[Nomax]

I've been listening to the old Utopia in preparation for the new one while I wait on my dealer to tell me where to send it back to. It's still as good as the previous 2 times I've owned it, but I also remember why I sold it. I'm hoping the slight changes in the new Utopia make it that much better for my listening tastes. I think they will, judging by impressions

I am sure you here easily the difference between the two models

NOMAX

PS.Lol

 

[Ciggavelli]

@Ciggavelli, I was just looking at the gear that you’ve listed in your signature, very impressive, and I wanted to ask if you put your system together from the front to the back, headphones to the wall socket, or the other way around, power cable to headphones?

With my Utopia’s I found that the issues of a relatively center focused soundstage, and quite not tight enough bass, were greatly ameliorated by using a Danacable Lazuli Ultra hp cable with the Woo WA22 and the right tubes.

Thanks

I put my system together headphones first and then going backwards. I first started with headphones, then got an amp/dac combo, then a solo dac, then got better cables, then upgraded that dac, upgraded the amp, upgraded the dac again, then upgraded my amp, got a power conditioner, then since the new amp was powerful enough (wa33 standard) I got new headphones (TCs and Susvara), got better cables, then upgraded my dac to a DAVE, then got the WA33 EE JPS, and then got the custom PSUs for my mDAVE, then I went with an estat amp and headphones, then got upgraded cables. All the time after buying the TCs and Susvaras, I was trying and buying various headphones as well.

 

[jlbrach]

Thanks

I put my system together headphones first and then going backwards. I first started with headphones, then got an amp/dac combo, then a solo dac, then got better cables, then upgraded that dac, upgraded the amp, upgraded the dac again, then upgraded my amp, got a power conditioner, then since the new amp was powerful enough (wa33 standard) I got new headphones (TCs and Susvara), got better cables, then upgraded my dac to a DAVE, then got the WA33 EE JPS, and then got the custom PSUs for my mDAVE, then I went with an estat amp and headphones, then got upgraded cables. All the time after buying the TCs and Susvaras, I was trying and buying various headphones as well.

a busy man!

 

[Ciggavelli]

a busy man!

Indeed. I kinda of miss the thrill of the upgrade, going from low-fi to mid-fi to summit-fi. When you reach summit-fi level equipment, it's hard to get that same feel you used to get with upgrades, as everything is basically a side-grade at that point.

 

[jlbrach]

I agree 100%, the journey up the mountain is a lot more fun than then all the sideways movements once you get there...

 

[paradoxper]

I agree 100%, the journey up the mountain is a lot more fun than then all the sideways movements once you get there...

It better lead you to discovering and listening to more music than ever.

 

[jlbrach]

that would be hard for sure given the amount of music I have listened to since I was a kid but I sure do love it

 

[AudioAlex]

-

 

[ubs28]

New day, fresh ears, and I decided I’d test it in the other direction, with the 2022 and Chord Mojo 2 settings on +1 for both the green and blue frequency bands to make it sound like the OG. I immediately noticed a sibilance I don’t get on the OG, so I realized my judgment last night could have been affected by my ears being tired from the day, causing my hearing of the highest frequencies to be blunted a bit. So instead I now turned down the highest, blue, frequency band back to neutral, leaving only the green one at +1, and that appeared to *really* hit the spot, making the 2022 sound pretty much exactly like the OG, and also, when setting only the green band *down* to -1 on the OG, it again sounded very much like the 2022! Additionally, when I turn up the green band on the 2022 1 dB I need to turn the overall volume 1 dB down to get the same loudness level as the OG.

So in short: turn the green frequency band on the Chord Mojo 2 *down* one dB on the OG, and *up* one dB on the 2022 for best mutual cloning results.

I didn’t have the OG Utopia with me when I listened to the 2022 Focal Utopia, but I also had the impression that with a few EQ tweaks you can get the same sound with the OG.

 

[ubs28]

Why did the price increase to $5000? These headphones are produced in France and since the Euro is worth crap and continues to loose value against the major currencies, it should actually be cheaper.

Focal is getting greedy charging us more while their own currency is loosing value like crazy.

It’s the same reason why Apple is increasing their prices in Europe because the Euro is weak. So European companies should do the opposite.

 

[Musicophilesblog]

I agree 100%, the journey up the mountain is a lot more fun than then all the sideways movements once you get there...

That’s why, with my current Naim Uniti HE and OG Utopia with all stock cables, I’m happy to be stuck at one of the slightly lower peaks, but the view is pretty nice from here as well.

Plus the WAF is much better for a beautiful one box solution…

 

[AudioAlex]

What would the burn in time for a Be driver like the one in the Utopia?

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

What would the burn in time for a Be driver like the one in the Utopia?

zero hours, but it will take time for your brain to habituate.

 

[jamato8]

What would the burn in time for a Be driver like the one in the Utopia?

With mine, quite some time. When I got them, a person I was emailing with noticed the same thing. I always do comparison of sound to a known set of headphones that I have. That way I know is it me or is the sound, peaks, bass etc., really changing in comparison.

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

There's a 60 page thread on another forum I will not mention that discuss speaker break-in at length with measurements and citation to research papers.

TL DR, break-in can happen, it can be measurable, if it happens it does not take much time (minutes to a few hours); it's unlikely you can hear a change because any measurable difference is so minor.

But here's another possible reason why: it's all in your head.

Harmon Kardon published research about sighted bias and beliefs about a product on the perception of sound: "The results are very clear. Figure 4 shows that, in subjective ratings of four loudspeakers, the differences in ratings caused by knowledge of the products is as large or larger than those attributable to the differences in sound alone...In other words, knowledge of the product identity was at least as important a factor in the tests as the principal acoustical factors. Incidentally, many of these listeners were very experienced and, some of them thought, able to ignore the visually-stimulated biases."

https://www.harman.com/documents/AudioScience_0.pdf