[Slim1970]

The thump you get from a great dynamic driver headphone like Utopia is incredibly visceral. It feels weighty, dense and powerful like a shot put being thrown at a wall. Only a handful of headphone manages to achieve similar level of thump. Dynamic driver is still my preferred driver choice when it comes to headphone listening especially when driven off a good SET amp.

The LCD-4’s also has that satisfying thump. They hit a bit harder than the Utopia’s as well.

 

[MattKaye]

The LCD-4’s also has that satisfying thump. They hit a bit harder than the Utopia’s as well.

I add a bass shelf at 67hz to the utopia and that adds to the punch, but especially the thump/slam and trailing ends of tones. I think the utopia bass is great but that rolloff starting at around 60-70hz does make the rest of the bass not as weighty as it should be. The quality of it is great on the utopia, but the tuning is just ok.

 

[Korean audiophile]

Speaking of the bass. Although the Utopia does not have any elevated bass response and only looking at the graph you will see rolled-off sub-bass.

In reality, Utopia has really nice bass or the best bass among headphones. The bass is extremely dynamic and live-like with a very strong punch and attack. Even side by side comparison with Susvara. This might be due to the amount of air that is moved by the dynamic driver and your body or ears and face feels it. A dynamic driver usually has this inherited advantage. Even I turn up the volume on the Susvara, I am getting a very detail and defined bass that extends deeper than the Utopia, but I do not feel that tactical and solid bass density from the Utopia. What you get is a solid and dense punch from the Utopia that is on point. Unlike a wall of bass from a planar magnetic driver. It really takes time and listening experience in this hobby to be able to appreciate the quality of things, instead of listening to pure quantity.

Just like the density of the notes versus warmth or timber is actually very different, but often hard to tell them apart as they are slightly correlated but do not equal to one another.

So your saying every planar in the world produces a wall of bass and none hit u

The LCD-4’s also has that satisfying thump. They hit a bit harder than the Utopia’s as well.

Also sound more textured and visceral as well, only the TC has better bass than the lcd-4

 

[Sajid Amit]

For me, in terms of sheer viscerality, properly matched with source gear that brings out the best in the respective headphone’s ability to slam

• AB1266 Phi TC: 10
• HE6 / LCD4 / Utopia: 8.5-9 depending on the amp

The TC for me has hit the hardest off accuphase or gryphon speaker amps. Yet to try the CFA3.

The Utopia and the LCD4 have hit the hardest off the Ferrum stack.

Texture-wise, I rate the Utopia highly, especially in decay. It’s just very realistic sounding to me, in its slam characteristics. The LCD4 is equal but different.

YMMV.

 

[Sajid Amit]

Speaking of the bass. Although the Utopia does not have any elevated bass response and only looking at the graph you will see rolled-off sub-bass.

In reality, Utopia has really nice bass or the best bass among headphones. The bass is extremely dynamic and live-like with a very strong punch and attack. Even side by side comparison with Susvara. This might be due to the amount of air that is moved by the dynamic driver and your body or ears and face feels it. A dynamic driver usually has this inherited advantage. Even I turn up the volume on the Susvara, I am getting a very detail and defined bass that extends deeper than the Utopia, but I do not feel that tactical and solid bass density from the Utopia. What you get is a solid and dense punch from the Utopia that is on point. Unlike a wall of bass from a planar magnetic driver. It really takes time and listening experience in this hobby to be able to appreciate the quality of things, instead of listening to pure quantity.

Just like the density of the notes versus warmth or timber is actually very different, but often hard to tell them apart as they are slightly correlated but do not equal to one another.

The Utopia has a certain uniqueness to its note weight I agree. It’s not just in the bass. It’s across the frequency spectrum. I was playing Metallica with the Utopia recently. Man, the riffs sound so wonderfully aggressive. Love it.

 

[srkbear]

The Utopia has a certain uniqueness to its note weight I agree. It’s not just in the bass. It’s across the frequency spectrum. I was playing Metallica with the Utopia recently. Man, the riffs sound so wonderfully aggressive. Love it.

I happen to be a fan of Metallica myself, and not to be a broken record but the Utopia experience of “Masters of Puppets” with Stellia pads is insane. Not to mention the drum intro of Priest’s “Painkiller” and Smashing Pumpkin’s “Jelly Belly”

 

[Sajid Amit]

I happen to be a fan of Metallica myself, and not to be a broken record but the Utopia experience of “Masters of Puppets” with Stellia pads is insane. Not to mention the drum intro of Priest’s “Painkiller” and Smashing Pumpkin’s “Jelly Belly”

 

[Dynamo5561]

Hey guys!

I want to share some experience with you and see if anyone else experienced the same.

I bought a Focal Utopia 2 years ago and really did not like it. It had nothing that people described here. Detail retrieval was average, it had little slam and it was not immersive. I sold it quickly and couldn't understand what people like about it.

1 month ago I bought another one here and wanted to revisit it as my preferences have also changed over time. I got it and I was so impressed by the Utopia, I couldn't believe it was the same headphone I had 2 years before. Slam, immersiveness, detail retrieval. Very enjoyable.

But the seller did not tell me that it was a demo unit and it was missing packaging so I sent it back, having in mind to buy a complete set. I got a complete set just a week later and it did not sound like the one before^^ It sounded like my first unit from 2 years ago. I thought it was probably just different perception, why should it sound different? But it was only 1 week in between the two units. I decided to sell that one as well as I really did not enjoy it.

