[Thaudiophile]

  Nope the SR-SR009 has greater resolution compared to the Utopia.  It can have a hard hitting bass as well as long as you have a good enough amp to drive it.

I have read your many posts.I must say you are a very helpful and humble headfier.

 

[Dillan]

I have read many times that Stax Sr 009 is the ultimate headphone when it comes to resolution and clarity, so does Utopia Surpass Sr 009 here in terms of resolution and clarity?

Yea 009 is still king in that regard.

 

[Christer]

Yea 009 is still king in that regard.

I have reasons to suspect that the new QA FLOAT electrostatics may be even better and more transparent than the  Stax 009.
I still own a pair of the original Jecklin Float electrostatic headphones and they were in their day imho the most transparent headphones on the market.
I bought the HE1000 V2 as my new travelling headphones and have modified my camerapack to accomodate them. But good as they are I don't think they are  quite as transparent as the best electrostatic headphones.
Nor the Utopias .
I listen to electrostatic speakers at home and to my ears no,absolutely no, traditional box speakers I have heard,and I have  heard many  of the very best ones,are quite as transparent as electrostats in the important midrange and treble regions.
I have auditioned Focal's speakers and they are very good indeed being box speakers but electrostats, they are not.
One of my first reactions to the Utopia with some of my reference tracks was that they sounded very similar to their most expensive speakers , but like those ,a  wee bit hard and very  upfront in the midrange with some tracks.
Almost as if an intentional presence lift which was  definitely not there live,nor in my master files,has been applied.
Once again saying you need to listen to acoustic music to really hear what comes closest to live music.
With every other genre with amplified instruments and synths and such all you are doing is comparing which flavour of already inherent  distortion you prefer.

 

[britneedadvice]

Since joining this thread, like many others on Head-fi, some comments appear to be getting 'out of hand' 
I recently visited the UK Head-fi meet and was able to listen to various 'phones on various Amps
Many of the TOTL 'phones have attributes that others don't. Some are best with some types of music and some just favour different Amps.
The Utopia and the HEK are no different. In many ways , this endless comparison is worthless, particularly if you are unaware of the author's preferences.
I listened to my HEKs on a £12000 Amp and the gain and volume settings were 'hitting the ceiling' (the HD800s sounded wonderful)
I've tried the Utopia on my Amp and whilst they were ok, it was obvious they were not best paired together.
The HEK out of the Allnic, also wonderful
There's no easy answers to all this A vs B etc etc

 

[Svatopluk]

  Since joining this thread, like many others on Head-fi, some comments appear to be getting 'out of hand' 
I recently visited the UK Head-fi meet and was able to listen to various 'phones on various Amps
Many of the TOTL 'phones have attributes that others don't. Some are best with some types of music and some just favour different Amps.
The Utopia and the HEK are no different. In many ways , this endless comparison is worthless, particularly if you are unaware of the author's preferences.
I listened to my HEKs on a £12000 Amp and the gain and volume settings were 'hitting the ceiling' (the HD800s sounded wonderful)
I've tried the Utopia on my Amp and whilst they were ok, it was obvious they were not best paired together.
The HEK out of the Allnic, also wonderful
There's no easy answers to all this A vs B etc etc

I completely agree. Your unbiased opinion is quite refreshing and appreciated.

 

[Christer]

  I completely agree. Your unbiased opinion is quite refreshing and appreciated.

I just found an article at Katz corner ,over at Inner Fidelity an interesting comparison between the Utopia and LCD4  by a handful of  "expert" listeners.
I have put "expert" within brackets because it seems all of them are   involved in the pop rock genre and the only listening material AS USUAL unfortunately, was from those genres and without revealing anything about resolution used.
Anyway they seem to  come to basically similar conclusions as I did  when comparing Utopia with HE1000 V2 using HI RES masterfiles where in some cases I have actually been present at the recording sessions.
Most of the experts preferred the LCD4 over Utopia  overall,as I preferred HE1000V2 over Utopia with mainly large scale classical music.
I may be biased since I bought and now own the HE1000V2. But I did so because to my ears and with the DAC I currently  use when travelling, they were overall better and more realistic sounding with well recorded acoustic music.
If the Utopia had been the better headphone of the two I would have bought it instead of the HE1000V2.

 

[Svatopluk]

 
I just found an article at Katz corner ,over at Inner Fidelity an interesting comparison between the Utopia and LCD4  by a handful of  "expert" listeners.
I have put "expert" within brackets because it seems all of them are   involved in the pop rock genre and the only listening material AS USUAL unfortunately, was from those genres and without revealing anything about resolution used.
Anyway they seem to  come to basically similar conclusions as I did  when comparing Utopia with HE1000 V2 using HI RES masterfiles where in some cases I have actually been present at the recording sessions.
Most of the experts preferred the LCD4 over Utopia  overall,as I preferred HE1000V2 over Utopia with mainly large scale classical music.
I may be biased since I bought and now own the HE1000V2. But I did so because to my ears and with the DAC I currently  use when travelling, they were overall better and more realistic sounding with well recorded acoustic music.
If the Utopia had been the better headphone of the two I would have bought it instead of the HE1000V2.

Yes, the enhanced sound-stage of the HE1000V2 should give it an advantage when it comes to well recorded large scale acoustic music.   For classical music, I usually find myself gravitating towards the HD800S over the Utopia for the same reason. However, I do enjoy the Utopia's up front presentation for all round daily use.

