[meomap]

I don't think they are, definitely.
maybe it's the very peculiar setup, don't know, but they have definitely listened to something very different from what I listen to everyday. and yes, I have extensively listened to LCD4 too, and they are really great, definitely TOTL. 

1st three listeners used OPPO HASE setup. To me, used that portable amp and Dac to do a professional reviews should be skewed and ignore reviews entirety. The lady's turn used some studio amp: it sounds like speaker but she dislike that idea. Focal goal is to design Utopia sounds like a speaker setup: that's what the whole ultimate goal.
Some reviewer's there mentioned vocals bring it toward front of your head and still don't like that?
I feel these reviewer's are biased from beginning already.

 

[eantala]

1st three listeners used OPPO HASE setup. To me, used that portable amp and Dac to do a professional reviews should be skewed and ignore reviews entirety. The lady's turn used some studio amp: it sounds like speaker but she dislike that idea. Focal goal is to design Utopia sounds like a speaker setup: that's what the whole ultimate goal.
Some reviewer's there mentioned vocals bring it toward front of your head and still don't like that?
I feel these reviewer's are biased from beginning already.

I agree with the bolded entirely.  
1) you will review 4000 headphones with a 300 portable amp/dac?
 
2) The Utopia has gained multiples reviews that I will say are good to great you'd have to look hard to find strong negatives.
Then this Katz guy comes in and gives a somewhat I'd say negative review (which is fine its his opinion).  But now rather than leaving it alone, he can go out and find 6-7 other folks who share whose opinions mimic his exactly?!  that is some BS right there..

 

[paul2qute]

Been off the sauce 4 days 2 hrs 3 mins and thirty seconds but who's counting hey

 

[buzzlulu]

Sorry to sidestep the Katz debate however:
 
When using my Utopia's in a more portable mode I am starting to tire of the jumbled cable mess created by
 
Utopia > Mojo > USB cable > Apple CCK > iPhone 7
 
 
What DAP's are people using with the Utopia?  The new Sony's look interesting (WM1A as the WM1Z is rather expensive) and provide balanced output however I would miss not having an OS which allows me to stream Tidal or access my ripped collection on my NAS.
 
Curious to know what others are doing for a "portable" use scenario

 

[Allanmarcus]

Regarding the Katz article. I've decided as far as I'm concern, I do't give a *****. I listened to many many headphones, including the LCD4 before I chose the Utopia. I like the Utopia best. For me. I don't really care what others like better beyond being happy for them that they have made their choice.
 
Katz' article may sway a few people to get the LCD4 over the Utopia. Who cares. I don't have stock in Focal's parent company. My Utopias sound just as good before the article as it did after.
 
Was it scientific? no. 
Did they use the best equipment? no
Did they pick the right people? Well, sort of. 
Do their results really matter? no
 
Let it go.

 

[paul2qute]

Regarding the Katz article. I've decided as far as I'm concern, I do't give a *****. I listened to many many headphones, including the LCD4 before I chose the Utopia. I like the Utopia best. For me. I don't really care what others like better beyond being happy for them that they have made their choice.

Katz' article may sway a few people to get the LCD4 over the Utopia. Who cares. I don't have stock in Focal's parent company. My Utopias sound just as good before the article as it did after.

Was it scientific? no. 
Did they use the best equipment? no
Did they pick the right people? Well, sort of. 
Do their results really matter? no

Let it go.

I couldn't give two hoots what any reviewer says apart from maybe malcolm steward but I'll trust my ears and I couldn't careless if ppl think the utopia isn't all that.My Mrs thinks her in ears sound better than my utopia headphones and I have to live with her day in and day out but I ignore her as well

 

[TonyNewman]

  Regarding the Katz article. I've decided as far as I'm concern, I do't give a *****. I listened to many many headphones, including the LCD4 before I chose the Utopia. I like the Utopia best. For me. I don't really care what others like better beyond being happy for them that they have made their choice.
 
Katz' article may sway a few people to get the LCD4 over the Utopia. Who cares. I don't have stock in Focal's parent company. My Utopias sound just as good before the article as it did after.
 
Was it scientific? no. 
Did they use the best equipment? no
Did they pick the right people? Well, sort of. 
Do their results really matter? no
 
Let it go.

 
+1.
 
Did you try the HE1000v2?
 
That headphone might have the right mix of good dynamics, punch and detail, but also a slightly more relaxed presentation.
 
the original HE1000 was often criticized for being too relaxed and laid back, supposedly the v2 update addresses this.
 
