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Focal Utopia Headphones

Focal Utopia Headphones

During the past couple of years there has been a major change in the demographics of home-audio buyers. Between 2013 and 2015 the amount spent by individuals 55 and older dropped by 50%—from 36% of the market to only 18%. During this same period spending by 18-to-24-year-olds increased from 10% to 17% (a 70% jump), while spending by 25-to-34-year-olds also saw an uptick from 19% to 30%. If you combine the spending power of 18-to-34-year-old buyers, you’ll find that they purchased over 47% of all home-audio gear. Since headphones and portable playback devices have been the industry’s biggest growth areas, no need to ask who is doing most of the purchasing—those 18-to-34-year-olds.

Manufacturers, especially loudspeaker makers, have noticed these changes in buying habits. In the last couple of years B&W and PSB, among others, have fielded headphone designs. Focal, known not only for its loudspeakers but also for its raw drivers, entered the arena several years ago with a line of portable “lifestyle headphones.” Recently the company announced two new reference models, the Elear ($1000) and Utopia ($3999). Both are all-new open-enclosure designs featuring Focal’s own driver components. The Utopia uses a beryllium driver while the Elear uses an aluminum/magnesium one. Except for the driver material and some cosmetic differences in their earcups and headbands they share the same technology. This review will focus on the Utopia.

Technical Details
The Utopia headphone is based on an entirely new driver design. The engineering goals were simple, yet difficult to achieve with current-production conventional drivers. According to Focal its goal was to “design a full-range loudspeaker, fully open both front and back. Additionally, we wanted it to be compact enough to fit in an ear cup of a fully open pair of headphones that could perform with the lowest possible distortion.” To achieve this, Focal needed a driver material that had “the lowest possible mass to preserve the signal’s dynamic…to avoid distortion, and to achieve high damping.” Beryllium was chosen due to its innate characteristics—its density is two-and-a-half times lower than titanium and one-and-a-half times lower than aluminum, while its rigidity is three times higher than titanium and five times higher than aluminum. On a domed tweeter with identical mass, a beryllium tweeter is seven times more rigid than a titanium tweeter.

Of course in physics, there is no free lunch, and the trade-off is that beryllium is extremely difficult to work with. Focal says that “forming a sheet of beryllium required two years of R&D to develop the machine able to properly transform a flat sheet made of pure beryllium into a dome.” But Focal didn’t stop there; it also employed a new driver profile—the M-shaped driver. With this new geometry a headphone has a bigger emissive area. Indeed, Focal claims that “a 25mm dome using M shape equals a 45mm standard driver. That allows even more SPL capabilities. Also, the M shape offers a higher break-up point compared to a regular dome.”

The Utopia also uses a specially designed voice coil that weighs only 135mg. To accomplish this, Focal created the first voice coil without any support (to get the lowest possible mass)—one that’s also twice as large as the competition. Focal’s engineers were able to create a 5mm-tall voice coil with a 25mm diameter that was lighter than a 1.5mm-by-15mm voice coil.

Focal Utopia Headphones

Even Utopia’s surround material had to be engineered from scratch. After trying several raw materials such as PE, Mylar, fabric, and silicone, Focal found that the only one able to reach both compliance and mass targets was NBR, which combines softness, lightness, and mechanical linearity. In the end, Focal came out with a surround almost three times thinner than that of the competition—75 microns compared to 200 microns.

Focal also invested a great deal of time, effort, and research in the Utopia’s enclosure. It chose to make the Utopia an open design so it would have the least amount of physical impedance. Because it is an open design, the Utopia depends heavily on the ear cushions to control “the listening room experience.” The Utopia cushion is made of two raw materials: real lambskin leather and perforated fabric. The inner part is composed of a 50/50 ratio of lambskin leather (diffusion) and fabric (absorption). Focal says that “during the development process, we also did a lot of benchmark testing and found out that all the headphones equipped with leather cushions only ensure good performance from the low-to-mid frequencies. They always have problems with linearity in the upper part of the spectrum (from 1kHz to 10kHz).” To avoid reflections a fabric with punched micro-holes was used inside the cushion to fine-tune the absorption ratio.

Most over-the-ear headphones have their drivers placed parallel and in line with the listener’s ears, but Focal found that it achieved a better result by positioning the Utopia’s drivers as far forward in the enclosure as possible. This also has the advantage of reducing the distance between the drivers and the ears.