 

[Dillan]

I just found an article at Katz corner ,over at Inner Fidelity an interesting comparison between the Utopia and LCD4  by a handful of  "expert" listeners.
I have put "expert" within brackets because it seems all of them are   involved in the pop rock genre and the only listening material AS USUAL unfortunately, was from those genres and without revealing anything about resolution used.
Anyway they seem to  come to basically similar conclusions as I did  when comparing Utopia with HE1000 V2 using HI RES masterfiles where in some cases I have actually been present at the recording sessions.
Most of the experts preferred the LCD4 over Utopia  overall,as I preferred HE1000V2 over Utopia with mainly large scale classical music.
I may be biased since I bought and now own the HE1000V2. But I did so because to my ears and with the DAC I currently  use when travelling, they were overall better and more realistic sounding with well recorded acoustic music.
If the Utopia had been the better headphone of the two I would have bought it instead of the HE1000V2.

Not surprising to me. That's the exact comparison I first made for many hours with my LCD4 and in the end I much preferred the LCD4 with every genre except for solo piano such as Bill Evans.

 

[MacedonianHero]

 
I just found an article at Katz corner ,over at Inner Fidelity an interesting comparison between the Utopia and LCD4  by a handful of  "expert" listeners.
I have put "expert" within brackets because it seems all of them are   involved in the pop rock genre and the only listening material AS USUAL unfortunately, was from those genres and without revealing anything about resolution used.
Anyway they seem to  come to basically similar conclusions as I did  when comparing Utopia with HE1000 V2 using HI RES masterfiles where in some cases I have actually been present at the recording sessions.
Most of the experts preferred the LCD4 over Utopia  overall,as I preferred HE1000V2 over Utopia with mainly large scale classical music.
I may be biased since I bought and now own the HE1000V2. But I did so because to my ears and with the DAC I currently  use when travelling, they were overall better and more realistic sounding with well recorded acoustic music.
If the Utopia had been the better headphone of the two I would have bought it instead of the HE1000V2.

 
I have both the LCD-4 and Utopia here and love them both. But what I find rather funny with that review is to compare it to Tyll's review; just goes to show you, listen for yourself. 

 

[Dillan]

I have both the LCD-4 and Utopia here and love them both. But what I find rather funny with that review is to compare it to Tyll's review; just goes to show you, listen for yourself. 

Yup.. pretty much best advice. That's all that matters in the end.

 

[purk]

   
I have both the LCD-4 and Utopia here and love them both. But what I find rather funny with that review is to compare it to Tyll's review; just goes to show you, listen for yourself. 

Yup, plus we all have different set of priorities.  The Utopia is very amplification friendly and work well out of portable sources.  The same can't be said about the HEK V2 as it needs top flight amplification to bring out the best from this headphones.  With the right amplification behind the HEK V2, I find the Hifiman to be in the same class as the Utopia albeit different sound signature.  

 

[Thenewguy007]

Since joining this thread, like many others on Head-fi, some comments appear to be getting 'out of hand' 
I recently visited the UK Head-fi meet and was able to listen to various 'phones on various Amps
Many of the TOTL 'phones have attributes that others don't. Some are best with some types of music and some just favour different Amps.
The Utopia and the HEK are no different. In many ways , this endless comparison is worthless, particularly if you are unaware of the author's preferences.
I listened to my HEKs on a £12000 Amp and the gain and volume settings were 'hitting the ceiling' (the HD800s sounded wonderful)
I've tried the Utopia on my Amp and whilst they were ok, it was obvious they were not best paired together.
The HEK out of the Allnic, also wonderful
There's no easy answers to all this A vs B etc etc

What was the £12000 ?

 

[ubs28]

I find it funny people consider the HEK a high-end headphone with such horrible transients response. For me it's an automatic disqualification and it should be demoted to mid-fi level.

 

[zeissiez]

Both headphones have great tonality. The Utopia sounds more in the head and intimate, images are rather small. The HEK V2 has a more open and grander sound while having less impact. I can understand when ppl said the HEK has poor transients, I heard that with a couple of amps. But with the right amp, it's got good transient response. I can understand too when ppl said that the HEK is somewhat soft, I think it is. For long listening, it's actually beneficial, but it's not for head banging. I prefer the HEK V2, especially that the market price is half of the Utopia. As for Edition X V2 VS Elear, the choice is easier, I prefer the Edition X for the more open, clear sound.

 

[JaZZ]

I find it funny people consider the HEK a high-end headphone with such horrible transients response. For me it's an automatic disqualification and it should be demoted to mid-fi level.

 
The long decay primarily consists of a 21 kHz resonance, which is inaudible. So if you ignore this, the transient response isn't really bad. Add to this that some other components can be attributed to the fact that the measurement relies to the raw frequency response with its upper-midrange emphasis, not the «normalized» curve, which also leaves its traces.
 

Both headphones have great tonality. The Utopia sounds more in the head and intimate, images are rather small. The HEK V2 has a more open and grander sound while having less impact. I can understand when ppl said the HEK has poor transients, I heard that with a couple of amps. But with the right amp, it's got good transient response. I can understand too when ppl said that the HEK is somewhat soft, I think it is. For long listening, it's actually beneficial, but it's not for head banging. I prefer the HEK V2, especially that the market price is half of the Utopia. As for Edition X V2 VS Elear, the choice is easier, I prefer the Edition X for the more open, clear sound.

 
The softness isn't the result of a bad transient response per se, but the specific frequency response. I feel competent in pretending so, because after careful equalizing the HE1000 really comes alive in all aspects and sounds very realistic. Note that frequency response and transient response are related, so a flat frequency response results in a perfect transient response.
 
Another factor contributing to the perceived lack of impulsivity is the original cable.