Focal’s Utopia And The Loss Of Innocence

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Part of “Stories w/ Stubear”

Thank You Audio Advice for the loaner unit on many occasions!

Greetings mate and Welcome aboard! Stuart Charles here, HomeStudioBasics.com helping YOU make sound decisions, so…

I would like to start by saying that I feel very fortunate to have been able to hear these headphones, and as you’ll read below, it’s been both a blessing and a curse.

Throughout life, the word “Utopia” gets thrown around quite a bit. We all know that it’s a place of ideal perfection (the idea of heaven for instance), but it also literally translates to “No place.” Hmm.

There’s no place like home?

It’s also become sort of a meme in that, a place of Utopia is generally considered unrealistic within the context of the world we live in. And that’s perfectly reasonable since achieving something like that can, objectively speaking, never happen. 

Surely I had my doubts that a headphone costing $4000 and given such an outrageous name could even be close to worth the steep asking price.

Companies make all sorts of claims about their products, and over the years I’ve found that in the majority of cases, it’s a load of rubbish; designed to get you to buy the new flavor of the week product even though a replacement is already in the works.

Back when I used to visit Audio Advice more frequently than I do today, I was fairly new to the world of high-end headphones.

Names like Focal, Audeze, HIFIMAN, etc. were all foreign to me.

Like the honeymoon phase of a marriage, it was an exciting endeavor full of wonderment, anticipation, and untamed nirvana.

In some ways, I wish I could go back to a time when it was all so fresh and new. 

At this point, I’ve demoed over 135 headphones and I’ll be honest with you: it’s not as fun as it used to be.

But where does the Focal Utopia fit into the equation?

Let’s rewind to 2018 and find out.

Back then, and even today, Audio Advice is kind enough to lend out headphones to prospective buyers so they can determine whether or not they deem the product worthy of their hard-earned money.

They also lend stuff out to guys like me who enjoy trying new products and writing about them.

The store itself seems rather small from the outside, but there are lots of different showrooms and places to hide and seek.

Sometimes I would even sneak into the bathroom to check out my abs in the mirror before heading back home after a couple of hours of intense listening.

Listening to music can be quite a workout!

There’s a long hallway that leads to the john, but before that, there’s a small open area that used to be the listening station. They’ve since moved it into one of the rooms, but it always comes complete with a nice leather chair, a red/magenta colored area rug, and plenty of bougie amplifiers, dacs, expensive cables, etc.

In other words, an Audiophile’s wet dream.

For a while, they even put one of those foldable wall things (they call them “Dressing screens” or “Room dividers”) for some extra privacy just in case you wanted to have a little afternoon delight with the products.

Jokes aside, it was a place of total serenity, tranquility, and comfort. I can still remember reclining on that chair without a care in the world; listening to music on a lazy Saturday afternoon after a hard day’s work on my website.

The most interesting aspect of my experience with these headphones is the fact that I believe they were maybe the second or 3rd I had demoed from the lineup.

Both the Clear and Elear were tried first, and I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the price to performance of either.

So you can imagine that despite the Utopia being much more expensive (and presumably way “better”), I still wasn’t doing cartwheels in anticipation of listening to it. I was interested, sure, but I didn’t expect much.

Interestingly enough, I didn’t actually demo the Utopia in-store for the first time.

That day I was listening to some other stuff they had on the wall and before departing, I asked very nicely if I could take the Utopia home with me.

At the time, Chip and Ivan were still around (2 of my favorite people who have both retired) and they had no issues with it. So I signed the agreement that basically said I wouldn’t steal or sell the headphones, and I was on my way like Jadakiss.

I’ll never forget how I felt walking out of the store:

“Man, for all intents and purposes, I’m carrying $4000 in my arms – I hope I don’t get stabbed in the parking lot.”

It genuinely felt like a big deal. I had never even sniffed a set of headphones that expensive, so for me, it was a huge event.

After gently placing the enormous box on the floor of my car and tucking it in, I made the literal less-than-a-mile trek back home and…

Didn’t listen to the headphones?

Nope!

Remember how I said I wasn’t expecting much?

Well, the gravity of the situation hit me and I started getting a little damp.

Bear with me as I explain this, but sometimes when I’m really excited about something, I’ll put it off. Sounds mad, right?

Example: I come across a really good article online, start to read it, and then I’m like “This is just too good. I must click away and build the anticipation while doing something else. I’ll save it for later.”

Lol.

When I finally sat down to listen after a day or so, I was pretty amped up and slid the headphones on my head.

Build & Comfort

First off, the Utopia, like a good jock strap, is a dream to wear. They fit like a glove, they’re incredibly durable, and you can wear them for hours without adjusting.

They’re also not overly bulky or heavy like an Audeze, but they are a bit stiff and rigid.

For the most part, there isn’t anything too cumbersome to speak of, that is until you get to the Wire.

This thing is DUMMY THICC, and not for the faint of heart. It terminates in a 1/4″ jack at the business end and comes in beefier than a Wendy’s Baconator.

Good. It should be.

