Focal Utopia Review (collective stream of consciousness)

I'll order some hd800 pads and report as this got me too interested to pass
thanks Benjaminbore!

 

That’s great, I look forward to hearing someone else’s impressions. Just bare in mind that they will need either EQ, mods, or a dark sounding amp to balance out the tonality and bring down the upper frequencies.

 

IMHO they do not need EQ. I do use a darkish sounding amp, the Back Widow, but it's not that dark. This is all a matter of taste. If you think the Utopia highs are way too bright, you really might want to try the Elear. I, and many, really like the stock Utopia sound. I will agree that a warmer amp, ideally a good tube amp, seems to work best.

 

I was referring to use with the HD800 pads, only. With stock pads I found that it wasn’t primarily a case of tonality, but timbre or colouration. EQ wasn’t helpful in dealing with that, but using some HD650 front foams either full size or cut into a circle and sticking them in front of the driver was somewhat effective.

 

interesting. I will have to try that tonight. I imagine the difference is quite subtle.

 

Actually the surprising thing is that the pad change wasn’t subtle at all. It expanded the stage significantly, and alleviated it’s closed-in sound, with tonal trade offs. Go back a page in this thread for more: http://superbestaudiofriends.org/in...eam-of-consciousness.2669/page-31#post-195577

If you meant the foams then it depends on how much you use. The more area covered the stronger these traits become: smoothness, slam, cohesion, forwardness of center-image/vocals. At the expense of speed, image layering, micro-dynamics, micro-detail.

 

On the topic of Utopia pad rolling have you tried the Dekoni HD800 pads?

 

Thanks @BenjaminBore

I had some rings 3D printed that basically let me try quite a few pads on the utopia. I tried alpha, zmf cowhides, and brainwavz hybrids. All changed the sound quite a bit. The alphas and the cowhides brought out quite a bit of bass, as expected, but the tonal balance was off. I ended up just putting the stock pads back on and never looked back. A long time ago there was lots of discussion about using Mr. speaker stats pads, but getting them to stay on was pain. I suppose with the rings it would be easy, but I sold my stat pads a while ago.

 

Anyone hear, or experience any reliability issues with their Utopia; or know of Focal's out-of-warranty repair service(s) and support?

There are some decent values that pop on HF and other classified sites, and I'm just wondering if the added $300-$400 would be worth the warranty.

Aside: I'm considering the potential of consolidating the various gear and cans I have, and assembling one uber-rig with ideal synergy.​

 

from head-fi pollh
ttps://imgur.com/a/QWGHm
most likely you wont have to deal with problems

 

Pay the extra $300-400 for the warranty.

 

I didn't think Focal offered service to out of warranty Utopias?

 

If true, then there’s no question which way I’d go.

I best confirm with a retailer.

 

FYI my only 2 month old Utopia crapped out. The right side drivers suddenly stopped producing sound. It started 2 weeks ago, just suddenly no sound. Unplugging and replugging the right side connector “solved” the issue, with everything going back to normal. No extra distortion or any sound quality issues that I can hear.

About a week ago it happened again, and this time after sound came back it felt as if the right side low to mid bass was slightly softer than left, but mid and up was normal. Then a few days ago the right side died. The last two times, I clearly remember a strong bass note (attack part of timpani strike) right when right side crapped out. Note, the left side had no problem. Replaying the same passage even at higher volumes had no problem for the left side. And the HEK would take anything I can throw at it with the gear I have no problem.

My dealer is sending them to Focal for replacement; in China they don’t repair just replace. He’s not sure they’ll even offer repairs out of warranty here. He says it’s very common, and he’s told that one major cause is very tight clearance in the driver area so any variation in manufacturing plus driver displacement (but within allowed spec) can cause the driver to bottom out and get damaged. Or at least that’s what I thought he said (it was all in Chinese and he used a few words too advanced for me).

Whatever the situation, he made it clear we would never know the exact reason since Focal would only replace. Only make sure the headphones themselves have no physical mark as they will deny warranty if it looks like it may have been dropped (even if the physical mark has nothing to do with the driver problem).

 

That last paragraph is very interesting. Thanks for the info and sorry about your Utopia.

 

A shame but I'm not all that surprised if I'm honest. I've tried the Utopia on occasion and the thin driver wire always seemed very thin and pretty exposed to me. Sure, you're not supposed to be poking around in there but just one nick on that wire from pretty much anything and it's game over. It always looked liked a pretty precarious construction to me.

 

That line is actually very worrisome. I know in the U.S. Focal offers a 2 year warranty. Most companies will allow you to pay out of pocket for repairs once the warranty is expired. If they aren't doing repairs does this mean you are screwed with no options other than to re-buy a full replacement? I own Elear and was looking to upgrade it to Clear or Utopia, but these types of comments worry me. I have also heard at least a handful of other Utopia owners report dead drivers within short ownership. I guess Elear/Utopia has been released for about 2 years now so we might start seeing how Focal handles the first cases of out-of-warranty requests. If anyone else has any insight or experience with Focal CS about this, that would be greatly appreciated for those of us considering a purchase.

 

I should have made it clear, this is for China. It may well have to go back to Focal in France and pay their charge for out of warranty work. The US and EU most likely will have completely different policy. Note, may people at HF posted about need to have original cable; my dealer said not necessary for China.

Any ways I’m posting this not to steer anyone away from Utopia. It’s overall a beautiful sounding headphone, with its strengths and weaknesses (besides reliability). To me it makes my HEK sound harsh in the treble and too laid back in the mids. Tonality and bass extension wise HEK wins. Overall this episode is leaning me towards repacking the HEK with Abyss Phi but that’s for another thread.

 

Hey I'm just getting my Focal Utopias and have a Gungnir Multibit DAC. Was curious what all amps you recommend for ~$1k or less? I see some MJ2 recs, what else is everyone using? Right now i have a liquid carbon X but curious what else could work well

 

I'm kind of out of the loop with ~$1000 amps but I'm sure there will be recommendations for Lyr 3. You could get that, and then start saving. Zana Deux Super is one of the best pairings I've ever heard with Utopia. That's my recommendation.