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My Utopias had a lingering rough edge in the treble that lasted quite a while. The initial 50 or so hours gets the Utopias 90% of the way there, but that treble issue lasted a LONG time. Another 200+ hours in my case for the top end to smooth out and the headphone to fully open up and do all it can do.
I am keeping my modded HE6 as my 'reserve' headphone in case anything unthinkable happens to the Utopias, but really it is an insurance policy only. The Utopia does almost everything noticeable better (IMHO). About the only area I will defer to the modded HE6 is in the bass. The HE6 will go lower and punch harder than the Utopia. I still think that the Utopia bass is 'better' (more detailed and accurate), but the HE6 certainly has more of it, if that is your thing.
Mids/vocals I give to the Utopia, rather easily.
The HE6 treble is not nice to my ears. Prone to go glassy or steely much too often. Utopia is simply better here.
As always YMMV, but I am going to say this - for me, the Utopia has made my modded HE6 irrelevant, except as a backup headphone in case of catastrophe.
I have previously owned LCD-X / HD800 / HD800S / Ether C / Ether Flow. Sold them all. Kept the modded HE6. Use the Utopia.
A brief note on my rig - driving the Utopia direct from an Uber DAC lifts its performance significantly in my experience. Due to its low efficiency this cannot be done with the HE6 (not with any DAC I know of). My modded HE6 was much more competitive with my Utopia when I was driving the Utopia from a V281. I still preferred the Utopia, but the gap was much narrower and that made me question the 4K investment in the Utopia. Then I tried my harness to direct drive the Utopia from the DAC - that rendered the modded HE6 irrelevant in an instant (for me). I no longer own a dedicated headamp. They simply get in the way and degrade the performance of the Utopia in my experience, as long as your DAC is up to the task of direct driving headphones (not all DACs support this - check with the manufacturer if unsure).
