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New Focal Utopia Headphones

Hello mate, hope all is good! Was seriously looking into ordering a pair to go with a Mcintosh headphone amp, but lost interest in the Hi Fi thing and bought a Harley, mid life thing and all that!!
 
Lol that's embarrassing, you'll be down the Blue Oyster Club in no time :p

Have you heard them then? Was wondering if worth organising a pair shipped over....nothing has shifted the 800S's as yet....
 
I have the Focal Utopias. Amazing headphones. Much better than the HD800S, the Audeze LCD3f or any other headphone I have heard. I use them with a Headamp GS-X Mk II headphone amp, and have replaced the cable with a Moon Audio Blue Dragon balanced cable, which also brings a marginal improvement.

After owning many, many headphones over the last 20-30 years and always being disappointed, I have finally found a pair of headphones that deliver the sound I have been looking for.
 
Thanks Ross. Can you give me an impression on how they sound compared to the 800S's? I did have the LCD3's for a while but didn't like them, i also tried the HE1000's but wasn't overly impressed either.
I love the 800S's but thinking I could get more from the Focals.
 
Thetiminator said:
Thanks Ross. Can you give me an impression on how they sound compared to the 800S's? I did have the LCD3's for a while but didn't like them, i also tried the HE1000's but wasn't overly impressed either.
I love the 800S's but thinking I could get more from the Focals.
Click to expand...
The sound is a bit smaller and more concentrated than the HD800S, but denser, tonally richer, more dynamic and more colourful, with fuller bass.
 
RossB said:
The sound is a bit smaller and more concentrated than the HD800S, but denser, tonally richer, more dynamic and more colourful, with fuller bass.
Click to expand...

I might give them a try, but it's that spaciousness of the 800S's that keep pulling me back toward them. I think the HE1000's were technically a better sound, but switching back to the Senns was just like throwing a window open....
 
Try and get a direct A/B demo as the HD800S is very good and almost a 1/4 of the price of the Utopias.
 
Also don't forget Stax L700. More detailed than HD800 (not sure about HD800S) but with considerably more bass weight, texture and a more balanced sound. In fact, to my ears it's hard to imagine any way they could be improved (sonically). They do look a bit weird though, and they do creak a bit.
 
Not using my headphones much I could never justify anything that expensive head fi

Seem as price inflation has gone mad on some hifi equipment
Maybe new investor owned compagnies

Benefit is we might get better products down the line

For now I,m very happy with my NJC amp with dt880/600ohm or 701's at a fraction of cost of above mentioned cans
 
I never bothered upgrading the 800 to 800s, but to me they were by far the best value for money headphones available, sure the 009s I had might have been a little better, and the Abyss which I bought and then returned were better in some areas, but both were a significant increase in price over 800s but diminishing returns made it not worth the outlay for me. Yes filling still intact :D gone tone deaf now though, has its advantages though as I don't need to spend huge sums on hi Fi! :)
 
JTC said:
Also don't forget Stax L700. More detailed than HD800 (not sure about HD800S) but with considerably more bass weight, texture and a more balanced sound. In fact, to my ears it's hard to imagine any way they could be improved (sonically). They do look a bit weird though, and they do creak a bit.
Click to expand...

There is not a lot in it but the bass is far more controlled with the 800S. It is not so over blown and flabby but the Stax do offer (once fully energised for a few hours) a transparent and open sound. However I am not sure I would want to sit for hours with high voltage and powerful magnets either side of my head. Power full magnets is bad enough...
 
G T Audio said:
There is not a lot in it but the bass is far more controlled with the 800S. It is not so over blown and flabby but the Stax do offer (once fully energised for a few hours) a transparent and open sound. However I am not sure I would want to sit for hours with high voltage and powerful magnets either side of my head. Power full magnets is bad enough...
Click to expand...
The difference between HD800 and L700 to my ears is large enough not to want to go back to dynamics. I really enjoyed my HD800s, but they always sounded just a bit too much like they were voiced to impress; Stax, on the other hand, draw you in and whilst they do everything better than HD800s (across the board, with the exception of perceived soundstage width), are more or less perfectly balanced and you just hear the music.

Not sure which headphones you are accusing of being over-blown and flabby, though - it's not something I would have criticised any Stax OR the HD800s. Lean (HD800, though varied from set to set) but the tightness of either is pretty much bang on IMHO.
 
G T Audio said:
However I am not sure I would want to sit for hours with high voltage and powerful magnets either side of my head. Power full magnets is bad enough...
Click to expand...
They might be 500-odd-volts, but tiny tiny current. Nothing to be concerned about. A bigger concern would be that it's easy to listen at levels way above what are good for your ears, as the Stax (and, for that matter, the HD800s) go *very* loud without any hint of distortion....
 
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