Lol, I guess I didn't look closely enough at the "skinny pads". The pads look original to me.
Controversial opinion alert, but in my recent listening sessions, I am increasingly gravitating towards the Focal Clear OG instead of the Focal Utopia.
Let me explain why I think this is the case. I am not a "graphs guy" and those of you who have seen question the Harman methodology in my YouTube videos will know this, but Focal headphones do graph well, so let me try to explain using graphs.
Tonality: First and foremost, the Focal Clear has almost 2 decibals more subbass than the Utopia and on listening, this somehow comes off as much more! The Clear sounds quite flat to me in the bass to be honest, or in other words, very well extended, which makes for an exciting rendition of kick drums, bass guitars, and so forth. Both headphones are known to punch hard, however, and that is said to be an outcome of the Focal driver excursion abilities, although the punch doesn't necessarily "appear" in graphs.
I find myself enjoying the less-filled out upper mids of the Clear OG (note the relative lack of meat in the 4-6 Khz range) because I can be sensitive to this region, especially when I have not slept well the night before. Meanwhile, the Utopia is more evenly filled out in the 2.5-5 Khz range. That being said, the Utopia upper mids, especially vocals are ever-so-slightly pushed back in the mix, relative to midbass, and relative to the Clear OG, and it still doesn't lack clarity, which is testimony to the resolving capabilities of the Utopia driver. I personally prefer the more intimate presentation of the Clear more.
When it comes to treble, while the Utopia eschews mid-treble presence, basically being quite dark in the region, it still has a 6 Khz peak. The Clear however has a more balance series of peaks at 6 Khz, 8 Khz and 10 Khz, which to me, provide more attack to guitars, more shimmer to instruments, and air in vocals and in the ambience. Overall, these peaks are nothing dastardly and on an absolute level, the 6 Khz peak of the Utopia has far more energy relative to the rest of the presentation which can be irksome. The Clear, on the other hand, more energy around 10 Khz, bu again, nothing dastardly, and I appreciate the treble performance of the Clear.
Technicalities: Technicalities-wise, honestly, either headphone works fine for me. Yes, the Utopia resolves finer details more evidently; on certain tracks with the right equipment can convey a better sense of stage, both in terms of depth and even width, to a degree. But in terms of macrodynamic contrast, especially in regard to "bass slam", owing to the stronger subbass presence of the Clear, I actually find the Clear more complete in its presentation. With most source chains, I find the Utopia to be "wanting" in this area. I just miss the subbass presence here and it begins to become a deal breaker for me. The Utopia's 6 Khz peak certainly aids to a sense of sharpness of snare drum hits, but it can be a bit zingy sometimes, and makes the Utopia incessantly source-picky.
Looks-wise, I find the latest iteration of the Utopia to be a bit overdone. I preferred the OG Utopia aesthetics because I found to be more congrunet in the minutae of its design language with the rest of the Focal family. It actually looked like what a Focal flagship should look like. Whereas the 2022 version looks like a "forced" upgrade, and perhaps not just aesthetically. Although, there isn't a chasm of tonal difference between the Utopia OG and the Utopia 2022, I much preferred the presentation of the OG, which sounded more alive in the treble for me.
So that's it from me for now, comparing two well-worn headphones, but I still enjoy revisting the golden oldies, and getting re-acquainted with them.
I also haven't gotten a chance to hear the Cayin Ha2a. I've tried the Immanis on a lot of other amps, though--a lot. But all have generally fallen into the more powerful end of the spectrum. That said, none of them came remotely close to breaking a sweat with the Immanis. IMO, the Immanis sounds very different on every amp, but I've never heard it sound bad. It's just a matter of personal taste. But maybe I'd be proven wrong with lower-output amps.
Sure, happy to, do note that my impressions are not absolute, but more in comparison to each other...
I never connected with any of the Focals tbh. They are good headphones, just not quite for me. Both the Clear and Utopia sound very dynamic, with a bit of sub-bass roll off and a brighter treble, plus relatively smaller soundstage. From Focal I think the 2022 Utopia has the best sound so far, it is a little warmer, they rounded off the treble. Some Focal fans don't like it, but this is closer to my personal preference. Unfortunately, sub-bass still rolls off (dynamic drivers after all), and I still find other headphones more engaging and more pleasant (ZMF, Meze). That said, Focal deserves a place on the colour palette of TOTL headphones. There should be something for everyone.
Cayin HA-2A is an absolutely superb little tube amp. It sounded surprisingly good with my Caldera and IMO represents excellent value. That said, if I was about to drop $10K for a pair of headphones, I would probably look for an amp a couple of classes above.
The Ha-2a has only 1W of output power. This is likely to be too little to fully appreappreciate the Immanis.
No worries.
Sell your 2022 Utopia and grab an OG? Sounds like it would be more up your streetControversial opinion alert, but in my recent listening sessions, I am increasingly gravitating towards the Focal Clear OG instead of the Focal Utopia.
Let me explain why I think this is the case. I am not a "graphs guy" and those of you who have seen question the Harman methodology in my YouTube videos will know this, but Focal headphones do graph well, so let me try to explain using graphs.
