[Godbluffer]

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

And with headphones something else is happening, apart from your brain adapting to the sound signature. While wearing the headphones the earpads will adapt to the shape of your head, and eventually become flatter, changing the acoustic space within the cups, with the sound becoming warmer and the imaging less tight and precise in the process.

 

[AudioAlex]

And with headphones something else is happening, apart from your brain adapting to the sound signature. While wearing the headphones the earpads will adapt to the shape of your head, and eventually become flatter, changing the acoustic space within the cups, with the sound becoming warmer and the imaging less tight and precise in the process.

I have a different experience: apart from brain adaptation and wearing habits, headphone drivers do adopt mechanically and it takes a while.. Planar drivers initially may produce insufficient low range and harsh / excessive high range ( I personally have had this experience with HFM Arya Stealth).. Quite the opposite has been observed with some dynamic drivers.. especially closed design: lots of bass and insufficient high frequencies / lack of detail (Shure 1540 as an example)..

 

[Lumithium]

A close up shot of the new Utopia driver. The Hexagons in the grill are bigger compared to OG.

 

[AudioAlex]

Can anyone tell me if the Be drivers in the Stellia and Newtopia are significantly different? Or is it just different design (closed against open back) and tuning?

 

[Musicophilesblog]

i just walked nearest Focal/Naim store and was able to A/B the OG vs. the Newtopia, off a Naim Uniti HE (so basically my home setup).

To put things into context: I had only bought my OG in March, so I really didn’t want the new model to be better. Unfortunately I really liked the sound signature of the Newtopia.

It keeps the wonderful transparency of the OG but just makes the sound a bit more balanced and round. I didn’t expect I’d like that as I still prefer my HD800 to the HD800S. But here, I’d say Focal got it just right.

Now, does that mean I‘ll trade in the OG for the new one? No way. Differences are there and they are audible, but I’d rather put the 2.5K difference into any of my other expensive hobbies.

 

[jricey]

Do you also have the Stellia and how do you think the sound of the newtopia compares?

 

[Musicophilesblog]

Do you also have the Stellia and how do you think the sound of the newtopia compares?

Never tried the Stellia as I like open back headphones but the dealer in question has one right next to both OG and Newtopia so I’ll try to check it out next time I’m there.

 

[jricey]

Never tried the Stellia as I like open back headphones but the dealer in question has one right next to both OG and Newtopia so I’ll try to check it out next time I’m there.

That would be great, thanks! I’m curious because I have Stellia and like it’s sound signature a lot but wondering about adding either the og or new Utopia and whether there’s enough positive sound difference to make it worth it.

 

[Clemmaster]

That would be great, thanks! I’m curious because I have Stellia and like it’s sound signature a lot but wondering about adding either the og or new Utopia and whether there’s enough positive sound difference to make it worth it.

There is.
The Stellia seats roughly halfway between the Clear and the Utopia. It is a definite step up from the Clear on a technical level (except the bass, which can be looser than the tight Clear). The Utopia, in turn is a definite step up from the Stellia.

The tonality is quite different, but still share the focal "philosophy" of sound. The Stellia is warmer and smoother up top. People with larger head might find the Stellia is too bassy (which happens when pads are more squished). You can get around that by breaking the seal slightly (e.g. with glasses).

 

[Musicophilesblog]

i just walked nearest Focal/Naim store and was able to A/B the OG vs. the Newtopia, off a Naim Uniti HE (so basically my home setup).

To put things into context: I had only bought my OG in March, so I really didn’t want the new model to be better. Unfortunately I really liked the sound signature of the Newtopia.

It keeps the wonderful transparency of the OG but just makes the sound a bit more balanced and round. I didn’t expect I’d like that as I still prefer my HD800 to the HD800S. But here, I’d say Focal got it just right.

Now, does that mean I‘ll trade in the OG for the new one? No way. Differences are there and they are audible, but I’d rather put the 2.5K difference into any of my other expensive hobbies.

One more comment: In the flesh, the Newtopia looks less flashy than on the press pics, it basically looks all black, the red elements are relatively discrete. I still prefer the black and silver combo of my OG (and woven vs. forged cargo fiber) but I could easily live with both from a looks perspective.

 

[PointyFox]

I have a different experience: apart from brain adaptation and wearing habits, headphone drivers do adopt mechanically and it takes a while.. Planar drivers initially may produce insufficient low range and harsh / excessive high range ( I personally have had this experience with HFM Arya Stealth).. Quite the opposite has been observed with some dynamic drivers.. especially closed design: lots of bass and insufficient high frequencies / lack of detail (Shure 1540 as an example)..

I think that's pad break-in.

 

[ubs28]

What type of hammer do I need to use to break in the Newtopia?

 

[Ciggavelli]

What type of hammer do I need to use to break in the Newtopia?

I think you probably need a silver audiophile hammer over a copper one to bring out all of the details. Full silver, rather than silver plated should work best. Try to get audiophile grade grips, if possible. Also, don’t cheap out on the hammer shaft by getting a bad wood.

I like something like this:

 

[Godbluffer]

What type of hammer do I need to use to break in the Newtopia?

 

[rfernand]

What type of hammer do I need to use to break in the Newtopia?

Focal’s docs recommend bass-heavy music. I left them plugged in for about a day with a jazz playlist I have and whatever Roon threw at them after that. That did the trick for me (they sounded like the demo unit at least). Nothing horrible out of the box, just a little bit of restraint in percussion.

I’ve been running them an hour a day or so since,I think they’re about as set as they will be. Have fun!