[Paul Noir Culte]

The design of the Utopia 2022 looks cleaner and more minimalist. The Utopia OG has more character.

 

[BassicScience]

The new utopia's look like a cross between the clear mg pros and the Utopia's. They put the Utopia drivers in a clear mg pro body? Damn... this or susvaras? I'm in a dilemma now...

I mean, don't you even want to hear the new Utopia before making that decision?

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Then this is definitely a successor to the current Utopia. Curious about how they will name it. Utopia 2022?

It is just going to be called "Utopia".

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Given it’s a (relatively) small price change I wouldn’t expect it to be more than a minor refresh either. There may be a small change in sound due to the redesigned grill/housing but I’d imagine this is more of an aesthetic change to bring the Utopia in line with the design language of the newer models. Hopefully they’ll also include a better designed cable too, and that might justify the price hike. Obviously this is just speculation (and a little bit of FOMO too as I only just bought a Utopia!) and I could be way off the mark.

There is a physical change to the driver mechanism. Can't say more than that.

 

[Tubewin]

I mean, don't you even want to hear the new Utopia before making that decision?

Not everyone has a store/place where they can hear something before purchasing them... but okay!

 

[BassicScience]

Not everyone has a store/place where they can hear something before purchasing them... but okay!

Understood, but in that case I'd probably at least wait until other people had heard it and posted reviews. OTOH, I don't think there's a "wrong" choice sonically between the two, and a decision based on use case couldn't be faulted.

 

[mainguy]

Given it’s a (relatively) small price change I wouldn’t expect it to be more than a minor refresh either. There may be a small change in sound due to the redesigned grill/housing but I’d imagine this is more of an aesthetic change to bring the Utopia in line with the design language of the newer models. Hopefully they’ll also include a better designed cable too, and that might justify the price hike. Obviously this is just speculation (and a little bit of FOMO too as I only just bought a Utopia!) and I could be way off the mark.

It's a tough one. Utopia was such a home run for Focal critically that they may be hesitant to stray, they'll want to keep that flagship top level, and Utopia is still at the summit alongside Susvara etc.
That said they did experiment with the Clear, MG is quite different. So they could switch things up a fair bit again. Also, Focal like I said did a huge number on the market with Utopia. The engineers may have similar ambitions, as there are certainly headphones on the market now competing with them and bettering them in some areas. Perhaps they want to make another huge splash, in which case they would need to move things in a new direction.
My own hunch is that it'll sound very similar with improved timbre. More toward Stellia timbre, but with all the advantages of the Utopia design.

 

[RobertSM]

So my conversations that I had two weeks ago with dealers was wrong in the name. Not Grand Utopia, just Utopia. But definitely correct with a new flagship headphone from Focal.

Good work for those Head-Fi members in sharing both pictures and features of the forthcoming flagship.

I'm definitely interested!

 

[Paul Noir Culte]

The new utopia's look like a cross between the clear mg pros and the Utopia's. They put the Utopia drivers in a clear mg pro body? Damn... this or susvaras? I'm in a dilemma now...

The Utopia and the Susvara sound absolutely different, both are fantastic, it's a question of which sound direction you prefer. The Utopia 2022 will be a detail improvement and that's fine. However, one should not forget that the Susvara is already five years old, so there will be a successor.

 

[BassicScience]

My own hunch is that it'll sound very similar with improved timbre. More toward Stellia timbre, but with all the advantages of the Utopia design.

Hmmm, if you find Stellia's timbre to be superior to that of the Utopia, then we hear things very differently. I'm also interested in what you see as the Utopia's design advantages. All else being equal (which it never is, unfortunately), I'd prefer a closed back for its versatility.

 

[enragedlemon]

There is a physical change to the driver mechanism. Can't say more than that.

I mean unless you’re under an NDA, which you clearly aren’t, you can definitely say more than that

 

[joshnor713]

My own hunch is that it'll sound very similar with improved timbre. More toward Stellia timbre, but with all the advantages of the Utopia design.

Gawd I hope not. I wanted the Stellia but ended up with the Utopia for this reason!

 

[ColSaulTigh]

I mean unless you’re under an NDA, which you clearly aren’t, you can definitely say more than that

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[Tubewin]

Hmmm, if you find Stellia's timbre to be superior to that of the Utopia, then we hear things very differently. I'm also interested in what you see as the Utopia's design advantages. All else being equal (which it never is, unfortunately), I'd prefer a closed back for its versatility.

It's a tough one. Utopia was such a home run for Focal critically that they may be hesitant to stray, they'll want to keep that flagship top level, and Utopia is still at the summit alongside Susvara etc.
That said they did experiment with the Clear, MG is quite different. So they could switch things up a fair bit again. Also, Focal like I said did a huge number on the market with Utopia. The engineers may have similar ambitions, as there are certainly headphones on the market now competing with them and bettering them in some areas. Perhaps they want to make another huge splash, in which case they would need to move things in a new direction.
My own hunch is that it'll sound very similar with improved timbre. More toward Stellia timbre, but with all the advantages of the Utopia design.

Going to agree with Bassic on the Utopia's. The Utopia has much better timbre in my opinion than the Stellia. I own both. I have not touched the Stellia's in a long time.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Thanks

I had to look up what a voice coil does on Wikipedia. I thought it might have to do with voice reproduction, but it appears it does more than that.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_coil

I guess a new voice coil could change the sound. From that side by side comparison earlier, it looks like the driver may be housed more forward than the original Utopia. What that means, if anything, is not clear to me.

Content was removed in response to a copyright claim by a third party.