[bidn]

 
 
I'm not so sure about the price, however. $4K probably means it will cost ~3400 EUR in Europe, considering VAT tax. 

 
Hi,
 
I have found a website that sells the Utopia in Europe,
I should rather was selling because their Utopia were (apparently immediately) sold out, 
(and I was checking this European  site from time to times, where I ordered my ifI iCAN Pro last spring)
and they were sold out at least one month ahead of shipment time
(the page indicates that may start shipping at the end of September).
They were selling it for €3.999,00, which corroborates the price tag on the June anouncement I found of the French forum a few days ago (and posted in this present thread).
 
I did not get a glimpse of chance to order one.
 
At least there is a positive thing about this rush on the Utopia:
it shows that it is not overpriced, and that Focal actually could be asking much more money for it !!  

 
here is the link to the page:
https://www.earsunlimited.com/product/focal-utopia/

 

[TSAVJason]

Unfortunately I can't say because I don't have the best frame of reference. I listened via my QP1R when I was at the Chicago meet a couple of weeks back and I heard it through the WA8 when I visited the Head-Fi offices near the end of July. On Jude's setup I was listening to his music and most of what I heard were unfamiliar tracks. I'd have to defer that question to anyone else here who can chime in.

We demo that combination often to show how efficient the Elear and Utopia really are. The QP1R does surprisingly well on both the Focal Elear and Utopia.

 

[jamato8]

The problem is if they did supply a balanced cable there would still be people who would be not satisfied with rhe quality of it and would complain that they have been charged for a cable they don't need. A single ended cable can be used by anyone, balanced is for minority use.

I think it's the right decision for Focal to leave the choice to the users who think cables make a big difference.

 
A good cable does not have to be expensive. They could have provided a better stock cable that was lighter, not rubber coated and even offered two different lengths at this price and they would have still made a very decent profit. Excellent cables do cost a lot but a good stock cable would satisfy and would also be much better for the presentation. I use the Whiplash modular system, that uses the Kobiconn connector and have compared it to a straight cable of the same material and the Kobiconn does not diminish the sound quality. I notice that Jason mentioned they found that connectors degraded the sound some but that depends upon the connector. Some of these things use a bunch of brass or bronze or other materials, like most all 1/4 plugs and I can see why and have heard, the slight degradation. You spend big bucks on fine cable just to send it through a big chunk of metal, that sometimes even has a center steel pin for strength so what else could be expected. 
 
Then look at RCA's. The same thing, which is why for my systems that I built, I designed my own proprietary  connectors. Hard wiring is fine but I wanted more versatility and the ability to test cables and so it goes back to cables for headphones that are modular. Think about the connector and materials and it can be done and Focal could have done it. 
 
I have a new cable coming today and look forward to the outcome. 

 

[deutschemark]

Working towards my DAVE and had a chance to finally try out Utopia.


I'm in awe right now...

Did a side by side test with my HEK and Elear and the results is not even close. Granted the listening environment is not perfect but the difference is obvious to my ears.

Looks like its bye bye to my LCD-2F, Eléar & HEK now...will just have my HD800 S and Utopia to keep me smiling. That's my end-game sorted (for now)

I noticed you're keeping the 800s. Can you provide some impressions of this vs. the Elear? I'm giving up my Mrspeakers Ether because I favor the Elear over it. I'm wondering about the 800 or 800s.

 

[pkcpga]

I can't remember the last time I was this excited about a new headphone release!  I am thinking about jumping on board with the Utopia, but really wanted to get some opinions on the DACs everyone is using with them.  I'm hearing it pairs great with DAVE, but what about everything else?  At the moment I own a HUGO and enjoy it immensely, but I have been considering the Schiit Yggdrasil as a desktop solution these past few months.  Anyone heard the Utopia with either of these?