My only real criticisms of the Utopia are 1) the price, and 2) it is a very intense headphone - the sound is energetic and somewhat edgy all the time. That can get fatiguing after an hour or so.

 

[stersa]

Today 8 hrs with my utopias without any fatigue.

Regards

Sisco

 

[Allanmarcus]

 
Regarding the Katz article. I've decided as far as I'm concern, I do't give a *****. I listened to many many headphones, including the LCD4 before I chose the Utopia. I like the Utopia best. For me. I don't really care what others like better beyond being happy for them that they have made their choice.

Katz' article may sway a few people to get the LCD4 over the Utopia. Who cares. I don't have stock in Focal's parent company. My Utopias sound just as good before the article as it did after.

Was it scientific? no. 
Did they use the best equipment? no
Did they pick the right people? Well, sort of. 
Do their results really matter? no

Let it go.

+1.

Did you try the HE1000v2?

That headphone might have the right mix of good dynamics, punch and detail, but also a slightly more relaxed presentation.

the original HE1000 was often criticized for being too relaxed and laid back, supposedly the v2 update addresses this.

My only real criticisms of the Utopia are 1) the price, and 2) it is a very intense headphone - the sound is energetic and somewhat edgy all the time. That can get fatiguing after an hour or so.

Unfortunately, no. I agree that the HEK v1 was too polite. One day I'll try the v2

 

[dannybgoode]

Unfortunately, no. I agree that the HEK v1 was too polite. One day I'll try the v2

Do try the v2's. For me they were 'the answer'...

 

[TonyNewman]

Do try the v2's. For me they were 'the answer'...

 
Any comments on Utopia vs HE1000v2 that you care to share? Of all the high end offerings out there, the HE1000v2 might be the less forward presentation that I am after.
 
The Utopia is a brilliant headphone, but I can't call it "relaxing". Not for me. It is intense and wonderful in many ways, but not relaxing.

 

[phaeton70]

   
 2) it is a very intense headphone - the sound is energetic and somewhat edgy all the time. That can get fatiguing after an hour or so.

I had a somewhat similar feeling, even if maybe less emphatic. then I decided to play a bit with the ampli, et voila' solved 

 
new drivers and rectifier in my custom 300B, and I can listen for hours without any fatiguing. I've just finished a 4 hours session with some trance music ([color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Amethystium, Conjure One, Delerium) at a quite high level, and I stopped just because my sweetheart shouted at me [/color]

 

[TonyNewman]

  I had a somewhat similar feeling, even if maybe less emphatic. then I decided to play a bit with the ampli, et voila' solved 

 
new drivers and rectifier in my custom 300B, and I can listen for hours without any fatiguing. I've just finished a 4 hours session with some trance music ([color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Amethystium, Conjure One, Delerium) at a quite high level, and I stopped just because my sweetheart shouted at me [/color]

 
I  might wait until my 300B headamp gets back from repair / modification before doing anything. I am toying with the idea of selling the Utopia and buying a HE1000v2, but would like to hear what happens with the Utopia driven from a 300B amp first. It might do for me what it did for you - take the edge off.

 

[theorist]

  I agree with the bolded entirely.  
1) you will review 4000 headphones with a 300 portable amp/dac?
 
2) The Utopia has gained multiples reviews that I will say are good to great you'd have to look hard to find strong negatives.
Then this Katz guy comes in and gives a somewhat I'd say negative review (which is fine its his opinion).  But now rather than leaving it alone, he can go out and find 6-7 other folks who share whose opinions mimic his exactly?!  that is some BS right there..

Certainly agree with 1), but I wonder if your point 2) can be explained more than the quality of the overall set up, which includes 1), as well as how and what enginerers listen to, ie what it is important for them to hear. Set-up wise, I have some concerns,  that is the mentioned different amps for the HPs, but no mention throughout the reviews to any reference to power supply quality control, grounding, interconnects used, etc. These are all the fettling details of an audio system that most of us audiophiles slave at to get right so as to lower the noise floor to allow the nuances of the music through. But as someone else mentioned on this thread, audio engineers have different criteria and are listening at and for different things.
 
All I have are my amateur ears. But I have been into quality audio for over 40 years and over that time have at different stages been into audio engineering, at least in regards to taking courses about it back in the 70s and doing quite a few business and management plans for London and other UK based studios in the 80s -- all analog, of couse, in those days. So can readily agree that the listening objectives of an audio engineer are very different than for me as an audiophile.
 
