Did your Focals sound too sharp, cold/analytical or fatiguing with Hugo 2 and too anemic, soft, lacking dynamics, flat and a bit digital sounding with some haziness in treble with BF2 and Ares II?
Sorry for taking this off topic, but I can't really imagine someone who likes Grado (the ones that are neutral) and not Utopia.
If I remember right, the sound on the Hugo 2 and Ares II was too sharp and shouty for my liking. And the BF2 OG felt too soft, like it was missing some details. I had high hopes for the Utopia, but they just didn't do it for me. Maybe the new Utopia 2022 would be more up my alley, but honestly, I'm happy with what I've got now.
If I remember right, the sound on the Hugo 2 and Ares II was too sharp and shouty for my liking. And the BF2 OG felt too soft, like it was missing some details. I had high hopes for the Utopia, but they just didn't do it for me. Maybe the new Utopia 2022 would be more up my alley, but honestly, I'm happy with what I've got now.
Looks like they changed the sound profile of Ares between 1 and 2. Whenever if you ever want to get back to Focal be sure to pick up a better dac. Playback Merlot is a great match and relatively affordable. The only problem is they don’t ever come up for sale. NewOntech dac7 is also pretty good with Focal and even more affordable.
Looks like they changed the sound profile of Ares between 1 and 2. Whenever if you ever want to get back to Focal be sure to pick up a better dac. Playback Merlot is a great match and relatively affordable. The only problem is they don’t ever come up for sale. NewOntech dac7 is also pretty good with Focal and even more affordable.
Don't laugh, but most of the time I just use the Mojo 2 to feed my tube amps for my headphones. Mainly because I'm too lazy to remove my Bifrost 2 from my speakers setup (Forte IV). I'm sure the Merlot and NewOnTech are great DACs, but I don't have any plans to replace my Bifrost 2 anytime soon.
To @plakat & other PS2000e owners: I highly recommend the Turbulent Labs headband (large) and the Nyczaj Audio gimbal / rod / block assemblies. The first reason is the sonic improvement via tighter non-resonant hardware. The second reason is comfort. With the deeper padded headband + the absence of earcup slippage on the rods, the 'perceived weight' of PS2000e is reduced. No problem sporting these for a few hours. No headbanging, though.
I think Joe Grado would have been totally against anything other than flats on his HP1000 series. He designed them to be as neutral and natural as possible. To me anything different than the flats would ruin that goal and turn a true classic into something totally not meant to be. Just something I feel very strongly about. Not as important the beautiful balanced look would be totally ruined.
I currently have a pristine pair of HP2 phones for sale in the classified section and am including two brand new pairs of Grado flats so a possible buyer will be set for some time listening to a classic as it was designed to be heard.
I think Joe Grado would have been totally against anything other than flats on his HP1000 series. He designed them to be as neutral and natural as possible. To me anything different than the flats would ruin that goal and turn a true classic into something totally not meant to be. Just something I feel very strongly about. Not as important the beautiful balanced look would be totally ruined.
I currently have a pristine pair of HP2 phones for sale in the classified section and am including two brand new pairs of Grado flats so a possible buyer will be set for some time listening to a classic as it was designed to be heard.
Exactly. Anything other than flat sounds wonky with my Grados.
I can vouch for HP2. It has been a while since I had the "holy " moment (the last time was in an Aries Cerat room) and I said those words as soon as I put on HP2 with TTVJ flat I had. It has mid range naturalness rivaling Utopia, the slam and PRaT that's not matched anywhere except perhaps Pulsar, the treble is sweet and well behaving (not as extended or detailed as Utopia), the micro dynamics in the mid is perhaps only second to Utopia, there is also this level of transparency that's really matched/better by Utopia, no issue with timbre whatsoever, bass definition is right up there with the best, the bass roll off is slightly worse than Utopia OG (I can hear a bit of 40hz and just a bit of 30hz) - no issue with regular music. The sound stage width is pretty good, depth is behind both Utopias and overall image and size is obviously behind 800S. The height presentation is not quite SOTA, but you can hear height in the stage. Image is stable, precise with air/blackness around voice/instruments. The presentation is in front of you and not in your head. Resolution is behind Utopia but about where Clear is at, which is still very good, just not amazing. Having said those, the one word I would use to describe HP2 is musical.
I didn't even use some crazy electronics either - headphone out from Playback Designs Merlot.
So..are you sure you want to sell yours?
Just dug up an old CSD graph…that’s some impressive waterfall.
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" moment (the last time was in an Aries Cerat room) and I said those words as soon as I put on HP2 with TTVJ flat I had. It has mid range naturalness rivaling Utopia, the slam and PRaT that's not matched anywhere except perhaps Pulsar, the treble is sweet and well behaving (not as extended or detailed as Utopia), the micro dynamics in the mid is perhaps only second to Utopia, there is also this level of transparency that's really matched/better by Utopia, no issue with timbre whatsoever, bass definition is right up there with the best, the bass roll off is slightly worse than Utopia OG (I can hear a bit of 40hz and just a bit of 30hz) - no issue with regular music. The sound stage width is pretty good, depth is behind both Utopias and overall image and size is obviously behind 800S. The height presentation is not quite SOTA, but you can hear height in the stage. Image is stable, precise with air/blackness around voice/instruments. The presentation is in front of you and not in your head. Resolution is behind Utopia but about where Clear is at, which is still very good, just not amazing. Having said those, the one word I would use to describe HP2 is musical.
..... GYJx 