Ergonomics
The Utopia is an extremely comfortable headphone due to its overall design. Its carbon-fiber yoke is light yet strong. It uses a sliding click-stop expansion system that is easy to adjust yet holds settings well. And unlike many other ’phones where the side-pressure is greater on larger-diameter heads than smaller ones, the Utopia’s pressure remains the same regardless of head size. The only complaint I have with the Utopia’s fit is that if your head is smaller than my 7 1/8, you may find that even with the headband set to least extension the ’phones could sit a bit too low on your ears. That said, placement was perfect for me (and should be fine for anyone with a larger noggin). I found that I could wear the Utopias for as long as I wanted with no discomfort or fatigue. On a few rare occasions (while using the Darin Fong “Out of Your Head” playback software, which successfully simulates loudspeaker imaging), I occasionally forgot I had the Utopia on my head.

As you would expect from a premium headphone the Utopia has a removable cable. It uses a Lemo connection with a self-locking bayonet configuration. It’s a good thing that the stock cable is removable because the cable is the Utopia’s only serious ergonomic flaw. It is 13.1 feet long, and not terribly lightweight. If you pace as you listen the cable’s length will be a plus, but for more stationary listeners it is bulky and makes the Utopia into a heavier burden than it needs to be. After a few days using the stock cable, I called Moon Audio and ordered a 10-foot Silver Dragon headphone cable ($530). The Silver Dragon substantially reduced the weight and bulk of the Utopias and made my time with them far more comfortable. When you consider that many earphones at one-tenth the Utopia’s price include several sets of cables, I can only wonder why Focal chose to be so parsimonious with cable options.

With a sensitivity of 104dB and impedance of 80 ohms the Utopia doesn’t require a mega-powered amplifier to produce satisfying volume. Even a smartphone such as my iPhone 5 had no trouble driving the Utopia to what I would call loud levels at its three-quarters volume setting, although a somewhat beefier amplifier (such as the Astell&Kern AK240 or QueStyle QP-R1) will deliver more bass extension and control.

 

Sound
In a quiet environment the Focal Utopias are among the best sounding and most impressive earphones I have ever experienced. Why did I preface this encomium with “in a quiet environment?” Simple: The Utopia is an open-backed headphone that offers no isolation from outside noise. The Focal is certainly not alone in this regard; Stax electrostatic headphone systems, Sennheiser 800S, and Audeze LCD-4 are also open-backed designs. And while they are all excellent, none of them could be used successfully in the quiet zones of, say, a public library, due to leakage of sound into the outside world. And none would be terribly useful on a NYC subway because they don’t prevent outside sounds from interfering with your music. For those situations you need an earphone that isolates the listener from the outside world, such as the Mr. Speakers Ether C or the Etymotic ER4XR. No open-backed headphone (with the possible exception of the AudioQuest NightHawk) can successfully work out in the world like a closed-back or in-ear design.

But in a quiet listening space there is little I can fault in the Utopia’s sonic presentation. It exemplifies all the sonic advantages that a dynamic driver can deliver. From its lowest register to its highest frequencies the Utopia speaks with an authoritative voice. With no crossover to affect phase its sound is coherent and articulate. The drivers are matched so well that when I ran my standard full-range sine-wave sweep in mono (15Hz to 15kHz), the image stayed dead center with no shifts. (A shift would indicate mismatches between the right and left driver’s frequency response.)

I was impressed by how easy it was to listen into a mix with the Utopia. There was a delightful lack of extraneous noise, low-level electronic interference, or electrostatic haze. Along with this listening ease, the Utopia offered imaging that was more precise than what I’m used to from the vast majority of large-diaphragm planar designs.

Although I found the Utopia’s overall harmonic balance to be extraordinarily neutral, it also had superb low-end extension and control. These ’phones spent a good amount of time tethered to the SPL Phonitor X and Moon Audio Inspire Dragon IHA-1 headphone amps. Although the solid-state 120-volt-rail SPL delivered slightly more bass than the single-ended-tube IHA-1, they both had a level of bass definition and extension that I’ve rarely heard from any transducer, headphone or room-based. Listening to DJ Snake’s “Too Damned Low” via Tidal, I could explore the textures and rhythms of the synth bass-lines with ease.

