Audiophilepure

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“While I hesitate to call any component “the best,” the Focal Utopia certainly ranks overall as the finest dynamic headphone I’ve experienced to date. It is among the most comfortable, sonically neutral, and well-built headphones I’ve ever reviewed. Its faults are minor (the cable), and easily remedied. Yes, it is not inexpensive. However, I heard from a reliable source that initially they were going to be priced much higher, but Focal demurred, judging that market acceptance would be much better at $3999 than $6999.

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“One can understand then the use of the H04 as the primary headphone to pair with the M-03 given the feedback that the H03 was the more analytical and brighter headphone and the H04 is the smoother more relaxed version, you simply do not want to push a good treble performance into a harsh one on this system.”

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In his “Conclusion,” Brent wrote: “HiFiMan’s HE1000 V2s aren’t all that different from their original HE1000s, and that’s a good thing — the HE1000s are widely regarded as being some of the very best headphones you can buy.” Instead, he described the V2s’ sound as “a little different from their forebears’ — not better,” and added: “But hey — when you’re already making one of the world’s best headphones, it’s pretty tough to deliver a dramatic improvement.”

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“Unfortunately, in fully passive mode (completely powered off and using the supplied analog cable to connect to the source), the sound was abysmal; muddy and muffled with a thudding bass that left the overall profile sounding heavily veiled. Of course, you’re not buying the MDR-1000X for primarily corded and powered-down use, so this drawback is only important if the battery dies. According to Sony, this shouldn’t happen often, as with ANC activated the MDR-1000X have a claimed max use time of 20 hours.”