jamato8
Headphoneus Supremus
I am looking forward to more impressions of the Utopia. :^)
Great news for those up North. HeadphoneBar has the Elear in!! I almost grabbed a pair myself, but my interest lies in the Utopia. Go get 'em Canucks!
http://www.headphonebar.com/focal-elear/
Utopia page says they are in stock as well?
http://www.headphonebar.com/focal-utopia/
Great news for those up North. HeadphoneBar has the Elear in!! I almost grabbed a pair myself, but my interest lies in the Utopia. Go get 'em Canucks!
http://www.headphonebar.com/focal-elear/
The only time I wished that I lived on the west coast I hope Angies near Toronto gets it in. They are big Focal dealers too iirc.
Tamal, Headphonebar is the launch point for Canada. Might be a while for other dealers. They'll ship for free to Toronto you know.
Ah too bard Craig I was hoping to audiiotn them I have been REALLY on the hunt for a good all rounder that will work with my Top 40 stuff and the Elear looks to fit the bill pretty well. I have been enjoying the HD600 to the point that nothing else in my collection sounds good anymore so I am hoping the Elear will be a natural stepping stone for me. My birthday is next month so I might just get one somehow.
Are you thinking of getting the Elear or Utopia?
Curious as to what genres of music people have been listening to when writing all these rave reviews and at the various shows?
Would the Utopia do well with electronic, rock and some hip-hop? Female vocals?
So far I have read that they could use a bit more bass but aren't anemic like the HD800.
NOTE: The measurements reflect diffuse field correction applied via the APx555's input EQ.
(Above) Frequency response: Focal Utopia with Elear pads (dotted blue line) and Sennheiser HD 800 (black dotted line). (Click on image to see full size.)
I demoed the Utopia with a range of genres. I listened to a few tracks including some electronic, jazz, pop and orchestral. The Utopia was able to handle all of them with ease. I don't think they need any more low end than they already have. We did the esteemed pad swap at the Chicago meet and I found myself preferring the stock pads over the warmer Elear pads, but to each their own. Some listeners seemed to prefer the Elear pads so I can only chock that up to personal tastes. As a side note the HD 800 are far from bass anemic when properly amped.
I believe the diffuse field correction EQ applied to the measurements do not reflect what we hear with headphones at typical listening levels. I think it would be more informative to post the Raw frequency response.
Case in point, the Sennheiser HD 800 FR comparison shows a sharp drop at 3kHz & 10kHz. Not only do my own Sine Wave SPL audible tests highly disagree, but RAW measurements taken by InnerFidelity, Headroom, Goldenears etc show 3kHz to be close in SPL to the 6.3kHz peak. The main reason the Senn HD800 is bright sounding is the elevated FR between 3kHz & 7kHz, and a milder peak at 10kHz
The above graph alludes that the Utopia with Elear pads has a significant audible dip at 3.5 - 5.5kHz. I think you'll find, with SPL listening tests, that won't be the case.
I demoed the Utopia with a range of genres. I listened to a few tracks including some electronic, jazz, pop and orchestral. The Utopia was able to handle all of them with ease. I don't think they need any more low end than they already have. We did the esteemed pad swap at the Chicago meet and I found myself preferring the stock pads over the warmer Elear pads, but to each their own. Some listeners seemed to prefer the Elear pads so I can only chock that up to personal tastes. As a side note the HD 800 are far from bass anemic when properly amped.
Yeah, I guess anemic was the wrong word to use there... but Utopia would be a lot less amp picky?