skullguise

Chiming in a bit late, just got back from vacation; glad you got to hear them Jacob. To some extent I agree with Jacob's impressions, there are several aspects of the sound & music that some other phones do better. For me, Soundstage is the biggest drawback of the Utopia's...especially coming from the Senn 800's. And the shear envelopment of a good Stax system (SR-007II and Mjolnir Carbon for me) edges out the Utopia for me. Where my findings - and personal taste - differ are a few as well: first and foremost, transparency. I hear things in basically all frequencies up through, say ~13-14kHz, that I have had trouble hearing with many other phones, at least dynamics. And in many recordings I do hear into the room, at least if the recording is good. And within that smaller soundstage, I think the ability to pick apart individual voices & instruments is still great. Lastly, while I DO hear some possible frequency variations, I don't hear a midrange honk to the level that Jacob describes. Where the Utopia still stays my favorite dynamic is in the total cohesive package. It delivers transparent and pretty balanced sound to these ears, to the point that the package ends up being better than the individually-analyzed parts. That said, my Senn 800 and 600 are both staying around as well. FWIW, my system has been either the Exogal Comet or the Denafrips Ares driving a loaner ECP DSHA-2; great match for the Utopia, and a DSHA-3 customized for low output impedance will come next. I still like the Mjolnir/Stax combo the best, so that is staying with the Exogal, my favorite DAC.

Happy belated!!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Are you channeling your inner Trump?

RIP J. Geils. The first ever LP I got was Live Full House, I think in 1972 or 73.....I'm sure I wore out multiple needles playing that......

Happy Birthday, oh bringer of sunshine and happiness

I like it! Kind of "Aging Punk Rocker" look. All you need now is a ripped old Sex Pistols shirt and some safety pins!

RIP to Don and Paul.....Don made comedic insults into an art!

Happy belated! And what Jacob said.....

Happy Belated!

Yup, all of the (good things) above. Most people don't realize this forum doesn't follow "normal" forum rules, hence the reminders to read the welcome message. You can have a great time, just remember as a newer person here, don't get a hair up the arse when we get one up ours. We've established our curmudgeon-ness over many moons.

Me too. And before that, she used to work at a local pre-hipster record store called Newbury Comics. I remember her from those days in Boston.....

Got back from upstate NY, an adventure to visit Clarkson University for Admitted Students' Day (today/Saturday). Due to the weather, we left Thursday instead of Friday. Tough ride, save for a nice pic Karen got on the Lake Champlain Ferry; long, couldn't find a good place to stop for dinner, and ended up getting to the hotel just past 10pm. Andrew got into a class Friday, and spent a bit of time on campus. It turns out he is not as impressed these days. A big part of that is due to Wheaton College in MA jumping very high on his list, after a student-hosted night and also attending a class there. It set a pretty high standard to meet. Combine that with the snow, odd eating schedules causing general grumpiness in all of us, and a dead car battery that had to be jumped. We got to the event this morning, looked at the agenda....and decide to leave and get home. So Andrew has made his choice of Wheaton, and we all think it's a great one. Great combination of Tech and Liberal Arts, and an incredibly welcoming and diverse set of students and faculty. Along with Clarkson, Wheaton also gave fantastic merit money. And it's not a 6-plus-fucking-hour ride.

Double.....RIP..... And just saw about GG too. RIP, sounds like a special lady.

...and then one time, a farmer brought in a potato that looked like Tom Brokaw. The staff looked at it and said, "Nothing special...it's just a common 'tater"

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

I've got an iPad and a laptop, each has fit different needs & uses very well. The only thing I want to try at some point is the Cisco VPN client my company uses, along with the App that allows Remote Desktop to Windows machines. That would save some space on the occasions I travel.....been too lazy recently to set them up though. But for so many things, iPad and keyboard is just fine and dandy.

The only time I saw J&MC in concert, some band no one had heard of opened for them and blew them away. After the show, my buddy and I, along with about 6-7 other faces we recognized from the show, were all at Tower Records in Boston buying NiN's Pretty Hate Machine. Still love J&MC's music though.....

Oh, man, loved him and that show. RIP Chuck.....

Very awesome, congrats to all!

Happy Birthday Al!

Just read about it. RIP, another true legend gone.....

Shit, Nate, I'm ~3 miles from work and just stayed home today......nasty winds this way, haven't scope to see how much snow yet.

RIP Joni.....too young..... And RIP to an unknown to most, but a big part of my college and post-college years: John Lever, drummer for the band Chameleons UK and a bunch of others. One of the hardest hitters I've known. Got to meet him a couple years ago, great gent who just loved music.

Wow, didn't see that either....RIP! I had read a good bit about his club The Bitter End, help launch quite a few careers.....