[emptymt]

I tried to enjoy speakers, bought a pair of kef ls50’s but never used them, sold the 4 weeks later. I tried to like them, played some music and gaming etc but my enviroment just doesnt suit them for office use etc.

I prefer the more personal experience of headphones of I’m being honest, speakers are great for the living room etc for which I have sonos and currently enjoy that enough not to warrant delving any further into speakers. It is a personal preference though.

I’m seriously tossing up getting utopias or the new clears which look like they will be half the cost and have a strong chance de walling the utopias, i love the extra cables, the quality and their not big heavy cables either, i also prefer the travel case. I think focal just lost a lot of sale for utopia releasing the clears. I will reserve final judgement till I can hear them or see more reviews though. Just seems you get more for your money the clears apart from the berillium (or how wver you spell it) driver thats in the utopias.

I currently own hd800S and Aeons.

I think the main selling point of the clear is the tonality, many have voiced their opinions of the Utopia being Bass-light, and a bit bright, the clear just reflect the opinions and feedbacks of these but they do it on the Elear first (for whatever reason, etc).

I personally don't find the Utopia bass-light.

The clear also use a higher quality voiced-coil which is different than the one in Elear, Idk what they use in the Utopia on the voice coil, but they could put this in the Utopia and other improvements too when they decide to have a new flagship, etc.

 

[333jeffery]

Do the Utopia's pair well with the Apex Teton amp? Any tube recommendations?

 

[up late]

I tried to enjoy speakers, bought a pair of kef ls50’s but never used them, sold the 4 weeks later. I tried to like them, played some music and gaming etc but my enviroment just doesnt suit them for office use etc.

I prefer the more personal experience of headphones of I’m being honest, speakers are great for the living room etc for which I have sonos and currently enjoy that enough not to warrant delving any further into speakers. It is a personal preference though.

I’m seriously tossing up getting utopias or the new clears which look like they will be half the cost and have a strong chance de walling the utopias, i love the extra cables, the quality and their not big heavy cables either, i also prefer the travel case. I think focal just lost a lot of sale for utopia releasing the clears. I will reserve final judgement till I can hear them or see more reviews though. Just seems you get more for your money the clears apart from the berillium (or how wver you spell it) driver thats in the utopias.

I currently own hd800S and Aeons.

i think that's unlikely. those beryllium drivers are the reason why the utopia continues to be the technically superior transducer, and focal's flagship headphone.

 

[iAudio365]

.

 

[fixated]

Maybe, mr speakers did it to his flows with the aeon line, seems audeze is about to do it.

I mean it would suck for people that spent 4k on the utopia but it happens, it might not be the same driver, but from what i’ve seen in this game it doesnt have to be. Sure the parts the that make up the utopia are top notch with carbon fibre and lamb skin plus they look incredible etc but if the clears are lighter, don’t squeak, arn’t as bright with a bit more punch and sound stage the R.I.P utopia.

So many people are selling their utopias already and prices even over here in Australia have dropped by over 1k at all retailers and on top of that price drop they even running a promotion where you can trade in any headphones and get up to 1500$ in credit against the purchse of the utopias on top.

Sorry to say, but I’m pretty sure not many people are gonna buy utopias anymore once the clears drop, even focal knows this hence why they trying to bulster sales now of the utopia line before they hit retailers. Heck even I was close to buying the utopias but not anymore when I can get a happy middle ground at half the price with better cables, carry case and I personally think the clear just look much better and I’m sure will sound awesome on top.

I think it all just depends on what you'd prefer between the Utopia and the Clear. I'm still planning to get the Utopia if I don't end up liking the Clear, at this point of the hobby the price is already 3rd to how the actual gear sounds, 2nd being how comfortable the headphones would be. Sure it would be nice if the Utopia's were cheaper but I'd still buy them if they sound great to me regardless of the price.

 

[Darren G]

Do the Utopia's pair well with the Apex Teton amp? Any tube recommendations?

Haven't heard the amp, but I'm loving the Utopia's now running off Schiit's MJ2 + Tesla E88cc / 6922. The Tesla's are inexpensive NOS tubes, rolled off treble, laid back recessed mid-range, that work well for me to balance the Utopia's somewhat analytical, brighter sound. Bass is a bit bloated, but again, not such a bad thing to balance the Utopia's somewhat lean tight bass. In total I've found my near perfect balance of smooth, sweet, detail, and plenty of mid-range punch when called for without feeling like the Utopias are wearing me down shouting at me.

