[FLTWS]

I never heard any problems with the demo pair I had in home for week or the new pair I subsequently purchased, both sounded the same.

 

[rrahman]

At the last meet I went to, there must have been a half dozen that I listened to from various vendors tables...all sounded the exact same (except for small changes which I attribute to upstream gear such as amps or DACs). As well, measuring headphones over 4kHz is rather difficult to reproducibly do. Might be one bad pair? It happens? Plus we don't know if this pair was mishandled, dropped, etc? This is Focal after all, this is far from their first rodeo.

Yea but Bob Katz's defected pair almost perfectly matches the 3rd pair sent to Tyll. Odds that both were dropped and coincidentally damaged or defunct is unlikely.

Something has to have changed in the manufacturing, because Jude's initial measurements match w/ Tyll's initial measurements, but the two newer published measurements by Bob Katz and Tyll match.

 

[Whitigir]

Is there any date code on the Utopia ?

 

[FLTWS]

Is there any date code on the Utopia ?

Nothing obvious. The shipping carton has two labels. One contains the serial # and some bar coding, the other looks like it's for inventory purposes mentioning it's a Headphone Utopia BE in Black, 1 piece, some bar coding with numbers and EUTCAS101-BL001. Affixed to this white label in the upper right hand corner is a green circular sticker.

There's nothing on or in the display case or booklets,

Nothing on the headphone itself except the serial number under the right ear cup, the numbers don't seem to correspond to any dating method.

 

[Whitigir]

Yeah, I thought so. But it is nothing that should bring paranoia to any Utopia owners. They were reportedly being either Bright or just Right. Unless you hear a lot of Brightness and sibilant then it is one of those brighter one, otherwise. I know mine is not bright enough to call being uncomfortable

 

[FLTWS]

Yeah, I thought so. But it is nothing that should bring paranoia to any Utopia owners. They were reportedly being either Bright or just Right. Unless you hear a lot of Brightness and sibilant then it is one of those brighter one, otherwise. I know mine is not bright enough to call being uncomfortable

Mine does not sound sibilant to my ears, certainly not as bright as my HD800.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Yea but Bob Katz's defected pair almost perfectly matches the 3rd pair sent to Tyll. Odds that both were dropped and coincidentally damaged or defunct is unlikely.

Something has to have changed in the manufacturing, because Jude's initial measurements match w/ Tyll's initial measurements, but the two newer published measurements by Bob Katz and Tyll match.

As I noted, measuring above 8.5kHz is very difficult to do reproducibly. In fact, the variability rises to a +/- 5dB range (and up to even 18dB maximum). This is measuring the same pair of headphones too. So please take such measurements with sufficient grains of salt in this region. Hard to say what's going on with such limited data.

 

[JimL11]

As I noted, measuring above 8.5kHz is very difficult to do reproducibly. In fact, the variability rises to a +/- 5dB range (and up to even 18dB maximum). This is measuring the same pair of headphones too. So please take such measurements with sufficient grains of salt in this region. Hard to say what's going on with such limited data.

But Tyll's measurements of Bob's sample of the Utopias showed the entire range from 2 kHz to 10 kHz was elevated by about 5 dB, not just the area above 8.5 kHz. I don't think you can attribute that big a change to measurement variability alone.

 

[paul2qute]

If I put my balance one notch from maximum to the left everything sounds perfect, no wonder I'm going deaf in my right ear!!!BTW I've tried changing my profile pic even with a laptop it won't work, ain't a lover of grado just for the record

 

[MacedonianHero]

But Tyll's measurements of Bob's sample of the Utopias showed the entire range from 2 kHz to 10 kHz was elevated by about 5 dB, not just the area above 8.5 kHz. I don't think you can attribute that big a change to measurement variability alone.

As I said, very hard to say anything really with such a small sample size. It would be great if the headphone manufacturers could chime in here.

 

[astrostar59]

As I noted, measuring above 8.5kHz is very difficult to do reproducibly. In fact, the variability rises to a +/- 5dB range (and up to even 18dB maximum). This is measuring the same pair of headphones too. So please take such measurements with sufficient grains of salt in this region. Hard to say what's going on with such limited data.

That is a BIG jump 5dB. When I was playing with EQ a bit back, I thought 3dB was quite obvious. Seriously, if there is a boost of that range the HP will be seriously bright. And I can't see that being the case reading all the posts on the Utopia. I did notice Tyll boosted the bass by 6dB up to about 200 hz range in his review. Maybe taking 'measurements' on HPs is so difficult, the seal has to be perfect, the shape of the human ear etc etc. I would just run a hz tone CD on your DAC and listen for peaks, that worked for me when I was balancing my sub and main speakers.

 

[jlbrach]

I have maintained for some time that my Utopia was brighter than my LCD-4 and have been ridiculed by some..when i was at the canjam in NYC recently i had a long discussion with a person at one of the exhibits about this and when i told him the Utopia was a great HP that sounded a bit bright to my ears out of my Dave he basically told me i was crazy and that it was simply the best HP there is etc....

 

[xxx1313]

Mine does not sound sibilant to my ears, certainly not as bright as my HD800.

Very true, and the Utopia is even less bright and much less sibilant than the HD800S. The Utopia is the most neutral headphone that I ever had the chance to listen to, imho. It may well be brighter than the LCD-4, but to me all Audeze headphones are rather on the dark side of neutral.

I also think that it is safe to assume that there are no serious unit variations within to most recent production batches of the Utopia.

 

[up late]

the utopia i auditioned didn't sound bright to me. i found its fr nicely balanced. the hd800s sounded brighter in comparison.

 

[Allanmarcus]

As I said, very hard to say anything really with such a small sample size. It would be great if the headphone manufacturers could chime in here.

I don't think anyone from Focal reads these forms. Or at least I have never seen anyone from Focal post here. Jason Lord from The Source A/V, an authorized dealer and frequent contributor, does often chime in. My guess is that folks are waiting to see how measurements go on the additional Utopias Tyl is expecting, then some sort of investigation, if one is warranted. Jason has been very forthcoming and helpful, so I imagine he will chime in when he feels he has good information to add.

Remember, this is not an official Focal support channel. This is a user community.