Focal Utopia: owners’ impressions

Owners of the Focal Utopia help explain why reviews of this headphone contradict each other: on some recordings it is uncanny, on others it simply reports what is there. Below we summarise the sound by range, the music they found it suits, their comparisons with the Audio-Technica ADX5000, STAX SR-007, Sennheiser HD800 and Fostex TH900, and their view of the 2022 revision.

These impressions are summarised from owners’ posts on an audiophile forum. They are the subjective views of their authors, not measurements or claims of Demograf Audio.

Sound, range by range

Bass

• Deep, well controlled and weighty, but not emphasised. It is enough for rock, though drive and punch are not its strength.
• One listener found it deep but short of snap and definition, with drums sounding smeared.
• Owners who compared the two found the 2022 revision’s bass fuller, firmer and better textured, and the original’s thin by comparison.

Midrange

• Informative and slightly forward, favouring acoustic instruments and electric guitars.
• In the 2022 version one owner heard more cohesive mids with more body in the lower midrange.

Treble

• Moderate in quantity and set back in the stage; one owner often wished for more. On good recordings he found it ample, with beautiful decays.
• The upper mids do not hide sibilance in a recording, though they are not harsh.

Soundstage and imaging

• Strongly recording-dependent: from flat and intimate to several layers of depth with air between the instruments.
• Compact next to other open flagship headphones, yet it still conveys the scale of an orchestra.
• Positioning on good recordings is very precise; one owner describes distinct sources separated by silence.

Resolution and detail

• High resolution and careful rendering of small nuances.
• On well-recorded material, one owner had not heard its transparency matched by any other dynamic headphone.

Tonal balance

• Natural, saturated timbres, neither dry nor artificially thickened.

Music

• On classical music owners describe an inner tension in each note that draws them in.
• On many rock and jazz recordings one owner found it technically impressive but, after a while, short of a hook.
• Another found it refined but somewhat lacking in character.

Compared with other headphones

vs Audio-Technica ADX5000

One owner hears an immediate, consistent effect from the ADX5000: a wide stage, high resolution, clear vocals and good separation. He understands why some listeners choose it over the Utopia, and suggests it as an alternative for jazz. Another owner found the opposite: the ADX5000 bored him quickly at home, while the Utopia held his attention, and he would keep the Utopia.

vs Fostex TH900, Sennheiser HD800 and Audio-Technica ADX5000

These three show their character on any recording, sounding bright, expressive and large from the first notes. One owner found the Utopia more demanding of the material: it reveals itself on serious, well-recorded music. Against the TH900 MkII, another owner found the Utopia more natural and detailed, and the Fostex more colourful and driving. One listener preferred the Utopia to the HD800.

vs STAX SR-007

On classical music, one owner had felt the same tension in each note, and similarly precise positioning, only with STAX SR-007 electrostatics. The STAX went further still, but needs a dedicated amplifier, ideally a tube one, while the Utopia is easy to drive.

vs STAX SR-009, Abyss AB-1266, HiFiMAN HE-1000 and Susvara

One owner considers the Utopia some way short of the SR-009 and AB-1266. Another liked it a little less than the HE-1000, and a third found it not worse than the Susvara, just different.

Focal Utopia 2022 vs the original

Owners who heard both preferred the 2022 version throughout, above all for its bass.

Amplification

One owner disliked it from a Sennheiser HDV 820 and liked it from a Violectric V590. Another found it fully convincing from the unbalanced output of an Audio-GD R27, and notes that it plays well even from a portable player.

What owners report

One owner lived with the Utopia for about a week and stresses that listening to a whole library at home is very different from a show demonstration. On string trios and quartets, and on Mahler’s Third Symphony, he felt the music rather than simply heard it. Alessandro Scarlatti masses and Rameau operas kept him listening from morning until late at night. For classical music, he found it hard to imagine a better dynamic headphone.

With films, the same owner found secondary sounds so realistic and well separated that he took the headphones off to check whether something had happened in the room. On documentaries with a voice-over, the original soundtrack seemed to come from the desk in front of him, while the narrator’s voice stayed in the headphones.

On jazz and rock, results depended on the recording: one album sounded ordinary, the next immediately special. On extreme metal he found it too polite, lacking aggression and pressure, although some atmospheric doom metal worked. Club music played without excitement, as the bass is deep but not emphasised. IDM, trip-hop and ambient, by contrast, impressed him, with sounds appearing out of a dark, transparent space. A song by Eivør Pálsdóttir, with guitar and drums entering from deep in the stage, interrupted him as he wrote.

His verdict was that the Utopia is a very high-level headphone, but that buying one on the strength of reviews is riskier than with other flagships. One owner who listens through an LP6 amplifier’s single-ended output reports that he has nothing left to wish for.

Reported problems

• Recording-dependent: some jazz and rock albums sound dull.
• Upper mids do not hide sibilance.
• Lacks drive and aggression for rock and heavy metal.
• One owner heard smeared drums and percussion, for example on Wardruna’s Runaljod.
• Some listeners find it unengaging; one considers it overpriced.

Summary

The Utopia divides opinion because it depends so much on the recording. On classical and chamber music, opera, film soundtracks and calm electronic music, owners describe a realism and transparency they had not heard from other dynamic headphones. On rock and metal it can sound polite and short of drive.

Owners who compared the two prefer the 2022 revision throughout, the bass above all. More than with most flagships, an audition before buying is worth the trouble.