[Jawed]

Careful not to confuse imaging and soundstage. While soundstage can be perceived as small, imaging can't; it is the placement of the sounds in the confines of the soundstage.

You're right that scale and image precision are two different things.

But there's still a question mark over why the soundstage is "small" with Utopia.

Binaural can do scale and out of the head extremely well. Inferior headphones (just comparing amongst the headphones I have) present "smaller scale" binaural: the image shrinks and everything moves closer to the listener.

So that's why I'm wondering specifically whether Utopia is relatively good or bad with binaural. My theory is that binaural is a more appropriate type of material to determine scale and precision of imaging.

As far as I can tell headphones with good dynamics should be better at binaural. So then the question is whether the huge, reflective, surface area of Utopia's driver is causing a problem.

 

[jamato8]

Plrss
please! No one has owned any long enough.

How long have you had a pair in your store, the Utopia? How many hours do you have on a pair there? Anything over 100 hours? 
 
The reason I ask is because if they sound good with 50 or so hours, I can only imagine how much better they will sound after more time is put on them. 

 

[BleaK]

The Elear def looks my kind of headphone. Looking forward to hear it.

 

[deafdoorknob]

Ahh....but how do th900 compare in bass quality and quantity??

th900 wins in quantity and scale but it's rather more coloured than either the Audezes or Elear, plus they are (semi) closed cans whereas the others are open.

 

[Beagle]

Also has Canadian pricing been announced for Elear/Utopia?

 
http://www.hifiheadphones.ca/focal-elear/

 

[Audio Addict]

  yeah because unfortunately no one is really sharing from the Seattle meet. But I am sure some impressions will pop up here or there. Chicago is a big city though. I have always wanted to visit one of the UniFi's. I will someday for sure. 

 
Big City but unfortunately its Head-Fi population is very small by comparison.  Hopefully with the Utopia and Elear at the meet the turnout will be great.  Both  new Ether Flows will be at the meet as well so it is one heck of an opportunity.

 

[grizzlybeast]

 
yeah because unfortunately no one is really sharing from the Seattle meet. But I am sure some impressions will pop up here or there. Chicago is a big city though. I have always wanted to visit one of the UniFi's. I will someday for sure. 

Big City but unfortunately its Head-Fi population is very small by comparison.  Hopefully with the Utopia and Elear at the meet the turnout will be great.  Both  new Ether Flows will be at the meet as well so it is one heck of an opportunity.

Will you please compare the Elears to the Flow?

Id very much appreciate a comparison.

 

[ubs28]

Reading the reviews again. I get the impression of the following.
- the Utopia has a small soundstage
- The Utopia has some serious roll off going on since even the HE-1000 is brighter (these headphones sounded veiled according to my ears) according to Tyll his observations.
 
Quite interesting for a $4000 headphone. 

 

[ufospls2]

   
http://www.hifiheadphones.ca/focal-elear/

Highly recommend you do not purchase from this dealer, I had a bad experience with them. Also www.headphonebar.com is the Canadian launch point as far as I know, and they don't even have them on the website yet, as they haven't come in yet, as far as I know. Hifiheadphones.com shouldn't have them up already when headphone bar doesn't even have them in. 

 

[TSAVJason]

Big City but unfortunately its Head-Fi population is very small by comparison.  Hopefully with the Utopia and Elear at the meet the turnout will be great.  Both  new Ether Flows will be at the meet as well so it is one heck of an opportunity.

Hey! You have Ampsandsound at your meet too. Dan Clark and I happen to think the Kenzie is a pretty sweet amp. Wait until you hear it with the Elear & Utopia.

 

[TSAVJason]

Focal already has a third headphone that was released on the same day as these two:  the Listen.  It's not getting near the same amount of hype because it's "only" $250, but it's actually quite good for the price as well.  For someone looking for a closed, portable (foldable, light, rugged), easy to drive headphone with great SQ for around $250, I think it's a clear winner.  I'd recommend it over the Meze 99 any day of the week.


Hey, I was saying this two months ago, but it doesn't make a difference.  Hearing is believing as you know.  Otherwise, people are still waiting for consensus.  I've been asking people who heard the Focals at Source events to pop in and drop some impressions.  Like you, I found that everyone liked them but most people aren't posting about it.  It'll take time.  

And yeah, Chicago and London next weekend should help...


Yes, they're recessed, but the barrel size is so wide that you probably won't need extended plugs.  Here's a pic from my review:






It's funny you mention this.  Last weekend at the Source event I spent a lot more time with the Utopia (driven from LAu and AK500N) and I specifically went through my electronic collection to see how it would do.  I was surprised that it was actually quite good for electronic.  While the bass isn't as big as the Elear's, it's still quite adequate and it's very high quality.  

One track was impressing me a lot and I made a few people listen to it to check out how good the bass was on the Utopia.  It was this track here.  The bass is nicely layered and it extends decently low.  The Utopia was reproducing it all with aplomb.

Remember, Grizzlybeast loved the bass on the Utopia and he's a bona fide bass-head.

Dan, focal has more than just the Listen, Elear & Utopia. In fact 3 cans and 1 in ear more. With that said, I am absolutely sure there are intermediate prices between the upper price points coming only don't expect them this or next year. 2018 is a very good possibility.

 

[Audio Addict]

Hey! You have Ampsandsound at your meet too. Dan Clark and I happen to think the Kenzie is a pretty sweet amp. Wait until you hear it one the Elear & Utopia.

 
It is supposed to come in on Friday afternoon.  Nothing like cutting it close.  I arranged to pick it up at the local FedEx Office rather than risk someone not being home to sign for it.  It also has some rare Rogers 1626 tubes as well as a JAN 12SL7GT.

 

[Audio Addict]

   
It is supposed to come in on Friday afternoon.  Nothing like cutting it close.  I arranged to pick it up at the local FedEx Office rather than risk someone not being home to sign for it.  It also has some rare Rogers 1626 tubes as well as a JAN 12SL7GT.

 
Also @Hansotek just made a big announcement of something very special he arranged for the meet:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/815329/chicago-area-headphone-meet-august-13th-2016-chiunifi/120#post_12779921
 

 

[TSAVJason]

Awesome!

 

[painted klown]

   
No, the HE-1 Orpheus would still get the clear nod. As I said in the CanJam London video, I feel the Utopia's overall performance is matched only by a few top-performing planar magnetic headphones, and exceeded only by the very best electrostatic headphones in the world. The new Orpheus is, in my opinion, perhaps without peer right now (and I still haven't had a chance to try the HE-1 Orpheus with the Chord DAVE yet).
 
My Stax SR-009 and Stax SR-007 Mk1 with the Frank Cooter Custom 845 Electrostatic Amp are still, in my opinion, the better sounding, more resolving headphones (versus either the Utopia or Elear). Of course, at that point, we are talking about an electrostatic system that would be priced significantly higher than even the Utopia, and it's also a system that was shipped on a pallet, because it's so large--so you can't really use it anywhere other than where it is (at my office).
 
Especially with the SR-007 Mk1 (which I've been using more and more lately), the bass is more present than with the Utopia, and the treble smoother and more refined, and, overall, more resolving. Both the SR-009 and SR-007 Mk1 play with beautiful body and drive through the Cooter--more than any other amp I've yet heard with them.

Thank you for the clarification and additional info Jude! It's nice to see everything being compared at the highest levels.