[supermj]

There isn't and never was a new model or version of the Utopia, at all.
The only difference are the accessories (cables).

Sorry if my wording was mis leading but that is what i meant. Maybe i should of said at the beginning it's the same headphone but with........

 

[Christer]

Fwiw I wouldn’t be surprised if the “b stock” in australia is the old single cable version

And this brings me back to my first question in this thread. Is there any SQ difference between the new and old "cables"?
I vaguely remember the one I heard being VERY long indeed. 4 metres or so?
I wrongly assumed there to be a new model but it turns out only a cable change happened.
With my old HD 800 I can hear quite a big difference between the stock cable and a Furutech silver cable with the silver one better and less coloured and more resolving of inner details.
And my interest in Utopia rests mainly on the fact that when comparing it against my HEKV2, Utopia tended to render cello with more of the woody character of that instrument revealed than my HEKV 2 did via Chord H2 and Qutest and Dave /HMS.
My main reservation with Utopia was the smaller more constricted soundstage than both HEKV2 and HD800.
But resolution with hi res acoustic material,was quite impressive imho.
Maybe I should try a better than stock cable with my HEKV 2 before getting yet another pair of headphones?
Cheers CC

 

[thecrow]

And this brings me back to my first question in this thread. Is there any SQ difference between the new and old "cables"?
I vaguely remember the one I heard being VERY long indeed. 4 metres or so?
I wrongly assumed there to be a new model but it turns out only a cable change happened.
With my old HD 800 I can hear quite a big difference between the stock cable and a Furutech silver cable with the silver one better and less coloured and more resolving of inner details.
And my interest in Utopia rests mainly on the fact that when comparing it against my HEKV2, Utopia tended to render cello with more of the woody character of that instrument revealed than my HEKV 2 did via Chord H2 and Qutest and Dave /HMS.
My main reservation with Utopia was the smaller more constricted soundstage than both HEKV2 and HD800.
But resolution with hi res acoustic material,was quite impressive imho.
Maybe I should try a better than stock cable with my HEKV 2 before getting yet another pair of headphones?
Cheers CC

Maybe also sus out the hekse if you haven’t.
(upgrade option from hekv2)

the se vs v2, has a bit more precision and tighter bass

the utopia has a bit more weight to the tone but both the utopia and hekse have great precision buy they just do it a bit differently

and the hekse sounds great out of everything and anything that i have tried - including my iPhone and ipad

 

[Christer]

Maybe also sus out the hekse if you haven’t.
(upgrade option from hekv2)

the se vs v2, has a bit more precision and tighter bass

the utopia has a bit more weight to the tone but both the utopia and hekse have great precision buy they just do it a bit differently

and the hekse sounds great out of everything and anything that i have tried - including my iPhone and ipad

Thanks for your advice.
I have also auditioned the HEKSE but did not find it enough of an upgrade over my HEKV2 that Susvara definitely was.
In spite of the inferior build quality with both Susvara ,HEKV2 and HEKSE I may to try to sell my HEKV2 and upgrade to Susvara.
But that "weight to the tone" and fuller bodied instrumental sound from Utopia over HEKV2 is also tempting and would cost much less if I buy second hand..
Cheers CC

 

[joseph69]

Thanks for the update, I haven´t followed this thread closely, but looking at second hand prices it seems they´re selling for as low as 2kUSD and even 2900AUSD brand new, recently.
Could that be an indication that there might be a new Utopia around the corner? Or are Utopia prices just becoming more reasonable?
Cheers CC

You're welcome.
Also, I'd have no idea if Focal is planning the release of a successor to the Utopia.
$2000.00 USD for a used Utopia is dependent on the condition and remains warranty.
As far as BNIB $2900.00 (AUSD) would be equivalent to +/- $2222.00 (USD) which seems a bit low, but I haven't researched the Utopia prices.

 

[LarsMan]

Thanks for the update, I haven´t followed this thread closely, but looking at second hand prices it seems they´re selling for as low as 2kUSD and even 2900AUSD brand new, recently.
Could that be an indication that there might be a new Utopia around the corner? Or are Utopia prices just becoming more reasonable?
Cheers CC

I think it means that not many were selling for $4000 - and considering what you can get now in the $2500 - $3500 range, that $4000 is overpriced - so retailers started doing packaging as parts of sets, or opening the box and then having an 'open-box' or 'store demo' that they can sell for whatever they want. I got a 'demo' last year for about $3100 and now realize I could have done much better than that.... I realize that if I sell it, I probably won't be able to get more than $2500.....

