Focal Elear and Utopia

I just wanted to post a quick follow up. Based on advice here, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the Elex. I've had it in house now for a few days, and I am quite happy with them! These fix the issue I had with Elear. I am enjoying them from a Bifrost Multibit/Vahalla2 atm. Thanks to all for chiming in on this!

 

Post from FocalOfficial on Headfi:

 

That's great! Focal service was a pain in China and whenever people talked about Elear, they talked about the coil.

But honestly I don't think they are just "very first production batches of Elear and Utopia", there are quite a few broken complaint on Chinese forum and some one even got his pair returned three times IIRC.

Anyway, great news.

 

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-utopia-general-discussion.811273/page-694#post-14845008

Focal making life easier

 

Good to know, kudos to Focal. I would feel comfortable buying a pair of Utopias now before I would take a pass.

 

Likewise. Even though it never seriously occurred to me to view any Focal's headphones as prone to faults, on the contrary to i.e. HFM. Even the priciest audio stuff can break and what a manufacturer does with it is kinda important.

 

The headband on my Elears snapped, no driver issues though thankfully, and before this change since I was a second-hand owner I was SOL, even if I wanted to pay! It'll be great if I were able to get them fixed with this new warranty update.

 

Now we will see a rush of Focal RMAs.

And I just had to send one in for a customer yesterday. Hopefully I beat the rush.

 

I participated in the Dekoni loaner for the four pads they sell for the Utopia. Here are my impressions:

Chain:
Mac -> ADI-2 fs DAC -> Mainline


Elite Velour
muffled sounding. some might say warmer, but to me, treble is lost.
bass is emphasized, but is not as tight as I prefer.
sense of “air” is lost
stage sounds compressed

Elite Sheepskin
congested sound. They only stayed on for 60 seconds before I couldn’t stand them

Elite Hybrid
OK, these still deadened the sound a bit, but I didn’t rip them off. They tame the treble at the cost of air. They also deaden the bass, making the bass less lively and more like a thud than a note. This is heard with bass in jazz music.

Elite Sheepskin Fenestrated
The closest looking and sounding to the stock pads
They still deaden the sound a bit, removing air (literally, I head less air coming from sax).
These are the least worst if you had to replace the pads and were unwilling to spend the money for the Focal pads.

While I appreciate the loaners, I would not buy any of them.

 

After experiencing what suede pads could do with an Auteur, I ordered a set of the Dekoni Elite Velour pads for the Utopia.

One of the main issues I've had with the Utopia has been fatigue from the intensity of the dynamics, and these pads help with that. Mids are held back, bass is pronounced almost to the point of needing to EQ it down. Very enjoyable with well produced house, hip-hop and liquid drum n bass. Acoustic music tends to be a bit hollow.

 

I just received my Utopias today, and first impressions are great.

 

You must be the first one to have this problem

Jokes aside, I know what you mean and I understand it might get a bit too much, but I never have enough of slam and dynamics either with headphones or with speakers.

 

The Utopias does dissect music in a new way - excellent micro-dynamics

 

I can agree with this, yup.

 

Focal Utopia Impressions

I recently visited Gramophone in Timonium Maryland to demo their headphones. I was able to demo for the Focal Utopia, LCD XC, and the Aeon Flow Closed. I will be dropping impressions into the other thread for those as well.

Audio Chain
Bluesound Node 2i -> McIntosh MHA150 -> Focal Utopia

Bass
I found the bass on the Utopia to be very detailed, textured and fast. There was a slight bass rolloff but it wasn’t super noticeable. The Utopia is not a hard hitting headphone in the bass region, but it was okay to listen to. It did feel a bit thin though.

Mid-range
I found the mid-range to be really lacking. Vocals sounded thin and tinny without much weight to them. Again it was very detailed and fast, but I did not feel the draw to the vocals that I am used to from my Auteur or the HD 6XX. Vocals also sounded a bit distant in the mix.

Treble
I am a bit sensitive to treble and I noticed the treble on these as soon as I played the first 10 seconds of my first song. The treble is sparkly, fast, detailed, and clean, but it was too much for me. I found it sibilant from the first “s” that was spoken and hearing high hats made me wince. I imagine this is what many people enjoy about the Utopia, as it felt very detailed. But for me it was too much.

Timbre
I didn’t like the timbre on this. It didn’t feel real and full bodied rather thin and a bit metallic. I also like a warmer sound and this was very clean, bright, and analytical.

Soundstage/Imaging/Layering
I found the soundstage to be artificially wide. At first listen it did seem to be wide, but as you listen more it seems like its an okay sized stage, a bit wider than the HD 6XX, but the sounds feel further. It doesn’t extend its soundstage. I believe that the imaging and separation is what is causing this to happen. Everything feels like it has its own place in the mix and it has its own air within that confined soundstage.

