Focal Utopia headphones...with Beryllium driver

[blessingx]

Amazon bookshelf customer reviews are fun 

[Beefy]

8 hours ago, Fitz said:

This is head-case, who gives a shit about thread discipline unless you're some rando?

This is head-case, why are we even talking about headphones?

Edited July 3, 2021 by Beefy

[mwl168]

8 hours ago, blessingx said:

Amazon bookshelf customer reviews are fun 

Did you put the book “The unbearable lightness of being” on the top shelf?

Edited July 3, 2021 by mwl168

[tin ear]

the sock appears uncoloured if not neutral

 

[aerius]

On 11/15/2016 at 12:54 AM, NotoriousBIG_PJ said:

I have a pair here. I'm really digging the Utopia's in my system. Really hard to find any major faults with them. They are so detailed, yet all types of recordings are listenable and I can play music on them for hours without fatigue. I haven't had this much fun with a headphone since first listening to ps-1's.

Biggie.

 

I spent a fair bit of time with the Utopia at the audio show yesterday, definitely the most fun I've had since listening to your PS-1 setup back in the day.  Punchy as hell and it just doesn't compress or soften even if I played very dynamic music way louder than I'd usually listen.  Pretty much everything I've heard other than my LCD-XC and the RS-1/PS-1 will soften & compress to some extent, my Senn 580 and  AKG K340 do it, and so did the Focal Clear I tried out yesterday.  My first impression of the Utopia was that Focal took an RS-1, fixed up the treble tizz and bass, and then just cranked everything to 11.

I can also see where @EdipisReks1 is coming from regarding the soundstage & placement, it's definitely more of a Grado soundstage than my LCD-XC or K340.  Audezes are the best I've heard so far at creating a believable sound field, that is, not only placing voices & instruments in the correct place, but also getting them to project properly.  For instance, a timpani will make a sphere of sound whereas a trumpet will make a cone of sound, most headphones I've heard will make both of them into a ball-ish shape.  The Utopia has a sizably smaller soundstage than my LCD-XC and at times it did feel a bit cramped like there wasn't quite enough space for all the instruments & voices to breathe & project properly.  I get why an audio engineer wouldn't want to use these for mixing.

Overall, I think it's the best dynamic headphone I've heard so far.  If I hadn't heard Audezes I don't think I'd have any real complaints on the Utopia.  This is definitely another headphone which I need to hear in a quiet room to hear what it can really do.

[HiWire]

What kind of electronics was the Utopia plugged into? Did you bring your own gear?

[aerius]

All the Focals were running on Naim Uniti Atom amps with tablets to stream Qobuz .  Didn't bring my own gear and no way to hook it up anyway, but I did plug a USB drive with my music into it.

[tin ear]

i think it's a terrific headphone. i still audition other totl offerings and then wonder why i bother after returning to the utopia.

Edited November 2 by tin ear