[Rhodey]

Utopia 22 took a while to reach its potential. I have been running it in via the ferrum stack ever since I got it.

it really is a great pairing with the Wa33 (standard, jps edition) with tak274b, we417a and kr 2a3 tubes. loving the slam, slap and oomph of the low end. the highs have opened up and sound really sweet with a strong central image. am getting zero sibilance even with the knob cranked up. staging seems wider than the OG. imaging is spot on and with the wavelight as the source, I'm getting that amazing depth and layering that I know from the OG.

music sounds very lush and enveloping. a rather intimate presentation, but not in the sense of narrow stage, but rather it seems more up front with music all around, filling up spaces between the elements. SolP, Raal, 1266 all have better separation, isolation, sense of expanse, and distance.

imo Ferrum stack doesn't do the Utopia 22 justice.. not when the wa33 is available. everything sounds bigger and better with the woo. oddly, even the background sounds cleaner. Wa33 mids and lows sound louder than the highs, allowing more turn on the volume knob before the highs catch up; the same can't be said for the ferrum stack.

extremely happy with the Utopia 22. solid build, and loving that dynamic driver bass! lots of pressure felt on the ear drums. absolutely no regrets letting the OG go.

*edit

this is one of my favourite albums to test stuff with. it has a lot of "audiophile" characteristics to listen out for, and in itself is quite an enjoyable listen. lots of strong far out left and right elements and lots from front/back layering as well. a really enjoyable listen with the Utopia 22.

Nice! Glad you're enjoying it more now.

I feel the same, the Utopia really does well off a nice pairing tube amp. It sounds good off my Bryston BHA1 and Mojo2 but the Stratus is much better. And I was surprised too at the amount of time it took for them to open up.

 

[samr33]

Just got the utopia 22 around 10 days, amazing sound and built quality, but it didn't seem to synergy well with my tube amp (Auris Nirvana) it sounds dark and lack of sparkle even with some neutral sounding tubes not like my other cans they synergy really well with the amp, but it sounds amazing with my N05XD, which is a dac/amp and it leads me to think that the utopia 22 is better off pairing with solid state amp??


Below is the system that I drive my utopia 22 with.

 

[Rhodey]

Just got the utopia 22 around 10 days, amazing sound and built quality, but it didn't seem to synergy well with my tube amp (Auris Nirvana) it sounds dark and lack of sparkle even with some neutral sounding tubes not like my other cans they synergy really well with the amp, but it sounds amazing with my N05XD, which is a dac/amp and it leads me to think that the utopia 22 is better off pairing with solid state amp??


Below is the system that I drive my utopia 22 with.

Hmmm interesting. I’m not familiar with the Auris Nirvana, meaning never heard it. You’d think on the 32ohm setting it would be fine. I’m having excellent synergy with the stratus. Roasty and some others are having good synergy with the wa33 too.

 

[samr33]

Hmmm interesting. I’m not familiar with the Auris Nirvana, meaning never heard it. You’d think on the 32ohm setting it would be fine. I’m having excellent synergy with the stratus and Roasty and some others are having good synergy with the wa33.

Yes it is weird, it sounds really well with 800s adx5000 and d8000pro just not the utopia still trying to find out the problem.

 

[Rhodey]

Yeah, you'd think if it's sounding solid off the SS and the others sound good off the tube amp it would be fine. It may just come down to pairing tho. Hopefully it gets worked out for you.

 

[samr33]

Yeah, you'd think if it's sounding solid off the SS and the others sound good off the tube amp it would be fine. It may just come down to pairing tho. Hopefully it gets worked out for you.

Yeah, I think that could be cause of pairing, that would be a shame tho.

 

[NYanakiev]

probably haven't run it in enough yet. so far, wa33 using 300b 2.5v tubes is a bit too much bass bloom and overall quite thick sounding. i feel it pairs much better when using the wa33 with kr 2a3 tubes.

not sure if I want to continue using the utopia with the DHC prion4 cable. just did some comparing with my ArcticCables palladium (gen1), and the DHC definitely has more low end but also a bit of rolling off the top. whereas the AC has less low end, but sounds tighter, and has stronger central imaging and clearer vocals; that little bit of sparkle which I enjoy the utopia for. strumming of guitars sounds better with the AC too.

waiting on people to try the Lazuli Ref Plus with the new utopia to chime in with their thoughts.

Ordered the Lazuli Reference Plus- will make sure to share my thoughts when it arrives!

 

[Milan01]

Hi !

