Focal Elear and Utopia

@crenca, thanks for sharing your impressions! Could you speak to the differences between the Asgard 3 and Bachelor when driving them?

 

The Asgard 3 is a bit (let's say 6.3%) more squared, and this is most noticeable in the low/sub bass and high treble. I think the Asgard 3 however might be a touch boasted at either end, so the Bachelor is firmly in the range of "neutral" on its own I think. The Bachelor is a little more distorted in the bass compared to Asgard 3. Is it the tubes (these Russian 6z1p, American equivalent being 5654W I think), or the output transformers? The Asgard curiously has more front to back stage, though both are about equal as far as width. The Bachelor however is a bit more forward in the vocal/mids (or maybe just slightly rolled off on either end - result being the same), and I like this alot with the Verite Closed, but its a wash with the Utopia for me. Bachelor has a slightly grey background compared to the Asgard 3 blackground. Soooo, for me with the Utopia the Asgard 3 wins on stage, extension, and transient response on either end, keeping in mind this is critical listening and more causally I am happy with either.

 

@crenca going to fall in love with the Utopia when he gets his Starlett me thinks.

 

I also agree that the Focal Utopia experience will vary a lot depending on your chain.

While the sound is personally not for me (too much piercing treble on any amp with and DAC I've tried), I will say that technically speaking, it really is a superb headphone. EQ helped a bit, but I feel like EQ also killed off some of the "superb level" performance of the headphone - just not as badly as you see on HD800/s.

 

Thread is worth a bump.
Focal recently started including a balanced cable with the Utopias as part of the purchase pack. Great thinks I; obviously they will do a deal for people that already own Utopias. I tried to contact them on their web page??? - don't. After a fruitless 30 minutes I will never get back I gave up (really, the most useless and frustrating web page I have ever experienced) and found them on Facebook. I politely enquired how one goes about purchasing the cables they are now giving away and received an indignant response telling me to find a dealer. (Could they not at least directed me to one in Sydney?). So I call the guy who I have bought stuff from before. He contacts them and they reply to him after 3 days and he calls me and asks if I'm sitting down - they sell for $900.00AUSD and don't give a shit (sorry - merde) if you are a loyal customer or not. (He was not gouging me).
I know there has been love lost for the Utopias on here, but I still love mine as a great all-rounder Headphone, but I will never buy any of their product again.

 

Agreed mate. I ended up getting some nice silver / copper numbers from LQI Cables over there. Nice cables, reasonable prices and prompt shipping. Braided too, with options.
Edit. I actually never minded the SE stock Focal cable, but these LQI’s are far better. In the past I have bought them balanced for my LCD-3’s and 600 and 650’s - good cables IMHO.

 

Yeah, Focal shifts all the work to their dealers. Blessing and a curse for dealers also.

Their pricing is also... little wack for such things as pads and cables from them. Funny enough, I was talking to Kimber Kables and they were saying how they love how bad the old stock Utopia cable was since so many people would end up getting their Axios cables.

 

Can confirm their service is highly dependant upon your dealer. I got mine secondhand (they're the old loaner pair), and after a few days of run-around Focal told me less than politely to buy a new pair when my headband snapped (I even offered to pay for repairs/replacements - they just straight up told me 'cant be done bye'). So extra heads up about that if you're thinking of getting any stuff second hand.

Love the sound, the company is just ridiculous to deal with it seems.

 

Although my Elexes were purchased used, they obviously had little use. In 8 months, both cables have failed. Thankfully, cables for my Sundaras work balanced and se so I can still use them. I have no interest in a new focal cable at any price and I am very tempted to move them on for fear of anything going wrong, though I do really like how they sound. Never thought I would have a pair of cans that would make me think a pair of HiFiMans was the reliable option.

 

I am looking at a pair of Utopia from a dealer that were used as a demo pair.

How bad is that original cable? Haha. I still need to see if they’ll consider my offer as they were asking essentially retail for a demo pair.

 

Call around, particularly to the sponsors of SBAF here. For a used/demo/"open box" no more than $2500 IMO and experience...

 

The OG cables were pretty stiff and liked to hold the shape they were stored into. With that said, customs aren't too hard to craft. Connectors are pretty pedestrian, compared to the likes of HD800.

 

If someone needs a VERY affordable stopgap cable for Utopia:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mMlV6OR

It's less bulky than stock cable, not microphonic, nothing weird with the sound and connectors fit like a glove. When those were on sale I paid 31€ for 1.5m cable.

 

It’s not horrible, but it’s quite long and a bit stiff (story of my life). If you can solder, it easy to make shorter.

 

Thanks. The dealer wouldn’t budge on their price. Would have been nice. They are two blocks away.

$4,000 CAD is steep for a demo when they retail for $5,000 CAD

 

My experience has been that 15-20% off of msrp for a demo/open box with no visible or audible problems and full mfr wxty is pretty much standard.

 

Little dealer tip then, Focal told all dealers back in January that Utopia was out of stock until April. It was great for us until they all sold out which was pretty fast. Now is not a great time to cop a Utopia from a dealer, we are completely out until April. After April when they are in stock again, ask around especially if you are looking to cop a demo unit.

 

Thank you for the advise.

It is appreciated.