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Focal Utopia Review (Headphone)
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RustyGates
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Nice photo! I have the 2022 as well and enjoy the tuning using only one band of EQ ( a 5.5 db bass shelf below 100hz)
Utopia was slightly more enjoyable than a Susvara I borrowed from a dealer.
Bow_Wazoo
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Have both headphones been set to the same FR?
I have now bought the Utapia for the third time. The first two times the successor was definitely "better".
Now the third time I know, with certainty,
that I was fooling myself.
For me, the Utopia 2022 is the benchmark.
I have now bought the Utapia for the third time. The first two times the successor was definitely "better".
Now the third time I know, with certainty,
that I was fooling myself.
For me, the Utopia 2022 is the benchmark.
If you are asking me, no. I never eq my phones, except for Apple personalization on pod max.
I agree EQ makes amazing difference( at least on pod max) but I don't use it when testing and comparing.
I have no tools for measurement nor good hearing for manual touch. I just compair with various volume listening until I find the sweet spot for each headphone, where it sounds the best to me. And check good bad good enough etc).
That said, EQed pod max is my favorite headphone. HRTF appiled stealth and utopia could make a large difference too. But i don't have the tool yet.
But I am willing to try impulsifier for further comparison in the future.
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And you are selling it again few weeks after?
Focal Utopia 2022
The Utopia is in mint condition, and of course technically, mechanically, and optically, fully functional. The headphones were purchased on 04/25/2023 from an Austrian licensed Focal dealer. The Utopia has only completed a few hours of use, and has been perfectly stored. The headphones have been...
www.audiosciencereview.com
Bow_Wazoo
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Nothing unusual for me.
This has been the case for many years.
I buy headphones, listen to my music collection a few times, and then I feel like hearing something different.
Different, does not necessarily mean upgrade.
This has been the case for many years.
I buy headphones, listen to my music collection a few times, and then I feel like hearing something different.
Different, does not necessarily mean upgrade.
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Relativizes for me at least though the praise of references.
Also personally I think with some acoustically good headphones like HD800 and tempering with EQ someone could get acoustically further, but on the other hand I can understand also the joy of new toy acquisition, been there too myself in the past.
Also personally I think with some acoustically good headphones like HD800 and tempering with EQ someone could get acoustically further, but on the other hand I can understand also the joy of new toy acquisition, been there too myself in the past.
Bow_Wazoo
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In any case, I don't know of an upgrade to the Utopia. But it doesn't have to be an upgrade.
For me it's just exciting, to experience a different interpretation, of the music signal.
But if you were to ask me, what the most transparent "sound converter" i have ever experienced was, then I would definitely say: Utopia 2022
For me it's just exciting, to experience a different interpretation, of the music signal.
But if you were to ask me, what the most transparent "sound converter" i have ever experienced was, then I would definitely say: Utopia 2022
I own the 2020s, which I purchased not long before the 2022s launched—so with considerable resentments and rigor I have searched high and wide for the demonstrable differences between the two models. Here’s what I’ve come up with.
For what it’s worth, some dealer tear sheets circulated around the time of the 2022 launch, and in them Focal was very intentional about marketing this 2022 model as a more reliable headphone, not a better one. They were clearly offering their dealers incentives for carrying this new model, after the considerable and well-documented driver failure and excursion issues that plagued the prior version—issues that had caused many dealers substantial headaches due to the myriad returns and repair transactions they encountered for such a pricey stock item. All Focal emphasized in their premarket press materials was that they upgraded their voice coil to resolve any prior concerns, and spiffed up the looks a bit, maybe because that’s all they could say? Not sure—are there other improvements? Let’s see…
There are the published FRCs between the two. I have a few saved somewhere that I haven’t accessed in awhile, but I’ll try to locate them and post them here under separate cover for due diligence purposes. Teaser: they differ insignificantly and certainly inaudibly. They almost fall on top of each other. There is certainly no credible evidence that there are any sonic improvements in the 2022 model compared to its predecessor—outside of the voice coil switcheroo, the two cans are structurally comparable and on the scope, measurably the same.
There are a couple of easily detected aesthetic changes. Make of them what you will; I prefer the 2020 touches and color schemes myself. The 2022 versions are more conspicuously red through the grilles—ie flashier. The price difference between the two versions is $4,999 vs now $3,399–you’ve owned both, do you see the $1,600 difference anywhere, now knowing that their FRCs are identical? I sure don’t.
