[Currawong]

​

Original post. Note the links are broken.

Thanks to @AnakChan, Dan Clark and HiFiMan Japan I'm going to be spending the next couple of weeks listening to and comparing these flagships.

Headphones:
Sennheiser HD800, modified with a bit of damping material internally, which tightens up the imaging a bit. Norne Audio cable.
MrSpeakers Ether Flow with DUM or Norne Audio cable (almost no difference in sound). (Review here)
Sony MDR-Z1R with Kimber Cable. (Review here)
Focal Utopia with Moon Audio Silver Dragon. (Review here)
HiFiMan HE1000 V2 with stock cable. (Review here)

Set-up:
Mac Mini with Audirvana Plus, TIDAL and Roon → iFi iUSB 3.0 → S/PDIF converter → Schiit Yggdrasil → ALO Audio Studio Six.

What has been apparent so far, only spending a couple of hours rotating through a few genres is how one moment a particular pair of headphones might nail it, and the others don't, switching tunes can turn things right around. Comparisons are evil in this way, as you find out more about what is wrong with a pair of headphones than anything.

Since the Z1R and Utopia arrived last night and I got right into listening with them, here is what I posted in the Z1R thread:

Utopias:
Good points: Insanely fast and ultimately revealing of everything from the music through to the equipment.
Bad points: Insanely fast and ultimately revealing of everything from the music through to the equipment.
Buy only if you wont hesitate to spend many thousands of dollars on the best supporting equipment and listen to fantastic recordings. The difference between my system between when it had only been on half a day versus a full day was very apparent with them, let alone anything else. Before warm-up the soundstage from them seemed small and their neutrality made everything seem boring. After equipment warm-up, the sound came alive.

Z1R:
Unlike the Utopias, which try and impose nothing on the music, the Z1R try and bring the spirt of the music to you. If it is forward, it's forward. If it is spacious, it is spacious. If it is relaxed, it is relaxed. If it is intense, it is intense. Rather like if they combine the best aspects of the best different headphones out there -- planars for speed, detail and bass detail; Grados for mid-range intensity; and big, open headphones for soundstage (negated somewhat by the tuning), into one pair of headphones. The negatives for me are that tuning them to match the Duntech studio speakers gives them a weird coloration that can sometimes detract from hearing instruments as clearly as I feel they should be.

Focal Utopia and Ether Flow impressions.
Sony Z1R Frequency response graph.
HiFiMan HE1000 V2 review.
Focal Utopia review (Can't find the post with the review)
Sony MDR-Z1R Review
HiFiMan Susvara Review
Meze Empyrean
Final D8000 Pro
Final D8000

2021-10: Audeze LCD-5!

 

[boomtube]

Excellent thread! I just bought Utopia's...haven't been delivered yet.

 

[phaeton70]

very interested in this. thread subscribed 

 

[sdwong]

Since I already have the Utopia. Will be interested in your review the combo with the Studio Six.

 

[rnros]

Brilliant. Subbed.

 

[gb21011971]

Can't wait!

 

[Currawong]

Some more notes about the Utopia, and introducing the Ether Flows into the impressions:
 
Now that my system has warmed up, the Utopias have lost their "closed-in" feeling with a lot of music. I remember that many of my impressions of them with equipment at the Wikia meet, including straight out of a Chord Dave, had me feeling that their macro speed was fantastic (memories of my first impressions of the LCD-2 now quite a few years ago) but there was something missing in the micro detail. Now the micro detail is coming through. I had an almost freaky impression with one standard 2-mic piece of acoustic music where I felt I could hear the notes of an instrument on one side move across the soundstage an off the opposing wall. The echo decay in the studio is very apparent in quite a few recordings. 
 
I think where they are masterful is in how they manage to have the capabilities of a 'stat (something I'd want to test in the future) yet are capable of the kind of impact a regular dynamic is. However they don't have enough bass, and I very much want to try Elear pads on them. If I switch to a simple piano piece of any kind, it levels the playing field amongst the headphones, as much of how they differ is in the bass. Music where you want to really want to be kicked hard in the head, like Massive Attack's Angel is still best through the Sony, but I did enjoy that track extremely (despite the poorer recording quality) with the Utopias. Another example of how comparisons can be ruinous. The Utopia didn't sound quite as good with it if I was A/B'ing, but was magnificent on its own, as the track was mastered with strong bass, making up for the more neutral tuning. 
 
Interestingly MrSpeakers Ether Flow sits nicely in the middle, having a similar presentation to the Utopia, but with more bass kick, but a nicer mid-range and treble than the Sony, which seems to get a bit harsh, very especially if a recording has any harshness. At first I was starting to think I'd like to get a pair of the Z1Rs, but the strange tuning of the upper mids and treble has put me off, ultimately, at least on my system. I'm thinking I will try them with other gear, or roll different tubes and play with an EQ to see if I can't get a different feeling from them. 

 

[TimeLord]

So far your review is matching my own impressions of the Utopia and Z1R. I couldn't agree more that the Utopia demands the best of the entire signal chain. On the Z1R, I too was having issues with the upper mids and treble. But I'd like to try it again with better gear.

This is going to be a very good thread. I would like to hear more of your thoughts on the Ether Flow as well.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

Z1R for the world !!!!. That's one heck of a shootout. 

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

What i liked about the Utopia/Elear better then the Z1R was the forward vocals. I kind of like it more then a large soundstage. 

 

[phaeton70]

How much playing time those Utopia have?? from experience, real Utopia's bass will come out only after 150h.... 

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

what were the thoughts behind choosing the HD800 for the shootout over the HD800s? Or are all these your personal cans?

 

[MidFiMoney]

Sub'd!

 

[MacedonianHero]

 

[Currawong]

what were the thoughts behind choosing the HD800 for the shootout over the HD800s? Or are all these your personal cans?

They are my personal cans. My review pair was borrowed.
 
I began playing with an EQ today. Starting with a ~+4d low shelf below 100 Hz for the Utopias, that made them more interesting.   On the other hand, boosting 5kHz by about 4.5dB on the Sonys seems to fix their muffled sound. After I'd done that, I found this graph in the thread that I'd missed, which reveals the problem quite clearly:
 

  The only frequency response graph I can find makes it seem like there's a massive boost in bass, which is a bit worrisome.
 

 
http://www.lesnumeriques.com/casque-audio/sony-mdr-z1r-p34825/test.html