[meomap]

I am running Gold Lion KT 88’s and have 15 pairs of 12AU7’s to try. I am hoping for 8 KT 90’s by EI like I run in a Cary amp. I believe original tubes were built by PSVane.

In my amp I run Melz 1578’s and Tung Sol 5998’s. HD 800’s were used with four of my amps in blind tube comparisons for 6SN7 equivalents. I do have another half dozen tube headphone amps I can use with Utopias.

Very good, indeed.

 

[Paladin79]

Very good, indeed.

And I was not overly impressed with the headphone out on the PrimaLuna.

I do not do metal cabinets myself and the Stellaris did well in blind tests my local audio group conducted. We like to use large groups of test subjects but Covid has restricted our work.

I should also add the Mojo2 did quite well in some DAC testing we did, top five out of 20 as I recall. Many costing much more finished farther down the list.

 

[Musicophilesblog]

Each to their own. Hopefully a few of you have heard Utopias with a tube amp, it can be a glorious sound.

Before purchasing the Naim HE I’ve auditioned several expensive tube amps. Both were objectively “better” in several parameters like sense of space, detail, and obviously voices were chillingly beautiful.

I still bought the Naim, as beyond being a single box solution and looking really handsome, there is something magical around the pairing with the Utopias (OG), particularly around the Naim house speciality of PRaT. You quick forget about hifi and just enjoy the music.

I really love this combo and listen to more music then ever.

 

[Paladin79]

Before purchasing the Naim HE I’ve auditioned several expensive tube amps. Both were objectively “better” in several parameters like sense of space, detail, and obviously voices were chillingly beautiful.

I still bought the Naim, as beyond being a single box solution and looking really handsome, there is something magical around the pairing with the Utopias (OG), particularly around the Naim house speciality of PRaT. You quick forget about hifi and just enjoy the music.

I really love this combo and listen to more music then ever.

Enjoy! This weekend I will be building more audio racks cause I need more space, I am not a good example of a person combining gear other than using an integrated amp. Tube amps are higher maintenance and not for everyone.

 

[Coztomba]

Before purchasing the Naim HE I’ve auditioned several expensive tube amps. Both were objectively “better” in several parameters like sense of space, detail, and obviously voices were chillingly beautiful.

I still bought the Naim, as beyond being a single box solution and looking really handsome, there is something magical around the pairing with the Utopias (OG), particularly around the Naim house speciality of PRaT. You quick forget about hifi and just enjoy the music.

I really love this combo and listen to more music then ever.

I was listening to my Utopia the other day straight from the RME ADI2 and thought... If I had to sell everything and just had these 2 things I'd be completely fine. It's not as good as the rest when you A/B but it's still completely enjoyable.

I would purchase the Utopia and Naim Atom and immediately delete your Head-Fi account so you don’t continue upgrading. It’s a perfectly fine system for years to come and anything more is excess.

Probably damn good advice!

 

[Paladin79]

I was listening to my Utopia the other day straight from the RME ADI2 and thought... If I had to sell everything and just had these 2 things I'd be completely fine. It's not as good as the rest when you A/B but it's still completely enjoyable.


Probably damn good advice!

RME was another brand that punched well above its weight in some DAC tests friends and I performed. It beat DAC’s selling for twice the price.

 

[jkrokidas]

Owning Utopias for 3 weeks and hours of burn in. I got to say that these were the most drastic changing burn in headphones for me. I almost returned them. But after reading more reviews and comments stating to wait for a 200+hr burn in, I must say I'm glad I waited. I love them. I also am running it on a RME/HPA1 and for upgrading from a HP-A8 was probably the least expensive and most largest improvement. Plus I get to stare at the display + enjoy learning/messing up EQ settings. Hoping in the future to get a balanced tube setup but need some more research.

 

[Paladin79]

Owning Utopias for 3 weeks and hours of burn in. I got to say that these were the most drastic changing burn in headphones for me. I almost returned them. But after reading more reviews and comments stating to wait for a 200+hr burn in, I must say I'm glad I waited. I love them. I also am running it on a RME/HPA1 and for upgrading from a HP-A8 was probably the least expensive and most largest improvement. Plus I get to stare at the display + enjoy learning/messing up EQ settings. Hoping in the future to get a balanced tube setup but need some more research.

I ran some balanced, Gungnir to Mjolnir 2, and Freya + etc. I may incorporate some of those items into my secondary system. I also have a Bifrost 2 somewhere. I am putting together my dream system since I am now retired. My system will be complete when I decide on a second turntable and a tube DAC or maybe an Aqua La Voce. I traded for my Focal Utopias so they were already broken in.

 

[jkrokidas]

I would love if I can hear a utopia over something like a IHA-1//WOO WA5-LE. The look of a Aqua La Voce gives off such elegance in something looking so minimalistic.

 

[Paladin79]

I would love if I can hear a utopia over something like a IHA-1//WOO WA5-LE. The look of a Aqua La Voce gives off such elegance in something looking so minimalistic.

I have heard the La Voce going into the amp I designed using the Utopia and the combination was as good as I hope for. There is a La Voce for sale by a guy looking for speaker cables or an amp so I may try to work out a trade. I spent nearly 16 years running a company that specialized in custom cables so I can most likely help the guy lol. I have this power amp I built in order to win a bet that I could trade as well.



The power tubes were used on German submarines during WW 2, I made a cabinet using tiger maple and white walnut.

 

[Moose246]

Looking for solid state amp recommendations for my Utopias. My own curated shortlist is
- Violectric V281
- GSX Mini
- ECP DSHA 3F (hard to find?)

Budget is flexible but would prefer to stay under $3k. Totally fine, and actually prefer, to purchase used. I tend to like warmer signatures. DAC is a Yggdrasil OG A2 w/ unison USB.

 

[chrisnyc75]

Looking for solid state amp recommendations for my Utopias. My own curated shortlist is
- Violectric V281
- GSX Mini
- ECP DSHA 3F (hard to find?)

Budget is flexible but would prefer to stay under $3k. Totally fine, and actually prefer, to purchase used. I tend to like warmer signatures. DAC is a Yggdrasil OG A2 w/ unison USB.

I would add Ferrum Oor to your list. Coupled with the Hypsos power supply you can regulate the voltage to slightly affect tonality, sort of like tubes.

 

[Paladin79]

I would add Ferrum Oor to your list. Coupled with the Hypsos power supply you can regulate the voltage to slightly affect tonality, sort of like tubes.

I only do tubes but I will say very nice turntable in your profile.

 

[Moose246]

I would add Ferrum Oor to your list. Coupled with the Hypsos power supply you can regulate the voltage to slightly affect tonality, sort of like tubes.

Thanks, will check it out!

 

[chrisnyc75]

I only do tubes but I will say very nice turntable in your profile.

Thanks. And same.