Focal Utopia 2022 Review, Measurements

[ahossam]

Totally. They should ship a new one and if needed, charge for it and when the defective cable is received, refund the money. I would ask them to do this.

Good idea! I will email them and ask this.

Did you even talk to Moon Audio prior to reaching out to Cardas. My experience has always been positive with Moon Audio.

No I haven't reach out to Moon Audio yet.

 

[Spawn300Z]

Good idea! I will email them and ask this.


No I haven't reach out to Moon Audio yet.

If you purchased from them. I bet they will take care of you and deal with Cardas themselves

 

[MarkF786]

When I receive a defective product, or if it fails during the return period, I always go directly to the retailer as they inevitably will replace the product with little hassle. Going to the manufacturer is only needed after the return period, for warranty repair - and rarely will they offer to just provide a replacement and rather will try to fix it.

 

[ahossam]

When I receive a defective product, or if it fails during the return period, I always go directly to the retailer as they inevitably will replace the product with little hassle. Going to the manufacturer is only needed after the return period, for warranty repair - and rarely will they offer to just provide a replacement and rather will try to fix it.

The thing is, Moon Audio didn't have the product ready in stock, so they have to wait Cardas to ship the product to them and then they will ship it to me. This is why its takes so long (almost a month) for them to ship the product when I made my order at Moon Audio. My direct approach to Cardas is so they can ship directly to me, besides Cardas customer services is top notch.

 

[Nomax]

The CMA Fifteen sounds pretty damn great with the Nutopia, but so does my Woo WA8 and Chord Mojo2. You're right, you absolutely don't need desktop level amplification for these to sound great.

This Combo makes also a great Job....yes little bit different as with Sp3000....but is different worse?



NOMAX

PS.lol

 

[MarkF786]

I bought the Utopia 2022 as an xmas present for myself this year; considering my girlfriend's gift was more than twice as expensive, I figured it was ok to spoil myself a little too.

I haven't had more than a couple hours listening to them, and I burned them in for 4 days, but I'll say I haven't been wowed by them yet. My previously highest-end headphones are the HD-800S and Elear, though I have about 20 pairs of headphones (and as many IEMs) with my other favorites being the HD-580/600/650/660 series and the Beyer Amiron; though those other phones are warmer and more forgiving, the HD-800s are pretty resolving and bright, and the Elear (and Elegia I have) give a flavor of the Focal sound. I'll give it more time before making any final assessment. I guess I was expecting the Utopia 2022 to be more distinctly "better".

BTW, my current signal chain is a Bifrost 2 to a Jot 2 and Lyr 3. I'm sure there might be better amps out there, though my experience is the law of diminishing returns is even more applicable in this regard that with the headphones itself.

On a side note, earlier last year I bought a new stereo system, after being out of the game for many years, focused more on headphones. The system is comprised of KEF R3 speakers, Rotel A14 MKII & CD14MKII and Rega Planar 2 w/Exact 2 cartridge - and it sounds VASTLY better than any of my headphones. Obviously, the soundstage and spaciousness is night & day. When practical, a good stereo seems much better than any headphones, but I still appreciate the practical benefits headphones bring.

 

[kumar402]

I bought the Utopia 2022 as an xmas present for myself this year; considering my girlfriend's gift was more than twice as expensive, I figured it was ok to spoil myself a little too.

I haven't had more than a couple hours listening to them, and I burned them in for 4 days, but I'll say I haven't been wowed by them yet. My previously highest-end headphones are the HD-800S and Elear, though I have about 20 pairs of headphones (and as many IEMs) with my other favorites being the HD-580/600/650/660 series and the Beyer Amiron; though those other phones are warmer and more forgiving, the HD-800s are pretty resolving and bright, and the Elear (and Elegia I have) give a flavor of the Focal sound. I'll give it more time before making any final assessment. I guess I was expecting the Utopia 2022 to be more distinctly "better".

BTW, my current signal chain is a Bifrost 2 to a Jot 2 and Lyr 3. I'm sure there might be better amps out there, though my experience is the law of diminishing returns is even more applicable in this regard that with the headphones itself.

On a side note, earlier last year I bought a new stereo system, after being out of the game for many years, focused more on headphones. The system is comprised of KEF R3 speakers, Rotel A14 MKII & CD14MKII and Rega Planar 2 w/Exact 2 cartridge - and it sounds VASTLY better than any of my headphones. Obviously, the soundstage and spaciousness is night & day. When practical, a good stereo seems much better than any headphones, but I still appreciate the practical benefits headphones bring.

