Focal Utopia 2022 Review, Measurements 

5:35 please note that formerless coils for headphones have been state of the art for decades because that was the standard for microphone capsules which were the basis of most headphone capsules/miniature loudspeakers. The unique characteristic about the Focal's coil is the single layer of windings. Formerless coils usually have multiple layers of windings to increase packing density and improve structural integrity. The only benefit of being single layer is less weight and lower inductance which results in more bandwidth. Imo reliabilty is more important than 80 kHz but ymmv.

Thanks for this Jude, looking forward to hearing it soon

Jude, pure class as always. Thank you for the video!

Very very excited to hear this one. Really nice review

I was ecstatic to meet you in person. Thanks for being such a cool guy! Until next year. 😊

Fantastic review and exactly what I was looking for. A great mix of data and observed listening.

Outstanding review. Great job. Really enjoyed listening to this.

The improvements of the Focal Utopia 2022 gets completely canceled out by the price increase though (1K more). If the stayed at the original price or "only" costed 500 USD more than the original the improvements would be worth it.

Finally, the wait is over.

the most beautiful review i ever saw

Nice. Now to grab a great deal on the OG!

More warmth, more air, & a wider soundstage - Almost all my gripes were addressed. Can't wait to hear these! One thing I am curious though is if they still have that infamous metallic character to the treble. Even if it is smoother the timbre was a pain point for me. Like you said though nothing is perfect, but if they fixed that it'll be damn close.

Nice railcar chore jacket!

Jude, did they fix this clipping issue? Does it still have this ''feature" where headphones clip at lower wolume than competitors? Its strange that there is 0 presence from Focal themselfs on head fi, but there are dozens of reviews around the net. Did they even care about customers?

Now let’s get a new focal Stellia in navy blue color

I have OG Utopias and love them DEARLY...these i want though. will be sad to have to wait however long until i can get a significant discount on the used market…

this needs to be the Utopia mk2 or Utopia rev 2... I'm excited to see the OG Utopia move down into mid fi prices that I can afford.

What about Focal's Clear MG, which is Magnesium, better or worse than Beryllium?

The atrium driver also moves pretty easily if you blow on it

what i want from a headphone is bass, because it is the big thing i like about my speakers system. i use tone generator for assessing that goal, but you could use a song like the "curtain shaker" i find on youtube. think its somewhere below 20hz and it shows me the capability of sub bass i could expect. anyone got the chance to listen for sub bass in the utopia?

How does the new Utopia compare to an EQd old Utopia? It responds very well to EQ so I'm curious what the changes are above tonality.

Any change in the soundstage?

I just hope they addressed the QC problems that the Elex had 🙄 i wanted to buy the elex but i saw too many people complaining of driver clipping and outright driver failures

My only issue with the original Utopia was its narrow soundstage vis-a-vis AKG and Sennheiser. All this techno-babble is interesting but doesn't mean much until an actual audition. Unlike other audiophiles, I judge headphones based on live concert sounds from 30 years of attending the symphony and opera. The same orchestra will sound different in different concert halls just like different sound signatures in headphones.

I have listened to two different Focal headphones and they both sounded dark -- veiled even. That was a deal breaker for me.

The OG is available now at a reduced price new; do you think these improvements are significant enough that it’s a mistake to take the opportunity to get the og’s now?

I would love a pair of these primarily for their sound and detail retrieval, I purchased the Focal Clear and Clear MG, Elegia and Celestee and read about and saw photos on Reddit and other such forums that Focal headbands easily snaps and cracks in half by gently placing on and off your head, it's a design flaw from Focal's part as the headband is mixed with metal and a thin layer of plastic, this has me really worried as these headphones are quite expensive and I'm not rich, I'm quite new to the audiophile world and have done a lot of research into getting resolving headphones that I can afford but am hearing driver clipping when listening to music even at low volumes, I just want people to be aware of these issues that Focal headphones have so people save their money.

The Utopia 2022 looks to be a new contender and I love the new looks too! But, $5K! Whew that’s a lot of top ramen

At this price I think I'll stick with my budget MDR-Z1R.

So when is the new Stellia coming?

Finally, another amazing headphone normal people can't afford. Great job audiophile world! 😃👍

For those commenting about how easy focal headphones bass clips is mostly true, except for the old Utopia, when measured it showed to be very well controlled even at 104 dB, but oh boy $5000!? and still you need EQ to get a good bass? I'll pass

Mechanical clipping?

Why did the price increase so much for such little improvement.

Now all they need to do is redesign the headband

This new version costs double the price of a pair of original version in good condition.

While Focal drivers are indeed innovative, their headband breaks easily, the earpads are very expensive and little to no consideration is given to repairability when designing the headphones. Their out-of-warranty repair also costs more than a new pair. I admire their driver design but wouldn't spend money on their product again after the headband of my Elex snapped and the only solution with reasonable cost is replacing it with HiFiMan headband.

All that is cool, but how does it sound lol

🙇‍♂️😊

People who describe og Utopia as bright and lean ... and then show the picture of running straight out of Dave 🤔😐😂 plug it into any good tube amp and it will be lush and full bodied, in fact for me its often too dark and I need to bump the output impedance for some tracks 🤫

2:49 - Am I famous now? 😅

Wow, Jude is Asian. I'd always imagined you to look like Jude Law in AI 😂

It’s hardly a wonder if it has to cost that much to be one. I am not sure what to think of Focal. On one hand, they have some rather smart people there and I primarily mean the sales department and marketing folk. On the other hand, if you are a customer, you are the one paying for trips, accommodation, food and drinks for all the influencers they bring to their facility. Even folks from MI channel aren’t immune to it as they’re slowly learning the benefits of social media. One can hardly open a milk bottle without the name ‘Focal‘ jumping out. Also, I don’t appreciate the word ‘realism’ being used so prominently in this review. I don’t think it is realistic-sounding as the upper harmonics of a violin or sympathetic string resonance of a piano sounds slightly artificial in nature. It isn’t a big issue but it’s there nonetheless and for a hefty chunk of cash you are expected to pay for it, you should really expect spectacular performance with acoustic instruments like these. I’m not here to tell you whether you should buy it or not since everyone can do what they please. Think about it this way - for this kind of money you can buy an actual acoustic piano and learn how to play it, if you’re into that kind of a thing. You can also get a subscription for the philharmonic orchestra or theatre in your area and that can be a mind-expanding and humbling experience. This is coming from someone who spent a LOT (too much in fact) only to learn you don’t need to spend that much because, in case you DO spend too much, at some point it stops being fun. Cheerio!

Should I go x9000 + t8000 or utopia + p750u

Is it really that hard to make a headphone with a flat frequency response because that response looks like absolute shit. Whats up with the massive boost from 2 to 7k? And why measure past 20khz?

Focal headphones do clip when listening a bit louder . Try out and see/hear for yourself : listen to the song Traust from the band Heilung

Anyone who wants to get rid of their utopia I will gladly drive to your place with a shiny 100 dollar bill that you can put towards your Utopia 2022

I’m sure it’s another clipping no bass and no soundstage headphone. 😊

1000 for the sound, 4000 for the name.

First Utopia was awful headphones for its price, worse than HD800s and ADX5000

First!

Only focal could out do themselves with an ugly design. Bravo

I don’t like it just another reskin