Focal Utopia my opinion.

[PHC1]

I have now spent an adequate amount of time to fully evaluate the Focal Utopia. This is not a review since god knows there are tons of very thorough reviews out there but all I wanted to say is that this pair of headphones, while being outrageously expensive (in my opinion) is by far the most impressive set I have ever heard or had the pleasure to listen to for an extended period of time. Clarity and resolution supreme without so much as putting a sour note forward unless of course it is the source or music itself.

They remain mystifyingly and mesmerizingly musical and engaging while reproducing the music with outmost detail and remaining pure in tonality and yet never sounding analytical. Hearing deep into the recording has been redefined for me.

Perfectly extended into the stratosphere on the high end of the frequency spectrum yet never sounding harsh or tilted up in frequency response, sounding wonderfully seductive and remaining pure in the midrange and digging deep into the lower octaves and fully resolving all the flavor of the bass harmonics is all I can ask for.


Being grossly engaged into music to this extent is also not something I have encountered before. These headphones remove all the veils, open the windows and let all the sunshine and fresh breeze in.

Provide them with quality amplification and I personally have no preference here tubes or SS as I have compared for hours on end, they tend to bring out the very best in both. I don't find them particularly hard to drive as all my headphone amps drive them stupendously well. Feed them a quality recording, drive them with a worthy amplifier and prepare for them to transport you into the musical event. As you drift into that state of bliss and leave everything around you behind, it's just you and your favorite music hours upon hours with no fatigue or disappointment. Goosebumps and total awe. Yeah, they are that good.

This is probably one of the very few times in my almost 30 years being involved with high end audio that I can say I have nothing to criticize about the sound. It is perfect or "perfectly to my taste" I should say.

Perhaps a touch heavy in weight on the noggin, perhaps the cables are also a bit too heavy, would be my small criticism but I got used to the heavier feel and these are not your walk around with headphones anyway.

As much as I subconsciously or perhaps consciously wanted to NOT like them due to price, the time has come to make a decision and they are staying.

Problem being, once you live with these headphones for a few weeks, there is no going back. Focal engineers have hit the ball out of the park with these headphones. Five out of five stars in my book. I will allow myself this bit of luxury.

[W9TR]

Serge, it's great to find such an elegant product that performs so well. To say that in your 30 years of high end audio there is nothing here to criticize is the highest possible praise. Bravo!

[silversurfer6]

May I ask what amps are you using or have tried?

[bart]

Serge, wonderful description of your experiences so far.
I'm going to audition the Focal Utopia at a friend soon.

[djwhog]

Serge thank you nice write up thank you. I see you own 600 and 650s.. How do you compare these to those? And or have you had others you compared to as well?

I think these are like comparable to top end Audeze right

Very nice cans!

thanks

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by silversurfer6

May I ask what amps are you using or have tried?

In my daily rotation (so far) are starting with class A solid state are the Bryston BHA-1 and Schiit Asgard 2. For tubes it is the OTL Triode Schiit Valhalla 2.

Of course there will be more in the coming months as my quest continues.

Driving the Utopia and speaking of synergy:

So far I am very impressed the smooth and rich sounding Bryston at the top for solid state. Asgard 2 falls right behind the Bryston with an ever so slightly warmer and laid back sonic signature and the Triode OTL Valhalla sounds a bit more airier and harmonically richer. (no surprise it is a triode OTL).

The Schiit headphone amps continue to impress me for the sheer value and great sound that is not expected at this price level.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by bart

Serge, wonderful description of your experiences so far.
I'm going to audition the Focal Utopia at a friend soon.

Bart, definitely listen if you have a chance. I've noticed your preference in music, trust me my friend, they will impress.

[Antonmb]

Very nice writeup Serge, thank you. Have you by any chance also heard any of the MrSpeakers headphones?

[bart]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Bart, definitely listen if you have a chance. I've noticed your preference in music, trust me my friend, they will impress.

My friend told me the same.
Better start saving...

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by djwhog

Serge thank you nice write up thank you. I see you own 600 and 650s.. How do you compare these to those? And or have you had others you compared to as well?

I think these are like comparable to top end Audeze right

Very nice cans!

thanks

Let me answer by first saying that I love the Sennheiser HD6xx series and have owned a pair of HD600 for many, many years.

The Sennheiser HD600/650 are cut from the same sonic cloth, they are very similar to each other with the HD650 representing the evolutionary step of what I would call the "Classic" HD600. That evolutionary step was taken seriously by the Sennheiser team and it was rather obvious they did not want to stray too far from a recipe that has worked so well for them for 20 years.

The HD600 is the absolutely most forgiving headphone in my collection. It easily hides and tends to smooth over any ham fisted mastering and dynamic range butchered music and can be universally used for any type of genre of music. Easy on the ear approach to frequency response and tonal balance. While being a rather tough load at 300 ohms and under 100dB efficiency for anything but a dedicated headphone amp, I have often used the HD600 with iPhone, iPad and similar devices with the 3.5mm jack. Not going to get a concert quality experience in that situation and may not reach SPL levels desired but one thing I can say with certainty is that between their smooth, warm and lush sonic signature, the lightweight shell and a comfortable fit I often get lost in music for hours on end and even forget they are on my head.

In absolute terms the HD650 has a slightly deeper bass response, and is a bit more neutral through the midrange. the HD650 rewards the listener with a more dynamic presentation but all the warts of bad music start to show up. Still a forgiving headphone set over all. Some or many may prefer the HD650 to 600 but I love them both.

Moving on to Utopia to answer your question:

The Focal Utopia can not be compared to the Sennheiser HD6xx in any logical way or by any stretch of imagination. They are just light years apart in resolution/clarity, dynamic contrast, openness and neutrality. The frequency extremes are also rather far apart from the sub bass to the dog hearing range. The soundstage (headphone wise) is also much more open in the Focal.

To summarize, both the HD6xx and Focal are both very engaging headphones but they do it in a very different way.

The Senns approach are by omission in absolute audiophile terms or if comparing to art would be the "Impressionism" where the painting is beautifully romantic but blurred, (Claude Monet). You get the overall picture but you will not see the details which may be a great thing if passively listening to a wide range of genres and recording qualities.

The Focal Utopia would then represent "Realism" where you see all the ultra detail in the painting and the picture is as beautiful and as realistic as the master painter (recording quality) could faithfully reproduce. Think "Leonardo Da Vinci " here and that describes well what I am saying.