Anyway, enough about hamburgers. Though they are a very nutritious breakfast, our focus is on the sound.

Like all stories in this series, I can remember vividly the very song I was listening to. The song that changed my life and perception of what headphones are capable of… again.

Do you remember that small round thing with a hole in the middle that contained albums and stuff? I think they used to call it a “CD.” You put it in this thing called a CD player and it spun really fast while playing music.

Well, in 2018 I still had CDs, and one of them was called “Things Fall Apart” by the Roots. You may have heard of it.

I’m sure the experience was ingrained so deep into my subconscious that it caused me to inexplicably take this picture one day.

As a memento. That I would never forget the moment for as long as I lived:

I sat down, popped it in, and wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen.

It only took until track 3 for me to get completely and roughly penetrated by the intense wall of sound attacking my senses.

It didn’t even feel real.

“The Next Movement” is a song I’ve listened to so many times you’d think I’d have made it myself (it’s what we producers do; listen and overanalyze/overthink our music too much).

Anyway, it’s an incredibly well-produced track with a whole heck of a lot more going on than I ever could have imagined.

To be honest with you, I knew nothing about it. I thought I knew it like the back of my hand, but I didn’t. And that can be a scary thing.

It’s precisely why people get stuck in the rabbit hole, sort of like this:

THIS is why people get stuck and never come out. 

These headphones are the reason.

So if you want to become jaded and cynical of everything you hear afterward for the rest of your life, try a Utopia. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog for many years, you’ll know that this experience is precisely why I started referring to sound in terms of Doors.

Not THE Doors, mind you, but the sort of doors I’m referring to kind of imitate that concept because they are indeed “Doors of perception.”

In other words, what your brain is ultimately capable of perceiving about a song.

So think of taking drugs and your mind-expanding. That’s sort of what it’s like to listen to a Utopia (don’t think of it literally, but more as a metaphor.)

Even so, it absolutely is pure bliss. Ecstasy. Nirvana.

It’s Sublime. 

It’s like unlocking a memory of a dream you had 15 or 20 years ago; which can be rather jarring when you’re trying to fall asleep. Something you had no idea you dreamed until you remembered that you dreamed it. It’s a very eerie feeling.

Has anyone ever had this happen?

Take the best headphones you’ve ever heard and multiply their perfect resolution (score of 10/10 for instance) by 1000. That’s what it’s like to listen to a Utopia.

The Doors

Door #1

Think of this as pretty much everything that you know about a song: The main instruments and riffs, the solos, as well as the more well-known band members who play said instruments. It’s what the vast majority of people hear when they’re just casually listening to music.

You know how it’s portrayed, you’re familiar with it, and it sounds normal; as you’ve always heard it – perhaps through an older stereo, some cheaper computer speakers, your car stereo, some $10 Sony headphones that came with the Disc-man, anything you used to listen to music back in the day with.

Door #2

Now imagine after buying something in the $100 range (say an MDR-7506) you make your first really serious headphone purchase. This second door is akin to something like an HD600 or an HE400i.

This is where you start to get a feel for what music is truly supposed to sound like, as things start to open up and bloom like a flower.

Voices become more distinct, resolution is improved, timbre is more realistic, and instruments have better separation, which allows you to take a deeper glimpse into the song.

This is likely going to be your “Audiophile moment.” That precise moment in time that you can still remember as vividly as say, the first time you fell in love with another person.

It’s the turning point of your journey. Once you hear something like that, you’re never going back again like Fleetwood Mac.

Door #3

Way back when, I only had 3 doors (The Utopia being Door 3), but in revisiting my experience I came to realize that this headphone stands completely by itself. I should have absolutely made that apparent the last time I updated this article.

But it didn’t.

And for that I’m sorry.

 So think of Door 3 as that step-up from mid-fi into something better, but not at the level of the Utopia. For instance, a HIFIMAN HE400i/400se, HD600, or K702 graduated to something like an Ananda or Edition XS.

Everything gets another significant upgrade: Overall tuning, Resolution, Timbre, Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release, and everything that makes a song what it is should theoretically improve given the recording is solid.

Remember, great headphones reveal what’s there in the most realistic way possible. They don’t necessarily make things sound better (the recording is the main consideration) but they can be expertly tuned and engineered for maximum max meat pleasure with well-recorded music.

You can really get a sense of who mixed and mastered their music the best because let me tell you something right now: These headphones AIN’T puttin’ no lipstick on no pig.

Not no way, not no how. No siree Bob.

What you will get excited about is the fact that the music sounds more realistic and immediate. And, as I always share with people, you will find the jump from a dynamic (like the headphones mentioned above) to a planar like an Ananda pretty significant. It’s heading in that “change your life” direction but doesn’t quite reach the pinnacle.

For a while, I didn’t think a headphone could.

Door #4

The Utopia is the only headphone I’ve ever heard that can reveal all the stuff layered behind the other layers that you thought didn’t exist.

These headphones are resolving almost to a fault. 

Imagine the micro detail as grains of garlic peppering the track. That’s how “The Next Movement” sounded. It was unreal; as if I could hear every single individual thing that was happening; at the same time.