I haven't heard the elear yet, since it was sold out locally but the utopia sounded surprising great through my mojo definitely much better with my Dave but still very enjoyable with the mojo so I'm sure the Hugo will be very nice. I've heard the Yggdrasil with my hd800's and found the Yggdrasil to be more hype than a great DAC. First of all people claim it sounded poorly because the Yggdrasil should be kept on permanently and needs to warm up for hours to a day before it sounds the way it should. I had it for a two day demo and was not impressed even with it on for a couple hours at a time, can be harsh, poor timing and not nearly the amount of separation in classical music. But I know people that swear by it, just not nearly as refined as chord products for me.

 

[snk8699]

I really appreciate the feedback because I know how important it is to have synergy between the headphone, DAC, and amp.  Does anyone feel that upgrading to the Chord Hugo TT is worthwhile from the Hugo or should I just look to buying the Utopia first?  I feel like my money would be best spent on the Utopia as it would be the largest overall upgrade, but definitely want a desktop DAC in the future to complete my system and I want it to sound fantastic with the Utopia.

 

[snk8699]

I haven't heard the elear yet, since it was sold out locally but the utopia sounded surprising great through my mojo definitely much better with my Dave but still very enjoyable with the mojo so I'm sure the Hugo will be very nice. I've heard the Yggdrasil with my hd800's and found the Yggdrasil to be more hype than a great DAC. First of all people claim it sounded poorly because the Yggdrasil should be kept on permanently and needs to warm up for hours to a day before it sounds the way it should. I had it for a two day demo and was not impressed even with it on for a couple hours at a time, can be harsh, poor timing and not nearly the amount of separation in classical music. But I know people that swear by it, just not nearly as refined as chord products for me.

 
I really appreciate the feedback because I know how important it is to have synergy between the headphone, DAC, and amp.  Does anyone feel that upgrading to the Chord Hugo TT is worthwhile from the Hugo or should I just look to buying the Utopia first?  I feel like my money would be best spent on the Utopia as it would be the largest overall upgrade, but definitely want a desktop DAC in the future to complete my system and I want it to sound fantastic with the Utopia.

 

[pkcpga]

I really appreciate the feedback because I know how important it is to have synergy between the headphone, DAC, and amp.  Does anyone feel that upgrading to the Chord Hugo TT is worthwhile from the Hugo or should I just look to buying the Utopia first?  I feel like my money would be best spent on the Utopia as it would be the largest overall upgrade, but definitely want a desktop DAC in the future to complete my system and I want it to sound fantastic with the Utopia.

I'd buy the utopia and enjoy with the Hugo, later when you can afford to upgrade the DAC and if you feel you still need to. Maybe by than you can find a Dave used for a reasonable price. Good luck.

 

[money4me247]

  I really appreciate the feedback because I know how important it is to have synergy between the headphone, DAC, and amp.  Does anyone feel that upgrading to the Chord Hugo TT is worthwhile from the Hugo or should I just look to buying the Utopia first?  I feel like my money would be best spent on the Utopia as it would be the largest overall upgrade, but definitely want a desktop DAC in the future to complete my system and I want it to sound fantastic with the Utopia.

Get headphones first always if juggling options in my opinion. They are the component that makes the most impact on your music. After auditioning the headphones with different components, you can gain a better sense of what kinds of differences you will get with changing out dac or amps. Can be pretty headphone dependant what dac/amp you end up wanting.

 

[jamato8]

   
I really appreciate the feedback because I know how important it is to have synergy between the headphone, DAC, and amp.  Does anyone feel that upgrading to the Chord Hugo TT is worthwhile from the Hugo or should I just look to buying the Utopia first?  I feel like my money would be best spent on the Utopia as it would be the largest overall upgrade, but definitely want a desktop DAC in the future to complete my system and I want it to sound fantastic with the Utopia.

I have corresponded with a person who has the TT the Hugo and the Mojo. They feel the Hugo, as do I, is better than the Mojo but he also feels the TT isn't enough of a jump to warrant the cost from the Hugo to the TT. I trust what he hears. 

