[MACyaner]

are you saying that you listened to these different utopia's on different rigs? if so, then you have introduced variables into your headphone comparisons. unless you are comparing the units side by side on the same rig, then not only are you relying on your memory of how the units sounded, which is fallible, you might also be mistakenly attributing the differences you hear to the headphones while not allowing for the possibility that the different rigs they were paired with could have affected the sound.

your assertion that 'these sound differences are normal' is unsubstantiated. and as the 'high-end devices' that you refer to reproduce sound rather than measure it, i am going to assume that your claims are based on your aural perception rather than headphone measurements. as i posted previously, your subjective experience with different utopia units doesn't align with my own.

yes, focal replaces both drivers with a matched pair but it doesn't necessarily follow that this would perceptibly change the sound of the headphone as a consequence.

Hello up late,

again: the tonal differences are "marginal" - that is, minimal and usually "not audible", but definitely "measurable", as shown by the attached diagrams of my two HD800s!

The 7 utopias that I had longer all sounded slightly different "to me" - no better or worse - I heard 5 of them in the same "chain".
Of course, knowledge alone influences subjective perception about the production processes

I just wanted to say that after receiving my current Utopia from the 2nd repair, I was delighted that "these are audible to me" sound better - of course in the same chain.

And because this impression coincides with the experience of “BassicScience”, “I” consider a silent up date to be “possible” - silent up dates or down grades are completely normal and are not communicated, which is why nobody usually notices To explain: Down grades are rarer and are usually made through the use of cheaper components

 

[up late]

Hello up late,

again: the tonal differences are "marginal" - that is, minimal and usually "not audible", but definitely "measurable", as shown by the attached diagrams of my two HD800s!

The 7 utopias that I had longer all sounded slightly different "to me" - no better or worse - I heard 5 of them in the same "chain".
Of course, knowledge alone influences subjective perception about the production processes

I just wanted to say that after receiving my current Utopia from the 2nd repair, I was delighted that "these are audible to me" sound better - of course in the same chain.

And because this impression coincides with the experience of “BassicScience”, “I” consider a silent up date to be “possible” - silent up dates or down grades are completely normal and are not communicated, which is why nobody usually notices To explain: Down grades are rarer and are usually made through the use of cheaper components

sorry but I don't see the diagrams to which you are referring. but yes, different units of the same headphone can measure differently. whether those measurable differences can be discerned by the listener is another matter.

did you directly compare all seven utopia's in your audio 'chain' or did you listen to them at different times and are basing your comparison on your memory of how they sounded? our audio memory has been shown to be unreliable.

i am pleased that you are happy with the performance of your current utopia.

while it is possible that @bassic science's and your experience could be attributable to focal making a 'silent revision' to the utopia, it is also possible that it is conjecture and that your individual experiences are unrelated. with respect, i'd like to see some tangible evidence in support of your 'silent revision' proposition.

 

[BassicScience]

sorry but I don't see the diagrams to which you are referring. but yes, different units of the same headphone can measure differently. whether those measurable differences can be discerned by the listener is another matter.

did you directly compare all seven utopia's in your audio 'chain' or did you listen to them at different times and are basing your comparison on your memory of how they sounded? our audio memory has been shown to be unreliable.

i am pleased that you are happy with the performance of your current utopia.

while it is possible that @bassic science's and your experience could be attributable to focal making a 'silent revision' to the utopia, it is also possible that it is conjecture and that your individual experiences are unrelated. with respect, i'd like to see some tangible evidence in support of your 'silent revision' proposition.

I can say with 99.9% certainty that the ear pads I got back are different than the original ones I had. Also, as I've noted, the clamping force is now much less. This may explain most or all of my perceived sonic differences. I'm skeptical that Focal modified the Utopia's driver in an audibly meaningful way since introduction, FWIW.

 

[up late]

I can say with 99.9% certainty that the ear pads I got back are different than the original ones I had. Also, as I've noted, the clamping force is now much less. This may explain most or all of my perceived sonic differences. I'm skeptical that Focal modified the Utopia's driver in an audibly meaningful way since introduction, FWIW.

i believe you, fwiw. i feel reasonably confident that i could tell if the ear pads on my utopia were replaced with different ones, and that i would notice if the clamping force had changed significantly - particularly if i had returned it solely for the repair/replacement of a failed driver.

 

[MACyaner]

sorry but I don't see the diagrams to which you are referring. but yes, different units of the same headphone can measure differently. whether those measurable differences can be discerned by the listener is another matter.

did you directly compare all seven utopia's in your audio 'chain' or did you listen to them at different times and are basing your comparison on your memory of how they sounded? our audio memory has been shown to be unreliable.

i am pleased that you are happy with the performance of your current utopia.

while it is possible that @bassic science's and your experience could be attributable to focal making a 'silent revision' to the utopia, it is also possible that it is conjecture and that your individual experiences are unrelated. with respect, i'd like to see some tangible evidence in support of your 'silent revision' proposition.

The delivery of the Sennheiser HD800s includes a USB-Stick with the measurement diagrams - until recently I had two HD800s and one HD800 and IE800 and IE800s.

Basically you also accept that there are measurable differences.
I "imagine" hearing these insignificant details - certainly also due to the fact that I know the production processes

The difference in sound after the 2nd repair is not my imagination - my dealer was also very irritated.
As already mentioned, my first assumption was that Focal gave me "so to speak" a pair of reference drivers as compensation for the defective driver that was installed during the first repair.

After reading the article by “BassicScience” and thinking more about it, it seemed perfectly plausible to me that Focal had made a silent upgrade of Utopia. Their general product cycle would speak for a successor, but if they're not there yet, it wouldn't be uncommon to have one in the meantime to make a silent upgrade.

