Mike Mercer recently posted that the Utopia is a little lifeless and that he preferred the Elear by quite a margin.
For those that have heard the Utopia - do you think going forward people will prefer to pair it with a tube amp or something to inject a little more musicality into it? A good chance that they will be EQ'd by the owners?
Seems to be pretty common with resolving cans being maybe a little too sterile and 'precise', and the fun factor taking a backseat.
At the hifi show this weekend, the Utopia and Elear were hooked up to either a Naim DAC V-1 DAC/headphone amp and the 5+ TIMES more expensive Goldmund Telos DAC/headphone amp, my friend and I both vastly preferred the more "meaty" presentation of the more affordable Naim for the Utopia and 50/50 in regards to the Elear, I loved how dynamic and tonally rich it sounded with Naim, whereas my friend preferred the transparency that the Goldmund gave the Elear.
Don't forget on the 13th of August the Utopia and Elear will be at our Chicago meet courtesy of The Source AV. As a default they will be paired with an Amp and Sound Kenzie (rare tubes I understand) and a Pulse Infinity fed by Roon on a laptop.
I spoke to Mike about it and he's with Jude in that he wishes the Utopia were tuned more like the Elear. Given his typical preferences, that doesn't surprise me at all.
As for pairing, I spent a few hours with it yesterday on the LAu and didn't find it too sterile at all. But I guess the LAu is pretty musical for a SS amp. Off something like the Rag or the HA430, I could see some people finding it too sterile I suppose. I think it's slightly less sterile than the HD800 and good pairings for the 800 should work well with the Utopia.
In a ideal world I would get both the Utopia and its little brother the Elear. I wish my walled was undrainable lol. I can dream and be content with upgrading my other headphones. Perhaps a pair of Elear's for Christmas, after my health is better.
Well gang, I'll give you the latest update. Other than the August shipments coming into us and maybe a small handful of others. Like maybe 4, the Elears are now going to experience the well known French August vacation period. All the previous delays have pushed manufacturing back so far it causes it to fall into the evil August of France. So the bad news is delivery is now going to happen in mid September. Yes even for me other then the allocations scheduled to come in August that were made before this vacation period. Nothing can be done, it's French law. So scream, jump up and down, it's a bummer but it's life in France.
Used to managed a team of French employees...when they submitted their leave request for a month long holiday, they are NOT asking you...they just TELL you that they are going off!
In a ideal world I would get both the Utopia and its little brother the Elear. I wish my walled was undrainable lol. I can dream and be content with upgrading my other headphones. Perhaps a pair of Elear's for Christmas, after my health is better.
Well gang, I'll give you the latest update. Other than the August shipments coming into us and maybe a small handful of others. Like maybe 4, the Elears are now going to experience the well known French August vacation period. All the previous delays have pushed manufacturing back so far it causes it to fall into the evil August of France. So the bad news is delivery is now going to happen in mid September. Yes even for me other then the allocations scheduled to come in August that were made before this vacation period. Nothing can be done, it's French law. So scream, jump up and down, it's a bummer but it's life in France.
Well gang, I'll give you the latest update. Other than the August shipments coming into us and maybe a small handful of others. Like maybe 4, the Elears are now going to experience the well known French August vacation period. All the previous delays have pushed manufacturing back so far it causes it to fall into the evil August of France. So the bad news is delivery is now going to happen in mid September. Yes even for me other then the allocations scheduled to come in August that were made before this vacation period. Nothing can be done, it's French law. So scream, jump up and down, it's a bummer but it's life in France.
You sure can! Weekends we are appoinment only. Unless we're doing a meet. This next weekends meet was canceled so just make an appointment and you're in. 800-700-7029 8am -- 5pm M-F pacific time
I'm sorry you're feeling like that but they are worth the wait. If you bought them from us, both our allocations are now sold out or nearly sold out. We're not holding anyone's money that feels they want out. We have 41 email requests to purchase just from this weekend and all have received the same notice of September delivery and willing to wait.
You sure can! Weekends we are appoinment only. Unless we're doing a meet. This next weekends meet was canceled so just make an appointment and you're in. 800-700-7029 8am -- 5pm M-F pacific time
I'm sorry you're feeling like that but they are worth the wait. If you bought them from us, both our allocations are now sold out or nearly sold out. We're not holding anyone's money that feels they want out. We have 41 email requests to purchase just from this weekend and all have received the same notice of September delivery and willing to wait.
'Originally Posted by deafdoorknob /img/forum/go_quote.gif
At the hifi show this weekend, the Utopia and Elear were hooked up to either a Naim DAC V-1 DAC/headphone amp and the 5+ TIMES more expensive Goldmund Telos DAC/headphone amp, my friend and I both vastly preferred the more "meaty" presentation of the more affordable Naim for the Utopia and 50/50 in regards to the Elear, I loved how dynamic and tonally rich it sounded with Naim, whereas my friend preferred the transparency that the Goldmund gave the Elear.'
No surprise the Naim works well with the Focals. They are the same company after all and the DAC V1 along with other Naim gear were surely used in the development of the headphones.
Apparently the V1 works nicely with the Spirit Classic. If only I could afford one
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