 

[Arcamera]

For those that are familiar with both headphones, would it be inaccurate to say that the Utopia is optimal for classical/acoustic recordings, and the Elear for Rock/Pop/more 'produced' recordings? I say that given the reports of the highly transparent/ruthlessly revealing nature of the Utopia, and the more forgiving tone of the Elear-- and given the generalization that classical recordings for instance can be of higher quality than your average more compressed and bright pop recording. I'd love to see a 'shoot-out' between the Utopia and other highly regarded contenders for best classical music headphones, such as the Stax 009 and top Senns. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.
 
That said, I need to come back to reality: given my financial constraints at the moment, a $4,000+ headphone is kind of crazy. ("Welcome to Head-Fi, and sorry...you all know the rest). Think I'll be sticking to my HD800 and T1 for classical for the moment. But I would like a compliment headphone for everything else: The Elear sounds good, and do-able.

 

[x RELIC x]

For those that are familiar with both headphones, would it be inaccurate to say that the Utopia is optimal for classical/acoustic recordings, and the Elear for Rock/Pop/more 'produced' recordings? I say that given the reports of the highly transparent/ruthlessly revealing nature of the Utopia, and the more forgiving tone of the Elear-- and given the generalization that classical recordings for instance can be of higher quality than your average more compressed and bright pop recording. I'd love to see a 'shoot-out' between the Utopia and other highly regarded contenders for best classical music headphones, such as the Stax 009 and top Senns. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.

That said, I need to come back to reality: given my financial constraints at the moment, a $4,000+ headphone is kind of crazy. ("Welcome to Head-Fi, and sorry...you all know the rest). Think I'll be sticking to my HD800 and T1 for classical for the moment. But I would like a compliment headphone for everything else: The Elear sounds good, and do-able.

I just want to chime in so others don't get the wrong impression reading the above. The Utopia is not ruthless and analytical like a face tweeter would be. It's just technically VERY revealing, but the overall sound is far from ruthless, with regard to frequency response.

 

[x RELIC x]

I have corresponded with a person who has the TT the Hugo and the Mojo. They feel the Hugo, as do I, is better than the Mojo but he also feels the TT isn't enough of a jump to warrant the cost from the Hugo to the TT. I trust what he hears. 

From all the correspondence I've had, the Mojo is the closest in tonality to the DAVE, and I confirm they are close in tonality (of course DAVE's technicalities are much better). The Hugo is somewhat brighter than the rest of the Chord line-up. Some prefer that.

 

[TSAVJason]

From all the correspondence I've had, the Mojo is the closest in tonality to the DAVE, and I confirm they are close in tonality (of course DAVE's technicalities are much better). The Hugo is somewhat brighter than the rest of the Chord line-up. Some prefer that.

We have the TT on display and on the Utopia it is way brighter than the Mojo or Dave. The Hugo itself seems a little more calm which I find different because Chord says they should sound almost exactly the same.

 

[deutschemark]

looks like the Elear is on the same league as the ETHER and can work as a side grade, but with cheaper price?

hmm, I'm interested to hear more impression about the Elear if that is the case

I have the Elear and the Ether 1.1. It took me a few days to get used to the Elear. I find the tonal signature to be very well balanced. The big difference is an impact in Dynamics. The Elear beats the Ether there. The 2nd most noticeable differences in the treble region. The Elear seems to resolve in a way more natural manner. The Ether treble is splashy in comparison.

Overall, the only place where the equal is in comfort and sound stage. Otherwise, the Elear is Superior in most every way.

To fine tune to my taste I actually ended up with settings that were very close to each other for both Headphones on my parametric equalizer. A slight rise in the bass and a 1.5 db rise 2 to 4kz.

I had a hard time going back to my Ether after spending time with the Elear. The sound was rather hazy and diffuse.