The HD800 does not have the body and resolution the Utopia has for example, but it does have a more immersive soundstage. The Focal Utopia is a hi-fi, over-ear, open model equipped with Focal’s proprietary, M-shaped, pure Beryllium transducers. To read up on other FOcal products reviewed on Headfonics click here. Focal’s driver utilizes a pure beryllium diaphragm, like an oversized variant of what’s used for the tweeters in some bleeding-edge loudspeakers. I found the HE1K having better bass control and impact overall, but the Utopia does midrange and treble better to my ears. If there’s some drive unit flaw it can’t be hidden and is harder to correct. This versatile speaker handles up to 100 watts RMS, so we recommend you drive it with an outboard amplifier for maximum performance. pure Beryllium drivers Focal Utopia: presentation. As for detail and resolution, I am very hesitant to put one over another. The lambskin leather memory foam ear cushions make it extra comfortable which makes it very nice to the touch. The Utopia takes the two undesirable differences while combine them with one headphone by offering the harmony of having presence, resolution, deeply extended bass and clarity in one clean package. Playing one of my favorite concert albums, Jack Johnson’s En Concert, the Utopia allowed me to visualize the performance stage with minor whispers that I think you won’t typically hear with other headphones. We become aware of instrumental textures that even talented circa-£1000 headphones like the BeyerDynamic T1 Gen.2s and Sennheiser HD800S can’t resolve. Mid-range is what really shines with the Utopia as every instrument and note just sound so satisfying. Thanks for the article and the recommendation, Thanks for taking the time to visit us and comment :). Hardware Review. We’re left a little breathless with the energy on show, as well as the detail resolution. The use of a single drive unit doesn’t give the engineers much room to tailor the performance. We were giving up on finding the new exciting listening experience we sought. There are times that the cymbals can be a bit too tin with some sources I have used but the can also be blamed on the recordings itself. The Utopia brings a mutual compromise when compared to the Audeze LCD-4 or the HD800 which are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Sometimes these give us a new view of the music being played, other times they simply embellish what we already know. But the key standout for me is the overall look. This performance isn’t accidental: there’s serious engineering in these speakers. Unarguably one of the finest headphones on the planet with a price tag to match. Adele’s Hometown Glory highlights that midrange further. Hello / Greetings To Everyone, So Today I am going to put my true views on focal utopia Review. Her voice comes across with power and emotion, while the instrumental backdrop is organised and cohesive. These headphones can satisfy the basshead in each one of us while still being able to give a good bit of everything else. It is truly quite an accomplishment on how good headphones can reproduce sound now when compared some 5 years ago when I recently started the hobby. And so in this review I’m going to ask the question of whether the F… © It is responsive to source pairings and I found it particularly enjoyable to use when comparing various sources I could get my hands on. In fact, Focal optimized the Utopia’s open-back ear cups to allow total decompression of the energy that its pure Beryllium ‘M’-shaped dome creates. The Focal Utopia delivers an extremely ‘tasty’ sound that is both saturated in details and loaded with dynamics. My room size is H 3.8m, Length 6.7 m, Width 4.6m. The Utopia can be revealing of its sources, so I think it is a superb measuring tool in demoing gear. i HAVE heard a HD800 and imho think the soundstage is very artificial sounding. We start with Light Of The Seven from the Game Of Thrones Season 6 OST and like their natural unforced balance. That change was 3+ years ago. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. This week on Check It Out Patrick will be reviewing the benefits of the Focal Utopia M series speakers. Now the store is saying that the drivers are faulty, and to replace the drivers will cost EURO€2000.00 / AUD$3,700.00 (half the price of a new pair). Dynamic is perhaps an overused word when it comes to describing the Focal headphones, but that is really how the Utopia is. The narrow stage gives the sense of intimacy as if being in a small room and having the first-row seat in front of a performance. It would have been nicer if there was a cardboard box with artwork to sport its awesome design but its simplicity and heft shows the buyer that it is a premium product. Its hefty foam and delicate grooves allow for optimal storage without any strains for the cables or the headphone itself. You will receive a verification email shortly. For me, when I was using the Utopia for almost a week straight, I already felt comfortable with hearing differences with it like my HD800. It is definitely one of the best sounding headphones I’ve heard in a long time and I think it deserves a place in the current top of the line listings when talking about high-end audiophile headphones. Focul Utopia Headphones – my experience with this product: These headphones pound out the hard driving beat superbly, while giving Lamar free reign with his highly charged vocals. It’s a spacious presentation, where each instrumental strand has space to stretch out and express itself. You can kind of see where the company's coming from. You don’t pay $4000 for a box, but the unboxing experience is second to none. It is on back order. The treble on the Utopia can be said as a hair peaky and slight forward but when matched with the right source gear, it can actually enhance the overall listening experience. Unsatisfactory. Scott. Beautiful sub. So it’s more than twice the price of the HD800s, one third more weight, and has a narrower soundstage. With its hefty price tag, is it able to perform against other top-of-the-line headphones? These Focal Utopia Headphones exude quality as you would expect. The headphones are still in mint condition and I even still have the original box. The Utopia can definitely hold its ground to whatever it’s thrown at genre-wise and this is through a few months of use now, so no holiday period here. Beryllium