Not just, for instance, the intricacies of a single instrument.

No. Every sound, every utterance, every last drop of the audio came into full view. 100% of the track was revealed. I was completely flabbergasted. I could almost taste the resolution like lickable wallpaper.

 

It can be tough to talk about this because there’s such a sense of finality to this experience. It’s why I’ve been putting off writing about it.

Sure, there are plenty of other headphones out there costing WAY MORE than a Utopia and thus considered “better” – whatever that means. It would be foolish not to acknowledge that.

But how much better are they, actually?

You’re telling me if I pay $50,000 instead of $4,000, I’ll pick up on.. what more exactly? If I’m paying 50 large for headphones, God himself better be on the line.

By now you may know that I’m extremely skeptical about expensive products due to the law of diminishing returns.

That is, the improvement in sound quality decreases rapidly as the prices skyrocket. Simple logic.

I say that to say that the Utopia is the ONLY headphone I’d ever consider paying a couple of grand for.

Consider.

And keep in mind I’ve heard 135+.

It really is that good, and all the hype surrounding these over the years is absolutely justified.

They sound natural in a way that’s hard to believe. The bass thumps perfectly, the mids are incredible, and the treble is just right. Not too bright, not too dark. So they’re tuned immaculately, but they’re also driver-matched as close as any headphones I’ve ever seen from a graphical standpoint.

And I’ve read hundreds of graphs over the years.

In fact, every time I hear them they sound better, even though, before every session, I always tell myself there’s no way in hell they’re as good as I initially thought all those years ago.

They are.

Just imagine me as that sleazy salesman getting more and more excited at the prospect of you dropping thousands of dollars on his” latest and greatest” product that will solve all of your life’s problems and cure cancer.

You can actually see dollar signs in his eyes like in the cartoons. He’s in a trance-like state trying to suck you in. You can’t help it. You give in. Your mouth starts to water. You throw your money at him as the tent slowly pitches in your pants. 

That guy giving you wood?

That’s me, only I’m telling the truth LOL.

*My excitement builds and builds faster and faster*

Even the smallest of artifacts suddenly become a big deal: the sighs, lost voices, the ad-libs, the ambiance, the synth you missed, the artist’s voice as it trails off, the way the finger releases from the fretboard as the guitarist moves up and down, every detail of Richard Wright’s Hammond organ, Tony Kaye’s Hammond Organ in Starship Trooper, pants unzipping, the classical composer who just subtly cleared his throat after a phrase, it never ends. 

It’s all there, for the low low price of $3999.

But wait!

There’s more.

Buy them now and we’ll throw in a Little Tree air freshener, free of charge. Just pay shipping and handling.

Silliness aside, thinking back on my various experiences with the Utopia is quite strange; in that, it actually triggers memories of my past that are incredibly bittersweet.

I’m referring of course to my high school days, and so much of that has to do with the fact that I listened to a LOT of old songs with the Utopia; rock or otherwise. Ones I used to jam out to with my homies back when I was just an immature kid who smoked too much pot.

The Utopia is captivating in that sense.

This idea of wanting to go back and rediscover music you’ve long since forgotten about; the songs of yesteryear that aren’t an integral part of your life anymore. Good headphones will always play a part in that. In capturing whatever feeling that comes with it: nostalgia, loss, heartbreak, sadness, longing, joy, whatever it is.

And normally, it’s not OK; to go back and try and relive what is long gone.

But with the Utopia, it is, somehow.

Because you’re able to see those moments in your mind even more vividly.

Just enough for you to finally let them go.

Focal Utopia

Price: Check Amazon | Check Sweetwater | Check B&H

Specs/Graph

Graph: Crinacle

Specifications

• • Type: Open Back, Dynamic.
    
  • Fit: Circumaural (Around-Ear)
  • Frequency response: 5Hz – 50kHz.
    
  • Impedance: 80 Ohms. What is Headphone Impedance?
  • Sensitivity: 104dB/mW.
  • Driver Size: 40mm.
  • Material: Carbon Fiber, Fabric, Lambskin Leather, Black Anodized Aluminum.
  • Color: Black.
    
  • Cable: OFC Cable with Neutrik 1/4″ Plug (9.8′ / 3m)
  • Connector to Earpiece: 2x LEMO (Unspecified Type)
  • Weight: 1.08 lbs. / 490g
  • Needs Amplification: Yes
  • Used With: NAIM DAC-V1, Schiit Magni/Modi 2, Chord Hugo 2. 

Media

 

Video Discussion

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Well, that’s about it for today my friend! I hope you’ve enjoyed this Focal Utopia Review.

Questions? Comments? Requests? Did I miss the mark on something? Please leave them down below or Contact me!!

If you love what I do here and want to support the blog and channel in a more personal way, check me out on Patreon and discover all the value I have to offer you.

Any experience with the Utopia? I would love to hear from you. Until next time…

All the best and God bless,

 

 

-Stu

[Xtr@Ba$eHitZ]

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