Focal Utopia Review (Headphone)

[Helicopter]

I'm pretty sure if I had a gun to my head and I had to spend $4k on headphones, I would buy 3 or 4 c$1000 pairs , each different. Possibly a Dan Clark closed , an HD800S and maybe a good HE6 second hand. Its too much to invest in just one pair. But then, I've never heard 'em.

Agree. I would get Noire, HD8XX, Clear MG Pro, and Ananda.

 

[Nango]

Agree. It has as much to do with position of drivers in the earcups as frequency response. It also has something to do with individual variations in hearing, ear shape from meatus to inner ear, and probably how your brain processes sound. For example, some people get spatial effects out front and others only get them outside the ears to the sides with Clear, HD800s, or whatever.

As all these statements ('I hear it outside my head .....') are NOT falsifiable we should not accept them on this site (devoted to Science).

 

[3125b]

Of course 4000$/€ is way too expensive. These depreciate fast, go for half that in like-new used condition.
But you could make that point for most expensive audio gear (regradless of actual performance).
The higher end Audezes and Sennheisers seem to keep their value fairly well, but most other headphones really don't.

 

[Rottmannash]

Oratory wants 5dB more treble above 5kHz (which is strange as they are a tiny bit too trebly would use Amir's EQ) and Jaakko wants 4 dB less above 5kHz and rolls off -14dB at 20kHz !

Oratory seems to want 4dB more subbass than Amir yet Amir has a similar amount as Jaakko.

I guess one would have to try all 3 EQ's and see what they like. Young folks will likely prefer Jaakko's EQ.

I'll weigh in and show you my measurements. Those that would want to try some EQ should try to EQ my plot to a flat line on the plot. Do not EQ individual peaks just average levels. When I would apply smoothing (which the hearing does) then the sharp peaks and dips would not peak as high.

Below the utopia with '1/3 oct smoothing' (purple one is Elear)

I would agree with Amir about SQ compared to HD800S.
Below my comparison between an EQ'ed HD800 vs Utopia and thought it would be a hard choice in SQ.

In the end... the HD800S is half the price and needs some help while I liked the Utopia without any EQ.
The Utopia had a slight metalic 'ringing' with some instruments which the HD800 didn't have but wasn't distracting nor SQ degrading.
Here's the CSD which shows some ringing and maybe shows the metalic 'sheen'

Ringing was also visible in the step which shows good tonality, excellent impulse response and the slight brightness (small bump till 0.3ms)

If I were to EQ on it perhaps very slightly lift subbass (+3dB around 30Hz), lift 2kHz a bit and lower the treble from 5kHz to 12kHz by about 2dB.

to get more data points here's Crinacle:

You can increase the bass a little when driving the headphone from a 10 ohm output R amp.

Excellent headphone.. a bit pricey and can easily get similar quality from the cheaper and lighter HD800S.

That CSD is so pretty I wanna make it my screen saver. thanks for the comparisons. We know Crinacle loves his subbass.

 

[Rottmannash]

Great! Would be good to see Elear @amirm which was released alongside. They kicked off the Focal audiophile line up of headphones.

I'm listening on the Elex as I type and if I could live without them for several months I would send them in. They are purported to be the Elear with some minor changes, mostly cosmetic. I'd love to see how close they are to the Clear and Utopia.

 

[respice finem]

As all these statements ('I hear it outside my head .....') are NOT falsifiable we should not accept them on this site (devoted to Science).

Science cannot prove or disprove subjective impressions, that's right. Then again, all this audio science can improve not only objective things as foster proper design and execution, but also improve the user experience, which will always be subjective, because we are humans. No one can really escape this. Both "worlds" coexist, this is a part of the general "human condition".

 

[Helicopter]

I'm listening on the Elex as I type and if I could live without them for several months I would send them in. They are purported to be the Elear with some minor changes, mostly cosmetic. I'd love to see how close they are to the Clear and Utopia.

Looking at the drop charts, I would say Elex is an OG Clear with simpler finish, accessories, and packaging.

 

[Rottmannash]

Looking at the drop charts, I would say Elex is an OG Clear with simpler finish, accessories, and packaging.View attachment 121972

I think you may be correct. I love them. Best HP investment I've yet made.

 

[respice finem]

This would mean (once again), the most rational buy is middle-class.

 

[Nango]

Science cannot prove or disprove subjective impressions, that's right. Then again, all this audio science can improve not only objective things as foster proper design and execution, but also improve the user experience, which will always be subjective, because we are humans. No one can really escape this. Both "worlds" coexist, this is a part of the general "human condition".

It is misleading oth. 'Spatiality' is or is not matter of EQ (software), it is misleading if one hears it in front, other does it hear behind and the next one hears no difference.

 

[respice finem]

It is, and hard to define anyway. But there's little anyone can do about it, related to an individual. Our brains are "wired" as they are. You can make preference assessments, as is the case already, but one "standard" will never fit everyone.
Example: psychoacoustic surround, like the JVC Exofield: The most will say "wow that beats my speaker-based surround", a few others will say "is it even stereo"? None of them is wrong, because they hear what the brain makes of it.