I also have a pair of those modern Telefunken Black Diamond 6922's. Pairs decently if you prefer a somewhat more aggressive sound, and again inexpensive.

The Genelex Gold Lion 6922's were complete fail for me with the Utopia's. They paired well with my very polite sounding HifiMan X V2s, but are just far too bright and zippy in the mid-range for me to enjoy them with the Utopias.

Okay, so I am kind of cheap when it comes to tubes, and others with experience with rarer NOS tubes can make better suggestions if price is no object. Regardless, what they say about the Utopias is true... very revealing of upstream gear and quality of the music. They dig out much detail out from recordings, and are a joy when listening to well mastered recordings.

Enjoy!

 

[up late]

Maybe, mr speakers did it to his flows with the aeon line, seems audeze is about to do it.

I mean it would suck for people that spent 4k on the utopia but it happens, it might not be the same driver, but from what i’ve seen in this game it doesnt have to be. Sure the parts the that make up the utopia are top notch with carbon fibre and lamb skin plus they look incredible etc but if the clears are lighter, don’t squeak, arn’t as bright with a bit more punch and sound stage the R.I.P utopia.

So many people are selling their utopias already and prices even over here in Australia have dropped by over 1k at all retailers and on top of that price drop they even running a promotion where you can trade in any headphones and get up to 1500$ in credit against the purchse of the utopias on top.

Sorry to say, but I’m pretty sure not many people are gonna buy utopias anymore once the clears drop, even focal knows this hence why they trying to bulster sales now of the utopia line before they hit retailers. Heck even I was close to buying the utopias but not anymore when I can get a happy middle ground at half the price with better cables, carry case and I personally think the clear just look much better and I’m sure will sound awesome on top.

head-fi'ers buy and sell cans all the time, including totl models. that's not a trend unique to the utopia and it might not even constitute a trend at all.

you're being rather loose with the facts regarding the price drop of the utopia in australia. the reason the price has dropped for the utopia there is because focal's headphone trade-in promotion for the utopia and elear is on offer for the month of october. it is not being offered in addition to any discount that may be negotiated with a dealer, and i can assure you that the prices for both models will return to the msrp in november.

as for your prediction that the introduction of the clear will signal the demise of the utopia, well only time will tell if that comes to pass but i doubt it. it certainly hasn't diminished my interest in the utopia, so you're off to a shaky start nostradamus. and fwiw, i much prefer the appearance of the utopia to the clear.

 

[lcasadonte]

This is just idle chitter chatter but I think you are right about the clear, it will replace the utopia in a way but I bet focal replaces their flagship with an even more expensive flagship, so the $ gap between the clear and the new utopia would be more than with the old utopia per se. Idle speculation now but I think people buying the flagship arent price sensitive and focal is just clearing inventory globally before they discontinue the model. We'll see. I won't be upgrading my utopia's anytime soon. I'm at the end of my line and love what i have personally.

 

[up late]

idle chitter chatter and speculation precedes most new headphone releases

 

[Galm]

Maybe, mr speakers did it to his flows with the aeon line, seems audeze is about to do it.

I mean it would suck for people that spent 4k on the utopia but it happens, it might not be the same driver, but from what i’ve seen in this game it doesnt have to be. Sure the parts the that make up the utopia are top notch with carbon fibre and lamb skin plus they look incredible etc but if the clears are lighter, don’t squeak, arn’t as bright with a bit more punch and sound stage the R.I.P utopia.

So many people are selling their utopias already and prices even over here in Australia have dropped by over 1k at all retailers and on top of that price drop they even running a promotion where you can trade in any headphones and get up to 1500$ in credit against the purchse of the utopias on top.

Sorry to say, but I’m pretty sure not many people are gonna buy utopias anymore once the clears drop, even focal knows this hence why they trying to bulster sales now of the utopia line before they hit retailers. Heck even I was close to buying the utopias but not anymore when I can get a happy middle ground at half the price with better cables, carry case and I personally think the clear just look much better and I’m sure will sound awesome on top.

