[TSAVJason]

Given the demand for these and that the poster says that the seller had at least 2 for sale, some possible things could have occured:

• Bad business sense at the expense of the seller since he could easily sell for twice that price used given the supply and demand of these phones.
• Black market, but then it would also be coupled with bad business sense (regarding point above) and makes the deal look unreal and brings suspicions onto selller
• Maybe they are actually Elears, perhaps disguised as Utopias, then the seller will be making $850 profit on each, aha
  • Some carbon fiber stickers on the band
  • painted and or replaced side covers, kinda like hubcaps, replaceable right?
  • fake leather box.
  • etc.
• Maybe just  bad sense since the seller had at least 2 of these used Utopias they had to get rid of right?  
• This couldn't possibly be a troll or a joke right?

The guy posting that ad on audiogon was baned from head fi. The very day his ads hit, attempts were made to buy it. Not one attempt was successful. So look at the obvious, he is not an authorized dealer, he can't deliver the product but he can take your money. Isn't it also strange the guy is Ukrainian living in Thailand claiming the headphones come from a Florida store but they ship from upstate New York from a dealer that is also not authorized dealer. As for the guy that posted this bitchen deal he got, he says he bought them, not that he ordered them. He placed the $ at the end of the number 1850. After he gets caught in this by other head-fires, suddenly he reallizes its double price? I think we have a known thief and a guy that almost got ripped off that was protected by other head fires and ....if he did give his credit card info, he may still be ripped off by this seller of bogus product.

 

[HeadHigh]

Nice story my friend . back to Focal Elear and Utopia Review thread .
I would like to read more impression if someone have both and stax 007 ?

 

[BrutalLegend]

I wanna hear stax 009 VS Elear too be honest

 

[Soundizer]

How would the Elear compare to Hifiman Edition X version 2, anyone?

In the UK the Elear is £800 vs £1200 for Hifiman Edition X version 2. However is there anything the Edition X does better, I wonder.

 

[CalvinW]

How would the Elear compare to Hifiman Edition X version 2, anyone?

In the UK the Elear is £800 vs £1200 for Hifiman Edition X version 2. However is there anything the Edition X does better, I wonder.

I don't think the V2 is available yet...

 

[CalvinW]

I wanna hear stax 009 VS Elear too be honest

I think a fairer comparison would be between the Utopia and 009.
You are better off comparing the L700 with the elear.

 

[jamato8]

The Utopia continue to sound excellent and are never tiresome to listen to music with. I now also have the HE1000 V2, and I must say, the 1000 V2, have some qualities that raise it above the 1000 V1 putting it more in contention with TOTL. 

 

[STR-1]

The Utopia continue to sound excellent and are never tiresome to listen to music with. I now also have the HE1000 V2, and I must say, the 1000 V2, have some qualities that raise it above the 1000 V1 putting it more in contention with TOTL. 

I look forward to your impressions of the HE1000 V2 on that thread. Will hopefully have chance to demo the Utopia in another week or two.

 

[bidn]

Hi there.
 
after two months of failed endeavors to order a Utopia in Europe,
(each time I would find out about a store which had received them, bad news would follow: immediately sold out...
this time I managed to react fast enough to a vendor's email saying they had received some and could order the last one)
I finally succeeded!!!
I received them today, 
Even without burning-in, their sound (driven by a Ifi iCAn Pro) surpasses by far not only every TOTL headphone I have, but also my set of Dali Rubicon 5 speakers!!! I am starting to regret having bought the later last spring, I wish I had tried and bought a set of Focal Sopra!
In particular I could not have expected the Utopia's bass to be so good and blow up the bass of my LCD-X!
 
Back to the Utopia, it makes me even appreciate the things I normally don't care about and would not have thought I would write about:
- the packaging: I could not realize on internet pictures, but the built quality and design of the box is stunning, never seen anything like this before
- the look and build quality of the headphones: again stunning.
 
I will come back later when I have more time.
 
 
Let me just send a big "thank you so much":
 
- to all those expert head-fiers who shared about the fantastic experience of listening to the Utopia and strongly recommended them - it was really worth it for me to join this forum
 
- and to FOCAL for their talented R&D engineers and for making these revolutionary dynamic headphones.

 

[TimeLord]

bidn I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying them and that the Head-Fi community has been helpful. I look forward to more of your impressions.

 

[EVOLVIST]

Man, I simply cannot find a place to audition the Focal Utopia. Wow! I'm a strong buyer, but I never but blind.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I've already tried Todd Green.

It's getting frustrating because I'm starting to believe that the bottleneck in my system with the Chord DAVE is my stock HD800s.

 

[Fastnbulbous]

For a product that pricey, I'd imagine some resellers offer a 30 day return policy? Or find a Head-Fi get together, I'm sure plenty of people would love to try out your $13K amp, and maybe someone would have a Utopia to bring in. 

 

[Ashrunner]

Any idea when folks are getting additional stock?  Still late October?

 

[Rchandra]

Can someone please compare the Phillips fidelio x2 to the focal elear?

 

[BrutalLegend]

The Elear is a complete upgrade compared to the fidelio X2. Better soundstage, better imaging, better resolution, musical presentation and dynamic unlike the X2.