 

[Zensō]

And how the brain processes sound, is at least to some degree determined by "early childhood imprinting". I've been listening with headphones since age 3, today I'm listening more often without than with crossfeed. It's not that it doesn't "play in my head", the difference is, it doesn't bother me most of the time. The "full bodied" sound is more important to me than soundstage imperfections. With crossfeed, the soudstage gets more lifelike, but (Meyer crossfeed in foobar200 as an example) with turning the effect up, the sound starts getting strangely diffuse and "bloodless" to me.

For us older folks who grew up prior to the mobile era, it’s easy to forget that a large majority of people under a certain age grew up listening to music predominately through earbuds. This is not lost on audio engineers who are now mixing and mastering in ways that take mobile listening into account. Ironically, this may make some modern productions sound better on headphones than stereo speakers, something which wasn’t often true in the past.

 

[edahl]

As all these statements ('I hear it outside my head .....') are NOT falsifiable we should not accept them on this site (devoted to Science).

I see nothing on this site telling us we need to hamstrung ourselves with scientism to the exclusion of our senses. There's a reason listening tests are a key component to all the reviews

 

[Racheski]

I was able to compare this Utopia with the Meze Empyrean (around same price level, 3k€) and to my ears the Meze was way superior. The Meze had enough bass and it was... how to say... 'savoury'? The Utopia was straight and punchy while the Meze more relax and 'playful'. Now, I am not a specialist, I will wait for the Meze measurements and more importantly: psychologically accept to put 3k in a headphone...

How does comfort compare if you don’t mind sharing?

 

[General Direction]

I was able to compare this Utopia with the Meze Empyrean (around same price level, 3k€) and to my ears the Meze was way superior. The Meze had enough bass and it was... how to say... 'savoury'? The Utopia was straight and punchy while the Meze more relax and 'playful'. Now, I am not a specialist, I will wait for the Meze measurements and more importantly: psychologically accept to put 3k in a headphone...

https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/Au...harman_over-ear_2018/Meze Empyrean (sample 2)

There you go!

 

[respice finem]

I see nothing on this site telling us we need to hamstrung ourselves with scientism to the exclusion of our senses. There's a reason listening tests are a key component to all the reviews

And for the same reason, measurements are always more objective than listening tests, as we can trust our senses only halfway and not at all the senses of others.
But, if you should fit into a preference "standard" and you don't, then you just don't, and then it is better to adjust your gear to yourself than the opposite. One exception would be IMHO people with "spoilt hearing" and those are many. They do not know any more what acoustic instruments sound like, because all they hear is through their earbuds, Hi-Fi speakers in godawful rooms etc. But this can be only done by education, and live and not on YT, because any YT presentation will sound as off as the recipient's system (the famous circle has us again)...

 

[Racheski]

I'm listening on the Elex as I type and if I could live without them for several months I would send them in. They are purported to be the Elear with some minor changes, mostly cosmetic. I'd love to see how close they are to the Clear and Utopia.

We need an ASR loaner program haha...hmmmm

 

[maverickronin]

As all these statements ('I hear it outside my head .....') are NOT falsifiable we should not accept them on this site (devoted to Science).

It's easily falsifiable with the appropriate study. Is none of Toole or Olive's work science either? Is just as equally based on asking people for their subjective impressions. The only difference is that those subjective impressions were collected in a more controlled environment.

The worst you can say is that uncontrolled observations should be disregarded becasue they are unreliable, and even that's somewhat silly when measured differences are known to greatly exceed psychoacoustic thresholds of detection.

By that silly interpretation it's not even demonstrable that other humans have thoughts and feelings and everyone but you might as well just be a P Zombie.

 

[PeteL]

Looking at the drop charts, I would say Elex is an OG Clear with simpler finish, accessories, and packaging.View attachment 121972

I guess we'll never get a solid firm answer, I have a Elex. My understanding, but not from a reliable authority, but I don't remember where, but I think some tests, have been done and It would be Elear drivers and Clear Pads (well they are clear pads, this part is true). I don't waant to be quoted on this. That's interesting, looking how close it is to the Clear response, would mean that the pads have more effect on the FR than the transducer. Which in a way do make sense, swapping pads in headphones make very audible change. And focal drivers, well they may be similar in design, with some using more luxury raw material. But then again where the CLEAR and Elex have almost a perfect match for FR, I think the Clear edges it out slightly for distortion, so the theory may make sense.
Also. The clear is newer, altough it looks like a Elear of different colors, there may be some minor changes to the industrial design, so maybe the more correct would not be only elear with clear pads, but more Elear drivers in a Clear "body".

 

[Nango]

I see nothing on this site telling us we need to hamstrung ourselves with scientism to the exclusion of our senses. There's a reason listening tests are a key component to all the reviews

Yes, of course, as far as it is reliable.