Conclusion
I initially tried the Focal Clear about 2 years ago on a loaner for a week. I was initially impressed with it coming from my HD 6XX but quickly found the characteristics about it to be not what I enjoyed such as the metallic timbre, artificial highs/soundstage, and thin sound. As I have moved up in my gear and headphones I was always curious as to how the Utopia would be, and maybe it would bring me back into the Focal lineup. Since trying the Utopias, I really have 0 interest now in them. I would much rather pickup a Verite and call it a day. I don’t think the Utopia is bad, plenty of people really enjoy them. I just think that for me and my preferences they aren’t what I like. I won't write off them, but I won't be buying these unless I can get them in to try on my own chain. Maybe in the future if I can try them on my tube gear I might change my mind, but for now I will stay a ZMF shill.

McIntosh MHA150 Thoughts
Initial thoughts of the MHA150 was not positive. I wasn’t able to fully understand the sound characteristics since I was using new headphones but based on build quality there was a lot to be desired. The volume knobs was the worst plastic I have ever felt. I haven’t felt any audio gear, even cheap Chi-Fi with such a bad volume knob. It was also very touchy and had no resistance to the knob so any slight touch could send the volume skyrocketing and blowing out your eardrums.

From a power perspective it seemed to be powerful enough. The Focal Utopia is not a demanding headphone but I was having the volume at about 30% to have a decently loud listening volume.

It is really pretty though! Love the McIntosh look.

 

Very good impressions. I'm curious if your impressions would be different if you were using a tube amp in the mix. When I had my Clear, anything pure SS on my end still had that metallic treble. Most get around it by adding either a warmer DAC or a tube amp in the mix.

 

That is what I have heard. When my Starlett gets in I would like to try it again with the Starlett to see if my impressions are different but hard to find one for a loaner without buying. Maybe once meets start back up I can get some ears on it.

Thanks for the kind words!

 

I experience the same metallic sound from my Elex and Clear on SS amps. Less so with the Stelia but still a little.

I’m definitely an advocate of using a warmish DAC and tube amp with Focals. The challenge is Focals aren’t exactly high impedance. There’s quite a bit of variation in how they sound depending on amp impedance.

 

I have had the Utopia for four days now and wanted to drop some (granted honeymoon period) impressions. Sources include GunMB A2 > Iso-Max XLR to SE transformer > Saga OG (usually in passive mode) > Asgard 3/Bachelor Head Amp, & Questyle qp2r DAP:

1) I did not expect the delta between the Clear (which I have had for more than 2 years and is my reference/goto) and the Utopia to be this much when it comes to technicalities. I believe @purr1n is right in that if you like what these Focal's offer (dynamics, speed, detail, etc.), then skip the Clear and stretch for a used Utopia.



2) In my opinion, if the Clear is a little too laid back to be the "super hd650" (https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?attachments/focal-clear-fr-vs-hd650k-png.11213/), then the Utopia is closer (https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?attachments/utopia-vs-hd650-png.4699/). Perhaps I am too old (51) or have hearing damage in the treble region where people are put off by brightness/glare/sibilance.

3) In my chain and to my ears the Utopia is smooth, even "liquid" - particularly above 2k. I have never had as much a problem with this sin of commission of "metallic" timbre that most others have with the Focals - then I would not normally listen to them out of amps like the Jot, Sabre Dacs, and the like. I also don't perceive the Focals as "thin", for example with vocals, as many others do (on the contrary). YMMV.

4) Perhaps my biggest surprise is the quality of the bass - so fast and detailed and yet full/hard hitting. This really jumps out at me vs. the Clear.

So with my preferences,chain, and music (heavy on the Classical, Jazz, non-vocal electronica - light on everything else) these are simply the best HP's I have heard so far technically as well as "musically/emotively". I am still going to keep a pair of ZMF's around however, just not sure which ones yet. Looking forward to hearing the Utopia's through a DNA Starlett that's supposed to arrive in 2 months or so.

 

When I joined SBAF and started reading about the Sennheiser lineup, something I learned very quickly was how picky HD800's are with amp pairings. After all these pages and threads on the Utopia, I don't think it's stressed enough how the Utopia should also be deliberately matched (albeit for different reasons).

I lent my Utopia and DSHA3F (w/amorphous core) to @sphinxvc for a few weeks after we'd both done some A/B listening with my setup and his Eddie Current ZDS. We installed Sonarworks on his computer to be able to make a simple warming EQ tilt for the DSHA3F so that it better matched the ZDS. I was guessing I'd really enjoy the Utopias though the ZDS, which can be known to feel euphonic/slightly warm/luxurious, but the DSHA3F w/a simple EQ tilt really hit the spot, and from what he told me over that loaner period, the ZDS was even somewhat fatiguing with those cans.

I wonder how much of the lesser Utopia experiences are due to lack of synergy with other components. It think it's not just about pairing for the headphone's FR graph measurements, but also about working with the Be driver, not against it.