When I sold it, the buyer told me, that he is hoping for a "super-Utopia". I asked him what he means by that. He said that there is a lot of unit variance and you must have some luck to get a good one^^ So I knew I was not fooled by my mind and there was actually a difference. I then bought a new one from a dealer and it was bad as well^^

Then I bought another one again from a different dealer which arrived today. And what should I say, this one sounds absolutely amazing. The technical difference is maybe around 10% but it's day and night regarding enjoyment. If someone would tell me that story, I would not believe it.

 

[DJJEZ]

Hey guys!

I want to share some experience with you and see if anyone else experienced the same.

I bought a Focal Utopia 2 years ago and really did not like it. It had nothing that people described here. Detail retrieval was average, it had little slam and it was not immersive. I sold it quickly and couldn't understand what people like about it.

1 month ago I bought another one here and wanted to revisit it as my preferences have also changed over time. I got it and I was so impressed by the Utopia, I couldn't believe it was the same headphone I had 2 years before. Slam, immersiveness, detail retrieval. Very enjoyable.

But the seller did not tell me that it was a demo unit and it was missing packaging so I sent it back, having in mind to buy a complete set. I got a complete set just a week later and it did not sound like the one before^^ It sounded like my first unit from 2 years ago. I thought it was probably just different perception, why should it sound different? But it was only 1 week in between the two units. I decided to sell that one as well as I really did not enjoy it.

When I sold it, the buyer told me, that he is hoping for a "super-Utopia". I asked him what he means by that. He said that there is a lot of unit variance and you must have some luck to get a good one^^ So I knew I was not fooled by my mind and there was actually a difference. I then bought a new one from a dealer and it was bad as well^^

Then I bought another one again from a different dealer which arrived today. And what should I say, this one sounds absolutely amazing. The technical difference is maybe around 10% but it's day and night regarding enjoyment. If someone would tell me that story, I would not believe it.

You bought brand new or used recently? Surely the difference is from a much bigger break in between each headphone.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

I don't think that kind of variation is possible - surely others would have mentioned it by now. Is it possible you might have another issue (amp/cables/hearing/etc.)?

 

[up late]

i've heard three different utopia's, including my own pair which had the drivers replaced and they all sounded the same to me

 

[iDesign]

Aside from Tyll Hertsen’s early review, there have been enough measurements of the Utopia that confirm there is virtually no variance and the driver matching is excellent. Claims like these can easily be verified to be untrue.

 

[GryphonGuy]

Your experience of variability didn't hold up when I purchased mine. The different amplifiers and DACs and their personalities were easily discernable because of the Utopias ability to scale up and down with any driving hardware chain. Even in a noisy headphone show they shone out as being amazing and then in a better environment with different gear driving them, the auditions became a compelling purchase decision for me, at least. No major variance that I could discern between physical headphones.

There were substantial changes to the presentation of the Utopias during its run-in period (since they have moving parts) but only in the first 50 hours or so of run-in. After that period of substantial changes, subtle changes were perceived from time to time but it could have been mood changes in me.

The Utopias you mentioned that you liked were all very well run-in versions and the ones you disliked were all fresh out of the box, so to speak. So perhaps it is not that you dislike the Utopias, you just don't like the out-of-box-new sound and did not give them 100+ hours to settle down to be the famed Utopias. At least you didn't say that you gave them time to settle down, your emphasis was on selling them quickly.

Great that you seem to be able to hold onto the latest pair. I hope you enjoy the pair you have now.

 

[Dynamo5561]

You bought brand new or used recently? Surely the difference is from a much bigger break in between each headphone.

The Utopias you mentioned that you liked were all very well run-in versions and the ones you disliked were all fresh out of the box, so to speak.

1. unit: used demo unit -> sounded great
2. unit: used unit (1,5 years) -> sounded not so great
3. unit: new -> sounded not so great
4. unit: new -> sounds great

So I can't see a correlation to break-in which I personally also not believe in (only brain burn-in).

I don't think that kind of variation is possible - surely others would have mentioned it by now. Is it possible you might have another issue (amp/cables/hearing/etc.)?

No I used everytime the same setup. Cable / DAC /AMP was always the same.

Aside from Tyll Hertsen’s early review, there have been enough measurements of the Utopia that confirm there is virtually no variance and the driver matching is excellent. Claims like these can easily be verified to be untrue.

Yes I know the issue with Tylls version which also had a different frequency response. I would not say the FR is different, but the technical ability of the headphone was significantly different for me between the units.

Great that you seem to be able to hold onto the latest pair. I hope you enjoy the pair you have now.

That's what's important for me. I will definitely keep this one.

I am more rational oriented person and do not believe in cable sound etc. and also differences in DACs/AMPs are not so audible for me. So I am very critical to sound changes and therefore this experience was even more impactful for me.

As said, after I got the second unit I thought that I probably enjoyed the first one so much as it was maybe related to the new toy syndrome. I did not think much about it but it was very irritating as I enjoyed the first unit very much and the second one not at all. But still I thought it would be only some psycho acoustical issue. When the buyer of the second unit told me by himself (I did not mention anything as I did not think this is a thing) about differences in the Utopia units, it made click for me as it would explain my issue. After the 3rd unit I already gave up and thouhgt it would be really only a psycho acoustical issue but there was an offer from another dealer so I gave it a try. I was even negatively biased that it will not sound good. But when I listened to the first tracks with it I immediately knew that this unit was like the demo unit I had in the beginning and I was very much enjoying it. In the end that's what matters for me but I am very convinced about unit variations. I had the 4 units all within one month and was only listening to the Utopia.

 

[up late]

ok