New LCD-4 vs Utopia shootout from Innerfidelity.

The Utopia's literally are like listening to speakers in a tunnel because the ear pads openings are too small--the "baffle" of the earpads are barely bigger than the driver itself, which will likely cause diffraction--it's like listening to someone cupping their hands and shouting. The Elear pads are about 2mm wider in every direction and slightly alleviate this. If you listen to the Utopias without earpads on the tunnel/cupped hands effect goes away, so that's why some people have resorted to using to extremely open MrSpeakers Electrostatic pads which is basically just a giant opening with a thin leather circle around it to seal around the ears.

 

bit exagerrated perhaps. soundstage is small but its not like "listening to speakers in a tunnel''
personally I didnt like the mrspeakers electrostatic pads with my utopia

 

There needs to be more porous velour or microsuede pads that minimize the influence pads have on the sound. If the HE-6 measurements are any indication of how the E Stat pads will be on the Utopia it's a huge no no.

 

When comparing totl headphones the differences do become exaggerated simply because the rest of the sound range of all the best headphones are great, and small differences stand out even more. For example the shoutiness of the Utopia really stand out in the most audible portion of sound spectrum (vocal range) and it sounds a lot less pleasing compared to LCD-4 or HE1000V2 with vocals due to the slight tunnel effect.

 

Update from Tyll:
http://www.innerfidelity.com/conten...nt-measurements-and-plans#ksvZxZijUbVo1VHJ.97

I would wish that this would lead to more consistency, and transparency regarding in line production changes. Doubtful though. The manufacturers involved haven't clammed up over the issue at least, which reflects well on them.

 

Good to see measurements from a real Focal Utopia. Looks like the change is mainly a drop in efficiency below 3kHz. It's actually slightly less efficient than a modded HD800 now (but obviously much more sensitive due to the lower impedance), which would seem to make sense as it measures with better or comparable bass extension with a smaller driver. The changes with the listening positions on the head now seem to be much smaller. Could be different pads? Maybe a slightly different filter in the housing? I highly doubt it's the driver.

 

Just checked the serial number of my Utopia against that of the Utopia Tyll used for his wall of fame review. They are the same except his ends with 000125 and mine ends in 000068. Don't know if that means I got a really early version. If it does I wonder if the tuning is closer to Tyll's, current production or is something else entirely. Regardless, mine does not sound bright at all and I have never understood the comments about a reduced bass.

Would be great if Focal could confirm how many versions of the tuning there are out there, but would not matter to me as I love the sound of what I have.

 

Mine is 000594 and I pretty much echo @brams sentiments exactly. Mine is in no way, shape, or form bright, even on a GSX. Have never understood that reference. The bass is lighter compared to LCDs but I wouldn't describe them as bass light.

The beginning of the stream-of-consciousness review thread had everyone raving about these, with no mention of 'brightness' or 'lightness'. Balanced, balanced, balanced was the only thing anyone had to say. Does anyone around here actually have a 'bright' Utopia? Has anyone come out and said that?

Who knows what's going on, I'm not going to jump to conclusions about 'versions' without a lot more data points.

 

Posted this thought in the LCD-4 vs. Utopia thread, but I think it applies just the same here:

My guess is that there is a difference between an early run (Tyll's copy) and the later runs, likely as they were ramping up production after getting some good reviews. It would be interesting to find out where that delineation is with respect to serial numbers.

 

Though the word 'bright' might not be mentioned much, many have described the sound of Utopia as energetic, forwarding, and fatiguing for long listening.

Now the early batch units will become highly sought after ones in second hand market, unless Focal somehow reverse the tuning of the Utopia the less bright early version.

 

Where did Tyll post his serial #? I just checked mine and it's 963, I didn't detect brightness either.

 

Is it reasonable to assume the serial numbers are sequential? I purchased mine in November and my number is 471.

 

In his original review the s/n is visible on the unit in the photo where he has removed the earpad.

 

Note that according to Tyll's measurements pdf, the apparently bright "shootout Utopia" has SN: A1BEHF000971, which is very close to yours @khragon.

 

'Energetic' and 'fatiguing' I kind of get. These are probably the most dynamic cans I have, the perceived volume jumps around and spikes with good recordings. If you use these with dynamically uncompressed music, not the volume compressed crap from last decade or poor old analog transfers from the 70s, they can be fatiguing. That's not really a 'brightness' issue though, some people would say its actually a sign of quality in reproducing the recorded music. I'm not sure about my feelings, it can be fatiguing occasionally. But I doubt tuning changes would make a difference, its part of the build.

Way too early to make assumptions about versions, IMO.

Presuming you meant to ask is it reasonable to assume these were sold in sequential order. Probably yes for the units from last year since they were sold out whenever the dealers got them. Mine (594) was from mid November. This year, as units start sitting on shelves probably a less safe bet.

 

My Utopia has a serial number of 0017XX. Might be from another production run entirely.

This is gonna be good.

 

Yeah I just noticed that, got me curious if it's bright and I'm not sensitive to it. I plan to havr mibe measure at the mext meet by audioprecision

 

Too early to call, but Tylls unit which was around SN 100 was less bright. It could be an outlier or it could be that somewhere along the production they got brighter, just not sure if/when the switch happened. Mine is SN 3xx, so early but unclear again if there was a switch and when it occurred. More data points are needed! Might mail mine to Gilberto while I'm away on a trip next week.