[Whitigir]

Honestly, HD800 is vastly better mids. It's not after you try for a few hours, it's happening when u get use to HD800, when you go back to fostex. You will be missing a lot of color in the mids. Basically, all depends on preference. I do love HD800 more than Fostex series right now.

I don't even think Hd800 has enough bass, since bass was your thing. Why don't you check out Z1R already ?

 

[twiceboss]

I don't even think Hd800 has enough bass, since bass was your thing. Why don't you check out Z1R already ?

Not for $2k headphones

 

[jerick70]

  Honestly, HD800 is vastly better mids. It's not after you try for a few hours, it's happening when u get use to HD800, when you go back to fostex. You will be missing a lot of color in the mids. Basically, all depends on preference. I do love HD800 more than Fostex series right now.

 
I think this has to do a lot with finding the proper amp for the TH900.  I have a Woo WA5, Burson Conductor V2+, and a Woo WA7 that I've listened to my TH900s on.  The Woo WA5 and Burson really make the TH900 an outstanding headphone.  The WA7 not so much.
 
Read this review to see what I'm talking about....
 
https://www.samma3a.com/en/reviews/wooaudio/wa5-le-class-a-desktop-headphone-tube-amplifier-276.html

 

[Whazzzup]

HD800S mids are where the magic happens. La900 bass are where the magic happens. Although neither are a slouch on the rest of the frequency curve, given a good dac and amp. It all comes down to preference, I will keep both. 

 

[AppleheadMay]

  HD800S mids are where the magic happens. La900 bass are where the magic happens. Although neither are a slouch on the rest of the frequency curve, given a good dac and amp. It all comes down to preference, I will keep both. 

 
Didn't you own the HD800 before Whazz?
What are the differences between the 800 and S in your opinion?
Do you have it recabled?

 

[Whazzzup]

 

  HD800S mids are where the magic happens. La900 bass are where the magic happens. Although neither are a slouch on the rest of the frequency curve, given a good dac and amp. It all comes down to preference, I will keep both. 

 
Didn't you own the HD800 before Whazz?
What are the differences between the 800 and S in your opinion?
Do you have it recabled?

no just what is in my sig. its all there. 

 

[AnakChan]

I didn't mind owning the HD800S in conjunction to the TH-900. I enjoyed how the HD800S could "breath" outward due to it's openness compared to the TH900 however the TH900 did do very well in the bass thump.
 
However it seems both may end up going in favour of the Utopia which should land on my lap soon in the next few days/week. This does mean my 4.5 year love affair with the TH900 is finally coming to an end.

 

[Whazzzup]

  I didn't mind owning the HD800S in conjunction to the TH-900. I enjoyed how the HD800S could "breath" outward due to it's openness compared to the TH900 however the TH900 did do very well in the bass thump.
 
However it seems both may end up going in favour of the Utopia which should land on my lap soon in the next few days/week. This does mean my 4.5 year love affair with the TH900 is finally coming to an end.

We all can't live by utopia alone.  

 

[Sethivict]

Honestly I can state that I did not prefer Focal Utopia over Th900. I know that a santa with a hawai shirt made it a proclamation that Utopia was the best headphone in the world I would advice people to listen to it. After my opinion, even Elear is better. All this is personal ofc....
They are too muddy and the mids are too harsh, my son didn't enjoy them either, he prefered Hifiman 1000 above All, after his opinion, are the most natural. I would say he have better hearing than me. Elear are brighter and more open, really enjoyed them.

 

[AppleheadMay]

  Honestly I can state that I did not prefer Focal Utopia over Th900. I know that a santa with a hawai shirt made it a proclamation that Utopia was the best headphone in the world I would advice people to listen to it. After my opinion, even Elear is better. All this is personal ofc....
They are too muddy and the mids are too harsh, my son didn't enjoy them either, he prefered Hifiman 1000 above All, after his opinion, are the most natural. Forgive him he's only 10. At least he didn't go after Beats.....

