Focal Utopia 2022 Headphone Review & Comparison to the Original
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- čas přidán 2. 08. 2024
- Thanks to Loe Fiden for the loan of Newtopia! Check out his channel here: www.youtube.com/@loefiden2546...
Buy the Utopia 22 from Apos Audio (affiliate link): apos.audio/products/focal-uto...
Buy the 2020 Utopia (still great! - also affiliate link): apos.audio/products/focal-uto...
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Focal's Utopia '22 Website: www.focal.com/headphones/utop...
My '22 Utopia First Impressions: • Focal Utopia 2022 Head...
My Review of the original Utopia: • Focal Utopia Headphone...
My Reviews of Other Mentioned Gear:
HiFiMan HE1000se: • HiFiMan HE1000se Headp...
HiFiMan Susvara: • HiFiMan Susvara - Summ...
Chord Hugo 2: • Chord Hugo 2 Transport...
Singxer SU-2: • Singxer SU-2 USB Audio...
SPL Phonitor x: • SPL Phonitor x Headpho...
My TOTL Headphone Roundup (Fall 2021): • Summit-Fi Shootout Par...
Timestamps...
00:00 Intro, Pricing, Disclaimers
01:22 Shameless self promotion
01:49 Excitement & Apprehension
04:17 Features & Build
11:35 Stock Cables
12:42 Packaging
14:43 Test Gear
16:11 Sound (w/ Comparison to OG)
26:00 What's the "but"?
30:35 Brief Comparisons to Susvara and HE1000se
33:20 Outro
Excellent review, always liked your honest and balanced approach, and the value proposition to the end user, keep it up!!!
Your lighting looks better! Thanks for the review.
WaveTheory killing it.
Good review thanks
Thanks Weory, for your review of Neutopia.
I have a 2018, 2020 & 2022 Utopia and the old gen Utopia (prone to over excursion) are the greatest still. They’re the most dynamic through the midrange with better transparency and openness, but they roll off the sub a bit faster than the 2 revisions that came after.
The OG’s anaconda cable is also the best sounding Focal has packaged to date, despite it being unwieldy. It also really helps open up the 2022’s sound.
Will you be at Canjam NYC?
I’m excited about this one. I was hesitant about the original Utopia. I found the original Clear harsh and uneven in the treble, and think the MG is wonderful. I also own the Stellia, and the LCD-5s, and I love the upper midrange presence of both those two. I’m not as big of a fan of headphones that derive their detail from the treble. I keep the Arya Stealth around as a reference, but i find it fatiguing after a while, and the mids get overshadowed. The new Utopia sounds like it checks all the boxes I care about. Thank you for your review.
great review thanks for the content!
Thx ! Actually, considering their similarity level, I'll probably do as I usually do in these cases, when the OG was already + than up to my expectations : I'll wait for the OG to drop in $$ & find some great deal, to get the best ratio out of the whole story 👌🤩
I agree with your opinion. After trying it out at a store, I thought the new version sounds bit warmer and more spaced out compared to the original. Vocal with OG sounded very close to your ear like whispers and I didn't quite get that with the new version. I think it is not worth to upgrade for the OG owners (especially when you still have warranty left) and better to stick with the OG. I think it is better to have OG and Susvara instead. Use OG Utopia for EDMs and Pop, use Susvara for classical and calm music.
Thanks for your in-depth review! I have the 2020 Utopia, and you mention it could pair well with a Plussound X8 cable to smooth some of the upper mids and treble, but they have several options for the wire. Do you feel plain old copper (type 6 Litz is what they offer) would be the best match and already be a significant improvement over the stock cable soundwise, or instead one of the more exotic (and expensive) types?
I think so yes. IMO an ofc cable is the way to go for the previous Utopias. The new one is a bit more relaxed in the areas a copper cable helps with so options expand.
Looking forward to you reviewing the new Violectric amps V222 and V550 and also R2R DACs currently making waves like Denafrips and Holo Audio.
I'm trying. All in due time.
I own the original Utopia connected to the Schiit Jotunheim 2, and I EQ it to the Oratory1990 Harman measurements. Sounds incredible.
Yep. Gonna have to get me one of those.
I cannot be held responsible for your choices ;p But also, great choice! Good luck on getting one soon.
mine sound are abit lesser in accuracy experience kind of downgraded, but sq technical aspects are there
i mean real devices should sound way better, i have to keep mentioning it
Would love to see the Ultrasone Edition 11 go up against this. Great review!
İ can't compare the OG utopia. İ only have the 2022 & its amazing dynamically, i wasnt expecting this kind of energy power, clarity, impact resolution. its really really special at least to me, coming from the hd 800s love it with different songs like for instance blade runner 2049. The Hd 800s really shines wide with a tube amp. İ got the utopias 2022 really cheap in Australia on sale. The Utopia can really punch their monsters end of game, of the dynamics drivers & maybe the last ever of its kind As i might be thinking that planar or electrostatics will soon take over.
