Focal Utopia 2022 Headphone First Impressions 

Immediate click on seeing that you posted this. Looking forward to the full review. Congrats on 3K subs!

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!

*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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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....

OTL is needed for this test, just saying thanks for the hard work

New Utopia is definitely step to a side, not frorwad. I still prefer OG Utopia to new 2022 Utopia.

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 ❤

I found the original Utopia pretty hot in the treble. I think they are very amp picky/dependant.

Which headphone is best for you for vocals and acoustic instruments till now? the Susvara?

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