is two and a half times lighter than titanium and seven times more rigid with the same mass, making it a fine tweeter material. Some people will never be able get past the Utopia’s price, but if you can, it doesn’t take long to realise they’re among the very best sounding headphones that money can buy. Focal has done a great job with that drive unit. Openness goes both ways, and you’ll find all sorts of noises intruding on your experience if you don’t find a quiet place to listen. On the other hand, if you listen to the music with Focal Utopia, you’re just unable to do anything apart from it — the sound of such a strong character simply takes all of your attention. Focal Utopia. do you want to sit in the 5th row or in the back. The technical highlight is undoubtedly Focal’s Beryllium inverted dome tweeter (below). A beyer T1 beats it out in layering, detail, and (natural) soundstage.. I’ve reviewed the Utopia and the HD800 side by side. First off, the box is gorgeous. The cable is pretty heavy duty which makes it very durable although it can be on the lengthy side for some while sporting some pretty premium connectors. We include comparisons and recommendations on how to get the best sound possible from them. The sound quality of the headphones is top-shelf. I found it having an unbelievable amount of control while still being detailed and extended when it needs to be. In 2005, the Utopia Be line was developed using Focal’s best high-fidelity loudspeakers, revolutionizing the brand’s Car Audio line. The Focal – JM Lab Utopia III ‘Scala Utopia’ Loudspeaker. In this Focal Utopia review, we are testing what many say to be the best headphone in the world right now and after using them for a few weeks I find it hard to disagree. We like a bit of ambition, and Focal has been nothing if not ambitious with these Utopia headphones. The box sports a similar design to the Elear box which stores the headphone nicely. You want to charge an uber-price you’ve got to ring all the bells. Then its off to the woodshed to build the custom potrted sub box for the utopia sub10wm. The price is definitely steep at $4,000 though it can be justified for getting the most performance from cost-is-no-object amplifiers that can run from $5,000 and above excluding tubes. The Utopias are refined and wonderfully smooth performers that still have enough in the way of bite to satisfy. As for the headband, I could see the constant bend being a bit too wide or too shallow for someone outside of the average head size but I found no problems with it personally. As you’d expect at this level, these Focals are built beautifully, combining leather, carbon fibre and metal to produce a product that feels like it’ll last for years. Making the impossible possible, elevating sound excellence to a level never achieved before : this was the goal set by our engineers who developed, among other things, a brand new ‘M'-profile 'W' sandwich cone. January 2001 JMlab Mezzo Utopia Review by Alvin Gold Click here to e-mail reviewer For this, my (much delayed) first review for Enjoy the Music.com™, I have picked a product from a brand that has only quite recently enjoyed any significant success here in the UK, namely French producer Focal JMlab, who manufacture drive units under the Focal name, and complete loudspeakers under the JMlab label. Friday, July 14, 2017. open-back dynamic headphone. Yes you are right in terms of price, weight, and soundstage but know that the Utopia is a product for those who want to be on the bleeding edge at whatever the cost. The Grand Utopia is the latest step in this continuously evolving development—in essence, the field-test laboratory for the next generation of Focal drivers. MORE: How to avoid buying fake headphones. While the LCD-4 has extreme body and presence, the HD800 can be very light and airy due to the vastness of stage. MORE: How to choose the right pair of headphones. Thank you for signing up to What Hi-Fi?. The Focal – JM Lab Utopia III ‘Grande Utopia EM’ Loudspeaker. The cable is shielded and uses high quality oxygen-free copper and is designed for low impedance characteristics. In comparison both of these sound blurred and lacking in resolution, which by most standards they aren’t. Its bass response is fun, incredibly tasteful and with very little compromise. thanks for the advice. One would think when you purchase a EURO€4000.00 / AUD$7372.00 pair of headphones, that they would last more than 2 years!!! Specs: over-ear, dimension: 5″ x 5: x 5″, weight: 1.08 pounds, audiophile open-back circum-aural, 40m Beryllium M-shaped dome, ear cushions: 20mm memory foam, frequency response: 5 – 50 kHz, impedance: 80 ohms, sensitivity: 104dB SPL / 1mW a 1kHz Features: full-range speaker drivers, earcups rotatable, headband: leather length adjustable, offer striking realism, … Frequency response is tuned to near perfection, while the soundstage is huge and the detail is almost unrivaled. I think being resolving with superb balance gives credibility to the Utopia’s claim to the TOTL throne. Yet Focal has dodged that particular bullet by describing its new Grande Utopia EM Evo – all 265kg, two metres and £160k-a-pair of it – and its smaller stablemate, the Stella Utopia EM Evo, as 'the most emblematic high-fidelity loudspeakers of all its collections'. Connecting cable: 6.35mm (1/4“) Neutrik® stereo Jack connector (to amplifier). I somewhat dislike Hifiman’s way of doing the upper midrange portion in their headphones. After all, almost all of the X-1's drivers are made by Focal. The company is already strongly associated with Beryllium drive units, thanks to its use in the brand’s high-end tweeters, and the material’s combination of low weight, rigidity and damping works equally well in this application. The headphone is a bit on the heavy side although the distribution of weight for this 490g headphone seems to be very well thought out. Low impedance is used to help achieve this fi gure, Focal's specifi ed nominal impedance of 8ohm making little sense given that it also states a minimum value of 3.0ohm. What would you recommend for SS and Tube in the ~2k range? Building to focal specs for this sub. Focal Utopia. What we get instead are wonderfully extended lows that brim with agility and punch, but also blend in seamlessly with the organic midrange. Thank you to Focal for giving us this opportunity. 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