[grizzlybeast]

he said better details despite it having a smoother treble. 

 

[Stillhart]

   
True but all those costs are recouped via retail sales obviously. I still think if we could see the costs and ratios it would be an interesting and useful data point. How much is material cost? For example they said in the video that beryllium costs 40 times the cost of gold. If you found out the material cost was $100 and they were selling it for $4000 and the excuse was to cover R&D would you look at the same way as if it was $2000 BOM and the other $2000 was from R&D?

 
Everything you buy has a huge markup from the BOM.  What do you think the BOM cost is of a $100 Nike sneaker?  or a $40k BMW?  or a $60 video game?  There's a lot that goes into the cost of a product and yes, that includes profit.  If you think the amount of profit they're trying to make is too much, that's perfectly fair.  But I'm not sure how you could begin to judge that just from the material costs...
 

  So the HD 800 S with a bass boost is basically the $4000 Utopia? 
 
I'm not sure if the details that Jude is hearing is a result of a different frequency response, because some other people are claiming that the original HD 800 has better details and soundstage than the HD 800 S. (I'm not hearing that. So I'm to believe that these perceived differences between the HD 800 and HD 800 S are the result of more treble energy. And thus this could be true with the $4000 Utopia vs the HD 800 S)

 
No, not really.  The Utopia is pretty flat across the board so I wouldn't call it an HD800 S with bass boost.  It's also more clear and transparent feeling than the HD800, which I thought was pretty clear and transparent until I heard it right after the Utopia.

 

[ubs28]

  he said better details despite it having a smoother treble. 

 
That's not what he said. Jude said that the $4000 Utopia has more sub bass and he can look better into the music in comparison to the HD 800 S.
 
When I look at his measurements of the $4000 Utopia, it is likely that the $4000 Utopia has more treble which could be part of the reason of what he heard.
 
Only against the original HD 800 Jude said that the Utopia doesn't have that "bite". 

 

[ubs28]

   
Everything you buy has a huge markup from the BOM.  What do you think the BOM cost is of a $100 Nike sneaker?  or a $40k BMW?  or a $60 video game?  There's a lot that goes into the cost of a product and yes, that includes profit.  If you think the amount of profit they're trying to make is too much, that's perfectly fair.  But I'm not sure how you could begin to judge that just from the material costs...
 
 
No, not really.  The Utopia is pretty flat across the board so I wouldn't call it an HD800 S with bass boost.  It's also more clear and transparent feeling than the HD800, which I thought was pretty clear and transparent until I heard it right after the Utopia.

 
Good to hear. I'll try them out if I get the chance. 

 

[x RELIC x]

I for one will patiently wait for actual impressions and weed through the inevitable (although tiring) discussion about pricing until then. Looking forward to more impressions after the 18th!

 

[Sound Eq]

nice I am interested in elear

 

[echineko]

Is there any Focal rep on headfi/this thread? Would like to ask about demo-ing these in Asia.

 

[ThomasHK]

@jude Did you apply some form of compensation curve to your measurements? That's not a standard 711 (IEC 60318-4) of and HD800... 

 

[draytonklammer]

Hoping I can pit these up against my LCD-4.

 

[nehcrow]

   
Material cost, of course, is just one component of cost.  R&D?  They've been developing this thing for years and there is cost associated with that...

Definitely not justifying it's $4k price. Beryllium is found in cheaper Xiaomi models, so any claims of 'rare metal' used in drivers is twisting the truth. Obviously it's rarer + pricier than common materials used but in this day and age, it's not difficult to acquire
R&D is a cost every audio company faces - Sennheiser never felt the need to charge above $1.7k for their headphones, their research and development was light years above the rest of the field (probably still is). 
Not going to judge before I heard but the price tag is basically nauseating, it has to a least destroy the LCD-4 or be competitive with the Abyss for people to even consider this headphone. Good luck... I'll be heading to a local audio shop to demo once it hits Australia

 

[mtoc]

some guy is just not himself.... actually the SR009 is 1.3lb with cable.

 

[emptymt]

I myself don't want to fuss too much about pricing, since the goal of a business to get as much profit as possible, it is justifiable from "their view" to price it at that price and I can't really think negatively of them since I might also do the same thing if I'm the business owner.
 
Don't think too much about the Item that is too hard of reach, only consider the possible options right now.
There are of course more important things in life that requires more attention and resource(money) than a pair of headphones, if spending 4K is a bit of a stretch then we shouldn't do it and move on.
 
I already know that 4K is too expensive for a headphone for me and is out totally of my reach atm, so I just put my interest in The Elear and forget about The Utopia.
 
I do want to try and hear both The Utopia and The Elear though. but I don't think I will buy The Utopia in the near future.
 
hopefully there will be a loaner tour or something like that in Australia.
 
btw, how is the mids on The Elear compared to The Ether?

 

[james6333]

I agree but mostly because dynamic drivers tend to have that forceful snap and attack that planars don't usually have. For this reason I actually prefer dynamic drivers to planar. Im actually tired of planars and need a break. I personally find dynamic drivers more engaging overall.  

I 100% agree.

 

[yates7592]

"Easily the best dynamic headphone ever made" - strong stuff, I wonder if it's true?
Link to previously noted Audio-Head review
http://audio-head.com/focal-utopia-headphone-review/

 

[remilio]

Not going to judge before I heard but the price tag is basically nauseating, it has to a least destroy the LCD-4 or be competitive with the Abyss for people to even consider this headphone. Good luck... I'll be heading to a local audio shop to demo once it hits Australia

Pretty strange logic IMO. LCD-4 at 4k is pretty meh in terms of sound/price ratio, it seems. But it still being sold pretty good. Abyss requires a MONSTER amp to actually sound like a 5k$ headphone.
 
Utopias are 32ohm and have good sensibility to sound great out of lesser sources. And it's lighter, more comfortable and looks more luxurious (IMO) than both LCD-4 and Abyss. So if the sound is really top notch (and by that I mean - it's really step up from HD800), it will sell like hot cakes.