Again, Focal marketed these as a “more reliable Utopia”. The only claims they’ve made that it’s better are culled from outside subjective reviews (mostly from storefronts like headphones.com and Moon Audio et al), that they’ve conveniently quoted in subsequent marketing materials. Their $4,999 price point here is every bit as irrational as the industry-capsizing $4,000 price ceiling they themselves broke and set back in 2016—arbitrarily from a material and R&D standoint, but certainly strategically from a branding effort—as we can see here, they’re the highest selling flagship at this price because a lot of folks think price=quality.
And I think it’s notable that Hifiman, my personal favorite and an outfit that has since become known for their honest price points, dropped the Susvara at $5,999 that very same year—just a few months after the Utopia made gasping headlines and got splashed all over Stereophile at $4,000. Before then nobody except the most pedantic and pretentious audiophile snobs were paying those prices for a set of headphones. All the Susvara offered from the bench was the Stealth magnet—you think that this Chinese rising star came up with that ballsy $6,000 asking price de novo? Or was it in competitive response to another notable brand from France that beat them to market and threatened to upstage the juggernaut they had been planning for the prior two years? I think the answer is obvious. I think we have Focal to thank for the cost of flagships today, by and large.
To me, I come to this discussion as a customer of Focal who soon after the 2022 launch had just dropped $4,400 on a brand new set of 2020 Utopias (the extra $400 was for an XLR cable, which albeit exorbitantly priced was rather handy, since the Utopia is the only headphone in their lineup with fidgety, arcane cable terminals). I was already well-informed and apprehensive about the driver failures and I’d already heard the excursion blaps that freaked me out every time I added a bit too much low end PEQ. Thus I found it personally offensive that they released an “upgraded” version of mine that did nothing much other than fixing a flaw that they should have offered me for free, if not at least as a trade up option. They did neither. Instead they tempted me to fork out $1,600 more than what I had already paid if wanted a Utopia that wouldn’t fry a year or two beyond warranty, and of course immediately slashed my 2020 resale price in half with the new model.
The fact that they smugly rode the wave of spurious claims of superiority over past versions in the absence of evidence has led me to conclude that Focal is one of the most elitist, sleaziest, and disingenuous headphone manufacturers out there, and I do indeed wish someone would drop-ship Amir a 2022 pair so he could lift the veils off of their claims that this 2022 model is audibly any different than it predecessor, just as he shed some sunshine on what was supposed to justify the cost of the OG.
I still like my 2020 Utopias, despite the bad taste I have in my mouth about them. However, my Hifiman HE1000 Stealths do everything my Utopia does, with more Harman-compliant tuning, no plummeting bass roll-off, substantially superior soundstage, imaging and comfort, at a fourth of the cost. With technological advances, Hifiman has lowered the price of their cans, as it should be, but as it so rarely is.
If you can offer any evidence that the 2022 version is objectively superior in sound quality, I’m all ears, and will humbly stand corrected. But it won’t tempt me to buy one—knowing Focal they’ll release a 2024 version that has red piping this time, and start a whole new wave of FOMO. For the sake of my wallet, I have to bow out of this game!
OK, rant over! How bout them new Empyreans?
Update: I’ve included the overlayed FRCs for both to demonstrate that the OG and 2022 are near-identically tuned.
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RustyGates
Active Member
I own the 2020s, which I purchased not long before the 2022s launched—so with considerable resentments and rigor I have searched high and wide for the demonstrable differences between the two models. Here’s what I’ve come up with.
For what it’s worth, some dealer tear sheets circulated around the time of the 2022 launch, and in them Focal was very intentional about marketing this 2022 model as a more reliable headphone, not a better one. They were clearly offering their dealers incentives for carrying this new model, after the considerable and well-documented driver failure and excursion issues that plagued the prior version—issues that had caused many dealers substantial headaches due to the myriad returns and repair transactions they encountered for such a pricey stock item. All Focal emphasized in their press materials was that they upgraded their voice coil to resolve any prior concerns, and spiffed up the looks a bit, maybe because that’s all they could say? Not sure—are there other improvements? Let’s see…
There are the published FRCs between the two. I have a few saved somewhere that I haven’t accessed in awhile, but I’ll try to locate them and post them here under separate cover for due diligence purposes. Teaser: they differ insignificantly and certainly inaudibly. They almost fall on top of each other. There is certainly no credible evidence that there are any sonic improvements in the 2022 model compared to its predecessor—outside of the voice coil switcheroo, the two cans are structurally comparable and on the scope, measurably the same.
