Focal Utopia
Open-backed circum aural headphones
Utopia have already become the world reference high-fidelity headphones manufactured in France by Focal. They are the result of 35 years of innovation, development and manufacturing of high-end speaker drivers and loudspeakers. Equipped with exclusive technology, they offer striking realism, neutrality, dynamics and clarity, for sound with unrivalled purity. Utopia are unique: they are the world’s first audiophile headphones featured totally open-backed full-range speaker drivers with pure Beryllium ’M’-shaped domes. The acoustic quality of this exclusive solution allowed Focal to avoid the use of any crossover or passive filtering process to achieve a frequency response from 5Hz to 50kHz! The equivalent of two tiny authentic loudspeakers over your ears… They meet all the requirements expected of high-end headphones due to their sophisticated and elegant design and to purposeful materiality, such as the carbon fibre yoke and true lambskin leather ear cushions.
The listening experience is outstanding in terms of realism, natural sound reproduction, dynamics and clarity. When listening to them, the headphones virtually disappear and the audio signal is revealed with a level of precision never achieved until Utopia.
Design is also a key point, be it in regards to the way of using the headphones, comfort, as well as the aesthetic. Another achievement with Utopia is the removal from the conventional rotation included on the yoke and its integration into the headband to ensure a total purity of the design. The true lambskin leather, used on the cushions, reinforces the character of classically elegant lines, as well as the expression of comfort and overall performances. These headphones have immediately been applauded by the press as well as music lovers after launching.
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Utopia have already become the world reference high-fidelity headphones manufactured in France by Focal. They are the result of 35 years of innovation, development and manufacturing of high-end speaker drivers and loudspeakers. Equipped with exclusive technology, they offer striking realism, neutrality, dynamics and clarity, for sound with unrivaled purity. Utopia are unique they are the world’s first audiophile headphones featured totally open-backed full-range speaker drivers with ’M’-shaped pure Beryllium domes. They meet all the requirements expected of high-end headphones due to their sophisticated and elegant design and to purposeful materiality, such as the carbon fibre yoke and true lambskin leather ear cushions.
Particular attention has been paid to the design of Utopia, in terms of use, comfort and overall aesthetics. These audiophile headphones feature elegant, high-quality materials, and comfort has been greatly enhanced thanks to the mechanical design which has been optimized to the smallest detail: the constant bend of the headband, an even distribution of weight, the design of the yoke and the memory foam ear-pieces.
A black faux leather box
High-Fidelity cables:
- 10 ft. (3m) cable: ideal for use in the home on a high-end amplifier, thanks to its balanced 4-pin XLR connector.
- 4 ft. (1.2m) cable: designed to be portable with an unbalanced 1/8” (3.5mm) stereo jack connector and 1/4” (6.35mm) jack adapter.
A carefully finished, light, rigid carrying case
Optional: a stand allowing you to display the Utopia Headphones indoors
Type | Circum-aural open back headphones |
Impedance | 80 Ohms |
Sensitivity | 104dB SPL / 1mW @ 1kHz |
THD | <0,2% @ 1kHz / 100dB SPL |
Frequency response | 5Hz – 50kHz |
Loudspeaker | 137⁄64“ (40mm) pure Beryllium “M” shape dome |
Weight | 1.08lb (490g) |
Cable length | 13.1ft (4m) |
Connectors | 1 x Jack 01/4“ (6.35mm) stereo 2 x 03⁄8“ (9.5mm) Lemo® |
Carrying case | 1253⁄64“x1015⁄64“x629⁄64“ (326x260x164mm) |
Headphone Review
There’s no surprises here — the Focal Utopia headphones are one of the few pairs of headphones to get the Headphone Review Gold Medal. These are also the first pair of headphones to get a perfect score in sound — and that’s not something we do lightly.
While the headphones do have a few silver accents in the form of the Focal logo on the ear cup and a silver speaker grill, apart from that, these headphones are black-on-black — and it’s beautiful.
Everything else about the headphones screams premium too.
The soft padding, lambskin leather, and beautiful build successfully makes for a comfortable listening experience — which is good news considering the fact that once you put these headphones on, you won’t want to take them off.
The Absolute Sound
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.
Stereophile
The Focal Utopias are not only the most accurate headphones I’ve ever used, they’re the most articulate speaker drivers I have ever heard. My recommendation: A+.
With many recordings, the Utopias, which are finely crafted in France, conveyed enough of music’s temporal and corporeal energies to make me think I was in an actual room with real musicians. T
The main thing Stereophile readers should know about these radical new headphones is that they’re made in France by an internationally renowned maker of top-quality loudspeakers. Focal’s best speaker-design team spent four years (!) developing the Utopias. They’re not a lifestyle gadget or some half-baked, farmed-out attempt to leap onto the headphone bandwagon. They’re Focal’s full-on attempt to create a state-of-the-art audio transducer—and I believe they’ve succeeded.
The Utopias were supercomfortable but not superlight—they weigh 1.08 lbs (490gm)—but their exceptional build quality and physical geometry let them feel light. Long listening sessions and watching entire films were possible with almost no discomfort.
InnerFidelity
The forgone conclusion: The Utopia handily bests all comers in the flagship category.
And that pretty much sums it up. A game changer headphone.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a headphone like this before. the Utopia is dynamic and punchy,…has fantastic clarity and nuance to balance out the raw power. Everything comes together in such a clear, coherent picture I fail to remain objective and simply bask in the music. Wow…just wow, this is a terrific listening experience.
World’s Best Headphone: The Focal Utopia
Oh my, this is a sexy headphone!