 
 
I am in serious doubt here. Usually, my preferences and opinions are rather different from Santa's to say the least so I'd agree with you.
But some people whose opinion I respect (of which indeed some, but not all have a similar taste to mine) seem to appreciate the Utopia very much.
It also seems to pair very well with the Zana, a pure magical amp in my opinion.
So I just bought an Elear to form me an opinion of the Foacal phones with the idea that if I liked it I would sell it and buy me a Utopia.
But now you seem to prefer the Elear over Utopia and I happen to heave read reviews of both by a reviewer I appreciate: Audiohead.
Although he reviews the Elear as a great headphone and the Utopia even better with magical mids I did seem to be more attracted by his description of the Elear.
Combined with your opinion I do still want the Elear but I don't think I will buy the Utopia based on how good the Elear is, rather get me a demo pair first.
I know a seller or two who might send me one in one to two months. Long wait though ... 

 

[pervysage]

Honestly I can state that I did not prefer Focal Utopia over Th900. I know that a santa with a hawai shirt made it a proclamation that Utopia was the best headphone in the world I would advice people to listen to it. After my opinion, even Elear is better. All this is personal ofc....
They are too muddy and the mids are too harsh, my son didn't enjoy them either, he prefered Hifiman 1000 above All, after his opinion, are the most natural. Forgive him he's only 10. At least he didn't go after Beats.....

Out of the thousands of posts on the Utopia, this is the only one I have seen that refers to them as muddy.

Where did you hear the Utopia? And what source?

I'm sorry but Utopia and muddy don't belong in the same sentence together

Harsh, bright, sure those things are all subjective and depends on the person but muddy is simply wrong to me

 

[Sethivict]

I should have been more expressive. Muddy in comparison to Elear.  With muddy I mean darker sounding and not as expressive. The place was Hotel Hilton, Kastrup, Copenhagen. The source was my Sony Zx1 and I spendend almost an hour with both headphones. I would post pictures, but I am agaist posting my face or my son's for that kind of matter.

 

[Sethivict]

As stated I got those impressions and must admit I was dissapointed. It might have been they were new and not broken in, or there was too many people. I prefered Elear, and would advice people to listen before buy.

 

[pervysage]

I am in serious doubt here. Usually, my preferences and opinions are rather different from Santa's to say the least so I'd agree with you.
But some people whose opinion I respect (of which indeed some, but not all have a similar taste to mine) seem to appreciate the Utopia very much.
It also seems to pair very well with the Zana, a pure magical amp in my opinion.
So I just bought an Elear to form me an opinion of the Foacal phones with the idea that if I liked it I would sell it and buy me a Utopia.
But now you seem to prefer the Elear over Utopia and I happen to heave read reviews of both by a reviewer I appreciate: Audiohead.
Although he reviews the Elear as a great headphone and the Utopia even better with magical mids I did seem to be more attracted by his description of the Elear.
Combined with your opinion I do still want the Elear but I don't think I will buy the Utopia based on how good the Elear is, rather get me a demo pair first.
I know a seller or two who might send me one in one to two months. Long wait though ... 

I think you are going about it the wrong way. From everything I have read about the Elear (I have personally not heard it) the Elear sound signature is completely different and is not a good indication of what the Utopia sounds like. People who have heard both, feel free to step in and correct me.

So I would not buy an Elear to find out what a Utopia may sound like. They are two completely different sound signatures aimed at different consumers in the market. I would buy the Elear, however, if it has the preferred sound signature for you over the Utopia.

 

[AnakChan]

Not to detract too much from the TH-900 thread, but briefly I have to agree with @pervysage. As per my review, the Elear isn't a cut down version of the Utopia - it offers an alternate tonal signature. The resolution OTOH is closer to the Utopia. And back on the TH-900 topic, there are folks who may prefer the TH-900 over the Elear and at least in my opinion, if they do, it's primarily due to the tonal signature of the TH-900. Note that I consider tonal signature to be almost entirely preferential and subjective - i.e. There is no good/bad/right/wrong. Unlike the technicalities of a headphone such as resolution, which to my opinion is more "absolute". To me both the Utopia and Elear have greater resolution than the TH-900.

So for me to move on from my TH-900 is that for my collection I'm prioritising the technicalities of the Utopia primarily over the TH-900. As for Elear vs TH-900, that would have been a slightly harder decision to make as I would have to say the TH-900 has more the tonal signature I like, but wish it had the resolution of the Elear.

P.S. I've never heard anyone consider the Utopia to be muddier than the Elear. I'm inclined to think there's something wrong with that Utopia (possibly an earlier 1st batch type release which had issues). Another possibility (which isn't the case this time as the user drove it with a ZX1) is the Utopia was driven by direct current driven, rather than voltage driven amp. That gives the Utopia an excessive amount of unrealistic bass.