This is of course "purely speculative on my part" and I should (to avoid misunderstandings) mention that the sound difference between this and the other 7 Utopia is larger, but still (in general understanding) overall very small and certainly not in every Audio-Chain is audible.

And yes, I partly owned and compared the Utopia at the same time - most recently my repair loan device with my repaired device.
And again: after the first repair, the difference (apart from the bass ringing was so small that you would speak of imagination and I would not contradict you

 

[up late]

The delivery of the Sennheiser HD800s includes a USB-Stick with the measurement diagrams - until recently I had two HD800s and one HD800 and IE800 and IE800s.

Basically you also accept that there are measurable differences.
I "imagine" hearing these insignificant details - certainly also due to the fact that I know the production processes

The difference in sound after the 2nd repair is not my imagination - my dealer was also very irritated.
As already mentioned, my first assumption was that Focal gave me "so to speak" a pair of reference drivers as compensation for the defective driver that was installed during the first repair.

After reading the article by “BassicScience” and thinking more about it, it seemed perfectly plausible to me that Focal had made a silent upgrade of Utopia. Their general product cycle would speak for a successor, but if they're not there yet, it wouldn't be uncommon to have one in the meantime to make a silent upgrade.

This is of course "purely speculative on my part" and I should (to avoid misunderstandings) mention that the sound difference between this and the other 7 Utopia is larger, but still (in general understanding) overall very small and certainly not in every Audio-Chain is audible.

And yes, I partly owned and compared the Utopia at the same time - most recently my repair loan device with my repaired device.
And again: after the first repair, the difference (apart from the bass ringing was so small that you would speak of imagination and I would not contradict you

yes, i acknowledge that there can be measurable differences between different units in a headphone series and have never disputed that. what i have been questioning is the basis of your 'silent revision' proposition, and upon reflection you acknowledge that it is 'purely speculative', which is fine. oh, and welcome to head-fi.

 

[BassicScience]

So clearly I haven't been paying much attention, as I just noticed today that Focal updated the Utopia SKU last year. Apparently it now comes with a shell case and the (longer) stock cable is terminated with a 4-pin XLR. My questions: Is the new cable an upgrade sonically and/or ergonomically from the old 1/4" terminated one? Does anyone know if the new cable is available for purchase anywhere? You can order the case from the Focal web site, but I don't see the XLR-terminated cable there for some reason. TIA.

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

The new 2020 cable ergonomically isn’t bad, but it’s not perfect. It’s well constructed and looks nice. If I were buying a new cable I wouldn’t buy the stock cable for the price focal is asking. I find the 1.2m cable too short and the 4m cable to long. It’s a 2 pair 2 wire cable, flat and doesn’t tangle but is somewhat stiff. However, from the split to the headphone it is very flexible and when resting the cable across the desk or lap the weight isn’t noticeable.

 

[MACyaner]

So clearly I haven't been paying much attention, as I just noticed today that Focal updated the Utopia SKU last year. Apparently it now comes with a shell case and the (longer) stock cable is terminated with a 4-pin XLR. My questions: Is the new cable an upgrade sonically and/or ergonomically from the old 1/4" terminated one? Does anyone know if the new cable is available for purchase anywhere? You can order the case from the Focal web site, but I don't see the XLR-terminated cable there for some reason. TIA.

The German Focal / Naim distributor had offered me the 3m XLR cable for 582€ as a replacement cable.
I had considered having a Pentaconn plug attached to one - but then decided (after testing various premium cables) for a Cardas-Clear cable.
In my opinion, the "new" Focal cable is a good standard cable and perfectly for most "audio chains".

 

[Henrim]

@dontfeedphils made my cable. Excellent build quality, very flexible, looks and feels great. I haven't played with cables much but to my ears it sounds like the stock cable.

 

[BassicScience]

The German Focal / Naim distributor had offered me the 3m XLR cable for 582€ as a replacement cable.
I had considered having a Pentaconn plug attached to one - but then decided (after testing various premium cables) for a Cardas-Clear cable.
In my opinion, the "new" Focal cable is a good standard cable and perfectly for most "audio chains".

Thanks for the info. At that price point, I'd probably just go with something custom. Am still not sure if I'll be keeping the Utopia long-term at this juncture.

 

[MACyaner]

Thanks for the info. At that price point, I'd probably just go with something custom. Am still not sure if I'll be keeping the Utopia long-term at this juncture.

I would give you mine for 300€ - it's as good as new (only briefly tested).

 

[Gorf]

Can I jump in with a Unity Atom he question? Can I run my computer through it to play music located on my pc disk? I have no interest in streaming.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Can I jump in with a Unity Atom he question? Can I run my computer through it to play music located on my pc disk? I have no interest in streaming.

Unclear, but a couple of reviews mention a lack of USB/DAC input. It does have optical and S/PDIF (RCA) digital inputs, and can play tracks from external drives connected via USB.

I can't find any place where users or reviewers talk about using it as a USB DAC from a computer and a couple who lamented this lack. So I suspect the answer is no, if you need to connect your PC via USB. Something like a Singxer SU-1 (or SU-6) seems to be needed to convert USB to S/PDIF or optical.

 

[Gorf]

Unclear, but a couple of reviews mention a lack of USB/DAC input. It does have optical and S/PDIF (RCA) digital inputs, and can play tracks from external drives connected via USB.

I can't find any place where users or reviewers talk about using it as a USB DAC from a computer and a couple who lamented this lack. So I suspect the answer is no, if you need to connect your PC via USB. Something like a Singxer SU-1 (or SU-6) seems to be needed to convert USB to S/PDIF or optical.

Thank you. I think that was my biggest concern.