Spent some time with these new Utopias and found them superior in every way to the old ones. They were the only focal cans I found were great in their current line up.
Hi guys. How can I buy this in Canada. My father seems to respond well to the Clears but is struggling quite a bit with Meniere's disease. I am hoping to get him the Utopias so he can enjoy the best at 75 years old ❤
Wave is on a roll man. Back to back to back with insane reviews of headphones, amps and dacs. He's even doing a part 2 of the singxer SA-1 with the jumper mod. One of the Best reviewer out there hands down.
I'm in the same camp - break-in/run-in however you'd like to call it, is a thing. Looking forward to the full review and the compare to the OG Utopia. Also, big thanks to the lenders !! You guys ROCK!
I have had the pleasure of owning both these and the original Utopias and if you can make it happen I would highly suggest pairing the new ones with a Schiit Yggdrasil (MiL if possible) and an Ampandsound Forge tube amp. Out of the hundreds of chains I have tried none come close to this combination!
I doubt I'll be able to pull that off. My DAC is a Berkeley Alpha S2 (the revision that includes MQA) and with some fortunate timing I just got an LTA Z10e amp in for review too. I'm fairly confident I'll get a fair representation of what the Utopias can do.
My understanding is that there were some reliability concerns with the original version that they have corrected in the 2022 model by adding copper to the voice coil. Might be something to mention in the full review.
*Great review. Energized wave theory man! Thank you.* How about you start to compare again with top of the line open back headphones? Please, if you can.
Yes, I hope to update my TOTL/hi-end comparison in the near future. I'm hoping to get a Caldera for review so it can be included. If I keep striking out on that, I'll move forward without it.
Hi WaveTheory, I really appreciate your Reviews as I find them to be fairly accurate to what I experience. I know this might sound a little bold, but a Summit Fi solution for 99% percent is the Warwick Accoustics Bravura/Sonoma Combo. At first it might sound overpriced to spend 7.8k € for a Headphone/AMP, but let me tell you it is the most refined solution I have come across. I owned DCA Stealth, Focal Clear, Focal Utopia, Denon AH-D9200, Hifiman Arya Stealth, Hifman Susvara, HD800 + HD800S. The only thing that comes remotely close in refinement is Hifiman Susvara and maybe Arya Stealth, both with some EQ applied. And if you just straight up buy the Bravura it is way cheaper than to tinker with so many Headphones/Amps....
I would really appreciate a Review from you, I was so convinced with its performance that I sold my entire collection and just kept the Bravura. Tyle from innerFidelity did the same (back when the Sonoma M1 was the most recent version).
I would love to review one. I reached out to Warwick and never got a response. I also can't swing nearly $8k to bring in a review unit either. I'm probably going to need a loan from someone.
My Utopia 2022’s sound fantastic on Chord Hugo2 and awesome on AMPSANDSOUND Mogwai se v2. I’m keeping Utopia 2022 & Hifiman HE6se v2. And selling my Fostex th900, Audeze lcd5, Audeze x.
Fortune has smiled upon us, my friend! If you saw a post I made this morning, an LTA Z10e arrived here ahead of schedule. So I'll get an opportunity to try the Utopia(s) on a $7k tube amp!
I am paying close attention to 22 v OG. IMO the Clear MG was a step back from Clear OG, so I'm going to very intently see if Focal learned from that or no.
The original utopia, although very good, is behind even the he1000se overall, let alone Susvara. Listening to them back to back reveals Utopia having a much smaller sound. You can call that “intimate” but it is a step closer to listening to IEM and not as immersive an experience to me. It also lags in timbre, in my opinion. Bass is also looser and reverts for too long for my taste. It is still an excellent headphone. Just that by comparison, it is not as good as the Hifiman offerings. The D8000 pro is also technically better than it. So unless this new version made some significant change to close the gaps, it would be a hard sell just to have some minor tweaks
Immediate click on seeing that you posted this. Looking forward to the full review. Congrats on 3K subs!
Spent some time with these new Utopias and found them superior in every way to the old ones. They were the only focal cans I found were great in their current line up.
