Tassie Devil Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 (edited) I've lived with the Focal Utopia headphones for some time now and my brain has become accustomed to their superb classical music reproduction in a rather nice setup: Roon on this PC (most 16/44 FLAC)-> Aries -> balanced digital out -> Primare DAC30 -> HeadRoom Blockhead Balanced amp -> balanced out via black dragon cable -> Focal Utopia Headphones But that has had a downside - it has made the other systems sound relatively clouded/muffled even using the excellent Sennheiser HD800S cans. And I concocted a "personal" speaker system with items from here, a pair of 8" wide range speakers fed by a Luxman amp from an Arcam irDAC with linear power supply & SPDIF unbalanced input, but it does not sound great compared to the Focal setup. I'm not really complaining as the Focal headphone setup is the obvious one for serious listening but I must confess to being taken aback at how much better the Focals are. As I posted earlier my hearing, at 81, is not great but just for the hell of it I downloaded some Brahms Symphonies at 24/192 to see if I could hear any difference. Woweee, yes I could :-) So what toys are left to want? Well I impulsively have the latest Pioneer XDP-30R on its way from Japan. Stupid, as I already have 3 SONY units. So I guess the SONY 25 will have to go up for sale here later. This is not a hobby, it is an incurable disease!!! Ah, but the pleasure we get from the music infection!! OK, so what is the point of this post? It is to urge any of you who have the funds and are really serious about headphone listening to give the Focal Utopias a trial. But note that they do require a pristine input as the GIGO mantra applies with a vengeance. Yes they are expensive compared to most other headphones but put the quality of sound I'm getting from the setup here against a speaker system of around the same $10k mark and the difference is chalk and cheese. And to my tired old ears it is far superior to that I get from a pretty elaborate 7.1 MC system with 5 electrotatic speakers. But I must admit most of that is due to my compromised hearing which now dictates headphones as the only viable medium for serious music appreciation. John Edited May 6, 2017 by Tassie Devil 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunyip Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Wow that's really interesting to hear John. I'm glad the Utopias are delivering the goods for you. Im trying to find the time to get out to Addicted To Audio to have a listen to a pair of these cans - not that I can afford them - as well as a few others, to round out my experience with more different models. I am looking to up the ante on my headphone setup now that I've started hearing some good cans and what they sound like, but out of nowhere I've suddenly become obsessed by Luxman amps, so the headphone upgrade might have to wait. You're right - it is a disease! Out of interest, what Luxman amp do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 wow indeed. focal sure have turned their magic to headphones it would seem... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaynin Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Yeah, I lust after these cans and I bought what I thought was my dream head-fi set-up only last year! In being honest with myself I'll end up demoing the Utopias again in the future with a view to purchase, the only components that won't be swapped out will be my Woo WA22 (which I'm upgrading all the tubes on right now), and the Cambridge Audio 851N. Then, and only then, will I be done... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 I wont even be going near them... I know what will happen I'll continue on in my bliss... enjoying my grado and my little tube amp that seems to create some magic together ! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaynin Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 2 minutes ago, al said: I wont even be going near them... I know what will happen I'll continue on in my bliss... enjoying my grado and my little tube amp that seems to create some magic together ! You must be happy al, you've had that set-up for some time now... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy107 Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 I also told thousands of ppl how good they are . Yes nothing is perfect but it raise the bar so high , most of my friends now owning one . With this DHC cable in my system, it surpassed anything I've listen before even the Magico S5 Glad you enjoy one of the finest hp available today mate [emoji1362] 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Devil Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 (edited) OK here is some further news from "down under" Tasmania. The Pioneer 30R arrived from Japan the other day but, for some odd reason it was a PIA to get going. I suspect someone had played around with it in the land of the rising sun and had confused the poor little player. Well it was only half as confused as I was until I finally did a factory reset and managed to get it playing. The Sennheiser HD800S has now been completely retired from the main station and I've silver soldered in a 3.5mm plug on the after market cable to use with the portables. So it is now connected to the Pioneer 30R and playing rather nice sounding music. And of course the AQ had to be compared to that from the Focal set up so I queued in the same chamber work and listened. Initially the 30R/800S combo sounded muffled and relatively poor BUT a bit of fiddling with the settings, the graphic equaliser in particular, and the AQ is agreeably similar. No, not the same - the Focal setup has more depth and resolution but it is not a chalk and cheese situation. Next step will be to look around for an unbalanced cord to join the focals up to the 30R to see how it then sounds. I might try soldering up one myself in the hope the Focal plugs are easier to work on than the Sennheiser 800s. Such fun playing with these toys. :-) POSTSCRIPT: Two Focal Utopia plugs now ordered from Luna Shops in China. I have some cord I can use. I also do have a 2.5mm balanced plug also on the way that can be used with the 30R but am really not expecting balanced to make any observable difference with a portable, but then I could be surprised!! I'll fit it up to the Sennies. Edited May 10, 2017 by Tassie Devil More info 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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