God-Tier Headphones? | Focal Utopia Review

hi everyone welcome to headphone.ph youtube 
channel today we’re going to be reviewing an  
ultra high-end summit phi headphone in 
focal utopia let’s get right into it
utopia needs no introduction this headphone was 
released sometime in 2016 and initially retailed  
for a whopping four thousand dollars they updated 
it last year by adding the same set of accessories  
as the focal clear and increase the price at 4 400 
dollars so this is definitely not for the faint  
of heart locally here in the philippines it’s 
available for over 200 000 pesos and is available  
on egghead audio hub as a foreground headphone 
let’s just say that it’s built like a four grand  
headphone or at least close to it lambskin leather 
ear pads and headband padding carbon fiber yolks  
here uh you get a metal mostly metal construction 
with some cleverly placed plastic trimmings here  
and overall this is a really well built 
headphone i would say everything feels  
nice in the hand and there’s that solid heft 
and solidity because this is a heavy headphone  
at 500 grams when the headphone first came out 
there was a report of squeaking in the build  
overall build of the headphone i wouldn’t say i 
i’m experiencing the same like i can hear some  
wiggling but it’s not as uh as noisy as some of 
the videos that i’ve seen while the build quality  
of this headphone is fantastic i still wouldn’t 
say it’s as rigid as like a like odyssey headphone  
so

if you hold it in one hand it you know jiggles
quite a bit and uh it’s it’s not as like tank like
built as say the odyssey lcd line aesthetically i
like the look of the headphone it’s definitely not
the muted understated type of look it’s a little
on the splashier type of design but i still like
it i don’t think it’s going overboard or it’s too
much i i think it’s appropriately designed for a
headphone of this price so the newer version of
utopia from last year has more accessories than
the initial release so it comes with three cables
one of them is a balanced cable the other two is a
single-ended cable and it also has the gorgeous uh
carry case that was first introduced in the full
calculator headphones and the specific unit that i
have was the initial version so it only came with
a very long uh single-ended cable so the cable
of this one is uh it’s not your standard 3.5
millimeter or mini xlr it’s in limo connector so
uh aftermarket cables are naturally more expensive
because it’s not a well-known type of termination
comfort is great if you’re used to heavy
headphones so i i said in the full calculator
review that if you’re coming from a closed
back portable headphone this is going to be too
heavy initially but for me or if you’re used to
a full-size headphone then this
shouldn’t be that uncomfortable
so the lambskin leather uh ear pads and headband
padding are luxurious and definitely provides that
nice comfort despite the uh heavy weight of
this headphone this is how the headphone looks
when worn um i would say that the
headphone despite being heavy is
evenly the weight is evenly placed on your head
the padding at the top is ample and i i’m not
really feeling any discomfort even after uh some
long listening using this headphone uh the cable
that i have the long one unfortunately adds
up to the weight so if you have the long cable
uh you may need to like roll it and place it on
on top of your table so that it doesn’t tug the
headphone that much being an open headphone the
focal utopia leaks sound and i find that it leaks
even more sound than the focal player so
if you are in in an office and uh you’re
listening to your favorite tracks definitely
your co-workers can hear what you’re listening to
now before talking about the focal utopia sound i
want to share my source and amplification so that
there’s proper context for the evaluation of the
sound of this headphone personally i feel it’s not
correct to make an evaluation of the headphone
without really stating the gear and components
used for the review so it’s definitely going to
be unfair if someone makes a review of the utopia
and say you know the utopia is a bright headphone
but then it’s just plugged straight into a phone
i also feel it’s helpful for viewers to know the
source being used and the amplification because
not everyone can afford like high-end setups and
so if someone discloses they’re using this type
of amp the user can easily triangulate from there
and make their own conclusion on how the headphone
will sound for their own setup having said that
the sole dock that was used for this review is
the [ __ ] modius which is a balanced dac i have
a handful of amplifiers that i tested with this
one initially the [ __ ] magne 3 plus which is
an entry level amplifier the monoprice dhx887
the head amp gsx mini and uh the [ __ ] ragnarok
one so my evaluations are gonna be based off all
those amplifiers i’m going to generalize it a
little bit but i will make sure to point it out
if some amplifier is has a distinct characteristic
