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Old 01-03-2018, 09:54 PM
smatsui324 smatsui324 is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Canton, MI
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mulveling View Post
I remember listening to the v1 HEK (when it was new & noteworthy) and thinking that not only was it overly warm/soft, but also it somehow had just enough of a rough spot somewhere in the treble region to cause me notable listening fatigue. Never got to hear a v2 unfortunately, but the v1 didn't impress me enough to pursue -- especially after witnessing my friend holding the bag with his quickly old-hat v1.

The Utopia hasn't caused me such fatigue in 2 short auditions, so I'm hoping that holds up long-term when I get my pair. There are lots of reports of folks finding the Utopia fatiguing. But then, I'm also a guy who thinks the Stax SR-009 (properly driven) is basically fatigue free and has nearly perfect treble. Even though it has a lot of upper-range energy overall, I think it must have to do with sensitivity to certain regions of treble that the 009 (and hopefully Utopia) dodges. Seriously, an SR-009 driven by BHSE (NOS tubes) is easily the lowest fatigue I've ever experienced from a headphone setup. I can listen for hours at a
loud level with zero issues.
I didn’t find my friend’s HEK v1 fatiguing at all when I had it and Jude’s Utopia for 3 days in my own system. I sold my SR-009 last week after owning them for 5 years. Although they’re very transparent, I found them a bit lean and too analytical even out of the BHSE that I heard at Axpona. I don’t find the Utopia fatiguing in my system. The stock HD800 with stock cable is fatiguing to me. I have a 19ga OCC Cu cable wired directly to the drivers. Also I modded the HD800 with the SDR mod. My modded HD800 sounds much fuller and I can listen to it for hours with no fatigue.
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