Going back and listening to my HD800 & TH900 tonight and jeez... the Utopia is certainly playing not just a league above them but I'd have to say a couple leagues above them... as they should at their price tag.
It's just kind of shocking. I have had those both those headphones for quite a long time and felt like I was listening to headphones at the top level. Like I said... it's not like they are bad headphones at all, it's just the Utopia is just that much higher on the totem pole, lol. The technological innovations that Focal put into the Utopia are certainly making their presence felt.
Utopia vs. HD800:
The Utopia makes the HD800 sound like a very unnatural sounding headphone. HD800 bass is anemic sounding in comparison whereas the Utopia has the natural sounding bass of the source track and adds nothing more to it. If I play my thumping hip-hop and EDM tracks on the HD800, I sit there and wonder where all the bass has gone? The Utopia on the other hand still provides me with a nice clean, well controlled sounding bass that leaves me satisfied. If there was a touch more bass on the Utopia it would be great, but who knows, that might cause negatives in other areas of the sound. The Utopia sound signature as-is sounds very good to me.
Another way the Utopia makes the HD800 sound unnatural is presentation. HD800 definitely throws a wider (way out from the left and right ears) stage. But is that really preferable? The HD800 has a really
interesting presentation because everything is so spread out and separated. But it is not natural sounding. Yes, certainly it makes me smile and think that is really cool how it does that to the music, but afterwards all I can think about is that the music does not actually sound like that. With the wider soundstage, instruments in the music are much more distant and as a result I cannot hear them as loud and as detailed as I can on the Utopia. If I try and focus on the instruments, I lose focus on the vocals in the track, everything is a little
too separated.
So overall my impression is that the Utopia is more detailed, clear and natural sounding than the HD800 and doesn't suffer from the bass deficiency that the HD800 does. Basically it can give you most of the goodness that an HD800 can (minus the ultra wide (IMO unnatural) soundstage) and plenty of bass as well to keep bass lovers happy.
Utopia vs. TH-900
They are VERY different sounding headphones. The HD800 and Utopia definitely share more similarities. The TH-900 has a very V-shaped signature whereas the Utopia signature is very balanced. My TH-900 is Lawton modded (Ebony cups, with internal foam tuning kit) and this helps tame the fatiguing treble of the stock TH-900. When I first put on the TH-900 and began listening I was a bit taken aback. It really requires an adjustment period when listening to such totally different sounding headphones. The bass of the TH-900 was a bit overpowering at first. It definitely is a FUN headphone for sure. That fun signature is great with EDM and hip-hop music but I was definitely feeling a lack of clarity in the mid-region. After listening to the Utopia, everything else seems to sound less clear somehow, lol. Even for EDM and hip-hop I think the Utopia may have become my preferred listen. It can't reach down as low and slam my ear drums like the TH-900 can, but everything else the Utopia does makes up for it by far. And the thing is, the Utopia has enough bass to keep me satisfied. A touch more might be nice, but perfectly happy with it as is. I can still see myself listening to the TH-900 though, when I am in that fun mood
---
So yeah, Utopia is a damn good headphone and a great listen in STOCK form. It is easy to drive and doesn't require modifications in order to overcome flaws of the headphones (had to Lawton mod my TH-900, my HD800 is stock but many people have been modding those as well to tackle the treble spike and are spending crap tons of money looking for an elusive perfect amp pairing).
