Focal Elear and Utopia Review / Preview With Measurements - Head-Fi TV
Aug 11, 2016 at 2:50 AM Post #1,801 of 5,632
My car cost a lot more but I only got one set of tires. I waited and replaced them with better ones once they got some time on them. The cost of a cable is about the same in relation to the cost of tires to the cost of my car. There is a margin that companies choose to make and that is the price of doing business with them. 

On Be, there are a few companies using it in their drivers. Europe has some pretty tough standards and I would imagine that Focal, in order to sell their headphones there and abroad, would have had to address any safety measures regarding toxicity etc. They were the 1st to adopt the non lead standard for solder. 


But if I buy a high end sportcars like a LaFerrari, they come standard with ultra high performance sports tyres so I don't need to replace my tyres when I take it to the race track.
 
Aug 11, 2016 at 2:53 AM Post #1,802 of 5,632
But if I buy a high end sportcars like a LaFerrari, they come standard with ultra high performance sports tyres so I don't need to buy a new set of tyres when I take it to the race track.


Different tires for different purposes. And some of the tires can cost 20 to 30 thousand for the set. 
 
It is what it is. Looking forward to reading more about the Utopia. 
 
Aug 11, 2016 at 2:55 AM Post #1,803 of 5,632
Probably not..

https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/raw-materials/specific-interest/critical_en
My car cost a lot more but I only got one set of tires. I waited and replaced them with better ones once they got some time on them. The cost of a cable is about the same in relation to the cost of tires to the cost of my car. There is a margin that companies choose to make and that is the price of doing business with them. 

On Be, there are a few companies using it in their drivers. Europe has some pretty tough standards and I would imagine that Focal, in order to sell their headphones there and abroad, would have had to address any safety measures regarding toxicity etc. They were the 1st to adopt the non lead standard for solder. 
 
Aug 11, 2016 at 3:01 AM Post #1,804 of 5,632
Different tires for different purposes. And some of the tires can cost 20 to 30 thousand for the set. 

It is what it is. Looking forward to reading more about the Utopia. 


Probably. I doubt Focal will change their mind about this.

My impression will unfortunetly be end of september assuming there will be no further delays.
 
Aug 11, 2016 at 5:18 AM Post #1,806 of 5,632
Haha....seems like all you need in order to get Utopia for cheap is the Elear with Utopia pads.
 
Aug 11, 2016 at 5:42 AM Post #1,807 of 5,632
They said the same thing with Final Audio Sonorous heaephones from 6 to 8 which was $1,5000.00 difference, just change the pads... was hardly the case when I a/b 6 with 8's pads and the actual sonorous 8.
 
Aug 11, 2016 at 6:43 AM Post #1,808 of 5,632

  Haha....seems like all you need in order to get Utopia for cheap is the Elear with Utopia pads.

 
No, that's definitely not the case.
 
I posted about this earlier at the following link:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/811270/focal-elear-and-utopia-launch-with-impressions-head-fi-tv/1725#post_12781705
 
Aug 11, 2016 at 9:54 AM Post #1,809 of 5,632
No one has discouraged anyone from anything in fact I offered the fastest possible access.The Be industry in the USA is a very tightly controlled environment and for workers in the manufacturing of Be there are serious controls for their safety. As to your golf club and F1 vehicles, those parts were often machined, causing dust. The Be dust is dangerous but in solid sheet form it is totally safe. But please by all means, do your diligence.


I don't want to beat this to death but the issue with the golf clubs was not the machining. Usage can cause fractures and spalling which discharges particles. Repairs, which required heating or bending of the material were also deemed hazardous.
 
 Given the choice between Be and anything else in a moving component, personally I'd choose anything else. Then again if you are willing to drop 4K on that phone, chances are the effects of Be ingestion may not be noticable
biggrin.gif
   Thats just personal opinion though.
 
Aug 11, 2016 at 10:00 AM Post #1,810 of 5,632
I don't want to beat this to death but the issue with the golf clubs was not the machining. Usage can cause fractures and spalling which discharges particles. Repairs, which required heating or bending of the material were also deemed hazardous.

