Pure sarcasm on my part, I don’t owwn the Louis Vuitton accessories to give it a full bougie look, trashy bedazzled may be the way to go. Perhaps it cause tonal changes and be a new way to mod them?? I’m being completely sarcastic on this too 
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That Utopia cable looks awesome!
So are you preamping the z10e with the microzotl pre or is there a different speaker amp elsewhere?
The preamp is used either for the Utopia through headphones out (it’s the same as a MZ3) or for the Genelec active speakers.
The Z10e is waiting for an audition with X9000 (this weekend most likely) and then I’ll decide if I keep it or sell it. I have a X9000 on order for Q3 delivery.
I’m also waiting for a new Susvara to arrive (very soon) and my Zahl HM1 whenever that happens this year.
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Got it, that makes sense. I thought the microzotl pre had less power output then the MZ3 (nevermind, both rated for with 4-ohm load: 1W, 1% THD, with 14-ohm load: 0.5W, 1% THD)
When I demoed the Utopia 22 it sounded great out of the microzotl pre and was one of the first times I could easily hear differences in cables when testing with a DHC Prion4. I imagine the Utopia OG is also a great pairing.
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The headphone section is the same as the MZ3 just with upgraded preamp section (and higher cost). Mine also has the Level 2 upgrades for the pre section (but without the balanced input transformers upgrade… yet…)
The Utopia sounds amazing on it. I’m trying to figure out how I feel about the Z10e with Utopia but don’t see the Pre being sold because it’s so much better with the speakers (and can drive the sub too). Maybe when the HM1 arrives things might change but the Pre is staying for now. The whole estats chain is on the chopping block
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What kind of upgrades do the Level 2 include, which relate to a better headphone output over MZ3?
When I tried the Utopia off the Z10e last fall the first thought I had was underwhelming compared to MZ3, something was off and could not put my finger on it.
More info here: microZOTL Preamplifier - Vacuum Tube Preamp by Linear Tube Audio
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Thanks, I really should go back up there for a visit since they are local.
Depending on the tubes but generally speaking Z10e is a little leaner and more dryer linear sounding with MZ3 being a bit richer and warmer. I tend to agree the MZ3 is a better fit for the Utopia OG and it balances it out a bit without overdoing it so Utopia still very much feels like a Utopia. The Z10e is a better option for the D8KP LE for example.
For me the Z10E serves only one purpose and it’s to drive the X9000. If I end up deciding not to get one, the Z10E will be sold since my only two other headphones (Susvara and Utopia OG) don’t benefit from the Z10e.
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That is it, you nailed it. Felt lean in comparison, which in itself is not a bad trait just not what I want. Good to know the pre-amp shares the MZ3 traits over the Z10e.
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Looks sweet! And great job keeping it clean with so much gear. Much easier said than done.
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All these sick looking setups making me wanna get back in to the game 
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Just cool off by watching more BB
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Lots of purchases, trades, swapping, and experimenting over the last few months. Along with a few pieces showing some serious staying power.
The rack: analog on top, DAC and streaming in the middle, and power supplies underneath.
uR → uD → Yggy
oR → SRC-DX → Qutest
Serious PITA to get power cables cleanly routed. It looks simple in the end, but it took forever to get to this point.
Not perfect separation, but pretty clean routes to keep power, digital, and analog separated.
The little gray box in the background plugged into the Yggy USB is an optical USB cable run around my office for movie watching (streamed via Nvidia Shield).
It’s hard to get a very good shot of power supply land that lives under the rack.
Not shown in the pictures here is the Roon ROCK running in a fanless NUC case and the M1 Mac Mini running HQPlayer.
I have DH Labs BNC Coax cables (custom length) coming this week to replace the el-cheapo bnc cables currently in there.
A big part of my thought process is to try and keep everything at approximately the same level. With the goal to minimize performance bottlenecks.
I’m Not exactly sure how I ended up here, but apparently I’m a Sonore fanboy for streaming, DH Labs fanboy for digital cables, Kimber fanboy for analog cables, iFi fanboy for power (along with Pangea for power cables).
Maybe getting a little philosophical… but I’m realizing a big part of my enjoyment of hifi is the customization. No one has the exact same setup that I have, and it has a lot of my personality in it. It sounds the way I like (of course always lots of room to improve). And I’ll probably tweak it forever because the customization/tweaking is part of the fun. Even if the tweaks don’t give absolute sound quality improvements (although I 100% expect most of them to do so). Lots of room to grow from this point.
But overall maybe it’s a little like hot rod building - sure I can buy a stock car that beats it in many practical ways, but the full custom nature of a hot rod is a big part of the fun.
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System looking great!
You’re comparing the optical and ultra? how’s it going so far?
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I’m actually using both.
ultraRendu → ultraDigital → Yggy
opticalRendu → SRC-DX → Qutest
SRC-DX is a USB to dual BNC converter that enables streaming hqplayer via dual bnc (the same as an Mscaler).
Swapping uR and oR there is no doubt oR has the blacker background and deeper soundstage. All of the Sonore gear is well designed. But the oR is definitely a step up.
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Nice I’m sure many here will thank you for the comparison.
Seems like you got things figured out, happy listening!
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at least for today it feels pretty well sorted. Let’s see how tomorrow goes
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Don’t touch anything till you have to dust, then at least since it’s gonna take 2 days to take it all appart, clean things up and figure out how to put it all back together at least it will be dust free for a while. I even have a mini vacuum i got specifically for my electronics…
It all looks GREAT! 
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