A review of the Focal Utopia Headphones.

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Just placing them on your head, it’s obvious that no expense
was spared in the making of Focal’s new Utopia head-
phones. Weighing a little more than a pound, the unit
has an adjustable yoke forged out of carbon fiber for strength,
practicality and attractiveness. The super-soft, lambskin
leather used in the headband and ear cups is sourced from
Pittards, a renowned United Kingdom leather supplier
that’s been around since 1826.
But remarkable comfort alone isn’t what justifies the
$3,999 price tag. The 35-year-old French company known
for creating some of the world’s most respected high-end
audio technologies has created a pair of wearable cans
that are essentially on par with high-end speakers. To
achieve this, the company turned to a rare element
called beryllium, which is roughly 30 times the
cost of gold. Focal’s engineers were able to use
beryllium’s incredible rigidity-to-weight ratio
to create a driver with a completely open
front and back, thus avoiding any crossover
or passive filtering that’s a common flaw in
lower-end headphones. This means that the
40-mm driver can vibrate up to 50,000 times
a second, resulting in a frequency response
range from 5Hz to 50kHz. Utopia produces
a sound that is at once airy, but sonically
accurate and pure.
The 13-foot cable that the headphones
come with would by itself be an audiophile’s
dream. Its innards are composed of Oxygen Free
Copper, a highly conductive material meant to
reduce impedance. Two shielded, locking, bayonet-style
Lemo connectors attach it to the phones. A Neutrik stereo
jack plugs it into your sound system. And to drive these phones,
you’ll need a stereo system, not just a portable player. But that’s the point: they
are intended to be enjoyed while sitting in the comfort of home, listening to music
through a high-end audio system. However, forfeiting the portability that MP3
files and other compressed audio formats provide may be a small price to pay. It is
no secret that, when compared with physical CDs and vinyl records, digitized MP3
recordings are inferior in sound quality. Audiophiles have known this for years, and
typical consumers are now picking up on it as well. The Utopia phones are aimed
at the listener who craves full analog, but simply wants to listen in singular privacy
without the compromises of low-quality earbuds. If purity of sound is something
you seek in your music, then Focal’s Utopia are a must-have item.
Visit focal.com
—Andrew Nagy
good life guide electronics
Focal Utopia Headphones