Which aspect of Utopia you didn't like as much as you wanted? May be someone can help you out here

 

[MarkF786]

Which aspect of Utopia you didn't like as much as you wanted? May be someone can help you out here

I haven’t yet found it more resolving than the HD-800s, and though it’s more dynamic, that aspect can be fatiguing at times - and the Elear is similarly dynamic.

Hopefully in time as my ears adjust and I spend more time with them, their talents will become more apparent.

 

[llamaluv]

On a side note, earlier last year I bought a new stereo system, after being out of the game for many years, focused more on headphones. The system is comprised of KEF R3 speakers, Rotel A14 MKII & CD14MKII and Rega Planar 2 w/Exact 2 cartridge - and it sounds VASTLY better than any of my headphones. Obviously, the soundstage and spaciousness is night & day. When practical, a good stereo seems much better than any headphones, but I still appreciate the practical benefits headphones bring.

At the risk of getting boo'ed out of the room, let me say that if you have a speaker amp adapter cable handy, one idea is connect the Utopia to your speaker amp (with all the standard precautions that this entails, etc).

You could, for instance, discover that it -- or at least certain aspects of the combination -- sound pretty amazing, and give you an additional perspective of what the headphone is capable of.

A person might even like the synergy of their Utopia with their pre-existing speaker amp so much that it becomes more than just a temporary listening test, but becomes the main way they drive their Utopia (And by "a person", I mean me! )

I've been using my Benchmark AHB2 for like 90% of my listening with the Nutopia since I got it a few weeks ago. The speaker amp makes the the Utopia sound, in a word, more "speaker-like".

 

[Spektrograf]

I haven’t yet found it more resolving than the HD-800s, and though it’s more dynamic, that aspect can be fatiguing at times - and the Elear is similarly dynamic.

Hopefully in time as my ears adjust and I spend more time with them, their talents will become more apparent.

You could also consider upgrading your signal chain down the road. That would help make the nuances more apparent in a holistic way—and all your ~20 headphones would probably benefit from it as well. Schiit stacks are good—there definitely are distinct improvements to enjoy with better gear. Diminishing returns, of course, are yours and yours alone to judge.

I'm guessing that spending a couple of weeks just enjoying it, then comparing afterwards might yield some more articulated insights.

Congrats on the Nutopia acquisition (and the speaker system last year, as well)!

 

[kumar402]

You could also consider upgrading your signal chain down the road. That would help make the nuances more apparent in a holistic way—and all your ~20 headphones would probably benefit from it as well. Schiit stacks are good—there definitely are distinct improvements to enjoy with better gear. Diminishing returns, of course, are yours and yours alone to judge.

I'm guessing that spending a couple of weeks just enjoying it, then comparing afterwards might yield some more articulated insights.

Congrats on the Nutopia acquisition (and the speaker system last year, as well)!

I see you too have EC Zana Deux S, I have heard good things about ZDS and Utopia pairing. I want to own Utopia, may be one day. How do you like the pairing?

 

[Spektrograf]

I see you too have EC Zana Deux S, I have heard good things about ZDS and Utopia pairing. I want to own Utopia, may be one day. How do you like the pairing?

Ah, I've got the og ZD (not the ZDS). It's really good with the Utopia, though truth be told, I prefer the GSXmk2 with the Utopias. I do find the HD580/600's magical on the ZD—especially with the 6SL7 Mullard's. That combo gets the HD580/600's to slam as hard as the Utopia's with solid bass control as well. You still get the bass and treble rolloff of the Sennheiser's, but it lets the Sennheiser's go almost toe-to-toe with the Utopia's if you ignore the receded highs and bass—i.e. timbre, midrange, and punch are equal, and bass being sufficient.

With the Utopia's, I find that the amp leaves linearity and goes into mild distortion when I turn it up—albeit louder than what I normally listen music to.

This is all me being picky and sitting on some solid gear. Hard to say against any of the other favorite amps of the last few years, as I haven't done a comparison for some time.

 

[r343]

I haven’t yet found it more resolving than the HD-800s, and though it’s more dynamic, that aspect can be fatiguing at times - and the Elear is similarly dynamic.

Hopefully in time as my ears adjust and I spend more time with them, their talents will become more apparent.

If you haven't already, try running low gain with Schiit amps combined to Focal. I have just Magni 3+ and that high gain on that makes Utopia more forward sounding.

 

[Nomax]

Had a nice conversation yesterday with an acoustician from another manufacturer who said to the new Nutopia, who also bought the competitor model, finds it funny to see how much money people invest to achieve differences in the OG

His conclusion....it is much easier and above all more purposeful to reach for Nutopia right away

NOMAX

PS.lol

 

[duas2noites]

I'm think about utopia 2022 paired with chord mojo 2, did someone here tried it? Need some feedback