Tonality: First and foremost, the Focal Clear has almost 2 decibals more subbass than the Utopia and on listening, this somehow comes off as much more! The Clear sounds quite flat to me in the bass to be honest, or in other words, very well extended, which makes for an exciting rendition of kick drums, bass guitars, and so forth. Both headphones are known to punch hard, however, and that is said to be an outcome of the Focal driver excursion abilities, although the punch doesn't necessarily "appear" in graphs.
I find myself enjoying the less-filled out upper mids of the Clear OG (note the relative lack of meat in the 4-6 Khz range) because I can be sensitive to this region, especially when I have not slept well the night before. Meanwhile, the Utopia is more evenly filled out in the 2.5-5 Khz range. That being said, the Utopia upper mids, especially vocals are ever-so-slightly pushed back in the mix, relative to midbass, and relative to the Clear OG, and it still doesn't lack clarity, which is testimony to the resolving capabilities of the Utopia driver. I personally prefer the more intimate presentation of the Clear more.
When it comes to treble, while the Utopia eschews mid-treble presence, basically being quite dark in the region, it still has a 6 Khz peak. The Clear however has a more balance series of peaks at 6 Khz, 8 Khz and 10 Khz, which to me, provide more attack to guitars, more shimmer to instruments, and air in vocals and in the ambience. Overall, these peaks are nothing dastardly and on an absolute level, the 6 Khz peak of the Utopia has far more energy relative to the rest of the presentation which can be irksome. The Clear, on the other hand, more energy around 10 Khz, bu again, nothing dastardly, and I appreciate the treble performance of the Clear.
Technicalities: Technicalities-wise, honestly, either headphone works fine for me. Yes, the Utopia resolves finer details more evidently; on certain tracks with the right equipment can convey a better sense of stage, both in terms of depth and even width, to a degree. But in terms of macrodynamic contrast, especially in regard to "bass slam", owing to the stronger subbass presence of the Clear, I actually find the Clear more complete in its presentation. With most source chains, I find the Utopia to be "wanting" in this area. I just miss the subbass presence here and it begins to become a deal breaker for me. The Utopia's 6 Khz peak certainly aids to a sense of sharpness of snare drum hits, but it can be a bit zingy sometimes, and makes the Utopia incessantly source-picky.
Looks-wise, I find the latest iteration of the Utopia to be a bit overdone. I preferred the OG Utopia aesthetics because I found to be more congrunet in the minutae of its design language with the rest of the Focal family. It actually looked like what a Focal flagship should look like. Whereas the 2022 version looks like a "forced" upgrade, and perhaps not just aesthetically. Although, there isn't a chasm of tonal difference between the Utopia OG and the Utopia 2022, I much preferred the presentation of the OG, which sounded more alive in the treble for me.
So that's it from me for now, comparing two well-worn headphones, but I still enjoy revisting the golden oldies, and getting re-acquainted with them.
This is my first post here. See, I am primarily a portable audio guy - iem, earbuds, dongles, DAPs, and the likes. However, few months back I felt that I am pretty much sorted on the iem and earbud fronts, and then my curiosity for headphones picked up.
Over the years I have heard a few headphones, Sennheiser hd660, hd650, hd660s2, Focal (will update names later), Fostex (will update the name later), Hifiman Edition XS, Sundara, ZMF Bokeh, etc. (I think that is the exhaustive list.)
Not mentioning the Audio Technica ATH-SJ55, PRO500MK2, AKG K67 Tiesto, Denon Urban Raver AH-D320 that I bought in my beginner days as those were not serious audiophile headphones.
To be very honest, the only one that impressed me was the modded Fostex, all the rest did not click with me. But the power requirement of the Fostex prohibited me from acquiring one.
In my journey, after scouring through head-fi pages, I stumbled upon the name JM Audio Editions. Dug deeper into the dedicated thread, had discussions with a few owners, and then finally connected with John Massaria himself. And then, I finally bought a XTC legend black on black edition from the classifieds, shipped it to John for a retuning, and finally got them in hand. Fell in love once I changed the pads to the Fuzzy pads.
Loved it so much that I couldn't stop gushing over it everywhere. Felt the midrange a touch thin though. John said with the XTC1.5 that will improve too. Took me a heartbeat to post my XTC on sale, got sold and hand-delivered that very day, along with the payment of XTC1.5 (32 Ohm Beryllium, Warm with elevated details tuning). This was in June.
Then began the wait for my preferred woods, new headbands, and new case. When everything finally came together last week, it took John one day to make my headphone and ship them off to me. I got them in my hand two days ago.
And since then I have found it extremely difficult to pull them off my ears. I am simply getting lost in its sound.
Why do I love it so much? It has the perfect balance for me. Deep subbass, punchy midbass, highly transparent and detailed mids with sufficient body, clear and extended treble with correct note weight, ample amount of energy, and lots of details, a nice holographic soundstage that extends out of the heard, and immaculate imaging. On top of all these, it is extremely easily drivable: my portable sources make it sing mellifluously. This is what makes it all the more special.
Fun fact: the 7N OCC copper litz Copperhead 2 cable is used both in the external cable as well as the internal wiring as well. The wood here is Ziricote.
Unfortunately I left them at office as no time to hear music at home (new dad). Please wait till Monday, will share detailed pictures of all the accessories, mounted and unmounted.
