New Focal Utopia for 2022: impressions

[up late]

the cat's well and truly out of the bag so go knock yourselves out

 

[BowWazoo]

Of course, $1000 more expensive than its predecessor.
Of course...

 

[AudioMoksha]

This is all going to boil down to what does it sound like. The looks will grow on some people, I like this understated design. The previous model was gorgeous looking, more than the new one.

In hopes that we get a little more soundstage and some subbass. Along with this, if they have truly sorted out the driver/reliability issues then this is going to get a check mark in my list. Let the reviews flow in.

 

[tunes]

The driver reliability is a huge issue. If there is no lifetime guarantee I would hold off. I had a failure after several years and this should never happen.

 

[technobear]

Is this for real? Looks like Focal has taken a leaf out of the Beyerdynamic playbook - updating their flagship headphone with the look and feel of a budget model.

 

[up late]

yes, it's for real and slated for release in september

 

[helljudgement]

It looks like a cheaper low budget Utopia though looks are subjective and little to do with sonics. Will be curious to see how durable this redesign is. Sonically I hope it doesn't go the direction of the Clear MG route where it barely resembles the original.

 

[DJJEZ]

Of course, $1000 more expensive than its predecessor.
Of course...

$600 more as current Utopia costs $4399 but yes utopia was $3999 at lauch.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

I'm all ears (and eyes) to know more about this new utopia. I like the utopia OG, thought a bit bright in treble, but definitely appreciate the technical capabilities.

 

[Sound Quality]

Does anyone know how much these will cost in euros and pound sterling?

 

[DJJEZ]

Does anyone know how much these will cost in euros and pound sterling?

Im gonna say Somewhere between £4600 to £4999 as usa retail for these will be $4999

 

[Sound Quality]

Im gonna say Somewhere between £4600 to £4999 as usa retail for these will be $4999

Yikes! That is way out of my budget, considering the cost of living crisis in the UK. I did talk to a few dealers and they mentioned that they expect the price to be £3999. However, this is not confirmed by Focal and they have yet to receive more information from them.

 

[iamoneagain]

I’m not going to look for the whole flyer someone posted in the original Focal Utopia thread but essentially it said it has a new voice coil that addresses the reliability issues making it vastly superior in that regard. As for sound it only mentioned improved treble and better linearity. No mention of soundstage or bass improvements. That doesn’t mean there still couldn’t be minor changes. And obviously the new model looks different. It’s more in line with the rest of their product line but it also doesn’t look as special.

 

[up late]

^ i think this is what you're referring to:

edit: please note that the images and text for the new focal utopia headphone for 2022 included in this post have been removed by the moderators. the reason given is that they "may have contained pre-release information that was not yet intended for release".

 

[up late]

and given that this has also been posted in the 'focal utopia general discussion thread':

edit: please note that the images and text for the new focal utopia headphone for 2022 included in this post have been removed by the moderators. the reason given is that they "may have contained pre-release information that was not yet intended for release".