I have decided not to replace my original Utopias with any other headphone. They are superb with a Feliks Envy. Instead, I have ordered a Puritan PSM156 to replace a Niagara 1200. When there is a replacement for the Susvara, buy those.
Hi WT, great video! Question for you. I have the 2022 now but many have told me the 2020 is better. Would you recommend me trading for the 2020?
Great review. thank you.
Points deducted for the cable-voodoo.
Just got the OG at reduced price and couldn’t be happier; it is a bit treble forward but looking to get a tube amp etc
Nice score. Enjoy!
Clean footage. You got a new camera?
I just got better looking 😆 Naw awhile ago I just switched to using my Galaxy S22+ smartphone with a USB mic adapter. Cameras in phones seem to be outclassing most
@@wavetheorysound Yeah, they're really good now.
The only thing you forgot to mention is The plastic rings around or on the cups are Matt instead of a glossy
Hi sir your great I have a question. You said focal clear does not need amp, but with an amp it improves sound. By how much is improvement and can you describe how the sounds improved?
Oh, a headphone on the level of Clear will sound like a whole new headphone compared to the headphone jack on something like a tablet or laptop. Dedicated amps, particularly when paired sigh quality dacs, are cleaner, quiter, more resolving, more holographic, more dynamic... Basically better everything.
yes
I’ve had a few hours with them on Monday, on hugo2 cayin c9 and naim uniti atom. While I missed a bit the planar speed, the imaging was stellar (while soundstage not big at all). One of the very few headphones that gave me vertical imaging. Going back to d8000pro was very underwhelming in spatial presentation
Which Amp/Dac would do you like to pair the Utopia with?
Thanks for this man.
For me, the OG Utopia + Euforia AE is an end game combo. Just play around with DACs & tubes.
The OG Utopia is VERY transparent of gear & can change quite a lot.
I find it a very neutral tuned headphone with fantastic technicalities, it has some unique traits:
Excitement
Palpability
Dynamism
Engagement
Punch
Groove
The OG is very detailed, fast sounding & with excellent precision of sound.
I prefer the OG to the NewTopia, I feel the new one lost some of its character.
The new one is warmer, not as forward, smoother & arguably more refined sounding but it lost some of its identity going that route.
Agreed, the OG is excellent 👍.
I am with you on this. The biggest telltale to me personally is the decay on pianos. It is considerably longer on the OG and feels more natural. The new one sounded a little short and softer on the decay. Just my own preference.
@@PurrfectSunset Excellent point. Decay is also my big problem with planars… Any positive experience of those?
@@TheRevoR Exactly my own subjective experience. If you have the chance, try the Yamaha YH5000SE, it's definitely reference level but still can't beat the Utopia OG when reproducing piano. Current amp is Cayin HA300B Mk 2 from a Luxman D10X source.
@@PurrfectSunset Thanks for the tip, I’ll keep my eyes open.
Awesome setup 🤩. I’ve actually been thinking about that amp to complement my setup (Ferrum OOR + Hypsos with Merason DAC1).
Hi! Youve probably covered this, but what did you think of the utopia 2022 paired w/ v281? I seem to remember you not really like them together w/ the og
too plain/accurate
but sounds better esp at videos
You said the Clear OG is bright, is it true ? I thought it was slightly warm from what I read.
To my ear definitely. OG is neutral-bright and MG is warm-midforward
@Reviews By WaveTheory I love my Focal Clear MG's. To me, they are way good enough to enjoy geat details on a high end open back headphone. Sometimes however my Beyerdynamic 1990's more open top end and more 3D sound provides a better option though it is thinner sounding compared to the Focal Clear MG
Big price jump yes, but the new Utopia has a much better build quality IMO, and Focal's QC has definitely improved, and they've learnt a lot since 2016 in making reliable Be HP drivers.
Partially agree. Focal definitely had some early units fail. OTOH, there are LOTS of OG Utopia units living in homes now. If you got a good unit (which seems to be the vast majority), you got a headphone that is still among an elite tier in performance.
Always a pleasure seeing reviewers not being afraid of the midwit army attacking them for talking about the sonic improvements of cables 👍
Hart uses Mogami cables which are what many professional recording studios are hard fitted with, and used for 99% of the music we listen to.
But audiophiles think they have golden ears and hear more than the musicians and engineers making the actual music 🤓
@@ariam6168 Not all audiophiles. And top of the line audiophile gear is leagues ahead of studio grade gear. The best producers are mastering on audiophile setups. Its ironic how most people are attacking the audiophiles for talking about fine tuning components, calling them snake oil, while they never experienced or experimented with this stuff. There is a reason people at high end Munich for an example, use 50k dollar cable for a single speaker and if you think the reason is they have been brainwashed, thats on you. I bet you never heard any of these systems in a treated room and compared side by side cables for hours. I also know many producers and most of them are deaf, they have very weak hearing past 10khz. Musicians are even worse. They invest more money weekly on booze or smokes than on headphones and have even more damaged hearing than producers ive met. Listening is natural thing anyone can do, logically, but knowing what to listen to opens up another dimensions to it. Having a ultra high end system will reveal the dimensions you never imagined in music and only then you begin to understand the importance of, like guy said in a video, OCC cable, external power supply or anything else that is considered "snake oil" by the majority of the people who think they can spend 300 dollars on a headphone and hear everything there is in a recording, or as most try to cover themselves by saying "90-95%" of the information. Thing is you cant put a percentage to thing like that and even if you could, realistic number for the 200 dollar studio headphone would be 30-40%
@@zerooneonetwothree1872 point being, If upstream recording gear/cables/etc that captured the music is what it is, downstream audiophile “upgrades” aren’t going to do a darn thing to improve it, and diminishing returns hit quick. Can’t add quality (data).