There are a couple of easily detected aesthetic changes. Make of them what you will; I prefer the 2020 touches and color schemes myself. The 2022 versions are more conspicuously red through the grilles—ie flashier. The price difference between the two versions is $4,999 vs now $3,399–you’ve owned both, do you see the $1,600 difference anywhere, now knowing that their FRCs are identical? I sure don’t.
Again, Focal marketed these as a “more reliable Utopia”. The only claims they’ve made that it’s better are culled from outside subjective reviews (mostly from storefronts like headphones.com and Moon Audio et al), that they’ve conveniently quoted in subsequent marketing materials. Their $4,999 price point here is every bit as irrational as the industry-capsizing $4,000 price ceiling they themselves broke and set back in 2016—arbitrarily from a material and R&D standoint, but certainly strategically from a branding effort—as we can see here, they’re the highest selling flagship at this price because a lot of folks think price=quality.
And I think it’s notable that Hifiman, my personal favorite and an outfit that has since become known for their honest price points, dropped the Susvara at $5,999 that very same year—just a few months after the Utopia made gasping headlines and got splashed all over Stereophile at $4,000. Before then nobody except the most pedantic and pretentious audiophile snobs were paying those prices for a set of headphones. All the Susvara offered from the bench was the Stealth magnet—you think that this Chinese rising star came up with that ballsy $6,000 asking price de novo? Or was it in competitive response to another notable brand from France that beat them to market and threatened to upstage the juggernaut they had been planning for the prior two years? I think the answer is obvious. I think we have Focal to thank for the cost of flagships today, by and large.
To me, I come to this discussion as a customer of Focal who soon after the 2022 launch had just dropped $4,400 on a brand new set of 2020 Utopias (the extra $400 was for an XLR cable, which albeit exorbitantly priced was rather handy, since the Utopia is the only headphone in their lineup with fidgety, arcane cable terminals). I was already well-informed and apprehensive about the driver failures and I’d already heard the excursion blaps that freaked me out every time I added a bit too much low end PEQ. Thus I found it personally offensive that they released an “upgraded” version of mine that did nothing much other than fixing a flaw that they should have offered me for free, if not at least as a trade up option. They did neither. Instead they tempted me to fork out $1,600 more than what I had already paid if wanted a Utopia that wouldn’t fry a year or two beyond warranty, and of course immediately slashed my 2020 resale price in half with the new model.
The fact that they smugly rode the wave of spurious claims of superiority over past versions in the absence of evidence has led me to conclude that Focal is one of the elitist, sleaziest, and most disingenuous headphone manufacturers out there, and I do indeed wish someone would drop-ship Amir a 2022 pair so he could lift the veils off of their claims that this 2022 model is audibly any different than it predecessor, just as he shed some sunshine on what was supposed to justify the cost of the OG.
I still like my 2020 Utopias, despite the bad taste I have in my mouth about them. However, my Hifiman HE1000 Stealths do everything my Utopia does, with more Harman-compliant tuning, no plummeting bass roll-off, substantially superior soundstage, imaging and comfort, at a fourth of the cost. With technological advances, Hifiman has lowered the price of their cans, as it should be, but as it so rarely is.
If you can offer any evidence that the 2022 version is objectively superior in sound quality, I’m all ears, and will humbly stand corrected. But it won’t tempt me to buy one—knowing Focal they’ll release a 2024 version that has red piping this time, and start a whole new wave of FOMO. For the sake of my wallet, I have to bow out of this game!
OK, rant over! How bout them new Empyreans?
I spent three hours swapping between the '22 Utopia and the Susvara, in the end the Utopia was the better sounding can. Susvara has more "air" and bigger soundstage, but just doesn't have the engagement factor the Utopia does, and the resolution/clarity & precision imaging of the Utopia is pretty much on par, albeit the overall tonality (combination of FR tuning esp. midrange with dynamics/physicality/impact) is just better, even at lower volumes. I've always thought planar bass sounds "plasticky", was no different here with the Sus. Additionally, the build quality of the Utopia (craftmanship, materials, accessories) runs circles around the Sus. Holding the Sus, it does not remotely seem like a 6K USD headphone, at all.
