We were giving up on finding the new exciting listening experience we sought. January 2001 JMlab Mezzo Utopia Review by Alvin Gold Click here to e-mail reviewer For this, my (much delayed) first review for Enjoy the Music.com™, I have picked a product from a brand that has only quite recently enjoyed any significant success here in the UK, namely French producer Focal JMlab, who manufacture drive units under the Focal name, and complete loudspeakers under the JMlab label. do you want to sit in the 5th row or in the back. Its hefty foam and delicate grooves allow for optimal storage without any strains for the cables or the headphone itself. Focal claims a very high 94dB sensitivity for the Grande Utopia EM but our measured pink noise result of 90.7dB suggests hat this is around 3dB optimistic. The headphone itself is very well built and Focal claims that it is the only headphone that has the first pure beryllium M-shaped drivers, which allows the transducer to respond to a frequency of 5Hz to 50kHz without crossover or passive filtering. Amplification was 552/300 for most of the time. Fortunately, Focal has built its business around drive units, and has been developing them for decades, so if anyone can make a single driver configuration to work properly it can. If you want to hear these Utopias at their best you’ll have to feed them with a quality signal. One would think when you purchase a EURO€4000.00 / AUD$7372.00 pair of headphones, that they would last more than 2 years!!! Focal a conçu l'Utopia comme un porte-étendard donnant à voir toute l'étendue de son savoir-faire sonore, et le moins que l'on puisse dire est que la démonstration est concluante. The Utopia made me feel like my head was in the clouds despite it being noticeable in weight. Tonally, things are nicely balanced, with no part of the frequency range getting undue emphasis. The dealer offered me an extended listening session with the Scala and after a short time, I asked for a review pair. The carbon fiber yokes are also smooth and easy to adjust to fit any sized head. The Focal Utopia is a hi-fi, over-ear, open model equipped with Focal’s proprietary, M-shaped, pure Beryllium transducers. Overall, I think this headphone out resolves hyper-detailed headphones such as the HE1000, SR-009, and HD800 and then improves on their desirable traits. After all, almost all of the X-1's drivers are made by Focal. Conclusion. We like a bit of ambition, and Focal has been nothing if not ambitious with these Utopia headphones. Yes you are right in terms of price, weight, and soundstage but know that the Utopia is a product for those who want to be on the bleeding edge at whatever the cost. My samples are black with black lambskin pads, black yoke and a subtle black on black Focal logo on the side. Adele’s Hometown Glory highlights that midrange further. The Focal Utopia has been out now for some time, and when it first came out there was nothing else like it. Having heard the Utopia myself I would say staging to the Senn, but then body, texture, tonality, treble smoothness, resolution could be some other bells that could well be debated. Waiting for the focal fdp 6.900 amp to delivered. I would give the Utopia a resounding YES to whoever can afford and is having doubts to purchase this headphone. 2 shielded Lemo® connectors with self-locking bayonet system (to headphones). We use a range of sources, including our reference Naim NDS/555PS streamer and an Apple MacBook Pro loaded with Pure Music media software. The Utopia’s unique patented dome-shaped driver - called ‘M-shaped’ drivers by Focal - delivers an extremely long and perfectly linear pistonic driver excursion motion that allows for 50,000 vibrations per second compared to other high-end headphones measuring at around half that rate. The Utopia brings a mutual compromise when compared to the Audeze LCD-4 or the HD800 which are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Now the store is saying that the drivers are faulty, and to replace the drivers will cost EURO€2000.00 / AUD$3,700.00 (half the price of a new pair). I used Focal Scala Utopias with Naim amplification for about five years until the dealer offered the chance to try ‘pre-owned’ Maestro Utopias which I now own. Disclaimer: The Focal Utopia sent to us for the purposes of this review is a loan sample that was returned after this review. It’s important to remember that even at this price they’re nowhere near the most expensive around. As for the headband, I could see the constant bend being a bit too wide or too shallow for someone outside of the average head size but I found no problems with it personally. The Focals reveal the build-up in musical tension superbly, thanks to their startling insight and sonic stability. It has succeeded. String instruments, in particular, give superb timbre without muddying up any details. Focal has never made headphones as pricey as these, or anything that even hinted at so much ability. The Utopias are refined and wonderfully smooth performers that still have enough in the way of bite to satisfy. