[Ojisan]

2022 Focal Utopia Headphone Review
Very difficult for me to understand the product manager for Focal.

Do you mean the accent or the product concept, or both?

 

[chrisnyc75]

I wonder if Utopia OG owners will be able to have their Utopia OG serviced, in the event of a driver failure or whatever, without having to "upgrade" to the new voice coil now that the Utopia OG is EOL? I am uncertain whether I think the Newtopia is an "upgrade" or not, but if one of my Utopia OG drivers were to fail I would certainly need it replaced with a matching OG driver. Or are we just SOL?

 

[enragedlemon]

I wonder if Utopia OG owners will be able to have their Utopia OG serviced, in the event of a driver failure or whatever, without having to "upgrade" to the new voice coil now that the Utopia OG is EOL? I am uncertain whether I think the Newtopia is an "upgrade" or not, but if one of my Utopia OG drivers were to fail I would certainly need it replaced with a matching OG driver. Or are we just SOL?

I could be completely wrong but based on Focal's marketing material the change in sound - at least in the treble - seems to come from the new grille:

"To push the limits of Utopia even further, to improve linearity and reproduction of the treble, we have incorporated the ‘M’-shaped speaker driver grille (developed for Clear Mg), which follows the curve of the dome."

It's possible they may have been using different voice coils already as minor manufacturing improvements, but that's just speculation on my part. However, I would assume that any repaired OG Utopias would not come with a sound change.

 

[llamaluv]

Oh yea, do we know if Focal will be discontinuing the uh "pre-2022" version of the Utopia? I assume the answer would be yes? If so, that will be a shame, since the new version seems to be of a slightly different "flavor" rather than being a simple, unequivocal upgrade, if you see what I mean...

 

[iamoneagain]

Oh yea, do we know if Focal will be discontinuing the uh "pre-2022" version of the Utopia? I assume the answer would be yes? If so, that will be a shame, since the new version seems to be of a slightly different "flavor" rather than being a simple, unequivocal upgrade, if you see what I mean...

The CanJam you wouldn’t even know the older version existed at the Focal booth. So believe it’s phased out. Makes the original a bit of collectors item.

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

I wonder if Utopia OG owners will be able to have their Utopia OG serviced, in the event of a driver failure or whatever, without having to "upgrade" to the new voice coil now that the Utopia OG is EOL? I am uncertain whether I think the Newtopia is an "upgrade" or not, but if one of my Utopia OG drivers were to fail I would certainly need it replaced with a matching OG driver. Or are we just SOL?

I am 100% confident you will be able to get your focal Utopia OG serviced for at-least the next 10 years. Focal is not a mass-market consumer products company, service and repairs is a normal part of the hi-end audio business. If bad for business is not a good enough answer, the 2022 share the same driver just a different voice-coil, I wouldn’t be surprised if has a 5+ year product cycle then you still have to provide service/warranty and support beyond that. Finally, they want to make money, easier and cheaper to sell you new drivers at whatever margin or more than they otherwise selling a new pair.

 

[joseph69]

Do you mean the accent or the product concept, or both?

I couldn't understand her due to accent...I literally understood a hand full of words she said, and also noticed the Moon team looked like they were having the same issue I was.

I wonder if Utopia OG owners will be able to have their Utopia OG serviced, in the event of a driver failure or whatever, without having to "upgrade" to the new voice coil now that the Utopia OG is EOL? I am uncertain whether I think the Newtopia is an "upgrade" or not, but if one of my Utopia OG drivers were to fail I would certainly need it replaced with a matching OG driver. Or are we just SOL?

Both drivers get replaced in the case of a failure.

 

[chrisnyc75]

Both drivers get replaced in the case of a failure.

So is the assumption that Utopia "OG" owners would be given Newtopia drivers in their Utopia OG chassis in the event of a post-2022 driver failure? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[enragedlemon]

So is the assumption that Utopia "OG" owners would be given Newtopia drivers in their Utopia OG chassis in the event of a post-2022 driver failure? Inquiring minds want to know.

Inquiring minds would probably be best to enquire with their local authorised dealer for answers

 

[chrisnyc75]

Inquiring minds would probably be best to enquire with their local authorised dealer for answers

Or, you know, I could ask on the forum thread dedicated to this model, where everyone else who owns them is. But sure, I'm sure my "local dealer" knows this, I'll call them right now.

 

[enragedlemon]

Or, you know, I could ask on the forum thread dedicated to this model, where everyone else who owns them is. But sure, I'm sure my "local dealer" knows this, I'll call them right now.

I am not sure why you think a thread full of owners would have the answer to a hypothetical that hasn't occurred yet. Your question is entirely valid and I would love to know the answer as well, but nobody here has that answer. Any answers given, including my own pondering, are pure speculation. Your local dealer probably won't have the answer but they do have a direct line of communication with Focal who can provide this information.

 

[chrisnyc75]

I am not sure why you think a thread full of owners would have the answer to a hypothetical that hasn't occurred yet. Your question is entirely valid and I would love to know the answer as well, but nobody here has that answer. Any answers given, including my own pondering, are pure speculation. Your local dealer probably won't have the answer but they do have a direct line of communication with Focal who can provide this information.

Thank you for your enlightening insight. I'm sure you're the only one who thought of that.

 

[iDesign]

So is the assumption that Utopia "OG" owners would be given Newtopia drivers in their Utopia OG chassis in the event of a post-2022 driver failure? Inquiring minds want to know.

According to Focal the driver is the same but now uses an aluminum-copper voice coil, and according to their marketing materials, it contributes to a “revamped sound signature.” I assume Focal would exhaust their supplies of the original drivers for repairs and it’s unclear how the new driver would work or sound in the original version.

 

[enragedlemon]

According to Focal the driver is the same but now uses an aluminum-copper voice coil, and according to their marketing materials, it contributes to a “revamped sound signature.”

I am not sure this is correct. Looking at the marketing blurb it seems to suggest the voice coil is just for reliability and the change in grille shape is for sound (emphasis mine):

Utopia still harbors its ‘M’-shaped dome, pure Beryllium speaker drivers for transparent and true sound reproduction. The new addition to the speaker driver is in the voice coil. We have developed a brand-new voice coil that brings together reliability and lightness.

Some customers have unfortunately encountered issues with speaker drivers in their Utopia headphones, so we have worked hard to resolve this problem. The new voice coil is made up of 30% copper and 70% aluminum, making the speaker driver extremely reliable whilst maintaining its excellent performance.

To push the limits of Utopia even further, to improve linearity and reproduction of the treble, we have incorporated the ‘M’-shaped speaker driver grille (developed for Clear Mg), which follows the curve of the dome. With the new Utopia, what you get is unequalled sound performance with vastly improved reliability!

 

[enragedlemon]

Thank you for your enlightening insight. I'm sure you're the only one who thought of that.

Look, there is already plenty of misinformation around already. Any information you get here, unless it comes from Focal, isn't likely to be right. It's just not that helpful. In the time it took you to post the comment you could have emailed a dealer or Focal for the correct answer and then let us all know.