ECP DSHA3F Ravenswood 3F

@Armaegis I thought I was the only one crazy enough to pay the US/CAD premium!

I've had mine for about a couple months now and I can't add much more than what's already been said here, other than it's fantastic with Atrium and Aeolus. My only minor, nitpicky complaint is the tripod leg set up makes the amp wobbly if you put your hand on the left side - like when you plug/unplug headphones.

I will also add that @CEE TEE is a great guy to deal with!

 

My apologies, @jnak00 ...if I ever release a DAC and you stack, then there wil not be a foot sitting on top of the NITSCH badge. Thanks for dealing with that and the kind comments!

 

Original DSHA-3F (nickel) > Focal Utopia (2020). Now I understand the "F"! I've loved this amp with ZMF dynamics. But with Utopia it really stands out in ways I did not expect with headphones. Listening to a new orchestral recording (Danny Elfman's "Wunderkammer" just released). Instrument identity, orchestral space (width and depth) are the best I've heard with headphones. Brass and strings are so clear, present. Percussion attack and decay are so right. This pairing is very special.

 

Agreed. I should remember by now, but I don't: what DAC do you use in this chain?

 

Roon > HQPlayer (poly-sinc-gauss-.. + ASDM7EC-light) DSD256 > Holo Spring 2 KTE

 

I would love to have a HP with Utopia's clarity/accuracy/attack/spatial accuracy, with Atrium's "organic" inner note warmth and naturalness in the vocal/cello/violin range. The Verite is the closest I think I have heard, but I could never get used to the FR "W" wonkiness, so the wait continues. I still hope Zach can do a Verite 2.0 someday with a more natural FR, but that driver might not be capable of it don't know.

 

That would be amazing, but may be difficult or impossible. I hope someone figures it out.

I think a lot of the clarity, accuracy and transient response comes from the Utopia's driver material (Be) and the resulting lightness of the driver itself, and from my experience with other headphones like Sennheiser and ZMF a lot of the organic and natural sound comes from silk or biocellulose drivers. I've noticed similar trends in speakers with metal tweeters vs. speakers with silk dome tweeters.

 

That's the thinking most often put forward and I have no reason to doubt it. It does have me wondering however, why could you not then add "ballast" (e.g. a thin layer of material XYZ) to a BE driver to 'tune' the response - gettting the best (or at least a mix) of both worlds? Perhaps this just takes too much R&D, so most HP manufacturers spend their time tweaking everything else (cup design, pads, etc.). Any case, getting off topic of the dsha3f, which I have heard only in show conditions unfortunately...

 

Have you tried Caldera in the ZMF family? For the properties you seek hard wood or stabilised should be more well suited.

 

I've owned Caldera for a while, Utopia more recently. Caldera does not pair well with 3F, nor with Stellaris: limp, muted. Utopia pairs wonderfully with both. Caldera does not have the ultimate edge that Utopia shows with 3F, but with the right amp (for instance, MJ3) gains on the "organic warmth" axis. But Utopia does not sound inorganic with the right amps, in my case 3F and Stellaris.

 

I haven’t heard Mjolnir 3 but with the right amp Caldera outperform Utopia (both original or 2022 models). They seem more resolving and more importantly, natural sounding.

 

In my experience of owning both headphones: Caldera and Utopia are almost orthogonal in amp pairing, so it's difficult to compare them directly. On my two amps that can drive Caldera convincingly, Mjolnir 3 and Holo Bliss, I think I agree with your assessment. But I have no pairing that beats Utopia with 3F or Stellaris on detail and naturalness.

 

I see, I wish I can try those 2 amps because in my opinion Utopia is very far from natural sounding. The metallic and hardness in timbre especially in the treble make them sound not natural at all. Both versions have this hardness, the 2022 version is a bit better in hiding it but it’s still there. Caldera is only slightly behind in treble resolution but they don’t have metallic timbre in treble area.

 

In my experience, the Utopia with the DSHA-3F doesn't sound metallic at all. It definitely sounded metallic back when I was using it with the Mjolnir Pure Bipolar (basically a Gilmore Dynalo Mk2), though. Other amps I've used have been in between these two extremes, so I think it depends a lot on the amp.

 

This is exactly my experience too. When I had the GS-X Mini (also a Dynamo mk2), the Utopia had a metallic timbre. The metallic timbre completely disappeared with the DSHA-3FN. The combination of detail and naturalness is astounding.

 

This is probably the Lundahls that Doug specially used for the 3F. The amp was tuned for Focals but others seem to find that it works well with ZMFs, etc.

 

1000% Amen

I am in the honeymoon phase with DSHA-3FN and Utopia right now. I also have a DSHA-3F (Nickel) on hand too thanks to the same great friend who loaned it to me a long way back when I fanboied on it with Verite. I am using Yggdrasil MIB.
I can’t agree more with you guys. The combination of Utopia with DSHA-3F(N) is unlike ANYTHING I have heard yet in my headphone journey. It is the most life-like (I am calling this natural) and DYNAMIC sound I have heard. I have to stop whatever I’m doing and just listen. It demands my attention.

I was also excited to also try out OG Blackwood Auteur and while they are an excellent pairing they don’t do it like Utopia do.

I really want to know @earnmyturns is how does Stellaris differ in the handling of Utopia?

I’m going to continue listening to 3FN and comparing to Nickel 3F and write it up. The quick preview is if you own a Utopia and haven’t tried it on 3F(N), you must try it out and I would start bugging @CEE TEE about acquiring one of his beautiful amplifiers before this run sells out.

PS:
I recently re-read this thread and all the drama I helped create. I plugged in my JAR600 and it is a middling pairing with 3F(N). It is just a case of blah synergy between an amplifier and its unintended headphone. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have any 300 ohm magic like ZMFs.
I stand by what I said back then, however in retrospect I don’t agree with the way I said it at the time.

 

I assume most of you guys that are trumpeting the Utopia out of the 3F(N) have the OG version? Has anyone had any experience with the '22 Utopia to know whether the uber-synergy holds with the new version? I don't know why it wouldn't, but you never know.

 

Even my modest office setup, mCTH (Sylvania 6C8G) + Modi 3, significantly blunts the metallic-timbre tendencies of my Utopia '20, which are quite evident with the Magni 3 or 789. Actually, I'm enjoying my Utopia's quite a bit on the work setup now.

At home, the Utopia '20 is on another level with the LG and LAu (OG) and BF2 in terms of dynamics and timbre. I haven't listened to my Utopia on the DSHA-3F yet. While I do not expect a herald of angels to suddenly descend and sing into my ears, I do anticipate it completing the last few percentage points toward the sound summit with these cans.

Anyways, all I wanted to say is that one doesn't need to spend thousands to enjoy the Utopia (OG) without its notorious metallic-timbre. But one will want to spend more to wring all of the performance out of these cans.

 

From memory (the 3F is elsewhere): Stellaris is a tad wetter, more enveloping. 3F is a bit more contained. I need to compare bass carefully, which I've done.