[up late]

too similar to own both...too many other options out there

agreed. the differences in sound between the two were slight to my ears.

 

[chrisnyc75]

there isn't another option if you want TOTL dynamic driver sound

Sure there is, there are many. ZMF Atrium (open or closed), ZMF Verite (open or closed), Fostex TH900 or 909, Yamaha YH5000... even in Focal's own line there's Stellia. You may or may not like what they have to offer, but to jlbrach's point, there are too many other options out there to have 2 *slight* variations of the same thing in your stable. But you do you, to each their own.

 

[kkrazik2008]

You know what, y’all knocking those of us owning both Utopia models are right. I’m selling one of them tomorrow, which one should I sell?

 

[up late]

^ sell the one with the most warranty/least used or keep the one that you most value

 

[tjkohli]

which one should I sell?

Whichever one you like the least. I have heard both and I love the sound of the new one better, but the looks/build of the old one.

 

[djentbat]

Whichever one you like the least. I have heard both and I love the sound of the new one better, but the looks/build of the old one.

Lol I’m the opposite I like the sound of the OG better, but prefer the looks of the new one

 

[hakunamakaka]

Sure there is, there are many. ZMF Atrium (open or closed), ZMF Verite (open or closed), Fostex TH900 or 909, Yamaha YH5000... even in Focal's own line there's Stellia. You may or may not like what they have to offer, but to jlbrach's point, there are too many other options out there to have 2 *slight* variations of the same thing in your stable. But you do you, to each their own.

neither Fostex TH900 or Stellia in it's stock form actually competes with Utopia. YH5000 is ortho so will have different presentation. It depends what you are looking in sound and if good dynamics and transient response is important Utopia is up there. Of course if goals are different there are plenty of other offerings. Person seeking for more relaxed presentation would enjoy something from ZMF lineup or the one seeking for quality sub-bass should look into orthos.

An excitement with Utopia can be advantage for some and annoyance for others it's just how the hobby is

 

[tjkohli]

neither Fostex TH900 or Stellia in it's stock form actually competes with Utopia. YH5000 is ortho so will have different presentation. It depends what you are looking in sound and if good dynamics and transient response is important Utopia is up there. Of course if goals are different there are plenty of other offerings. Person seeking for more relaxed presentation would enjoy something from ZMF lineup or the one seeking for quality sub-bass should look into orthos.

An excitement with Utopia can be advantage for some and annoyance for others it's just how the hobby is

I agree to a great extent. I think there are probably only a handful of headphones in the world that compete with Utopia in sheer resolving capability. Susvara, and Abyss come to mind, and they are amazing headphones, but the Utopia is "faster" than both of them by a long shot.

 

[skhan007]

I agree to a great extent. I think there are probably only a handful of headphones in the world that compete with Utopia in sheer resolving capability. Susvara, and Abyss come to mind, and they are amazing headphones, but the Utopia is "faster" than both of them by a long shot.

That's great to hear. I'm on this thread as a future Utopia owner and current Abyss 1266 owner. I'd like to think the Utopia would be complementary and not redundant of the Abyss. I think the Be driver is uniquely different than the planar magnetic design. I'm actually selling off my ZMF headphones to save up for this purchase. One sold and one to go.

 

[bcaulf17]

I agree to a great extent. I think there are probably only a handful of headphones in the world that compete with Utopia in sheer resolving capability. Susvara, and Abyss come to mind, and they are amazing headphones, but the Utopia is "faster" than both of them by a long shot.

Huh that’s interesting. I haven’t heard either but I assumed the Susvara would be faster than the Utopia.

 

[BassicScience]

Huh that’s interesting. I haven’t heard either but I assumed the Susvara would be faster than the Utopia.

Yeah, I wasn't going to chime in, but he sort of framed his subjective opinion as something more absolute than that. To my ears, estats, ribbons, and several TOTL planars are all more resolving than the Utopia. I'm not entirely sure what his distinction is between "resolving" and "fast", but the terms are more or less synonymous to me. I say this as someone whose daily driver was the OG Utopia for about two years, before I moved on to the Susvara... and never looked back. Don't get me wrong, I still think the Utopia is a superb headphone, but I don't consider it the last word in resolution.

 

[up late]

^ having heard the susvara, the abyss range and owning a utopia, i doubt that i could discern a difference in the speed of the drivers of those headphones

 

[hakunamakaka]

Yeah, I wasn't going to chime in, but he sort of framed his subjective opinion as something more absolute than that. To my ears, estats, ribbons, and several TOTL planars are all more resolving than the Utopia. I'm not entirely sure what his distinction is between "resolving" and "fast", but the terms are more or less synonymous to me. I say this as someone whose daily driver was the OG Utopia for about two years, before I moved on to the Susvara... and never looked back. Don't get me wrong, I still think the Utopia is a superb headphone, but I don't consider it the last word in resolution.

No doubt that there are headphones which out-resolves Utopia today. Planars in general sound different to me as they do staging in their own why which i prefer more as well. The other good trait of TOTL planars is how they reproduce sub-bass which doesn't distort and is more tighter of what dynamics can achieve. I haven't heard Susvara, but HE1000s v2, Arya did not came close to Utopia. Just too soft sounding for my tastes. D8000pro on the other hand many things slightly better than Utopia, except stage depth and dynamics

^ having heard the susvara, the abyss range and owning a utopia, i doubt that i could discern a difference in the speed of the drivers of those headphones

You need a certain music with high dynamic range to hear it. There are some electronic which I adore and classical music that highlights the differences, but most of popular genres with acoustic, pop,rnb won't cut it.
Youtube compresses a bit, but still good for ref point. Both of these tracks are intense experience with OG Utopia. I'm nearly sure that e-stats would do it, but scared to dip my toes there.


or my go to in electronic sphere:

 

[up late]

You need a certain music with high dynamic range to hear it. There are some electronic which I adore and classical music that highlights the differences, but most of popular genres with acoustic, pop,rnb won't cut it.
Youtube compresses a bit, but still good for ref point. Both of these tracks are intense experience with OG Utopia. I'm nearly sure that e-stats would do it, but scared to dip my toes there.


or my go to in electronic sphere:

sure, if you're a bat

 

[hakunamakaka]

sure, if you're a bat

well you don't need a bat hearing for that. There are plenty of software solutions that measures dynamic range of the track or you can use DB website as well:
https://dr.loudness-war.info

For some diaphragm weight/material and how fast it can be moved doesn't have any impact to the sound and that's ok, but it doesn't mean there isn't any audible differences.