The HE1000 stealth - that is a HP I did not like. Found it to be overly bright and midrange slightly recessed.
I had the OG Utopia's for four years prior and couldn't get into them as much as I wanted to because of their high-end forward/hot tuning; reached for my HD650s more often. The '22 however is the Utopia I wish the OG was in terms of tuning. Also, not sure what it is, whether its the FR, or maybe lower distortion or something, but the '22 seems to have a more "around your head" experience than the OGs did. Similar to what Amir experienced when EQ'ing the OGs.
I’ll address your comments on the difference between the two Utopia versions in a bit (spoiler alert: there are no differences in FRC between the 2020 and 2022 Utopia), but first and foremost I want to be clear that I can’t stand the Susvaras. I owned a pair for awhile, again a consequence of industry-funded reviews and FOMO, and fortunately came to my senses after almost two months, right in time to meet Amazon Prime’s liberal return policy. I have an amplifier with a whopping 14+ watts—the iFi Pro iCAN Signature—and even at the highest gain settings and a minimum of PEQ to boost the low end, I couldn’t get to listenable volumes without clipping. I tried using a proper power amp appropriate for floor speakers, until I realized that all this mess wasn’t worth the effort, since I didn’t like how they sounded anyway.
Both the Susvara and the OG Utopia were released in 2016, three years before the “final” Harman curve was published, and certainly well-before anyone in the industry started taking Harman tuning seriously. Both headphones were designed with the “reference” audiophile tuning standards that were de rigueur at the time (and which still inexplicably persist among many high end headphone manufacturers today—I’m talking to you Sennheiser). To me that means mostly flat-as-a-pancake, save for a precipitous roll off in the low end starting around 80-100hz.
Both headphones achieved the pinnacle of detail retrieval and timbre aimed at the “critical listener” (with the Susvara outperforming the Utopia to a considerable extent in soundstage and imaging). I can only assume that only recently have manufacturers begun to catch on to the fact that there is market aplenty for headphones that are suitable for young, rock-oriented listeners with a wide range of budgets, who care about sound quality every bit as much as the stodgy, classical aesthetes that had long since defined the audiophile segment.
Given that I own the HE1000se and 2020 Utopias, I obviously care about critical listening and achieving the highest possible detail retrieval available in a flagship headphone myself. What is missing from the Susvara, and to a slightly less extent the Utopia, is fun. My Hifiman HE1000 Stealths, HEKses and to a lesser extent Sony Z1Rs all have impeccable performance measures and far more Harman compliance than either the Susvara or the Utopia, and with their far superior, robust bass response and more “u-shaped” tuning, they’re versatile enough for any genre, and are a blast to listen to with rock, hip hop, R&B and synth pop in ways that “reference”-tuned cans simply can’t achieve. Although you are correct that the HFM options are on the bright side, that can be tamed with just a touch of PEQ—the Susvara and Utopia both require far more than a touch to sound enjoyable and exciting. Flat tuning might be optimal for sound engineers, but the Harman experiment proved that nobody has much of a good time listening to music that way—it’s just a bore.
As for your subjective experience between the 2020 and 2022 Utopias, and your perception that the latest iteration sounds better, given that their tuning curves don’t audibly differ and the two headphones are near identical structurally, I’m afraid I can’t come up with an explanation for your conclusion. You mention that the 2022’s tuning is what you hoped for in the OG, but there simply isn’t evidence that the two differ (see the attached overlayed FRCs for evidence).
I maintain my view that the two Utopias differ inconsequentially in terms of sound, and that the conclusions you came to can only be explained by cognitive bias (absolutely no offense or condescension intended, I’ve fallen prey to that countless times!). The evidence I supplied in my previous post was carefully researched and validated from multiple sources—despite what the corporate-funded (and some anecdotal) reviews imply, the 2022 model only addressed the stability and reliability of the voice coil, and with a few aesthetic tweaks Focal pulled a fast one on the market, without regard to consequences due to their untouchable reputation. Peace!