@@ariam6168 And that is why producers like Chesky are played on the high end systems and not mainstream ones. Because you can actually hear how horrible it really is. The reason it sounds great on most systems is because of the limits those systems have and producers mixed it with that in mind, using multiple bad playback options to make sure it will "come out" decently trough any crap average consumer is using. But do not for one minute think that something like Daft Punk sounds worse on the ultra high end system, it sounds miles better and more effortless than on a high end focal or pmc monitors, its just that the pure recordings sound... Purer than said Daft Punk, so once you have the option to play compressed butchered chaos or realistic and clean life-like performance, the choice is obvious, so that is not a firm point either...
@@zerooneonetwothree1872 So you’re admittedly chasing recording quality and not the music itself… what is what people criticize all audiophiles for. Be ready to eliminate 99% of existing recorded music in history then. To each their own I guess. A Furtwangler 1943 Beethoven 7 is astronomically superior and more enjoyable to me as a listening experience than any DSD recording out there, with all of its hiss and noise.
I bought a og utopia it was 1000 dollars off, Im using it with a chord mojo 2, im not that impressed with it , to me it doesn't sound that much different than the clear og which I also have, would I notice a big sound improvement if I bought a nice tube amp
There's a good chance, yes. The OG Utopia is notoriously source gear picky. It's also a challenging load, especially for a transportable amp. My Hugo 2 does OK but that's a nearly $3k piece. Have you perused the Head-Fi Utopia thread? There will be a wide range of ideas for amps in there.
I sent it back, I will buy it again latter when I can get a better setup, thanks for responding I think you do a great job.
I bought an open box pair of Utopia OG for $2800 and ended up sending them back. Paired with my OG Mojo they sounded special. The most dynamic and detailed headphones I've heard but my LCD i4s are nearly as good and better in some ways
Must be cold there?....using Nutopia as ear warmers while filming the review 😄
Lol. Was the fleece not the bigger indicator?
Focal Elegia has way more “Air” than beryllium driver models. It’s just mechanical noise of lesser quality drivers.
I have both at home and I can say that if it’s was the same price, the Nutopia wins.
Agreed. Are you keeping both?
I think I'll let go of the OG 2020, too many headphones right now.
I can't wait to hear your opinion on the Stax SR-X9000, I plugged it into my Mojo2/Mscaler with the Mcinstosh MC275Mk6 via iESL.
Responds very well to EQ compared to the Stax 009S, I add +5db sub bass via mojo2, fantastic, dream come true.
.
@@davidpilon9433 I would love to review one of those. I haven't had estat gear lying around (like energizers) so that makes it tougher. But hopefully sometime I can get that figured out.
@@davidpilon9433 x9000 being how much than anything else in the world?
This headphone and pretty much any Focal sucks. Too bright, fake sounding timbre, and tiny soundstage. Can't forget about the driver clipping at loud volumes/low frequencies either. Build quality with the snapping headbands and Focal warranty/customer support leaves a lot to be desired as well.
Clear OG which isn't great by any means either can be head for a fraction of the price which at least makes it somewhat more desirable than the Utopia. The only Focals worth having are the closed back simply because most closed back headphones aren't that great anyway so Focal is at least able to compete there.
That's just like, your opinion man.
@@GeorgesPatapon Driver clipping, build quality, and warranty issues are not opinions.
@@SonGokuhSSJ I've never ever experienced clipping, and the fact that they extended the warranty to 5 years is a pretty good to me.
For the build quality, guess what, carbon is squeaking by nature, carbon based boat do the same, and they are high quality build marvels. 🤷
@@GeorgesPatapon I have personally experienced clipping with the Clears and so have a multitude of other people. I am pretty sure they all clip, if played loud enough/listening to bass heavy tracks. If you do not listen loud this may not be a problem for you but not something a headphone of its price should be having issues with. Squeking is not the only problem. A lot of headbands straight up snapped on the Focal Clears.
@@SonGokuhSSJ Equally a lot of people don't experience clipping. They made a design choice of not reducing the dynamics, allowing full excursion of the driver to give that typical Focal punch, that is unmatched.
It doesn't match your listening habits, too bad. But no headphones suits everybody.
For me it's the best headphones in the world (utopia), and I've experienced...a lot.
Again, your opinion is not universal.