calaf

about the Elear/Utopia, looks like I heard it differently than most people at the SF meet. I should mention that I did spend a *lot* of time with both headphones, particularly the Utopia as there was something amiss with the Utopia I was trying to put my finger on. Briefly, copying velvetx format: Focal Elear (out of Cavalli Carbon and Crimson) lots of energy (punchy bass) and speed (transient reproduction). Warmish tone, closer to HD600 than HD650. Very clean mids and extended highs. Good, deep soundstage. In summary, the Elear reminded me more of the HE500 than the HD6x0, with a cleaner, more transparent sound. Focal Utopia (same amps, plus Questyle dual mono stack) Tight, detailed bass. There is a bloom in the mids that made it sound gorgeous, but a touch artificial. Even after one hour, I was listening to the Utopia, not to the music being played. Soundstage was very "enveloping", for lack of a better word. It was wide and deep, but lacking in focus (compared to the HD800 I had in tow, but also to the Elear) In summary, I think Focal tried to go for the HE-90 sound and in the process lost ultimate transparency. Not worth $4K to me. Even at $2K they would face stiff competition from HE1K and Ether Flow.

yes that makes sense. 12 o'clock is where many preamp outputs are ~line level. BTW I forgot to mention that I also have added -12db attenuators in my TEAC (unbalanced) bypass input

I don't seem to be able to connect to the benchmark web site, but with the pot at 11PM (are you sure they did not say 11AM?) your output is usually two times higher than line level and the 125+W of the parasound will likely pierce your eardrums... FWIW I am driving my LS50 using this amp http://www.teac.com/product/ai-2000/ connected in "direct mode" (bypassing the preamp section) to the pre-amp out of my Oppo-BDP105. Listening from about 8ft away in a medium sized room I keep the Oppo volume at 50-60% for most recordings.

Hey Al, nice to find you here! We are all doing great, thanks. How about you? I have been lurking here more and more as I have less time to filter out shills and trolls elsewhere

if you read the specs of the DAC http://www.analog.com/library/analogDialogue/archives/44-04/ad5791.html it shows the temperature drift of the DAC is 0.11ppm/C. From cold to warm circuit I'd say you have at least a 20C temperature change, corresponding to 2ppm drift, and that is just for the DAC. For comparison Schiit claims the Yggy has 21 bits precision which translates to 0.5ppm. BTW the 21 bit claim is an interesting one, since AD says their DAC has 20 bit precision.