 

[LarsMan]

Maybe also sus out the hekse if you haven’t.
(upgrade option from hekv2)

the se vs v2, has a bit more precision and tighter bass

the utopia has a bit more weight to the tone but both the utopia and hekse have great precision buy they just do it a bit differently

and the hekse sounds great out of everything and anything that i have tried - including my iPhone and ipad

I've got a Utopia and a V2, and wow are they different!! Between the SE and V2, I preferred the V2 as I didn't need as much detail as the SE provides and I found the V2 to be more 'musical' in tying all the elements together into a coherent whole. Same between the Abyss Diana V2 (which I have) and the Diana Phi (which I've heard). I've got a 6-headphone shoot-out to do before putting some of them on the market! Still breaking in ZMF VO and Diana, though....

 

[LCMusicLover]

...Maybe I should try a better than stock cable with my HEKV 2 before getting yet another pair of headphones?
Cheers CC

I tried some different cables with my HEKv2, but could never lose the sense that the sound was 'thin' -- certainly affected the timbre of cellos.

Maybe also sus out the hekse if you haven’t.
(upgrade option from hekv2)

the se vs v2, has a bit more precision and tighter bass

the utopia has a bit more weight to the tone but both the utopia and hekse have great precision buy they just do it a bit differently

and the hekse sounds great out of everything and anything that i have tried - including my iPhone and ipad

I agree with this recommendation -- I find the HEKse sound to be thicker/fuller than HEKv2. Personally, I find Utopia missing on solo cello. Feels like the 'bottom' is missing or recessed. To me the Utopia misses on cellos more than HEKv2, and I very much prefer the HEKse presentation. Could be the specific recordings I've compared, but I don't think so.

I generally prefer HEKse to Utopia for most classical music.

 

[LCMusicLover]

I think it means that not many were selling for $4000 - and considering what you can get now in the $2500 - $3500 range, that $4000 is overpriced - so retailers started doing packaging as parts of sets, or opening the box and then having an 'open-box' or 'store demo' that they can sell for whatever they want. I got a 'demo' last year for about $3100 and now realize I could have done much better than that.... I realize that if I sell it, I probably won't be able to get more than $2500.....

Pretty much always been true. As Jason (sourceAV) has mentioned, reach out to your dealer.

I paid $2300 for my Utopia as 'new open-box' deal from Adorama back in October, 2017. Given that there's only 1.5 years left on my warranty, I probably couldn't sell them for more than $1500 - 1600 or so. To be clear, I'm not selling them

 

[Christer]

I've got a Utopia and a V2, and wow are they different!! Between the SE and V2, I preferred the V2 as I didn't need as much detail as the SE provides and I found the V2 to be more 'musical' in tying all the elements together into a coherent whole. Same between the Abyss Diana V2 (which I have) and the Diana Phi (which I've heard). I've got a 6-headphone shoot-out to do before putting some of them on the market! Still breaking in ZMF VO and Diana, though....

So where in your long pecking order would you put the Utopia?

 

[joseph69]

For me, right up top with any other TOTL headphone that I've either own / owned or demoed in home on my gear for 10+ days.

 

[Christer]

I tried some different cables with my HEKv2, but could never lose the sense that the sound was 'thin' -- certainly affected the timbre of cellos.

I agree with this recommendation -- I find the HEKse sound to be thicker/fuller than HEKv2. Personally, I find Utopia missing on solo cello. Feels like the 'bottom' is missing or recessed. To me the Utopia misses on cellos more than HEKv2, and I very much prefer the HEKse presentation. Could be the specific recordings I've compared, but I don't think so.

I generally prefer HEKse to Utopia for most classical music.

