This is a review and technical measurements of the Focal Utopia open-back headphone. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $4,000 (not a typo).
The Utopia appropriately gives off a luxury feel:
The comfort was excellent despite the 500 gram weight without the heavy cord. The latter is super thick and weighs 185 grams by itself. The inside cup dimensions are 51 by 59 mm. And it is 23 mm deep.
Note: The measurements you are about to see are preformed using standardized GRAS 45CA headphone measurement fixture. Headphone measurements require more interpretation than speaker tests and have more of a requirement for subjective testing as a result. In addition, comparison of measurements between different people performing it using different configurations requires fair bit of skill. So don't look for matching results. Focus on high level picture. Listening tests are performed using RME ADI-2 DAC and its headphone output.
Mounting the headphone on the text fixture was easy requiring almost no manipulation to get proper meausrements.
Focal Utopia Measurements
As usual, we start with our stereo frequency response measurements:
As noted, we have our bass droop which is substantial as it is not even flat. Between 100 Hz and 1.7 kHz response fairly closely resembles our target. We then have some deficiencies but the highs seem to then hug the curve. There is some noise around 1.5 to 2.5 kHz which we also see in the Group Delay graph:
I don't know if it is diffraction, reflections or what. I prefer to not see this in high-end headphone.
Back to our frequency response, here is the deviation from target:
Distortion is exceptionally low at higher frequencies and only gets bad at 114 dBSPL:
Impedance is quite uneven so best to use a solid state amp with low impedance to drive the Utopia:
Fortunately efficiency is good:
Focal Utopia Listening Tests
As is, the Utopia sounded just fine. Not a whole lot to rave about but no glaring, annoying response errors. As expected, deep bass was absent so out came the EQ:
I dialed in my quick shelving filter to bring out subbass. I increased its bandwidth to 70 Hz but was not sure that was a good trade off so went back to 50 Hz. A more precisely filter may work better. Tune this to your taste.
Above that, I dialed in two filters to fill in the dips in the response. As I have noted before, any increase in this region also has a nice bonus of increasing spatial effects. On this note, the Focal Utopia with this EQ is a delight to listen to. You get a halo of sound about 25 to 30% outside of your head with very nice instrument separation and excellent clarity. I wish I had the Sennheiser HD-800S to compare but what is there, reminds me of that headphone. Whatever magic Sennheiser has found there, Focal seems to have discovered as well.
Conclusions
Objectively we have the "old school" frequency response tuning with deficient sub-bass response and some in the upper mid-range, lower treble. What is missing is not significant enough to leave you disappointed if you paid $400. But at $4,000, you better find a way to add EQ and get the sound to the next higher level.
I struggled with what grade to give the Utopia. It straddles the fence between recommended and "happily recommended" with the latter being with EQ. At the end, I went with the latter.
EDIT: my son helped me with this review. Hoping over time he can do more of these since he likes headphones. And it frees me up to test other products.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The Utopia appropriately gives off a luxury feel:
The comfort was excellent despite the 500 gram weight without the heavy cord. The latter is super thick and weighs 185 grams by itself. The inside cup dimensions are 51 by 59 mm. And it is 23 mm deep.
Note: The measurements you are about to see are preformed using standardized GRAS 45CA headphone measurement fixture. Headphone measurements require more interpretation than speaker tests and have more of a requirement for subjective testing as a result. In addition, comparison of measurements between different people performing it using different configurations requires fair bit of skill. So don't look for matching results. Focus on high level picture. Listening tests are performed using RME ADI-2 DAC and its headphone output.
Mounting the headphone on the text fixture was easy requiring almost no manipulation to get proper meausrements.
Focal Utopia Measurements
As usual, we start with our stereo frequency response measurements:
As noted, we have our bass droop which is substantial as it is not even flat. Between 100 Hz and 1.7 kHz response fairly closely resembles our target. We then have some deficiencies but the highs seem to then hug the curve. There is some noise around 1.5 to 2.5 kHz which we also see in the Group Delay graph:
I don't know if it is diffraction, reflections or what. I prefer to not see this in high-end headphone.
Back to our frequency response, here is the deviation from target:
Distortion is exceptionally low at higher frequencies and only gets bad at 114 dBSPL:
Impedance is quite uneven so best to use a solid state amp with low impedance to drive the Utopia:
Fortunately efficiency is good:
Focal Utopia Listening Tests
As is, the Utopia sounded just fine. Not a whole lot to rave about but no glaring, annoying response errors. As expected, deep bass was absent so out came the EQ:
I dialed in my quick shelving filter to bring out subbass. I increased its bandwidth to 70 Hz but was not sure that was a good trade off so went back to 50 Hz. A more precisely filter may work better. Tune this to your taste.
Above that, I dialed in two filters to fill in the dips in the response. As I have noted before, any increase in this region also has a nice bonus of increasing spatial effects. On this note, the Focal Utopia with this EQ is a delight to listen to. You get a halo of sound about 25 to 30% outside of your head with very nice instrument separation and excellent clarity. I wish I had the Sennheiser HD-800S to compare but what is there, reminds me of that headphone. Whatever magic Sennheiser has found there, Focal seems to have discovered as well.
Conclusions
Objectively we have the "old school" frequency response tuning with deficient sub-bass response and some in the upper mid-range, lower treble. What is missing is not significant enough to leave you disappointed if you paid $400. But at $4,000, you better find a way to add EQ and get the sound to the next higher level.
I struggled with what grade to give the Utopia. It straddles the fence between recommended and "happily recommended" with the latter being with EQ. At the end, I went with the latter.
EDIT: my son helped me with this review. Hoping over time he can do more of these since he likes headphones. And it frees me up to test other products.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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