murphythecat

With the 325x and he did some extrapolating. Actual on ears comparisons would be welcome!

thx, Ive read the SR325x thread.
Ive contacted a local grado dealer and will be going with my RS2x try a couple of different pads. they have the new F pads!
thx!

shocking how much the F pads change the sound. no more bass boost needed and no more treble harshnesss. the treble is almost too dark actually lol
I feel at this point i can say I feel they are kinda great and are serious hd650 competition at teh very least.

As a Hemp owner, I’d love to hear some details/comparisons.

Never auditioned the Hemp
I can tell you right away that they are blowing my ass away.
Its such a distinct SQ that it reminds me the first time I heard etymotics or stax

I wasnt too sure about my opinions.... so I made my GF listen to a couple of tracks we both know by heart. She wasnt happy that I bought the SR2x, but then after a couple of tracks, she literally came out of the room kinda shocked at the SQ

Apart from being too bright and low bass output, these are amazing :P

In stock form both are behind 580/600/650 in most respects, at least to me. 660S farther off given it's less tonally cohesive overall where the mids meet the highs than the rest, but 58X is actually pretty solid and with modifications can slightly best the rest in terms of linearity and extension, though not quite as resolving as the former 3.

well I ordered a pair. not looking for better then the 650's. different will be great as well!

Come down the mountain! I didn’t get to the utopia. HDi00S and a a liquid crimson. I now have an iPhone, ATH M50x (mostly for the fender guitar amp) and AirPods Pro. I’m happier without all the high end “stuff”.

funy you mention the APP. These replaced happily ER4x and I ended up often just using the APP for hours upon arriving from work before pulling out the utopia.

APP is a whole lot better than it gets credit for. It’s my mains driver right now.

Oh, that was HD800S above…

Still outrageous, but I see pads for $250-300 and I "could live" with a $200-300 aftermarket cable for the Utopia. Objectively $2k drivers are a bit of a joke but I get them not wanting people building gray market Utopias out of spare parts (basically what m17 says above) - I had to do the same with spare parts in the past (that and safety risk with many of the products).

I did try to keep the cost of parts reasonable where I could though.

That or I would purposely "lock" a few critical components (i.e. can only buy these from the mfg, after we verify the issue, not from dealer / distributors) while driving down the cost of all other repair parts for that particular product where possible.

Focal could develop a way to make sure only people with already paid Focal Utopia could order driver replacement for a set fee of say (300$). youd have to send the Utopia in and Focal would make the swap. that would insure not a black market of built/by-parts Utopia being built illegally

Have gone through a similar switch in my listening recently. Can't bring myself to part with my Auteur though and just keep HD 600, even if that makes the most logical sense.

HP rig for the suppressed (no room, people/kids around), otherwise there is no excuse.

My headphone setup is only used for series and movies nowadays. Focal clear, lyr3 and some eq is all i need for that. Using it for music feels like a waste of my time when i can just use the speakers.

ETA GenG

@m17xr2b didnt the hd650 bass get on your nerve?
my two critics for the 650 are poor bass but most importantly, that lower treble coloration. Ill try to go back to hd650 for a couple of days before making a definite judgment

its kinda fascinating comparing hd650 vs Utopia. the fact that even they can be compared is mildly annoying.

for any real world music (acoustic, jazz, classical) it seem slike Utopia are clear winners.
enter shitty recordings aka all electronica or electronically generated sounds, rap/hip-hop and then the hd650 veil often helps. Aphex twin sounds better on 650

the RT2ha planar tweeter was used in this speaker commercially: https://www.ultraaudio.com/twbas/twbas_20070901.htm
and this as well: http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/revequip/ascendo_systemm.htm

Damn, looking forward to your impressions and build pics ;)

Glad to see you here! I put some new pads on your old HD800SDR and finally getting to experience these headphones in their full glory and I’m very impressed.

To your point though, for times when I just have a few minutes or want to remember a song, I'll do the same with a laptop, phone, or bluetooth speaker. Big boy setup is like meditating; can't do it easily on the fly or for short periods.

Since I'm now 100% WFH, I've made some minor improvements to the headphone setup and use it for deep focus sessions while drafting for work. I find I use the 2-channel only during formal listening sessions.

I used to listen more to IEM out from my iPhone, but I don't commute to work now.

ok, so to try to do something with the whole macbook laptop situation, ive bought a long long interconnect so I can use my fonkens fe127en + topping tp-20 everywhere the kitchen when i do school work there. First-world problem solved partially.

the only problem is I gotta find a way to use my ATC scm7 in my living room, but I dont think there's a cheap solution here. id have to buy a preamp, way to complicated

But if you’re happy with the sound then what would you want to improve?

'cause its so good I can't help to wonder how far can it gets. I agree its not the most logical feeling

Would likely sound even better with the Focal Stellia. The colors of the Stellia better match the colors in that video. Better synergy.

Just listened to it with Stellia out of my phone. Sounded meh, but looked great ;)

Get yourself banned did you??

no, should I? :)

Yikes - that sucks guys. Hang out and wait for the Borealis maybe? Opinions of its build aside, I'm excited to get my hands on a set.

yep, @Biodegraded, at this price, ill just get my own brand new verite seriously.
ZMF in Canada is ridiculously rare, therefore they lose almost no value in the used market. Fun for original buyers though!

Im convinced that the lack of distributor within Canada has to deter so many Canadian buyers. the uncertainties of the custom "taxes" makes importing any 2.5k USD product extremely stressful.

The Funk does that too you. When the groove does not feel right, your feet do not move. I am grateful artist like Avicii saved EDM from itself. Too bad he is gone...

Well it’s an actual bass for one thing.

Thing is, I use Funk and Soul in general because sometimes the bass lines are very subtle, hinting even. When you learn to listen carefully you want to hear the bassist plucking his strings (so to speak) and the resulting bass notes/sounds. Old Rock & Roll is also excellent for that. Some early Rock still had wooden bass guitars. Render those right and you have a winner sound system.

Outstanding! Fight the good fight.

Best of luck to you...a difficult career to be sure.

For your medical and audio emergencies!

@ChaChaRealSmooth I have never had any package lost from the USA via USPS in 15 years.
@k4rstar, sounds awesome! let me know when the loaner have started.

are you still interested in auteur loaner?

yes!!!!!!!!

As one having all the three for months and selling two later, I'd say once addicted (tricky learning curve), no contest -- Verite surely better in all aspects. With typical diminishing return curve in mind, I still think it worth. Verite is the only survived pair in my place in the end.

I always say Auteur is a safer bet though.. All the benefits brought to the table immediately recognizable.

I definitely strongly prefer the Verite to the Auteur and think it’s worth the extra money. But you can’t go wrong either way.

Kinda apples to pears, but heard Aeolus and Verite Closed back to back, and Insidious Meme is spot on. I am still planning on eventually pulling the trigger on VC while owning Aeolus currently.