[Svatopluk]

I agree, a more significant sample size will be needed before an accurate assessment can be made pertaining to possible manufacturing variations in flagship headphones.

I fear a can of worms may have been opened but in the end maybe it will benefit the consumer.

 

[Allanmarcus]

I don't see how your enjoyment could change if you genuinely liked them in the first place.
I realise that we're looking for reaffirmation with a lot of things, especially if we spent this much money on a product, but you have to know yourself what you like.

This is not the issue. The issue is "are we getting what we paid for?" Is the item defective? If the defect is something that can alter enjoyment over time and can only be positively identified with certain measuring equipment, then enjoyment could be better with a non-defective headphone.

So, every headphones now need to be measured to make sure it is within the specs and perform as good as it was designed....By the User/buyer/purchaser themselves now ? Interesting

yes. For $4000 every headphone should be tested, inspected, and measured at the factory.

 

[JimL11]

yes. For $4000 every headphone should be tested, inspected, and measured at the factory.[/QUOTE]

I agree. Sennheiser claims their HD650 headphones are matched within +/- 1 dB, hand-picked in pairs, and that's for a $499 list price set of headphones. For a $4000 headphone, anything less should be totally unacceptable.

 

[Khragon]

yes. For $4000 every headphone should be tested, inspected, and measured at the factory.

I agree. Sennheiser claims their HD650 headphones are matched within +/- 1 dB, hand-picked in pairs, and that's for a $499 list price set of headphones. For a $4000 headphone, anything less should be totally unacceptable.[/QUOTE]

+1

 

[Liu Junyuan]

Pretty disturbing news, indeed. While I am very happy with the Utopia I bought last August, I wonder how my pair might differ from that of others. We should really be speaking about one Utopia, not several Utopias, since it is inevitable there will be one better or worse for one based on preferences. I hope Tyll may be get a larger sample size to see just how far this has gone. For 4,000 USD, anything less than all efforts to approximate perfection undermines the rationale for the purchase completely.

 

[Alu]

This is not the issue. The issue is are we getting what we paid for. Is the item defective? If the defect is something that can alter enjoyment over time and can only be positively identified with certain measuring equipment, then enjoyment could be better with a non-defective headphone.

Of course it's not the issue, but since I apparently misunderstood the original poster I quoted, who was being rhetorical, it's irrelevant anyway.
I still stand by the fact that if you actually enjoy it more than any other headphone you listened to, then that's where it ends.
You shouldn't be so weak-willed (and I don't mean you, Allanmarcus) that you have to have the hordes on here or anywhere tell you what's good or not, because for me this hype train ended in utter disappointment, and that more than once.

But it's important for Focal to address this, because it's absolutely unacceptable to have this ridiculous variance in a product like that, and it potentially would've affected my decision to buy a model, had I not heard the right one (if there are right and wrong ones now).

All I know about measurements is that the W5k measured like crap and it's one of my favourite headphones.
The Yggdrasil measured badly in Stereophile afaik and it's amazing.

EDIT:

Perhaps you misunderstood my "question".

And apologies to thyname for misunderstanding you.

 

[up late]

the measurable variation between the models that tyll and bob and his associates evaluated certainly explains their markedly different impressions. but i really do think that we need a larger sample of utopia units to compare before the collective handwringing begins.

 

[paul2qute]

On my focal utopia headphones the left speaker is beryllium and the right is aluminium and magnesium, now it's not the tightest of quality control but at least I get the utopia and elear rolled into one

 

[Whitigir]

Roflmao the humor began

 

[paul2qute]

Apparently focal have moved their headphone factory to China in some backstreet sweat shop for tighter quality control and to maximise profit in the process

 

[Whitigir]

Well, as an owner of Utopia, I don't feel like bashing Utopia as I freaking love my Utopia. It blows my mind every freaking time I have it on. So, yeah

Did Bob Burn it in yet ? Or Tyll...roflmao....

 

[paul2qute]

Well, as an owner of Utopia, I don't feel like bashing Utopia as I freaking love my Utopia. It blows my mind every freaking time I have it on. So, yeah

Did Bob Burn it in yet ? Or Tyll...roflmao....

Love mine too mate well buzzing,mine came in the spirit s pro body though, quite like the black enamel finish!!!

 

[xxx1313]

I was able to test two Utopia headphones and I could not detect any unit variation. And even though I still like my HD800S, I had to sell my HEK V1 after listening to my Utopia for a few weeks. The Utopia is so fast, punchy, with extremely tight bass, clear mids, no problems in the treble area, so detailled and still emotional. Going back to other headphones after some time is so difficult. I never experienced anything like this before. The HEK V1 adds some flavour that I like, but its sound is sooo different from the Utopia, so that I could not go back. The Utopia is so much more technically capable, imho.

Back to the measurements at innerfidelity: Any headphone developer knows that the frequency response differs considerably depending on positioning someone's head. Making different measurements and calculating the arithmetic medium does not solve the problem entirely. So any measurments of the frequency response curve above 3-4 kHz have to be taken with a grain of salt. I like Tyll's assessments a lot as well as his measurements - but people should also keep in mind that companies like Focal, Sennheiser, AKG etc. do have better and more expensive gear available - and even they know about the limitations of measurements!

I also know that channel imbalances can be very annoying, but this problem is rather limited to planars and electrostatics, but not common with expensive dynamic headphones. I once had an LCD-3 with an annoying channel imbalance in a certain frequency area, but never experienced something similar with any dynamic headphone (except Beats - but we are not talking about wannabe headphones here).

 

[ubs28]

Mine is from November and I think I have a unit similar to Tyll according to my ears?

I actually hear a small dip in the mids somewhere rather than a peak (but the dip is not easy to hear so it is no big deal)

 

[MacedonianHero]

At the last meet I went to, there must have been a half dozen that I listened to from various vendors tables...all sounded the exact same (except for small changes which I attribute to upstream gear such as amps or DACs). As well, measuring headphones over 4kHz is rather difficult to reproducibly do. Might be one bad pair? It happens? Plus we don't know if this pair was mishandled, dropped, etc? This is Focal after all, this is far from their first rodeo.