frequencies - specifically the mid-range can create a sense of space when recessed or sound forward when boosted. Therefore differences in headphones can sometimes be attributed to the tuning which is easily adjusted for personal preference. I bet you could make the Utopia sound more spacious if you lowered a few dB somewhere in the 1-4khz range although I haven’t tested it myself.

 

[jlbrach]

the 800 has an artificial sounding soundstage...the abyss is a much more natural larger soundstage

 

[helljudgement]

It’s very much recording dependant. I have been surprised by a wide soundstage with some recording that made me wonder “is this still the Utopia??? It’s supposed to have a small soundstage.” I think by it’s design the Utopia reflects the recording accurately. By comparison the HD800 always portrays a wide stage and sometimes for worse things can sound diffuse and the music can lose coherency.

Might be hard to believe but some amps can help project a bigger soundstage for utopia. The utopia is a more upfront sounding hp than the hd800 and this can feel a bit constricted for some but when paired with the the right amp it can sound amazingly spacious and open.

 

[vonBaron]

In my opinion the soundstage of the HD800 is artificially enlarged, Utopia also has a noticeably better sound quality.

 

[LCMusicLover]

I'm one of those who occasionally mentions 'bass-lite' and 'Utopia' in the same sentence. At the same time, I do hear well-defined, well-extended, well-controlled bass from Utopia. So is it just a question of a few dB of EQ in the right spot?

Well, last night I was listening to the latest iteration of my chain:

Allo Digione ==> mTT2 ==> LP (w/ Brimar CV-4034s) ==> Utopia/Auteur/Hedd (via Lavricables Grand)

I was really trying to compare my new 4034s with my favorite 6dj8 family tubes (Siemens CCa & Brimar CV-2492). 'Longboard' by Calexico came on and I was truly amazed. I had never heard such outstanding bass impact and heft from Utopia.

I don't know which modification to my chain made such a big difference -- new source? mTT2? tubes in LP? all three?

But I can say that, from the 'right' chain, Utopia goes toe-to-toe with any/all of my other cans as far as bass quantity/quality.

kind of amazing that I've owned Utopia for over four years and am still discovering new aspects of their sound

Tonight I'll swap in my DSHA-3F w/ Nickel transformers and see how that compares with the same chain feeding the LP. Unfortunate that I can't compare the XLR out of the TT2 w/ other amps using the same DAC -- for obvious reasons TT2 either does DAC out OR Amp out, but not both.

 

[Ciggavelli]

I'm one of those who occasionally mentions 'bass-lite' and 'Utopia' in the same sentence. At the same time, I do hear well-defined, well-extended, well-controlled bass from Utopia. So is it just a question of a few dB of EQ in the right spot?

Well, last night I was listening to the latest iteration of my chain:

Allo Digione ==> mTT2 ==> LP (w/ Brimar CV-4034s) ==> Utopia/Auteur/Hedd (via Lavricables Grand)

I was really trying to compare my new 4034s with my favorite 6dj8 family tubes (Siemens CCa & Brimar CV-2492). 'Longboard' by Calexico came on and I was truly amazed. I had never heard such outstanding bass impact and heft from Utopia.

I don't know which modification to my chain made such a big difference -- new source? mTT2? tubes in LP? all three?

But I can say that, from the 'right' chain, Utopia goes toe-to-toe with any/all of my other cans as far as bass quantity/quality.

kind of amazing that I've owned Utopia for over four years and am still discovering new aspects of their sound

Tonight I'll swap in my DSHA-3F w/ Nickel transformers and see how that compares with the same chain feeding the LP. Unfortunate that I can't compare the XLR out of the TT2 w/ other amps using the same DAC -- for obvious reasons TT2 either does DAC out OR Amp out, but not both.

The first time I owned the Utopias, I was driving them with a mTT2 and LTA MZ2. I definitely thought they were bass-lite. I sold them because they only sounded good when I listened to them loud, and I didn’t want to go deaf over a pair of headphones. Also, my other headphones at the time really overshadowed the Utopias (I had recently purchased the TCs at the time too, so in comparison to those and the Utopias, it really made the Utopias sound bass lite).

Anyway, a couple of years passed and I upgraded my chain and heard that the Utopias sound good out of the WA33. So, curiosity got the better of me and I bought the Utopias again.

Due to my upgraded chain, and being able to use a balanced headphone cable, the Utopias have really surprised me. They do have impactful bass when a song calls for it. I’ve actually been pretty happy with the bass out of the Utopias. I’m a bit of a bass head, so the TCs are the king there, but the Utopias are still good. They’re a good all around pair of headphones (I recently got the T+A Solitaire P, and they have very similar qualities).