I had the chance to listen to the Focal Utopia 2022 at La boutique du son in Lyon (next to St Etienne, where Focal is located), I loved it!
Even if I love the first version of the Utopia, I wasn't a fan of the frequency response of these headphones in stock configuration (slight lack of bass and tiring treble), well now I don't have any problem!

A warmer headphone, with highs still incredible but with more softness, no auditory fatigue, mids a little darker and a sound stage still quite intimate (which is an advantage for me on a headphone), and then a natural disconcerting (especially on classical music).
In short, these headphones are easy to listen to, more fun / more human than the old ones, and you don't need to think about whether the sound is good or not: I personally was immediately immersed in the music with a lot of emotion.

On the other hand I found a little lack of openness and airiness, but this may be due to the amp itself (a focal arch) or the cable. I still preferred this combination to the naim uniti atom for my ears

I only listened to it for 1 hour but it gave me some good insights and I'm already looking forward to listening to it again, it's now in my top 2 favourite headphones



It's really more beautiful in real life than on the pictures!

 

[samr33]

Hi !

I had the chance to listen to the Focal Utopia 2022 at La boutique du son in Lyon (next to St Etienne, where Focal is located), I loved it!
Even if I love the first version of the Utopia, I wasn't a fan of the frequency response of these headphones in stock configuration (slight lack of bass and tiring treble), well now I don't have any problem!

A warmer headphone, with highs still incredible but with more softness, no auditory fatigue, mids a little darker and a sound stage still quite intimate (which is an advantage for me on a headphone), and then a natural disconcerting (especially on classical music).
In short, these headphones are easy to listen to, more fun / more human than the old ones, and you don't need to think about whether the sound is good or not: I personally was immediately immersed in the music with a lot of emotion.

On the other hand I found a little lack of openness and airiness, but this may be due to the amp itself (a focal arch) or the cable. I still preferred this combination to the naim uniti atom for my ears

I only listened to it for 1 hour but it gave me some good insights and I'm already looking forward to listening to it again, it's now in my top 2 favourite headphones



It's really more beautiful in real life than on the pictures!

It is an amazing headphone looks great and sounds great, and I'm agree it's kinda lean onto the darker side with stock cable, gonna search for a better silver cable in the future then it would kick ass!

 

[Trance_Gott]

I recommend a Invictus Palladium cable far better then the stock cable!

 

[samr33]

I recommend a Invictus Palladium cable far better then the stock cable!

Will definitely check that out!

 

[Atriya]

And I can recommend the Lavricables Grand!

 

[Nomax]

I recommend the Double Duet from Crystal if you want to emphasize the strengths of Utopia/Nutopia even more

NOMAX

PS.lol

 

[SHAMuuu]

Hi !

I had the chance to listen to the Focal Utopia 2022 at La boutique du son in Lyon (next to St Etienne, where Focal is located), I loved it!
Even if I love the first version of the Utopia, I wasn't a fan of the frequency response of these headphones in stock configuration (slight lack of bass and tiring treble), well now I don't have any problem!

A warmer headphone, with highs still incredible but with more softness, no auditory fatigue, mids a little darker and a sound stage still quite intimate (which is an advantage for me on a headphone), and then a natural disconcerting (especially on classical music).
In short, these headphones are easy to listen to, more fun / more human than the old ones, and you don't need to think about whether the sound is good or not: I personally was immediately immersed in the music with a lot of emotion.

On the other hand I found a little lack of openness and airiness, but this may be due to the amp itself (a focal arch) or the cable. I still preferred this combination to the naim uniti atom for my ears

I only listened to it for 1 hour but it gave me some good insights and I'm already looking forward to listening to it again, it's now in my top 2 favourite headphones



It's really more beautiful in real life than on the pictures!

Those impressions really mirror mine as well. I was able to listen to them at an audio show recently.

I was surprised at it's fatigue free nature while retaining everything one could ever want.

I don't need to add anything to what you said. The OG is fantastic but more laser like, and this is slightly more "realistic"

It was the best dynamic driver and 2nd best I heard at the show, and you can tell almost instantly as you pointed out.

Only one other impressed me more, but is it different technology (e-stat x9k) which seemed like GOD tier.

 

[Tanalasta]

Yes it is weird, it sounds really well with 800s adx5000 and d8000pro just not the utopia still trying to find out the problem.

New utopia is warmer, fuller, richer. Reminds me of Bose or Beats or even AirPods Pro. But as a result might be a tad dark and too much for tubes.

It’s the tuning synergy (or lack thereof) I suspect