that was that is important to the headphone okay
so the focal utopia is a very similar sounding
headphone to the focal clears so if you look
at the frequency response graph there are some
minor changes really but as a whole the utopia
is a less bassy and slightly brighter headphone at
least totally and i think this is the reason why
uh some people have favored the significantly
cheaper clear over the utopia headphone there
will be some quick sound comparisons with the full
calculator throughout this review but there will
be a separate video where i go into detail
about the differences of those headphones so
make sure to stay tuned for that so if i would
summarize the tonal balance of the focal utopia
i would say this is a neutral warm and bright
headphone which is kind of unusual because usually
warm and bright doesn’t really coexist but i’m
going to explain why by going through each of the
aspects of the sound so for the bass the utopia
has an okay extension so it has a drooping
like response so the sub bass is lower in level
it extends into the sub bass area but just
lowering level unlike some of the other competing
headphones such as the lcd line despite that the
bass punch and slam of the utopia just like the
clear is exceptional so this is a very punchy and
dynamic headphone and it more than makes up for
the lack of elevation in the sub-bass area the
bass transitions nicely to the mid-range with very
little uh bleed and bloat i would say that the
uh if you really want that extra thump in the
base you can easily just eq the 100 hertz uh
part of the response boost it by three to four db
and you should get that increased bass response uh
one thing that’s worth mentioning as well is that
the base scales up with better gears so with the
magni 3 it’s very the base was very anemic it
did improve with the thx 887 and it improved
further with the gsx mini maybe not so much
the actual quantity but more of the dynamism of
that part of the spectrum the mid-range is my
favorite part of the frequency for the utopia
it is quite even and behaved and you know there
is some elevation in the upper mid range which
some people don’t like but to me the the
distinct quality of the mid-range of the
utopia is that it’s liquid sounding liquidity is
something that is associated with being smooth
and resolving and that’s definitely something
that i’ve you know felt with with the utopia
in comparison to clear the clear has a a good
mid range but it doesn’t have that same refined
element in the utopia where the vocals the uh
piano tones and guitar strums sound just magical
for lack of a better word i would say the clear is
still warmer uh comparing the two but the overall
resolution of the mid-range of the utopia is on a
whole nother level the treble is where i i’d say
the preference kicks in so going from the slightly
accentuated uh upper mid range the lower treble
and just the treble frequency of the utopia in
general is also a little elevated and slightly in
slightly has more quantity than the focal clear
the interesting thing though with its slightly
elevated treble is that it maintains clarity
and smoothness all throughout so nothing here
sounds uh fatiguing or harsh or sibilant so
the focal player i also like the trouble of
the focal clear it’s uh has lesser quantity
than the utopia but where the utopia excels
is just in the overall refinement and resolution
of the textures of the treble frequencies so so
with the clear it’s not something that i that i
noticed right away but some of the uh areas around
the five to seven kilohertz area of the the focal
clear is a little grainy now in comparison to what
the utopia provides and overall the utopia
just has a much you know glassier smoother
texture to it than the like uh more of the grunge
of the focal clear now don’t get me wrong the
focal clear is a warm headphone and it’s still not
i wouldn’t even call it bright still but just the
textural differences between the two headphones is
noticeable soundstage is typical focal headphone
soundstage so it’s it’s uh not wide uh but it’s
a precise sound stage it boils down to like the
experience that you’re trying to get so you know
the utopia gives you a headphone experience like
you wear you wear it you listen to the music
you know you’re listening to a headphone whereas
some of the wider sound stages of the aria
in the h800s gives you something that is more
wide and and spacious if you’re coming from a
closed headphone or an entry-level open-back
headphone say these sennheiser hd600 the width
of the sound stage of the utopia is still better
and the imaging is still much much better it
even benefits from a good uh synergy with your
uh sources and amplification so with the [ __ ]
magni 3 it’s the sound stage is very flat uh but
i find that it increased as i went from the magni
3 to the hx 887 and to the uh gsx mini where it’s
a little more spacious a little more there’s this
blacker background as they as they call it and
overall it’s just a much more pleasant experience
