Headphone Amp for Focal Utopias?

One thing to keep in mind is that Focal sells a ton more headphones than Meze. Consequently, the higher percentage of negative reviews might just be a byproduct of higher sales numbers. The real question is which company has the bigger service footprint, and history, in case you do need repairs.

@arafiq That is something I also thought could be the case. A lot of reading on the Meze has also led me to believe that in the class of TOTL HP’s the Meze is one of the best built.

Today, I ended up buying the Benchmark DAC3B to pair with the HPA4. I owned the DAC3 HGC before and know the DAC3 sound well. It is a very good DAC but I have heard better for a lot more money. However, some reviews of the HPA4 (or LA4) are saying that that preamp makes even lower end DAC’s sound way better. The DAC3B is not a low end DAC.

I decided against the AudioByte VOX stack after doing some research. Based only on specs the DAC3B is a better match because it is much quieter and the XLR out put is at a professional-grade level of 24 dBu. The HPA4 + DACB3 + AHB2 (amp) are all running at the same professional-grade level. The AudioByte VOX stack is running at 12 dBu output level. So there is a little synergy issue that I did not want to bug me. Not saying I made the right decision but that synergy thing would have bugged me.

I buy the Meze on Tuesday. I will try to chime in with some coherent observations once I get above 200 hours on the Meze. I will actually try to avoid listening until that 200 number is passed.

I've never had a chance to audition the Empyrean, but most reviews are very positive. Do post your impressions once you've had a chance to spend some time with them. 

I will actually try to avoid listening until that 200 number is passed.

Ha!  Good one.  Seriously though, congrats and welcome to the headphone world.  I’m also a recent ‘phone adopter after being a 2-channel guy for a long time, and I’m really enjoying it.  It’s different, especially the soundstage thing IME, but still very enjoyable and satisfying in its own way.  The Benchmark/Meze sounds like a very good, complimentary pairing and looking forward to your impressions — after 200 hours of course.  Ehem. 

Ok, I am up for the challenge. I am supper busy these days with child care so it won’t be a problem.

It is under 9 days playing 24 hours a day to get 200 hours. I will just turn on my tuner to maybe a classical station and let it settle.