Thanks .
Interesting observation regarding cello between HEKV2 and Utopia.
And also that the thinness is still there with other cables as well with HEKV2.
Very helpful.
My listening time with Utopia is very limited and I was basically only thinking of one particular recording Alisa Weilerstein and the Prague Symphony Orchestra playing Dvorak´s Cello Concerto as recorded by DECCA in the Rudolfinum Prague from my 24/96 download. And both via H2, Qutest and DAVE, all three, with an mscaler added, I could hear more of that warm woody cello character via Utopia.But everything sounded more upfront with Utopia and that is not always an advantage with classical symphonic music which also needs "space to breathe" imho.
I may in the end,have to cough up the money for a Susvara to get what I ideally want?
Cheers CC

 

[LarsMan]

So where in your long pecking order would you put the Utopia?

Hi Christer! Well, the Utopia definitely (to me) has more synergy with my Quicksilver Tube headphone amp than the HEKV2, the Meze Empyreans, or LSA HP-1. Different story from when I was using a Lyr 3, where the Utopia did not fare quite so well as the HE and Empyrean. I just got the ZMF and Dianas earlier this week and cannot do a fair judgement until they're fully broken in (both over 100 hours now, shouldn't be long), but I see a big battle coming up between Utopia, ZMF, and Abyss, as even though the latter two are not FULLY broken in, they both impress the hell out of me. All 3 are very different from each other and all 3 are awesome through my amp, but I can really only keep 2 - aaaggghhh!!!!

 

[acguitar84]

I've been enjoying my new Utopia's, they're great! Gosh though, I plugged in tonight for a little bit of listening before bed and the left headphone wasn't working. This is using the 4pin XLR cable the headphones came with. So I swapped the cord around and quickly found out it was the cable not the headphone (thank goodness). So I'm listening right now on the SE cable that's provided and no problems.

But - while I check on getting the stock 4 pin XLR cable repaired, I might snag a new cable. So..

I might just go with the corpse cable. I've searched the thread and there's only a few posts on the corpse cables. Sounds like people are happy with them.

I don't want to spend a lot of money right now, so I'm thinking either the corpse, or spend a few hundred more and get either the moon audio black dragon, or silver dragon. Any recommendations on moon cables from anyone? I did read this on the moon audio site.

We typically recommend the Black Dragon Premium for the Utopia Headphones. While the Utopia does not have sharp issues to the top frequencies, it is a little on the forward side. The Black Dragon provides the right balance to the sound with more musicality to the top end without rolling off the detail and definition. It also reinforces the wonderful vocal midrange of these headphones and provides more weight to the bottom end. However, the Silver Dragon is a good choice for more analytical listeners who like to pick out every detail of their audio. It will really open up the soundstage and energy of the Utopia.


It sounds like I'd enjoy the Silver Dragon more. It's one of my favorite things about the Utopia so far, it's resolution. It's fun hearing things so clearly!!

Thanks everyone!!

 

[LarsMan]

I've been enjoying my new Utopia's, they're great! Gosh though, I plugged in tonight for a little bit of listening before bed and the left headphone wasn't working. This is using the 4pin XLR cable the headphones came with. So I swapped the cord around and quickly found out it was the cable not the headphone (thank goodness). So I'm listening right now on the SE cable that's provided and no problems.

But - while I check on getting the stock 4 pin XLR cable repaired, I might snag a new cable. So..

I might just go with the corpse cable. I've searched the thread and there's only a few posts on the corpse cables. Sounds like people are happy with them.

I don't want to spend a lot of money right now, so I'm thinking either the corpse, or spend a few hundred more and get either the moon audio black dragon, or silver dragon. Any recommendations on moon cables from anyone? I did read this on the moon audio site.

We typically recommend the Black Dragon Premium for the Utopia Headphones. While the Utopia does not have sharp issues to the top frequencies, it is a little on the forward side. The Black Dragon provides the right balance to the sound with more musicality to the top end without rolling off the detail and definition. It also reinforces the wonderful vocal midrange of these headphones and provides more weight to the bottom end. However, the Silver Dragon is a good choice for more analytical listeners who like to pick out every detail of their audio. It will really open up the soundstage and energy of the Utopia.


It sounds like I'd enjoy the Silver Dragon more. It's one of my favorite things about the Utopia so far, it's resolution. It's fun hearing things so clearly!!

Thanks everyone!!

I got a Corpse Cable for my Empyreans - I'm not one who notices a huge difference between cables, but it did seem to open it up and give it a bit more air. Or maybe it just looks like it should! Hard to beat the price on those Corpse cables, too....