also the beauty of a not so wide sound stage is
that the imaging is also easier to control so
a lot of times we see headphones that have a
wide or deep sound but then it doesn’t really
transition well um so like that’s where you get
the three blob effect we’re in like uh far left
center and far right kind of thing whereas with
the utopia it’s it the pa the panning of the
instrument is precise and that you’re easily
able to really distinguish the individual
lines of the instruments uh within that small
uh stage the utopia also has the best speed and
transients of all the headphones that i’ve tried
so obviously like i i don’t have access to a lot
of high-end headphones so naturally this one would
blow me away i recall listening to stacks
some years ago and that one has a very
like fast and zippy fuzzy sound but i
can’t really like compare from memory so
uh so for me like the utopia has exceptional speed
and transient response and and it easily plays uh
like busy passages of your music or um anything
that has like a lot in the mix it’s easily able to
like uh reveal the lower level information without
throwing off the whole presentation so the utopia
is not a hard to drive headphone it’s just 80
ohms so if you have a an entry-level amplifier or
even if you have a cable that converts a
quarter inch to 3.5 millimeters you’ll be able
to like play plenty loud from a portable device
however this headphone is a summit phi headphone
and scales well so my experience with the gsx mini
has opened my eyes about the potential of this
headphone with the gsx mini it really just took it
to another level when comparing it to the hx887 so
the gsx mini is a class am uh it’s a solid state
amp which means you’re not going to get that
that matching warmth of the tubes that most
people prefer with the utopia but i find that it
rounded some of the rougher uh like sharper
edges of the the presentation of the utopia
while also adding that nice depth and dynamics
in the uh in the base and mids area just like
any other summify headphones you know the utopia
gets unlocked some more with better upstream gear
and matching so that’s definitely something to
keep in mind with this headphone so the utopia
responds well to eq and there are many eq profiles
out there that you can try there’s one from audio
science review and there’s another from an audio
engineer named oratory both of the eq’s are great
and you can just tune it by ear personally there’s
two key areas where you you know i see people
making adjustments in this via equalization
the first one is the sub base area where this
is slightly lacking in quantity and the other is
the treble frequencies were specifically the upper
the lower treble and even maybe even the upper
mid range where you may want to like reduce it
down a little but overall even without eq and if
i’m using it through a good like amplifiers like
the gsx mini and the ragnarok i find that it is
an enjoyable listening experience so i definitely
enjoyed my time with the focal utopia and it gave
me a pleasurable listening experience going back
to uh cheaper headphones immediately gives me that
inferior experience as well overall the utopia
is a dynamic punchy fast crispy but still musical
sounding headphone it’s forward in aggressive but
still relaxing because of its overall liquidity
and smooth sound just like every headphone it
has its own set of flaws small stage slightly
bright tonality lacking low quantity in the low
bass and some people those qualities are not
forgivable for a flagship headphone especially
one that costs four thousand dollars i said it
when i reviewed the clear and i’ll say it again
when you go past the thousand dollar uh headphone
everything becomes poor value so it all becomes
about your love for the hobby and your willingness
to uh put up with the flaws of the headphones in
exchange for the benefits that you’re getting the
good thing is the sound character of the utopia
makes it easy for you to decide you value dynamism
detail retrieval and musicality then the utopia
is something that you like on the other hand if
you want that large stage that enhances imaging
capabilities deep and big bass and less of that
treble quantity then the utopia is not for you
if you ever decide you want to splurge in getting
the utopia make sure to also set aside or save up
for the rest after all the utopia is a flagship
headphone which means it demands a flagship
amplification and source and more importantly
matching is important when getting a headphone
uh this of this type if you have something
modest like say a built-in dac and a 99 dollar
amplifier like the shipmag3 that i mentioned
then the focal clear or elex might be a better
match but if you are looking to upgrade those at
some point the dyotopia is definitely worthy of
a look all right that’s about it for the review
of the focal utopia i’d love to hear your thoughts
about this insanely expensive headphone if you
ever own one or have listened to it previously
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