[chesebert]

You're missing the point. The replacement unit was only warrantied for a few months (remaining term of original unit), and someone still paid $2600 for it. I bought the original unit new in 2017.

The poor soul. But good for you.

 

[KelFab]

I don’t see the point, is it so risky ? There’s plenty of headphones or other stuffs that doesn’t lost that much value when out of warranty, why should it be different for the Utopias ?

 

[up late]

haven't you heard? an unknown number of utopia's experienced driver failure. this and a belief that the utopia lacks sub-bass apparently gives one member license to troll the thread.

 

[chesebert]

I don’t see the point, is it so risky ? There’s plenty of headphones or other stuffs that doesn’t lost that much value when out of warranty, why should it be different for the Utopias ?

I believe Focal charges $2000 to fix your headphone. Utopia is built for performance not for longevity.

 

[up late]

please tell me which other totl headphones are warrantied for five years that you're aware of

 

[chesebert]

please tell me which other totl headphones are warrantied for five years that you're aware of

Sorry, not playing the “what about x” game. We are talking about used Focal specifically.

 

[up late]

Sorry, not playing the “what about x” game. We are talking about used Focal specifically.

really? so your unsubstantiated claim that the 'utopia is built for performance not longevity' only applies to used utopia's?

 

[chesebert]

really? so your unsubstantiated claim that 'the utopia is built for performance, not longevity' only applies to used utopia's?

Look at it this way, Focal has been making Be drivers for many decades and have always kept the Be driver to their tweeters. A typical Focal Be driver is 20mm that goes from 1khz to 30khz+ The Be tweeter driver is typically mounted on some heavy duty metal surrounding structure and that’s bolted to the speaker - it’s solid as a rock.

However this is not the case with the Utopia headphones. The driver is now 40mm and just as thin and fragile - if they could make their Be to be 50mm they would but I think Focal cannot do it at any reasonable cost. The problem with 40mm driver is that it needs to work harder (greater excursion) to generate the same bass and dynamics. To make matters worse, Focal mounted the VC on a fairly minimal structure in order to keep the headphone as open sounding as possible.

I would be curious to understand the actual warranty repair data from Focal so we can see if they were actually able to improve their manufacturing process to make their driver more durable.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Look at it this way, Focal has been making Be drivers for many decades and have always kept the Be driver to their tweeters. A typical Focal Be driver is 20mm that goes from 1khz to 30khz+ The Be tweeter driver is typically mounted on some heavy duty metal surrounding structure and that’s bolted to the speaker - it’s solid as a rock.

However this is not the case with the Utopia headphones. The driver is now 40mm and just as thin and fragile - if they could make their Be to be 50mm they would but I think Focal cannot do it at any reasonable cost. The problem with 40mm driver is that it needs to work harder (greater excursion) to generate the same bass and dynamics. To make matters worse, Focal mounted the VC on a fairly minimal structure in order to keep the headphone as open sounding as possible.

While I'm aware of Utopia's "lack of durability", I have to disagree with you here. Focal Stellia also use Pure Be 40mm driver, and it is one hella great headphone in term of durability.

Focal indeed know how to make 40mm Be driver become durable.

 

[chesebert]

While I'm aware of Utopia's "lack of durability", I have to disagree with you here. Focal Stellia also use Pure Be 40mm driver, and it is one hella great headphone in term of durability.

That’s a closed pair of headphones, right? I suspect the driver would not have to work as hard as open headphones to generate sufficient bass and dynamics given closed design.

If only we could get some real data from distributors.

 

[up late]

Look at it this way, Focal has been making Be drivers for many decades and have always kept the Be driver to their tweeters. A typical Focal Be driver is 20mm that goes from 1khz to 30khz+ The Be tweeter driver is typically mounted on some heavy duty metal surrounding structure and that’s bolted to the speaker - it’s solid as a rock.

However this is not the case with the Utopia headphones. The driver is now 40mm and just as thin and fragile - if they could make their Be to be 50mm they would but I think Focal cannot do it at any reasonable cost. The problem with 40mm driver is that it needs to work harder (greater excursion) to generate the same bass and dynamics. To make matters worse, Focal mounted the VC on a fairly minimal structure in order to keep the headphone as open sounding as possible.

I would be curious to understand the actual warranty repair data from Focal so we can see if they were actually able to improve their manufacturing process to make their driver more durable.

with respect, in the absence of any data whatsoever to support your opinion that the design and manufacture of the utopia driver is somehow flawed, i simply can't accept it as credible

 

[chesebert]

with respect, in the absence of any data whatsoever to support your opinion that the design and manufacture of the utopia driver is somehow flawed, i simply can't accept it as credible

I mean it’s all educated guess without any actual data. Sometimes you make decision on imperfect information. That’s life.

Also, Focal did publicly disclose that their be driver was fragile but claimed they had fixed their manufacturing process to make the driver more durable. That’s what they claimed but who knows honestly.

 

[up late]

I mean it’s all educated guess without any actual data. Sometimes you make decision on imperfect information. That’s life.

Also, Focal did publicly disclose that their be driver was fragile but claimed they had fixed their manufacturing process to make the driver more durable. That’s what they claimed but who knows honestly.

an educated guess? more of a hobby horse i'd say. and the voice coil defect affected early production batches of both the elear and utopia. the problem was not confined to the beryllium driver and nor did focal describe it as fragile. you can find a link to the post from the focal representative on the first page of this thread.

 

[Progisus]

Who gives a schiit. They are the best headphones I have owned since the 70’s. Everything fails at some point and the Focal warranty is one of the best in the business. Let’s move on.

 

[chesebert]

Who gives a schiit. They are the best headphones I have owned since the 70’s. Everything fails at some point and the Focal warranty is one of the best in the business. Let’s move on.

The question was how much would you pay for an used Utopia that’s out of warranty. I said $500 max given the $2k all-in repair cost.

If you are buying from a dealer with full warranty coverage it’s not an issue.