Energy
Member of the Trade: Artemis Fidelity
I'd say EQ is your best bet. In my opinion no one should be listening to the Focal Utopia at stock frequencies. Those who says it is clearly hasn't tried the right EQ.
if you can, visit SonarWorks.com and try out their True-Fi desktop plugin. (https://www.sonarworks.com/truefi) From there you can choose the Focal Utopia as one of the available headphone options. I recommend disabling the "Adjust for Age" and "Bass Boost" options (as these slightly increases treble in unwanted areas or makes the bass a little sloppy). Give it a listen. You will see how much the bass is lacking on a stock Utopia and you'll notice that the bright peaks in 3-4 areas are now gone. Please not this is a generic equalization that was sent to SonarWorks. In short, it was someone else's Utopia. It gives you a good idea of how the frequency curve is for Utopia headphones. BUT if you want to use an EQ that is personally made to correct your individual pair, then you'll have to send it to SonarWorks for an individual correction (https://storeus.sonarworks.com/coll...ual-headphone-calibration?variant=51478803028)
Having said that, I recommend getting an individual correction. We spend so much on headphones yet we're listening to a pair that not only sounds non-balanced, it wouldn't be a feasible headphone to mix on in a studio. To to listen to music the way the artists intends it to sound like, your frequency range for BOTH headphone drivers, left and right, should be flat. The True-Fi is only a good glimpse into how a properly equalized pair of headphones can sound like. Individual EQ is the ultimate goal. Even if you were doing modifications to them, it wouldn't fix how they were naturally aspirated. The only way to solve this is through proper equalization.
Perhaps one day there will be some crazy technology that takes headphones (and speakers) to the next level. A method where all individual parts can be the exact same including the epoxy the binds them all together. Laser treated woofers to have all the same nano thicknesses so they can all resonate the same way. But until then, EQ is your best bet. There is of course other things that can be done such as OCC copper wires, switching to "audiophile" capacitors (like Elna Silmic II) within the amplifier to release some of the speed/brightness that comes from low ESR caps (when they discharge electricity too quick or their dielectric doesn't dampen enough), or to better shield your digital and analog cables, or reduce cable capacitance/inductance would also help with the sibilance. I've also noticed better power cords help but now we're walking towards a controversial topic so I'll stop there.
if you can, visit SonarWorks.com and try out their True-Fi desktop plugin. (https://www.sonarworks.com/truefi) From there you can choose the Focal Utopia as one of the available headphone options. I recommend disabling the "Adjust for Age" and "Bass Boost" options (as these slightly increases treble in unwanted areas or makes the bass a little sloppy). Give it a listen. You will see how much the bass is lacking on a stock Utopia and you'll notice that the bright peaks in 3-4 areas are now gone. Please not this is a generic equalization that was sent to SonarWorks. In short, it was someone else's Utopia. It gives you a good idea of how the frequency curve is for Utopia headphones. BUT if you want to use an EQ that is personally made to correct your individual pair, then you'll have to send it to SonarWorks for an individual correction (https://storeus.sonarworks.com/coll...ual-headphone-calibration?variant=51478803028)
Having said that, I recommend getting an individual correction. We spend so much on headphones yet we're listening to a pair that not only sounds non-balanced, it wouldn't be a feasible headphone to mix on in a studio. To to listen to music the way the artists intends it to sound like, your frequency range for BOTH headphone drivers, left and right, should be flat. The True-Fi is only a good glimpse into how a properly equalized pair of headphones can sound like. Individual EQ is the ultimate goal. Even if you were doing modifications to them, it wouldn't fix how they were naturally aspirated. The only way to solve this is through proper equalization.
Perhaps one day there will be some crazy technology that takes headphones (and speakers) to the next level. A method where all individual parts can be the exact same including the epoxy the binds them all together. Laser treated woofers to have all the same nano thicknesses so they can all resonate the same way. But until then, EQ is your best bet. There is of course other things that can be done such as OCC copper wires, switching to "audiophile" capacitors (like Elna Silmic II) within the amplifier to release some of the speed/brightness that comes from low ESR caps (when they discharge electricity too quick or their dielectric doesn't dampen enough), or to better shield your digital and analog cables, or reduce cable capacitance/inductance would also help with the sibilance. I've also noticed better power cords help but now we're walking towards a controversial topic so I'll stop there.
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