Hi guys. How can I buy this in Canada. My father seems to respond well to the Clears but is struggling quite a bit with Meniere's disease. I am hoping to get him the Utopias so he can enjoy the best at 75 years old ❤
Wave is on a roll man. Back to back to back with insane reviews of headphones, amps and dacs. He's even doing a part 2 of the singxer SA-1 with the jumper mod. One of the Best reviewer out there hands down.
I'm in the same camp - break-in/run-in however you'd like to call it, is a thing. Looking forward to the full review and the compare to the OG Utopia.
Also, big thanks to the lenders !! You guys ROCK!
I have had the pleasure of owning both these and the original Utopias and if you can make it happen I would highly suggest pairing the new ones with a Schiit Yggdrasil (MiL if possible) and an Ampandsound Forge tube amp. Out of the hundreds of chains I have tried none come close to this combination!
I doubt I'll be able to pull that off. My DAC is a Berkeley Alpha S2 (the revision that includes MQA) and with some fortunate timing I just got an LTA Z10e amp in for review too. I'm fairly confident I'll get a fair representation of what the Utopias can do.
My understanding is that there were some reliability concerns with the original version that they have corrected in the 2022 model by adding copper to the voice coil. Might be something to mention in the full review.
*Great review. Energized wave theory man! Thank you.* How about you start to compare again with top of the line open back headphones? Please, if you can.
Yes, I hope to update my TOTL/hi-end comparison in the near future. I'm hoping to get a Caldera for review so it can be included. If I keep striking out on that, I'll move forward without it.
Hi WaveTheory, I really appreciate your Reviews as I find them to be fairly accurate to what I experience. I know this might sound a little bold, but a Summit Fi solution for 99% percent is the Warwick Accoustics Bravura/Sonoma Combo. At first it might sound overpriced to spend 7.8k € for a Headphone/AMP, but let me tell you it is the most refined solution I have come across. I owned DCA Stealth, Focal Clear, Focal Utopia, Denon AH-D9200, Hifiman Arya Stealth, Hifman Susvara, HD800 + HD800S. The only thing that comes remotely close in refinement is Hifiman Susvara and maybe Arya Stealth, both with some EQ applied. And if you just straight up buy the Bravura it is way cheaper than to tinker with so many Headphones/Amps....
I would really appreciate a Review from you, I was so convinced with its performance that I sold my entire collection and just kept the Bravura. Tyle from innerFidelity did the same (back when the Sonoma M1 was the most recent version).
I would love to review one. I reached out to Warwick and never got a response. I also can't swing nearly $8k to bring in a review unit either. I'm probably going to need a loan from someone.
My Utopia 2022’s sound fantastic on Chord Hugo2 and awesome on AMPSANDSOUND Mogwai se v2. I’m keeping Utopia 2022 & Hifiman HE6se v2. And selling my Fostex th900, Audeze lcd5, Audeze x.
OTL is needed for this test, just saying thanks for the hard work
Fortune has smiled upon us, my friend! If you saw a post I made this morning, an LTA Z10e arrived here ahead of schedule. So I'll get an opportunity to try the Utopia(s) on a $7k tube amp!
@@wavetheorysound NICE!!!! 😁
Which headphone is best for you for vocals and acoustic instruments till now? the Susvara?
Yes, Sus is still the most natural-sounding headphone I've heard.
@@wavetheorysound Maybe till you will try the Caldera.. Lol
New Utopia is definitely step to a side, not frorwad. I still prefer OG Utopia to new 2022 Utopia.
I am paying close attention to 22 v OG. IMO the Clear MG was a step back from Clear OG, so I'm going to very intently see if Focal learned from that or no.
I have both and I enjoy the 2022 quite a bit more
I found the original Utopia pretty hot in the treble. I think they are very amp picky/dependant.
It looks a bit Babylon 5 if you get that reference.
Nanna in the background😏
🤫😆
The original utopia, although very good, is behind even the he1000se overall, let alone Susvara. Listening to them back to back reveals Utopia having a much smaller sound. You can call that “intimate” but it is a step closer to listening to IEM and not as immersive an experience to me. It also lags in timbre, in my opinion. Bass is also looser and reverts for too long for my taste. It is still an excellent headphone. Just that by comparison, it is not as good as the Hifiman offerings. The D8000 pro is also technically better than it. So unless this new version made some significant change to close the gaps, it would be a hard sell just to have some minor tweaks