Both the Susvara and the OG Utopia were released in 2016, three years before the “final” Harman curve was published, and certainly well-before anyone in the industry started taking Harman tuning seriously. Both headphones were designed with the “reference” audiophile tuning standards that were de rigueur at the time (and which still inexplicably persist among many high end headphone manufacturers today—I’m talking to you Sennheiser). To me that means mostly flat-as-a-pancake, save for a precipitous roll off in the low end starting around 80-100hz.
Both headphones achieved the pinnacle of detail retrieval and timbre aimed at the “critical listener” (with the Susvara outperforming the Utopia to a considerable extent in soundstage and imaging). I can only assume that only recently have manufacturers begun to catch on to the fact that there is market aplenty for headphones that are suitable for young, rock-oriented listeners with a wide range of budgets, who care about sound quality every bit as much as the stodgy, classical aesthetes that had long since defined the audiophile segment.
Given that I own the HE1000se and 2020 Utopias, I obviously care about critical listening and achieving the highest possible detail retrieval available in a flagship headphone myself. What is missing from the Susvara, and to a slightly less extent the Utopia, is fun. My Hifiman HE1000 Stealths, HEKses and to a lesser extent Sony Z1Rs all have impeccable performance measures and far more Harman compliance than either the Susvara or the Utopia, and with their far superior, robust bass response and more “u-shaped” tuning, they’re versatile enough for any genre, and are a blast to listen to with rock, hip hop, R&B and synth pop in ways that “reference”-tuned cans simply can’t achieve. Although you are correct that the HFM options are on the bright side, that can be tamed with just a touch of PEQ—the Susvara and Utopia both require far more than a touch to sound enjoyable and exciting. Flat tuning might be optimal for sound engineers, but the Harman experiment proved that nobody has much of a good time listening to music that way—it’s just a bore.
As for your subjective experience between the 2020 and 2022 Utopias, and your perception that the latest iteration sounds better, given that their tuning curves don’t audibly differ and the two headphones are near identical structurally, I’m afraid I can’t come up with an explanation for your conclusion. You mention that the 2022’s tuning is what you hoped for in the OG, but there simply isn’t evidence that the two differ (see the attached overlayed FRCs for evidence).
I maintain my view that the two Utopias differ inconsequentially in terms of sound, and that the conclusions you came to can only be explained by cognitive bias (absolutely no offense or condescension intended, I’ve fallen prey to that countless times!). The evidence I supplied in my previous post was carefully researched and validated from multiple sources—despite what the corporate-funded (and some anecdotal) reviews imply, the 2022 model only addressed the stability and reliability of the voice coil, and with a few aesthetic tweaks Focal pulled a fast one on the market, without regard to consequences due to their untouchable reputation. Peace!
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You do realize that you are not describing the properties of the headphones in question but your personal subjective reactions to their sound?
Huh? That’s what you took from my post? I think I need to work on more brevity (it’s been my lifetime curse)—I’m apparently not getting my point across. I posted properties of the headphones aplenty and objective evidence that the 2020 and 2022 Utopias are sonically indistinguishable. That was the intent of both of my posts. What does that have to do with my “personal subjective reactions to their sound”?
I diverted temporarily into my reaction to the Susvara and Utopia’s published FRC curves—they are tuned to conventional “reference” standards—flat tuning with sharp bass rolloffs. This is not Harman compliance, and this site emphasizes Harman compliance in its headphone reviews (for very valid reasons). The only subjective term I used was “fun”, and it was hardly the predominant theme of my post—but what’s wrong with my including my subjective reactions as an adjunct to sourced evidence presented in the first place?
Please help me understand the motivation for your reply. If you like I can weed out all the stuff I mentioned about my perceptions of any kind and just present my thesis along with my attached graph unadorned—“The 2020 and 2022 Utopias Have Identical Frequency Response Curves and Specs and Focal Turned Their Problem With Voice Coil Failures Into Their Consumers’ Problem”.
Done. Do you have any objections to that? Not trying to be a jerk here, I just don’t get your point, sorry!
Product manager of Focal states that they made changes to sound
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staticV3
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Measurements state they didn't.
Now who do we believe? A microphone free of bias and feelings, or a Focal employee who profits from more Utopia sales?
They also say the flax, Kevlar, and slate drivers are all sonically different, and there is probably a tiny bit of inaudible but still real difference. The only important differences are cosmetic in those thin layers, and likewise in these headphones. Some consumers will "upgrade" and Focal have chosen not to discourage it and take the money.
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