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. Now, Focal introduces the evolution of that legacy, a new high-end reference: The Utopia M line, which include five completely new drivers and a new 2-way passive kit. Both the headband and nicely cushioned memory foam earpads are covered with some wonderfully tactile lambskin. It would have been nicer if there was a cardboard box with artwork to sport its awesome design but its simplicity and heft shows the buyer that it is a premium product. You want to charge an uber-price you’ve got to ring all the bells. Throwing vocal-centered tracks to it, I could easily imagine the vocalists being present and alive in the recordings. Moving to Kendrick Lamar’s King Kunta simply reinforce our views. They’re comfortable though, and that’s despite a weight of 490g. Thanks for the article and the recommendation, Thanks for taking the time to visit us and comment :). © Its 35 years of speaker design experience shows here. It’s probably not the most ideal choice though I don’t want to recommend the Schiit Ragnarok or Mjolnir 2 due to the lack of detail. We become aware of instrumental textures that even talented circa-£1000 headphones like the BeyerDynamic T1 Gen.2s and Sennheiser HD800S can’t resolve. Focal Utopia. The Utopias are refined and wonderfully smooth performers that still have enough in the way of bite to satisfy. While their eye-watering price will get people talking, we think their technology is even more interesting. Well, as far as I’m concerned the Grand Utopia EM is firmly ensconced atop that pile, waiting to be shot at. The bass impact on the Utopia might not be the most extreme or hard hitting out of all the headphones available in the market but it’s special. Focal unveiled Utopia M, the latest in high-end reference car audio from the French brand. Sign up below to get the latest from What Hi-Fi?, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox! There’s even some foam along the inside of the lid that gives you a hint as to where these belong: in the studio. This is a nicely judged balance that means the Utopias work well across a wide range of recordings. is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. The Focal Utopia have struck an almost perfect balance of sound quality, build, and comfort, to a degree unheard of in the industry. These headphones are revealing but don’t go out of their way to highlight the harshness in a recording. As you’d expect at this level, these Focals are built beautifully, combining leather, carbon fibre and metal to produce a product that feels like it’ll last for years. Either way, it’s clear that these headphones are mighty talented. I found the Utopia being very well suited to guitar and piano tracks, the mid-range carries a lot the Utopia’s strength while not being solely focused on it. First off, the box is gorgeous. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. It sounds kind of disconnected when it goes to the upper mids/low highs and I keep getting fixated in how that sounds whenever I listen to their cans. Frequency response is tuned to near perfection, while the soundstage is huge and the detail is almost unrivaled. Scott. You will receive a verification email shortly. This versatile speaker handles up to 100 watts RMS, so we recommend you drive it with an outboard amplifier for maximum performance. For tube, my pick would probably go to the Torpedo T3 amplifier, a bit narrow in terms of staging but detailed even with stock tubes. Connecting cable: 6.35mm (1/4“) Neutrik® stereo Jack connector (to amplifier). Another form of evidence of how dynamic the Utopia can be. Friday, July 14, 2017. open-back dynamic headphone. Focal has invested a lot in Utopia M and has excelled itself. But the key standout for me is the overall look. Focal may not be a stranger to the audio community, but it was a bold move to produce a $4,000 headphone as their third release. My room size is H 3.8m, Length 6.7 m, Width 4.6m. The Focal Utopia delivers an extremely ‘tasty’ sound that is both saturated in details and loaded with dynamics. The Utopia can be revealing of its sources, so I think it is a superb measuring tool in demoing gear. Focal has done a great job with that drive unit. Focal has done a great job with that drive unit. The carbon fiber yokes are also smooth and easy to adjust to fit any sized head. Most driver motors require a voice coil, an orderly stack of fine-gauge solid, thinly insulated wire. thanks for the advice. As for detail and resolution, I am very hesitant to put one over another. The earpads are easy to replace, which bodes well for a product that should be in use for decades. These headphones can satisfy the basshead in each one of us while still being able to give a good bit of everything else. This component speaker was designed to be part of a Focal Utopia M system, incorporating these other high-performance speakers: That change was 3+ years ago. There was a problem. Unarguably one of the finest headphones on the planet with a price tag to match. We’re left a little breathless with the energy on show, as well as the detail resolution. Focal has aimed for the moon when it comes to performance, directing its flagship offering straight at the very best the headphone establishment can manage. The price is definitely steep at $4,000 though it can be justified for getting the most performance from cost-is-no-object amplifiers that can run from $5,000 and above excluding tubes. This week on Check It Out Patrick will be reviewing the benefits of the Focal Utopia M series speakers. Hansen Audio’s The King Loudspeaker. Staging to the V2, tonal balance might be to the Utopia for me but my listening time was shorter than Jacqueline’s so I will let her chime in. When it launched “the world’s best headphone” last summer Focal really put the wind up the headphone community. There’s a lovely sense of weight and authority to their sound, and the ability to deliver huge dynamic sweeps with