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Focal Utopia General Discussion
Oct 22, 2017 at 12:22 PM Post #4,966 of 20,602
Btw, if anyone wants to buy a danacable Lazuli Reference, I have one with furutech carbon fibre double xlr. It is available for sale. Thank you!
Also, I have a pair of prion 4s with xhadow double xlr, it is also on sale too.. I could not post in the second hand forum as this account is newly registered. If anyone is interested in it, please pm me.
 
Oct 22, 2017 at 4:41 PM Post #4,967 of 20,602
Hey Guys,

I'm having some trouble with my Utopia. I've done a lot of reading and it seems people in the Elear thread *might* be describing what I am hearing. The headphones play music just fine at lower volumes, but at higher volume (loud but not so loud it hurts) with heavy bass hits (mostly electronic music) they go "pop" or "crack." It is especially bad with the left driver but sometimes happens with the right hand side as well. I don't know if this is normal or not, as they play music just fine at low volumes. I seem to remember this not happening when the headphones were brand new, but I could be wrong. If I use the Utopia with iFi iDSD Black Label with the bass boost engaged, the problem happens at a lower listening level. This didn't used to happen.

I listen to a lot of bass heavy music so this is very frustrating.

I'm pretty sure it is nothing to do with my source gear as I have never heard this sort of thing before, and my other headphones are just fine.

Has anyone else had this sort of problem?
 
Oct 22, 2017 at 4:49 PM Post #4,968 of 20,602
ufospls2 said:
Hey Guys,

I'm having some trouble with my Utopia. I've done a lot of reading and it seems people in the Elear thread *might* be describing what I am hearing. The headphones play music just fine at lower volumes, but at higher volume (loud but not so loud it hurts) with heavy bass hits (mostly electronic music) they go "pop" or "crack." It is especially bad with the left driver but sometimes happens with the right hand side as well. I don't know if this is normal or not, as they play music just fine at low volumes. I seem to remember this not happening when the headphones were brand new, but I could be wrong. If I use the Utopia with iFi iDSD Black Label with the bass boost engaged, the problem happens at a lower listening level. This didn't used to happen.

I listen to a lot of bass heavy music so this is very frustrating.

I'm pretty sure it is nothing to do with my source gear as I have never heard this sort of thing before, and my other headphones are just fine.

Has anyone else had this sort of problem?
Click to expand...
What amp are you using? High gain?
 
Oct 22, 2017 at 4:51 PM Post #4,969 of 20,602
Oct 22, 2017 at 4:53 PM Post #4,970 of 20,602
ufospls2 said:
iFi iDSD BL on medium gain, and Audio GD Master 9 on low gain. How come?
Click to expand...
I dont think it is normal. But, what people noticed from elear that focal headphones dont play well with powerful or tube amp. My amp is solid state and i set it to high gain, but it is not a poweful amp.

Let me try on mine, any particular songs that the crack or pop will happen?
 
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Oct 22, 2017 at 5:30 PM Post #4,974 of 20,602
ufospls2 said:
Hey Guys,

I'm having some trouble with my Utopia. I've done a lot of reading and it seems people in the Elear thread *might* be describing what I am hearing. The headphones play music just fine at lower volumes, but at higher volume (loud but not so loud it hurts) with heavy bass hits (mostly electronic music) they go "pop" or "crack." It is especially bad with the left driver but sometimes happens with the right hand side as well. I don't know if this is normal or not, as they play music just fine at low volumes. I seem to remember this not happening when the headphones were brand new, but I could be wrong. If I use the Utopia with iFi iDSD Black Label with the bass boost engaged, the problem happens at a lower listening level. This didn't used to happen.

I listen to a lot of bass heavy music so this is very frustrating.

I'm pretty sure it is nothing to do with my source gear as I have never heard this sort of thing before, and my other headphones are just fine.

Has anyone else had this sort of problem?
Click to expand...
I had to warranty my first pair due to distortion on babassier parts. It went from hard to ever notice to more and more obvious. To test I plugged it into different amps and found I could reproduce the issue in my right driver. I also run a 4dB boost to low frequencies, but that’s not a lot, so for the price they needed to go back. Warranty was no issue.
 
Oct 22, 2017 at 5:35 PM Post #4,975 of 20,602
banco-sg said:
I dont think it is normal. But, what people noticed from elear that focal headphones dont play well with powerful or tube amp. My amp is solid state and i set it to high gain, but it is not a poweful amp.

Let me try on mine, any particular songs that the crack or pop will happen?
Click to expand...

I run my Utopia’s on a WOO WA5-LE and I’ve not heard that artifact. What I have heard is the Utopia’s not liking some poor recordings where a sound is presented as if a bass speaker driver is pushed to the limits of its excursion and is breaking up. I’m pretty sure that the problem is the recording. Most bass heavy passages are correct. So the issue is recording specific and not bass in general.
 
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Oct 22, 2017 at 5:54 PM Post #4,977 of 20,602
JimL11 said:
4 dB doesn't seem like a very big number, but it represents 2.5x more power.
Click to expand...
It wasn’t clipping. It was the surround material decoupling at a resonant frequency. I chalk it up to defective assembly.
 
Oct 22, 2017 at 11:10 PM Post #4,979 of 20,602
After reading various complaints about bass break up or what ever concerning the Utopia, one thing I've noticed is no one ever mentions what decibel level they are listening at when the problem occurred. "Loud but not so loud it hurts" may not be the same for everyone. The fact that humans have varying tolerance levels for the intensity of sound is well known. Personally, a little over 80 dB is about all I can stand with dynamic drivers, most planar magnetic headphones need to be pushed a bit further for optimal performance being the main reason I try to avoid them if possible. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else monitors their listening levels to avoid potential hearing or even Utopia damage. Included is a photo of my monitoring rig, I've wrapped electrical tape around the end of the meter while leaving the microphone open for a proper seal when it's inserted into the CD.

DSC00310.JPG
 
Oct 23, 2017 at 2:21 AM Post #4,980 of 20,602
vert said:
My co-workers will buy a brand new BMW (and pay for all of that depreciation), but won't spend a penny on a comfortable office chair (that they sit in 40 hours a week).
Click to expand...
vert said:
I really don't understand American priorities sometimes.
Click to expand...

I have the best chair at my workplace. It's so good I bought one for my home. Same chair. It's great.
 
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