So…, my hypothesis is that giving the Utopias more current, in the form of a balanced headphone cable, gave them increased bass quantity. I’m not an electrical engineer, so I could be completely off. Whatever the reason, the Utopias sound a lot better than they did when I first had them a couple of years ago.

 

[jlbrach]

Due to my upgraded chain, and being able to use a balanced headphone cable, the Utopias have really surprised me. They do have impactful bass when a song calls for it. I’ve actually been pretty happy with the bass out of the Utopias. I’m a bit of a bass head, so the TCs are the king there, but the Utopias are still good. They’re a good all around pair of headphones (I recently got the T+A Solitaire P, and they have very similar qualities).

yes, the solitaire p is what a utopia would be with a wider and more 3 dimensional soundstage and more bass!

 

[LCMusicLover]

...the latest iteration of my chain:

Allo Digione ==> mTT2 ==> LP (w/ Brimar CV-4034s) ==> Utopia/Auteur/Hedd (via Lavricables Grand)
.
.
.
Tonight I'll swap in my DSHA-3F w/ Nickel transformers and see how that compares with the same chain feeding the LP...

Amazing how close my cap-modded Liquid Platinum (w/ adapters and Brimar CV-4034 tubes) comes to the 3F/Nickel transformers performance. Tonality is very close.

There's a tiny bit more bass from LP. Also, there's a sort of 'thickness' to the upper bass/lower mids from the LP which I interpret as a bit of distortion, but it's small enough as to be an 'accent', not a deviation from Utopia's basic character. It does 'dull' the sound a bit, reducing micro-detail very slightly.

Biggest difference is imaging/headstage. Both are about the same size (length and width), but the stage is shallower from LP -- especially notable on some vocal tracks. Image from the 3F is more precise and there's more air between the instruments (probably a combination of the greater precision and the increased depth). Conversely, the LP image is slightly 'smeared' or 'blurred'. Not nearly to the degree of Empyrean's stage, but leaning slightly that direction from the precision of Utopia's image from other systems. The difference would no doubt be greater if I swapped the Amorphous transformers into the 3F (which would also increase the bass difference).

tl;dr -- very small differences between DSHA-3F and cap-modded Liquid Platinum running CV-4034 tubes.

 

[murphythecat]

Somehow Utopia responds poorly to EQ in my scenario. Not sure how EQ could help me to bring Utopias timbre towards organic side like HD650 and thicken it's sound signature. There is an idea to replace my Qutest to R2R based dac and purchase budget tube amp first prior to blowing $$$ for something serious.

I've read some people using utopias with Night Blues Mini and giving very positive feedback

definitely get a better dac then the Qutest

 

[jlbrach]

qutest is a fine DAC

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

definitely get a better dac then the Qutest

EQ is not lossless, make sure you’re using a high quality EQ. I would suggest FabFilter assuming your player supports it.

 

[vonBaron]

I test the Burson 3XR with Utopias and it sounds nice, sometimes the treble is too dry, sandy and the bass loses control, but at this price it is a very good DAC / AMP.

 

[hakunamakaka]

definitely get a better dac then the Qutest

Which dac are you suggesting ? I've finished my desktop setup Macbook -> Denafrip Iris -> Qutest -> Luxman p1 Amp to Utopia and it sounds a bit thin and polite. Though detail retrieval, imaging is best I've heard so far. Not sure which part of the chain I need to look at to give more meat to the notes and add more bite

I'm a bit scared of R2R dac as a bit of graininess are usually reported from them. I want to keep that smooth signature of Utopia. Soekris 2541 was on my short list of DAC's as well, but glowing balls of qutest got me Though there is an option to sell qutest and get a different dac

 

[dontfeedphils]

Which dac are you suggesting ? I've finished my desktop setup Macbook -> Denafrip Iris -> Qutest -> Luxman p1 Amp to Utopia and it sounds a bit thin and polite. Though detail retrieval, imaging is best I've heard so far. Not sure which part of the chain I need to look at to give more meat to the notes and add more bite

I'm a bit scared of R2R dac as a bit of graininess are usually reported from them. I want to keep that smooth signature of Utopia. Soekris 2541 was on my short list of DAC's as well, but glowing balls of qutest got me Though there is an option to sell qutest and get a different dac

My recommendation would be to upgrade your digital source first. Ditch the laptop and go for a low noise network streamer powered by a good LPS.

There are a lot of options out there but I'm partial to the Allo offerings, USBridge Signature/DigiOne Signature, and their Shanti LPS. I think this upgrade would be a better bang for the buck upgrade that adds some meat to the sound and improves background blackness/PRaT.