composure. The Focal – JM Lab Utopia III ‘Grande Utopia EM’ Loudspeaker. Focal Utopia Audiom TLR Speakers user reviews : 4.6 out of 5 - 1 reviews - carreview.com What would you recommend for SS and Tube in the ~2k range? So it’s more than twice the price of the HD800s, one third more weight, and has a narrower soundstage. A la carte. It can be euphoric or energetic at a change of a track and I very much appreciate that. These headphones definitely make your ears feel spoiled when talking on a physical level on top of the sound. The technical highlight is undoubtedly Focal’s Beryllium inverted dome tweeter (below). It’s a spacious presentation, where each instrumental strand has space to stretch out and express itself. Richard Barclay. Learn how your comment data is processed. The Utopia can definitely hold its ground to whatever it’s thrown at genre-wise and this is through a few months of use now, so no holiday period here. Openness goes both ways, and you’ll find all sorts of noises intruding on your experience if you don’t find a quiet place to listen. MORE: How to avoid buying fake headphones. Attached to the M-shaped dome’s inner fold is an unusual former-less voice coil, however. In the end, the Focal Utopia headphones sound effortlessly incredible. Soundstage can be slightly narrow when coming from something like an HD800 though I found it adequate when compared to other headphones. The ’phones are supplied with a surprisingly heavy 4m long lead, which is terminated at one end by a sturdy Neutrik 6.3mm jack and the other, earpiece end, by a pair of two-pin lockable Lemo connectors. Making the impossible possible, elevating sound excellence to a level never achieved before : this was the goal set by our engineers who developed, among other things, a brand new ‘M'-profile 'W' sandwich cone. I would not recommend this product as this product seems to have Quality Control issues. It is truly quite an accomplishment on how good headphones can reproduce sound now when compared some 5 years ago when I recently started the hobby. For me, when I was using the Utopia for almost a week straight, I already felt comfortable with hearing differences with it like my HD800. “How does it compare to the Utopia?” is a common question among audiophiles whenever a new flagship comes out. The sound quality of the headphones is top-shelf. Focal Naim America, the North American distributor, also offers the $3999 version of the Utopia headphones in a $5000 package deal with the Arche DAC-amp, which cuts $1499 off the price of the amp. Low impedance is used to help achieve this fi gure, Focal's specifi ed nominal impedance of 8ohm making little sense given that it also states a minimum value of 3.0ohm. BA1 1UA. You will enter a universe which is completely different to anything you may have heard before: a clear mid-range, tight bass and an upper high end with no directivity. So while I'm waiting for the amp, I am going to finish installing the rest of the system in my truck. Focal’s driver utilizes a pure beryllium diaphragm, like an oversized variant of what’s used for the tweeters in some bleeding-edge loudspeakers. I was very pleased with my purchase until one of the speakers stopped working just beyond their two-year warranty. The company is already strongly associated with Beryllium drive units, thanks to its use in the brand’s high-end tweeters, and the material’s combination of low weight, rigidity and damping works equally well in this application. With the Grande Utopia EM, Focal has made a serious statement of intent, one that challenges the boundaries of speaker performance. Please deactivate your ad blocker in order to see our subscription offer, How to choose the right pair of headphones, Best headphone deals: in-ear, over-ear, wireless and more, Harman Kardon brings 3D spatial audio and live music concerts to your car, Sony launches new 360 Reality Audio wireless speakers and video streaming service, Mercedes MBUX Hyperscreen is a giant 56-inch OLED 'in-car cinema', Rigid carrying case with magnet locking system, 9.8ft (3m) OFC cable (1 x Neutrik 0 1/4" (6,35mm) stereo Jack Neutrik 2 x shielded 0 3?8" (9.5mm) Lemo connectors with self-locking bayonet system). The Utopia takes the two undesirable differences while combine them with one headphone by offering the harmony of having presence, resolution, deeply extended bass and clarity in one clean package. Sometimes these give us a new view of the music being played, other times they simply embellish what we already know. We include comparisons and recommendations on how to get the best sound possible from them. Some people will never be able get past the Utopia’s price, but if you can, it doesn’t take long to realise they’re among the very best sounding headphones that money can buy. The headphones are still in mint condition and I even still have the original box. I’ve never heard of the torpedo t3 amplifier until a couple of days ago, i wish it was easier to buy. This is down to a careful shaped and nicely padded headband (that suits a wide variety of head sizes) and a sensible distribution of mass. The Grand Utopia is the latest step in this continuously evolving development—in essence, the field-test laboratory for the next generation of Focal drivers. Left a little breathless with the energy on show, as well as the detail resolution the! Recommend this product seems to have quality control issues though I found it adequate when compared to other headphones first... 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