Although the Utopia has oodles of bottom end, that low bass does not interfere with or muddy up its midbass, upper bass, and lower midrange. The Utopia has a clarity and openness combined with a harmonic density and absence of huffiness that are quite addictive. At one point I went from the Utopia to a new $900 pair of designer cans, and the first thing I noticed was how congested the designer ’phones sounded in comparison.


Focal Utopia Headphones

The problem with using a single driver to cover the entire frequency range is that it is exceedingly difficult to make a full-range transducer that is harmonically neutral and has even power handling throughout its entire range. The Utopia’s beryllium driver has, during my listening, proved to be an exception to that generality. Both its midrange and treble response were smooth, even, and lacking in any noticeable peaks or valleys, especially in the critical 1-to-3kHz region. That doesn’t mean the Utopia is ruler-flat (no headphones are flat because their frequency curve must compensate for the shape of the ear canal), but the final in-head response was as smooth and as non-peaky as I’ve ever heard from a single-driver design.

One question that I often hear in the headphone world is, “Do these headphones scale up?” This translates to: “If I use a better, more powerful headphone amplifier will the ’phones perform at a higher level?” My experience with the Utopia was that, yes, a bigger, better headphone amp does allow the Utopia to deliver a higher level of performance, but even a smartphone or semi-powerful player, such as the original Astell&Kern AK100, can drive the Utopia successfully with very little noticeable sonic degradation compared to my reference headphone amplifiers. However, even with low-powered sources the Utopia’s performance is so good you may not have as much of a burning desire to upgrade your can amp as with other reference designs.

Competition
At its elevated price-point the Focal Utopia needs to be able to take on all comers, regardless of technology. The Utopia’s primary competition at a very similar price is the Audeze LCD-4. And although I did not have a LCD-4 to directly compare with the Utopia, I did have the LCD-2 Version 2. In comfort the Utopia was a clear winner. It is lighter with less side-pressure. Since the LCD-4 is similar in size and weight to the LCD-2, it too would be a less comfortable option, especially if you favor long listening sessions.

Although I no longer had the Stax SR-L700 around for comparison I did have a pre-production sample of the new Sonoma electrostatic headphones ($5000 projected MSRP). Sonically both were impressive, and each highlighted the advantages of its particular technologies. The dynamic-driver Utopia was more dynamic, especially in the midbass and low bass, while the Sonoma had the pristine clarity and sparkle that are hallmarks of electrostatic designs. Each offered a different presentation—the Utopia had better lateral focus, but the Sonoma created a larger, more spacious soundstage.

If you have heard the Utopia and love it, but simply can’t afford it, I have two less expensive options that, while not quite as good, capture many of the Utopia’s best sonic qualities: The Focal Elear ($1000), which shares much of the Utopia’s design DNA and at one-quarter its price may be the best value currently available in a $1000 full-sized over-ear ’phone. Another is the Mr. Speakers Ether Flow C ($1795–$1849), a closed can that sounds eerily similar to the Utopia, but offers superior isolation for use out in the world.

 

Summary
While I hesitate to call any component “the best,” the Focal Utopia certainly ranks overall as the finest dynamic headphone I’ve experienced to date. It is among the most comfortable, sonically neutral, and well-built headphones I’ve ever reviewed. Its faults are minor (the cable), and easily remedied. Yes, it is not inexpensive. However, I heard from a reliable source that initially they were going to be priced much higher, but Focal demurred, judging that market acceptance would be much better at $3999 than $6999.

If your primary listening space is a quiet spot in your home and you want the ultimate in dynamic ’phones, the Focal Utopia will have few, if any, peers. If you want to hear and feel just how good headphone listening can be, I urge you to give the Focal Utopia serious consideration. They are a true reference component worthy of the finest system.

Specs & Pricing

Type: Dynamic, open-back headphones
Impedance: 80 ohms
Sensitivity: 104dB
Weight: 1.08 lbs.
Price: $3999

Audio Plus Services (U.S. Distributor)
156 Laurence Paquette Industrial Drive
Champlain, NY 12929
(800) 663-9352
audioplusservices.com

FOCAL
108 rue de l’avenir
42353 La Talaudière
France
(+33) 4 77 43 57 00
focal.com/en

Tags: FOCAL

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