I guess I don’t understand this because across the spectrum Utopia was clearer than the Clear. If you like detail Utopia is still well ahead. It’s not just frequency response.

 

[dontfeedphils]

I guess I don’t understand this because across the spectrum Utopia was clearer than the Clear. If you like detail Utopia is still well ahead. It’s not just frequency response.

Same thing I was thinking. I just demoed a pair for a weekend and got a good 15 hours on them to compare to my Elear. Obviously the FR of the Utopia is much better (IMHO), but it's much more than that, and if you haven't spent quality time with these cans it's really hard to comment on things like this.

The Clear will hopefully fix some FR issues the Elear suffer from, but I very, very much doubt that you'll find increased resolution, layering, imaging, etc. It's using the same driver tech (more or less), just tuned to a different FR.

 

[DivaFonda]

It's good that Focal is offering the same deal they had in the US in September, for other areas. I think that left a bad taste in some people's mouths when only the US(and I think Canada) had discounts.

 

[Tobes]

Does removing the cables everyday harm the Focal Utopia? I put it everday back in the original box to avoid dust building up.

Well the Lemo spec sheet says >5000 cycles. So if 2 cycles a day, the connector should be good for about 7 years.
Personally I keep mine connected when I replace it in the box after each use.

In any case, I bet you won't see that type of longevity from the crappy 2.5mm TRS plugs used in the HEK.

 

[Tobes]

I've sold my focal utopia headphones and amp,I just enjoy listening to speakers more,they were so clear but felt I was missing something

I usually prefer speaker listening too. However I'm not always able to listen to speakers - e.g. late at night or when I might otherwise disturb people in the house. For these times the Utopia provides superb sound, albeit experienced in a different way.
Different tools for different situations.

 

[iAudio365]

head-fi'ers buy and sell cans all the time, including totl models. that's not a trend unique to the utopia and it might not even constitute a trend at all.

you're being rather loose with the facts regarding the price drop of the utopia in australia. the reason the price has dropped for the utopia there is because focal's headphone trade-in promotion for the utopia and elear is on offer for the month of october. it is not being offered in addition to any discount that may be negotiated with a dealer, and i can assure you that the prices for both models will return to the msrp in november.

as for your prediction that the introduction of the clear will signal the demise of the utopia, well only time will tell if that comes to pass but i doubt it. it certainly hasn't diminished my interest in the utopia, so you're off to a shaky start nostradamus. and fwiw, i much prefer the appearance of the utopia to the clear.

I expected my post to rattle a few feathers with current utopia owners that spent 4k or so on a pair but that wasn’t my intention. I never said their would be a demise, I’m saying if the majority prefer the sound sig of the clear with not as much brightness and a little more punch at half the cost with better cables an actual carry bag accessories etc then RIP = why spend 4k when you can spend 1500 or whatever to get a better experience, sure that experience isnt for everyone but for the majority? Maybe. Common sense prevailse here.

You don’t work for them, they don’t pay you so not sure why you feel the need to defend them they are a corporation like any other just trying to make money after all.

As far as the price drop, it has dropped because the clears are coming and they want to “pull their prices more in line with one another” retailer quote there for ya.

As for the promotion it is only in place for this month “to bolster sales” like I said and is on top of the current price drop. Listen, I have no skin in the game, I buy what sounds better for me, I’m not having a dig at anyone I’m just stating facts, and even after the focal warranty fiasco prices dropped on the secondary market and you can snag a pair at 2500 just look, and as for you saying “head-fi'ers buy and sell cans all the time, including totl models. that's not a trend unique to the utopia and it might not even constitute a trend at all” I never said it was a trend unique to any specific headphone, I’m saying I’m seeing a lot more utopia headphones for sale than I have before which is completely normal when a new product launches or from the warranty issues annoyed a lot of people, there’s even a poll on this thread asking “has your utopia needed a repair from your dealer” lol.

I don’t need to be loose or a fortune teller to state the obvious, all though to some who are about to get burnt by the threat to the TOTL utopias with Clears coming out I might appear that way. But if a certain headphone sounds better to you then who cares honestly? If i listened to all the stupid audiophile terms on here I would of ended up spending money on things I dont like. Its all personal preference, I’m not digging at anyone.