The 2016 and 2020 are the same headphone, I'm pretty sure. The 2020 was just a revision with updated packaging and cables. That's the one I have.

Both Utopias in the top 3. Love to see it :beerchug:

I personally don't have any issues with my ears getting hot. The ear cushions are leather but they have perforations that help them breathe.

Right on! I was at the parade too :) Looking forward to the season starting back up and seeing if they'll run it back.

I'm with you here. I've had mine for almost a year now too. Doesn't feel like I've had them close to a year at this point! I ordered them Halloween weekend, also from a fellow Head-Fier. They still continue to impress, and have never felt the need to look for anything more.

I know, it was hard to get a good photo because the thing is so small, it either came out blurry or didn’t really display the problem well. I also always thought those vacs were more for customs, not so much for mesh grilles

Yeah, it is great that they have this service, and I’ve actually sent them in a couple of times in the past for accidentally broken mesh filters. Only bummer is that I have to go without these babies for about three to four weeks (do not mean for that to sound like 64 Audio takes a long time to...

Still loving my U12t after almost 3 years (wow!) Need some advice though. The mesh on the left IEM of my pair looks like it has a thin layer of wax covering it almost completely, and it looks like it’s kind of molded into the mesh rather than above it. So despite best efforts using a cleaning...

Ah ok thanks, good to know it’s normal. And also assume non-damaging to the headphones.

Wondering if anyone who owns the Topping E50 (or any Topping DAC) has experienced the same thing. I’ve looked it up online and I can’t find any mention of it so I wonder if I have an isolated case. I was flipping through the filter options while listening to music and could hear a faint...

If it comes down to choice I'd go with either of the Utopias. Both are near-perfect headphones. I've had my Utopia for 9 months now (hard to believe) and I'm still wowed by them whenever I put them on.

Do agree with what you're saying. Though, I have seen a lot of people pass on the Utopia and other highly priced headphones from manufacturers like Focal and Hifiman that have a questionable or dodgy track record of their products breaking down in favor of a cheaper HD600 solely based on the...

I think the problem people have is that a headphone of this price should be built, and expected to last forever. At least a lot longer than 7 years. People still have their Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic headphones from 20 years ago still working just fine.

As much as I love Focal's headphones and the Utopia, they're not exactly known for taking care of their customers. Doubt they'll do this, which sucks. Worth a shot I suppose but I wouldn't be hopeful. Too bad. So many great things going for their products but questionable longevity and...

I like this way of putting it. Bad recordings still sound noticeably bad on the Utopia, but the Utopia itself doesn't sound bad while they're played; they have a nice way of curbing the harshness of said recordings, but won't mask some of the nastier details like compression, distortion, etc.

Feel like Focal doesn't get much recognition for how lifelike they manage to make drums sound on their headphones. At least with the Clear and Utopia. Cymbals could sound a tad bit dry at times on the Clear, but drums sounded perfect. Well, close to perfect I guess, because the Utopia is even a...

Yeah, it doesn't seem like it's very common at all (others I've asked state they don't have the issue). But I've had other plastic products behave like this so it could just be plastic being plastic. I assumed that since I got the headphone second hand and it's out of warranty they wouldn't be...

Yeah probably a good call. Doesn't seem to be anything problematic like I said. Sometimes I do have to put my hand there when taking the headphone off of my head and I can hear the creaking but other than that it should be fine.

Agreed. It's just very natural. It doesn't go any further or sound any closer than I want it to. It's the imaging that really sells it for me. Everything is placed perfectly along the soundscape and sounds like things go around your head rather than a flat left-right plane. I always felt that...

I'm not pressing down on the driver or anywhere near it. I'm pressing on the black ear cup along the side, which I'm pretty sure is plastic not metal (maybe the 2022 version uses metal instead, and I know that the grille is a metal frame, but on the 2020 it's black glossy plastic). If you take a...

Hey everyone. I got a Utopia from the Classifieds on here at the end of last year and I absolutely adore them but ever since I got them I noticed something a little odd happening. I know it’s common for the headband to make creaking noises, but what’s really strange is that the plastic of the...

Huh that’s interesting. I haven’t heard either but I assumed the Susvara would be faster than the Utopia.

Thanks. I’ve figured it out, they are Torx

Dumb question; does anyone know what kind of screwdriver I would need to get for the screws that are in the Utopia, near where the ear pad teeth are? They look like small hexagon screws but I can’t really tell. I want to try to tighten the screws to see if that fixes my ear cup creaking issue.

Consider the U12t? That’s what I have and, while I’ve never heard the M9, I’ve read they’re both similar in tuning, with the U12t maybe not being as thick in the midbass, and more resolving. I use the U12t on the go and the Utopia at home, it’s a great duo. I wouldn’t say the U12t sounds much...