[cs098]

Yeah, no matter how long the utopia has been burned in, open dynamics will never extend in the bass as well as a good planar, but outside of that, weight of the sound, and the stage size/3dness of  the stage, I feel like the utopia is better in the other areas. Clarity, resolution, imaging and dynamics are all better  but I don't think it's  that much better in those areas vs the he-6 IMO. The utopia does have that brightish colouration as well which is due to the beryllium used for the driver, but a good warmish tube amp can IMO fix it. I feel like the same can be said for the he-6, but finding a good tube amp that can drive the 6 can be hard (any sugestions guys?, I'm looking at decware's speaker amps). 

That being said the fact that the he-6 can trade blows with a headphone 4X the price, is a testement to how good the he-6 really is (though the same can be said about a well modded hd 800).

 

[ohhgourami]

You could get some very good speakers at Utopia price. Hmmm what makes more sense here?

 

[heliosphann]

Santa came early for me today. Just got a pair of HE-6's delivered! 

 
Listened to them for a few minutes with velour pads and grills on and, meh! Ripped those suckers off and put on a pair of Vegan pads. So much better. I might do some further mods depending on if I decide to keep them. But for now, very nice.

 

[Jozurr]

  Yeah, no matter how long the utopia has been burned in, open dynamics will never extend in the bass as well as a good planar, but outside of that, weight of the sound, and the stage size/3dness of  the stage, I feel like the utopia is better in the other areas. Clarity, resolution, imaging and dynamics are all better  but I don't think it's  that much better in those areas vs the he-6 IMO. The utopia does have that brightish colouration as well which is due to the beryllium used for the driver, but a good warmish tube amp can IMO fix it. I feel like the same can be said for the he-6, but finding a good tube amp that can drive the 6 can be hard (any sugestions guys?, I'm looking at decware's speaker amps). 

That being said the fact that the he-6 can trade blows with a headphone 4X the price, is a testement to how good the he-6 really is (though the same can be said about a well modded hd 800).

 
You can use a tube amp as a preamp into a power amp. Something like the Elise should be great. I use my Liquid Glass as a preamp to the now defunct A21. I'm planning on getting a J2 once it shows up for sale somewhere.

 

[cs098]

   
You can use a tube amp as a preamp into a power amp. Something like the Elise should be great. I use my Liquid Glass as a preamp to the now defunct A21. I'm planning on getting a J2 once it shows up for sale somewhere.

but I'd have to buy two components :/, I'm not sure if I have enough space for a dac, power amp and preamp

People around my area are putting up good speaker tube amps for sale,  I will have chances to demo and buy stuff in my area.

 

 

[Tobes]

You could get some very good speakers at Utopia price. Hmmm what makes more sense here?

Probably true.
To a degree the HE6 and Utopia a just two excellent flavours of headphone goodness - a speaker setup is something different entirely.
I'd probably suggest getting a pair of nice speakers first before investing in the Utopia (in addition to HE6).  But I suppose it depends if the listener can accommodate speakers and utilise them (without disturbing others etc). Different but parallel pursuits I guess.

 

[jerick70]

Yeah, no matter how long the utopia has been burned in, open dynamics will never extend in the bass as well as a good planar, but outside of that, weight of the sound, and the stage size/3dness of  the stage, I feel like the utopia is better in the other areas. Clarity, resolution, imaging and dynamics are all better  but I don't think it's  that much better in those areas vs the he-6 IMO. The utopia does have that brightish colouration as well which is due to the beryllium used for the driver, but a good warmish tube amp can IMO fix it. I feel like the same can be said for the he-6, but finding a good tube amp that can drive the 6 can be hard (any sugestions guys?, I'm looking at decware's speaker amps). 


That being said the fact that the he-6 can trade blows with a headphone 4X the price, is a testement to how good the he-6 really is (though the same can be said about a well modded hd 800).

I find my Woo WA5 drives the HE-6 nicely. I do squeeze the last little bit out of them with my Burson timekeeper though.

The Utopia is a nice match with the WA5 too. I only had limited listening at a meet I went to with the Utopia. But for that time I was happy with the sound.

 

[cs098]

I find my Woo WA5 drives the HE-6 nicely. I do squeeze the last little bit out of them with my Burson timekeeper though.

The Utopia is a nice match with the WA5 too. I only had limited listening at a meet I went to with the Utopia. But for that time I was happy with the sound.

The wa5 is pretty good, but a bit too priecy for me.

I like the wa5 with the utopia as well, but I thought the wa8 was especially good with it. Tried the z1r, ether flow C with it along with the utopia.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

THe forthcoming wa22se impressed me in July with he-6. Also drove hd800 and k1000 very well, so if I ever get 5k to drop on a headphone amp...

 

[Silent One]

The HE-6 will be getting very little head time from now on...

Ah, the liberation of ohhgourami...beautiful!

 

[ohhgourami]

THe forthcoming wa22se impressed me in July with he-6. Also drove hd800 and k1000 very well, so if I ever get 5k to drop on a headphone amp...

The quality of amps and preamps you could get with that money...Easily beats it. Easily.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Krell-S-300i-Integrated-Stereo-Amplifier-Silver-EXCELLENT-Condition-STSI-/142224485450?hash=item211d3d6c4a:g~AAAOSwEzxYYUVc something like that?

 

[ohhgourami]

  http://www.ebay.com/itm/Krell-S-300i-Integrated-Stereo-Amplifier-Silver-EXCELLENT-Condition-STSI-/142224485450?hash=item211d3d6c4a:g~AAAOSwEzxYYUVc something like that?

 
I'm using an Anthem MCA 20 power amp which doesn't cost much at all. It sounds just as good as my Krell EVO 302e which means either my Yggy or HE-6 is maxed out. Throw the rest of the money on a really good preamp and you're set!

 

[Jozurr]

   
I'm using an Anthem MCA 20 power amp which doesn't cost much at all. It sounds just as good as my Krell EVO 302e which means either my Yggy or HE-6 is maxed out. Throw the rest of the money on a really good preamp and you're set!

 
Do you think it sounds better than the lower end krells youve had in the past? have you compared it to something like the J2?
 
Edit: Also, can you look at the back and say if its the made in US or Canada version?

 

[ohhgourami]

Do you think it sounds better than the lower end krells youve had in the past? have you compared it to something like the J2?

Edit: Also, can you look at the back and say if its the made in US or Canada version?

This sounds comparable to the FPB and EVO series which were Krell's high end reference models. Anything lower than that like the KAV don't come close.

Pretty sure mine is US made but I'll check when I get home.