[koven]

Cables are funny.. I doubt anyone can confidently blind ABX the sound difference between a stock Utopia cable vs e.g. Axios or Lazuli.
The stock cable sounds really good to me and so does my Draug Silver but the length/aesthetics were the biggest factors in my upgrade. I do think it sounds better than stock but I also think placebo is a b*tch for better or worse.

 

[up late]

I think we may have a bit of confusion.....i am referring to the cable provided by focal with the utopia not cables tat cost 4000 on their own.....although i highly doubt the cost to manufacturer is close to 25% on any of them

no confusion on my part. so i ask again, can you provide any evidence in support of your claim which you "stand by"?

 

[jlbrach]

well,here goes for the last time.....i will use audeze as an example,they provide a cable ass part of their 4000 dollar HP......you can buy that cable used for 150 dollars and new on the audeze website for 599.00....do you think that cable costs audeze 400 dollars?......same goes for utopia and all other HP manufacturers....come on

 

[up late]

i thought you were referring to the utopia's cable? can you provide any evidence in support of the claims that you have been making about its actual cost?

 

[TSAVJason]

well,here goes for the last time.....i will use audeze as an example,they provide a cable ass part of their 4000 dollar HP......you can buy that cable used for 150 dollars and new on the audeze website for 599.00....do you think that cable costs audeze 400 dollars?......same goes for utopia and all other HP manufacturers....come on

In good cables the multiplier its almost always X4. If that remains consistant with Focal it would make the stock cable near the $300 mark at their cost to make. Being it’s made in France and how their payroll & benefits works there I’d say $1090.00 MSRP is about normal. Wire can and offen does have a higher mark up than electronics do,

 

[McMadface]

so you believe the cable costs the manufacturer 1000 dollars?.....what are you smoking?

He's talking about standard keystone markup in consumer durables. The cost to manufacture an item is typically 1/4 or 1/5 the retail price. This way, there is enough margin for everyone in the distribution chain to make a living.

He's saying that whatever the retail price of the cables are, it costs 1/4 of that to actually manufacture it. He's not saying the cost to manufacture the cables is 1/4 of the retail price of the full headphone kit.

 

[jmk720]

Guys, the mids on the utopia are upfront like the elear? I found this fatiguing as hell...

 

[MacedonianHero]

Listening to my Utopias tonight after a while away from them (took the family to Disney World) and with my Lazuli cable and DAVE, this is as good as dynamic headphones have ever sounded! I've had my pair for about 1.5 years and boy to I still enjoy the heck out of them! The level of transparency, clarity, and tonality are spot on to my ears.

 

[doraymon]

Guys, the mids on the utopia are upfront like the elear? I found this fatiguing as hell...

Even more so (upfront)

 

[TSAVJason]

He's talking about standard keystone markup in consumer durables. The cost to manufacture an item is typically 1/4 or 1/5 the retail price. This way, there is enough margin for everyone in the distribution chain to make a living.

He's saying that whatever the retail price of the cables are, it costs 1/4 of that to actually manufacture it. He's not saying the cost to manufacture the cables is 1/4 of the retail price of the full headphone kit.

I’m not saying this is true 100% of the time. Monster Cables reached upwards of 80% profit to the dealer and there is another big company that is also in that margin range. (can’t name them here) but if you buy from BB you might want to insist on a huge discount, like 50% off to make the price more in line with reality. These kinds of products are known to dealers as “discount recouping” products. ....like this, the dealer gives you a discount of say $100 on a $1000 item and then convinces you to but a cable that has so much profit in it that the dealer gets that same $100 he just gave you back even after he gives you a small discount on the cable. This is very common in big box and major online stores. Wrong? Well I think so.

 

[buzzlulu]

Listening to my Utopias tonight after a while away from them (took the family to Disney World) and with my Lazuli cable and DAVE, this is as good as dynamic headphones have ever sounded! I've had my pair for about 1.5 years and boy to I still enjoy the heck out of them! The level of transparency, clarity, and tonality are spot on to my ears.

And they really are capable of scaling up as the source improves (as you are finding with the Dave)

They sound amazing with my WM1Z and Axios cable - however when I put them on the two channel rig and have a Linn Klimax DS feed them as a source - WOW!

I run a uber Naim/Linn two channel system. The day I want to bin it all and get rid of all of the boxes I truly think I would have no problem living with a WM1Z/Axios/Utopia setup. Someone on the Naim forum who also runs a TOTL 2 Naim system just came back from the Munich high end show. He had the chance to hear the 1Z and Utopia (as well as the Z1R with the 1Z) and pretty much said the same thing.

 

[MacedonianHero]

And they really are capable of scaling up as the source improves (as you are finding with the Dave)

They sound amazing with my WM1Z and Axios cable - however when I put them on the two channel rig and have a Linn Klimax DS feed them as a source - WOW!

I run a uber Naim/Linn two channel system. The day I want to bin it all and get rid of all of the boxes I truly think I would have no problem living with a WM1Z/Axios/Utopia setup. Someone on the Naim forum who also runs a TOTL 2 Naim system just came back from the Munich high end show. He had the chance to hear the 1Z and Utopia (as well as the Z1R with the 1Z) and pretty much said the same thing.

Agreed! I have a set of Axios cables here and they are brilliant as well! These headphones will indeed scale and scale with your front end! FWIW, I'm a big fan of the Z1R (one of my favourite closed back headphones).

 

[buzzlulu]

Yes - right now I am quite happy with the 1Z and Utopia/Z1R for closed back. Not so thrilled with the Moon 430 amping them on my two channel rig. I'm waiting for the upcoming new HeadAmp this fall which I think will make me happier when using these cans with my two channel rig.

I have to admit though - I recently took a bite out of the Stax apple. WOW

 

[cskippy]

Guys, the mids on the utopia are upfront like the elear? I found this fatiguing as hell...

I don't find the mids on the Elear upfront but the lower mids and upper bass overpower the rest of the frequency response, along with the 10kHz peak, make Elear sound sucked out in the lower treble and crucial 4-5kHz presence region.
Clear is an excellent middle ground between the two and a headphone I can easily recommend. Elex is supposed to also be a vastly improved Elear which I will have hopefully for review/measurements some time in the future.

Here is a graph comparing the three Focals:

 

[TSAVJason]

I don't find the mids on the Elear upfront but the lower mids and upper bass overpower the rest of the frequency response, along with the 10kHz peak, make Elear sound sucked out in the lower treble and crucial 4-5kHz presence region.
Clear is an excellent middle ground between the two and a headphone I can easily recommend. Elex is supposed to also be a vastly improved Elear which I will have hopefully for review/measurements some time in the future.

Here is a graph comparing the three Focals:

Supposed to be, according to their sales dude. I am on the side of that being FAKE news