My Focsl Utopia Sound Dull and Constrained out of the Box. Possible Causes?

The problem is Mike, he wants to play Vinyl and CD’s as well as the NDX2.

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yay: ‘context’;
yes HD800s are so hard to drive well than Sennheiser built the HDVD800 amp to drive them properly (they were getting bored of people talking poorly on the headphones).
Lehmann Black Cube et al…
they need amplifier pairing, not so much due to their detail level (Utopia sitting on the same hifi shelf), but rather their Ohmage/‘specific electrical requirements’…

The Utopias could run from a portable player in the same way HD800s DO NOT
(I used an iFi Diablo and the aforementioned HDVD800 amp)…

The Burson Conductor V2 pairs well with the HD800s, and many internet threads exist on the topic of ‘sorting THEM out’.

I’d wholeheartedly agree than anyone using the highly resistant (big amps need apply) Sennheiser HD800 headphones does have reason to go ‘big dedicated outboard headphone amplifier’ as a headphone amp designed for the ~300ohm range is going to be a better match.

The Supernait is optimised for ~80-90Ohms (from what internet trawling I can see), and the Utopias ARE exactly that.

I do believe that the Naim/Focal pairing is ‘a thing’ nowadays and that the Utopias would sound superb via the Supernaits’ headamp circuitry…

I think 90% of the grief in this thread is the fact that many people don’t believe cables make meaningful improvements to audio, and they see a $1000 budget that ‘could have gone on a dedicated amp’, and then just parrot the factual statement that ‘dedicated headphone amps of a high quality nature can improve the sound quality from high end headphones’ (that isn’t rocket science.)

in the real world- the Supernait3 (improved slew rate benefitting the headamp part) crosses the line of ‘good enough’ and isn’t really holding back the Utopias- not in the way that ‘many of us’ are assuming

Nice setup though:-)
(cheers)

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Yes, it was me who started this when I wrongly corrected another forum member in the firm belief that I thought I had read that you were of the opposite sex in another thread.

I had obviously confused you with someone else & I offer you, & several other forum members, my sincere apologies.

I try never to assume or jump to conclusions, but sometimes for all my/our desire to be totally non-presumptive, conditioning from upbringing and earlier times can cause an unguarded assumption, such as when subconsciously registering the term “my husband”, which until quite recently could only have meant the speaker was female.

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I fully agree with you.

However, this instance I was so certain I was right, from a different thread, that I would have put money on it.

I have obviously confused the OP with someone else. Highly embarrassing &,again, sincere apologies to all concerned, especially the OP & @Pete_the_painter

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FWIW, i had the same impression from a different thread, and I nearly made the same “correction” as you, aware that one issue on the forum is a presumption that members are male!

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No need to apologise it’s always a bit of a minefield and no one deliberately sets out to upset anyone (well most of us).

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@Mike_S i don’t think your idea would work for me. I have a TT and a CDP as well as my streamer. I want to hear all my sources through the Utopia Headphone. It is not only about streaming for me. Thanks.

I also lack shelf space for another component.

Also I listen at relatively low volumes 9-10 on the SB3. I don’t have to crank the volume up a lot. I am on day 10 for breaking in NDX2 and Utopia headphones. Getting much better.

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That’s great, looks like it just needed time to settle in. Lots of time for enjoying the music now :+1:

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