[zen87192]

And i presume your option comes in a wooden box at least

Nope.. Biodegradable Cardboard. Feels like wood and almost as strong but will degrade or burn quicker. A wooden box is even more expensive. Gosh... going off thread now... sorry.

 

[catscratch]

Bear in mind that the price difference is mostly due to inflation. Translate 2022 dollars to 2016 dollars and you'll see they're actually quite close. In either case, expect a lot of these to show up used in 6 months time, at which point expect a lot of deals on new unsold inventory when new has to compete with used. The original could be had under $3k used about a year out from release, if you looked hard enough, and while I won't speculate on what price this one will end up at, just wait a while if you're not made of money and deals will pop up.

I like the visual redesign as it's more classy. The original was a bit tacky. But the old yokes looked better.

As for me it'll probably be a pass as the original was way too fatiguing. Maybe the new one will be better, but it will have to be a lot better, and it looks like while they warmed up the FR the treble peaks are still there.

 

[Antipika]

Why must headphone and speaker revisions need to go up in price v.s. staying the same as iPhone and MacBooks? Aren’t new technology supposed to be deflationary in general?

That's a joke? iPhone and most piece of technology have been going up in price constantly. TOTL smartphones used to be $600. iPhone 4 was $600 and at the time it was the most expensive model, Android top of the line phones were around $400. This was 2010. 12 years later that price doubled and most TOTL smartphones, including Android, are in the $1000~$1200 region. The same happened with PC Parts, an average motherboard (mid-tier) was $80 in 2002. Now it starts at $150+. I'm not even going to talk about GPUs.

It's just general inflation. Also you need to keep in mind that salaries are usually what costs the most in the final price of a product and these have increased dramatically for jobs that are "high end" and very specialized or low wage workers in countries like China who have seen their pay triple in 10~ years.

 

[Nomax]

Newer isn't always better. The updated Utopia exists for these two reasons: to address reliability issues and consumerism-- everything else is marketing. The original Utopia is an outstanding headphone and has certain tuning characteristics that will be loved by many for years to come. The YouTube videos saying it has more air, realism, and a wider soundstage are what they said about every headphone. They're just trying to sell you something new or stroke their board sponsor for sending a free unit. And the owners who post claiming it's better are the ones who fell for it.

There is a reason why i exist and where i come into the game.......I am independent

What I wish from the official reviewers...a bit more courage to be strict

NOMAX

PS.lol

 

[TheRudeDog]

Nope.. Biodegradable Cardboard. Feels like wood and almost as strong but will degrade or burn quicker. A wooden box is even more expensive. Gosh... going off thread now... sorry.

And don't forget recycled carbon fiber (for the new 2022)!

 

[joshnor713]

I like the visual redesign as it's more classy. The original was a bit tacky.

I actually feel the opposite. In-person, the OG is one of the classiest headphones I've ever seen. In pictures, I could see someone thinking that.

Haven't seen the new one in person yet but in pictures the racecar-aesthetic appears "tacky" to me.

Each their own I guess!

 

[561007]

I actually feel the opposite. In-person, the OG is one of the classiest headphones I've ever seen. In pictures, I could see someone thinking that.

Haven't seen the new one in person yet but in pictures the racecar-aesthetic appears "tacky" to me.

Each their own I guess!

i think the new one is way more modern, the og utopia is like a timeless design imo

 

[bfreedma]

I see the Head-Fi hype train is up to full steam with the usual Engineers at the throttle.

I’ll stop back in a few months when the FOTM club has moved on to the next big thing and we can correlate opinions generated after the first day of availability…

 

[Malcyg]

I see the Head-Fi hype train is up to full steam with the usual Engineers at the throttle.

Please don’t interrupt the marketing.

 

[ubs28]

Well, I got my hands on the Stealth and the Utopia 2022.

Must say the Stealth is an overhyped piece of crap. How can a $4000 headphone not have enough room for ears as my ears touch the inside of the headphone. This only happens on $300 ANC headphones from Sony usually. This is an automatic 1/10 for me.

And the Stealth is literally just a more neutral AFC 2 Noire with a bigger soundstage with all the same problems (weak ass dynamics for example). It could have been the $999 AFC 3 basically.

The Focal Utopia 2022 was definetly the better headphone. It was especially murder in the dynamics department.

I will listen later to the OG Utopia vs Utopia 2022 later, as I was more interested in the Stealth as an office headphone (which I definetly will not buy after trying it as the cups of the headphone are too small).

 

[thecrow]

I see the Head-Fi hype train is up to full steam with the usual Engineers at the throttle.

I’ll stop back in a few months when the FOTM club has moved on to the next big thing and we can correlate opinions generated after the first day of availability…

And let’s not forget all the passionate and determined criticism from those that never heard the headphone yet.

but i agree, maybe it’s beat i/we revisit this thread once things settle.

maybe now is the time to start to look in to the lcd5 thread after the same thing happened there when released

 

[adrianm]

Well, I got my hands on the Stealth and the Utopia 2022.

Must say the Stealth is an overhyped piece of crap. How can a $4000 headphone not have enough room for ears as my ears touch the inside of the headphone. This only happens on $300 ANC headphones from Sony usually. This is an automatic 1/10 for me.

And the Stealth is literally just a more neutral AFC 2 Noire with a bigger soundstage with all the same problems (weak ass dynamics for example). It could have been the $999 AFC 3 basically.

The Focal Utopia 2022 was definetly the better headphone. It was especially murder in the dynamics department.

I will listen later to the OG Utopia vs Utopia 2022 later, as I was more interested in the Stealth as an office headphone (which I definetly will not buy after trying it as the cups of the headphone are too small).

My kind of review! We need more of these on Head-Fi. Not just hype trains, and people who think nothing can possibly sound better than what they already have.

 

[Blinq9]

Why must headphone and speaker revisions need to go up in price v.s. staying the same as iPhone and MacBooks? Aren’t new technology supposed to be deflationary in general?

Interesting question. I had a bad experience with Focal headphones a while back. I am ready to give them another try, and was blown away by the new numbers on the price tag

 

[Whitigir]

Interesting question. I had a bad experience with Focal headphones a while back. I am ready to give them another try, and was blown away by the new numbers on the price tag

Price of a motorcycle , which one you desire most ?

 

[tunes]

Have they totally fixed the dead driver problem and how? One of my drivers died after 3 years but Focal repaired it and matched a new driver for the other side and all is well.