But with little studio cable pulling on my part, certainly by ears are those of an amateur, not an audio engineer professional. I am pretty sure that I listen to music for different things, primarily to do with my enjoyment, not commercial success and viability of the recording (now MP3 on an iPhone, more so than Hi Res; just as back in the '80s: AM and boombox sound more so than the mix of an audio albums on a top end system).
 
I have a well fettled rig (see sig below), with my likely weakest component is my DAC (replacing soon), but Stereophile still rates it as an 'A+' (ie, its not part of a $300 DAP). I let my ears tell me what's good. Interestingly, about 90% of my listening is with my Utopia, less than 10% with my LCD-4 and at most 1% with my other HPs.
 
I like the LCD-4, glad I have it, but in comparison to the Utopia I find it veiled. Its easy to listen to, indeed great base, but does not fully let me look into the music, unlike the Utopia -- at least to my amateur ears and with my rig. So after a few hours of LCD-4 listening, I change it back to the Utopia, and then go -- that's better! Now I can follow the individual music strands again, while with the LCD-4, they tend to smear more together and get lost, in my amateur opinion and with my amateur ears.
 
But I wonder: if I threw my cabling loom out and went back to the power cords and interconnect which came bundled with the electronics, if I plugged everything into the normal wall plug, not the dedicated audio power supply, if I used the DAC in my $700 Astell and Kern AK70, would I then  prefer the the LCD-4 and would the Utopia indeed sound hard and un-nuanced -- I don't know and don't plan to find out! But certainly with a proper fettled system, it is the antithesis of that, well, at least IMO, to my amateur ears!!!

 

[daltonlanny]

+1.

Did you try the HE1000v2?

That headphone might have the right mix of good dynamics, punch and detail, but also a slightly more relaxed presentation.

the original HE1000 was often criticized for being too relaxed and laid back, supposedly the v2 update addresses this.

My only real criticisms of the Utopia are 1) the price, and 2) it is a very intense headphone - the sound is energetic and somewhat edgy all the time. That can get fatiguing after an hour or so.

I agree with you TonyNewman, and will probably get flamed over this post, but oh well.
I have tried many sources, dacs, and amps with the Utopia, and it is an Intense sounding, very dynamic headphone,...one of the most dynamic ever! But, on the other hand, it can get somewhat edgy at times, but it is NOT sibilant. I actually hear no sibilance, unless the recording has it.
At times, as others have said, it can sound maybe TOO dynamic, if that makes any sense?
If you love dynamics, and a powerful sound, this is the headphone for you!
It is also somewhat forward in the middle of the midrange, etc.
Maybe I am just used to the more laidback mids on the HD800 and HE-6 too?
I can also hear some kind of dip around 8khz on certain treble sounds and cymbals at times, its hard to point my finger at how exactly to describe it,
It also seems to sound somewhat more 'in your face' than the HD800, HE-6, etc,.in the midrange.
Unfortunately, my ears do agree somewhat with the frequency response graphs on certain sites, which shows the bass being somewhat down below 50 hz, a peak around 1.5 khz, and a dip at 8khz, and some slight peaks above 10khz, plus it sounds just a tad closed in, and maybe even lacking in air, even though the treble is fully extended.
It is however, overall superior to the HD800 with SDR mod, and HE-6, imho.
The 800 has a bigger stage, and alot of micro detail and openness,, but it does sound somewhat shrill, more sibilant, distant, not as dynamic, and alittle lacking in bass compared to the Utopia. The 6khz peak actually becomes more annoying and more obvious after listening to the Utopia awhile and then switching to the HD800.
The modded HE-6 is wonderful, but isn't quite as macro detailed, or as dynamic as the Utopia, and has a some sort of treble coloration that I can't get rid of, but at the same time the micro detail, especially in the treble is outstanding at times.
The bass extension is superior on the HE-6, and it is alittle more relaxing than Utopia.
Staging is similar.
Don't get me wrong, I love the Utopia very much, and greatly enjoy it, but it isn't perfect. Nothing is.
However, even with the slight flaws I hear from time to time, it is still overall about the most tonally neutral headphones I have had the pleasure of hearing or owning.
I can see it as an endgame headphone for many people, and I most highly recommend for people to atleast audition it and draw their own conclusions.
Just my 2 cents.