 Given the choice between Be and anything else in a moving component, personally I'd choose anything else. Then again if you are willing to drop 4K on that phone, chances are the effects of Be ingestion may not be noticable:D    Thats just personal opinion though.
Damn! The horse just died!
 
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Aug 11, 2016 at 10:21 AM Post #1,811 of 5,632
I don't want to beat this to death but the issue with the golf clubs was not the machining. Usage can cause fractures and spalling which discharges particles. Repairs, which required heating or bending of the material were also deemed hazardous.

 Given the choice between Be and anything else in a moving component, personally I'd choose anything else. Then again if you are willing to drop 4K on that phone, chances are the effects of Be ingestion may not be noticable:D    Thats just personal opinion though.


I'm sorry your very wrong about the golf clubs, I played D1 golf and shortly on circuits. I played pings beryllium copper clubs for a short while when they sponsored my team. The clubs were made illegal a decade ago because they are forged iron that then needed to have groves milled into them. And they can no longer have the groves remilled. The clubs themselves were stronger than steel irons but felt softer to hit giving better feel and spin and more of an elastic effect for more distance. But when it can time to remill the clubs faces, for avid golfers and pros every year to two year if you want to keep the ability to have back spin, they realized the released dust when milling was very harmful. I have never heard of one of these clubs cracking only that they were more durable and not as rigid as titanium which has cracked in cold weather golf. Copper beryllium clubs ping will still bend to desired set up, no need for drastic heat since it's mixed with copper and bends at non extreme heat levels with no gases released since copper is safe to heat and reacts with the heat much sooner, but ping or callaway will not resurface or remill the clubs face. I presume with the headphones it's a similar set up the beryllium is wedged or mixed with a bendable metal like copper that will break much sooner leaving the beryllium intact and the broken headphone not harmful. Beryllium use and manufacturing is very well regulated by the epa.
 
Aug 11, 2016 at 10:38 AM Post #1,812 of 5,632
Then again if you are willing to drop 4K on that phone, chances are the effects of Be ingestion may not be noticable:D    Thats just personal opinion though.


This is a good point though about the kind of people who will buy these. Most of the people who buy Utopias will never use them. They will go on a stand next to the trophy hifi in the trophy listening room of the trophy house while the purchaser is out playing golf with his trophy clubs or taking his trophy wife out partying in his trophy car.

$4k is a seriously silly amount to spend on a pair of headphones. They may be worth it but few of them will fall into the hands of true audiophiles who will use them and cherish them every day. I would love a pair, but £3200??? I spent four months convincing myself to go and listen to the T1, even though at £800 I consider them crazy expensive for a headphone. I spent over 4 hours in the shop auditioning them to be sure it was really worth it. £3200??? No matter how much I desire them, I don't think that is ever going to happen.

BTW Focal has been making Be tweeters for over ten years now and hasn't poisoned anyone yet. I do actually know someone who got too close with a screwdriver which was promptly pulled straight through the Be dome. He's still alive and kicking - although £400 lighter of wallet I seem to recall.
 
Aug 11, 2016 at 10:46 AM Post #1,813 of 5,632
I also have the feeling that a SR009 at $4000 is a good investment while I am not sure for a $4000 dynamic headphone !  strange isn't it ? 
tongue.gif

 
Aug 11, 2016 at 10:50 AM Post #1,814 of 5,632
I presume with the headphones it's a similar set up the beryllium is wedged or mixed with a bendable metal like copper that will break much sooner leaving the beryllium intact and the broken headphone not harmful.


That's very presumptuous of you.

It's pure beryllium: http://www.focal.com/uk/content/18-beryllium-tweeter
 
Aug 11, 2016 at 10:57 AM Post #1,815 of 5,632
  I also have the feeling that a SR009 at $4000 is a good investment while I am not sure for a $4000 dynamic headphone !  strange isn't it ? 
tongue.gif

 
Add in the costs of an electrostatic amp and the value changes. If you already have one then it's less of a factor, but if you don't then your $4,000 headphone becomes more expensive.
 

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