Fit and Comfort

Seen above is the Focal Utopia (2022) placed on a mannequin head to help show how these headphones would look on the human head. Note that the head is slightly under average sized, so account for the discrepancies accordingly. As with all headphones, getting a good fit and seal is crucial, so make sure to properly use the various pivot points, and the height adjustability of the headband and ear cups. This section is mostly a summary of the points expanded upon in more detail on the previous page, but I will point out that the new Utopia weighs 490 g and can be potentially heavy on the head, despite the padding and comfort considerations throughout. The larger size of the headphones also means it's a bulky set in general and I will give Focal props for good weight distribution on the top, with the headband working well to spread out the mass over a larger contact area. The perforated headband and ear pads also result in minimal hot spots and makes for a more breathable, open set. The clamping force was perfect for my average-sized head, although the spring-tensioned ear cups resulted in some inward pressure towards the bottom the ear cups that I could do without. The pads are also clearly large enough to be over-ears for pretty much everyone and the new grills on the cups make for more room on the inside too. It's easy enough to get a decent, uniform seal here and, once sized properly, the new Focal Utopia takes little time to take off and place back on from a headphone stand. Keep in mind that this is ultimately an open-back set, so having a quiet, private environment is almost a must to fully appreciate it, while also not giving others around you a second-hand listening experience.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

The Focal Utopia shares its name with the Grande Utopia EM speakers I mentioned before, and this is for a good reason beyond simply positioning at the top of each line. The goal with the Utopia headphones was to transfer that same listening experience out of the Grande Utopia speakers into a set of headphones to where Focal even refers to the drivers here as compact, ultra-nearfield speakers. The open-back design of the ear cups is analogous to a treated room for speakers, to minimize any low-frequency compression/non-linearity as well as having an ultra-low acoustic impedance for a more natural presentation. The deliberately designed ear pads also play a role in getting a "natural room listening atmosphere" here as discussed on the previous page, and then come the actual drivers as well as driver positioning itself.

Focal developed its own 40 mm speaker drivers for use in the Utopia, and so far no other company has reproduced it to the best of my knowledge. This meant designing a full-range loudspeaker that is fully open on the front and back, that can produce a flat frequency response across the entire range of interest without any artifacts, and be compact + lightweight at the same time for the headphones application. Pure beryllium was chosen for the diaphragm based on the optimum balance of three factors—low mass to ensure "a total respect of the signal's dynamic," high rigidity to avoid distortion, and a high damping to "reproduce the slightest details without any coloration of the sound." Focal has been using pure Be for its tweeters in the speaker world for a while now, and there are a few other headphones/IEMs using it recently too, given its lower density and high velocity of sound propagating through it. It has the lowest Poisson ratio of the various diaphragm materials of interest which in turn is a measure of its elasticity. This rigidity and efficient damping makes beryllium a prime choice for dynamic drivers, but also one that is quite expensive and hard to work with.

The M-shaped dome mentioned here is the shape of the diaphragm done specifically to allow a net larger emissive area, as well as a higher break-up point to where you can achieve a further extended frequency response. This is then paired with a new 25 mm diameter, 5 mm tall voice coil composed of copper and aluminium for increased reliability over the previous Utopia while still being lightweight, an NBR (nitrile butadiene rubber) surround combining softness, lightness and mechanical functioning linearity, while being up to three times thinner than what is typically used in standard headphone drivers. as well as the new M-shaped inner grill previously discussed. There's not a lot shared about the magnet assembly, except to say its clearly substantial and adopting a radial form factor. These drivers are also spaced further away from each other than usual for headphones, to allow for good stereo imaging without compromising on dynamism. All these come together to make for a set of headphones with multiple patents-worth of technology inside, and generally on the easier side of average in terms of drivability. The Focal Utopia (2022) has a rated impedance of 80 Ω and sensitivity of 104 dB/mW to where you need all of 4 mW to hit even 110 dB transients that are well above my requirements. This is to say that you can get the Utopia plenty loud off even a basic phone dongle, but that won't be the best source to make the most of these headphones.

Frequency Response Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm-neutral signature emphasizing a slightly elevated bass and smooth treble range with detailed mids and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our current headphones test setup uses a set of two custom in-ear microphones for the two channels. These microphones closely adhere to the IEC711 class, but have been tweaked to be more reliable in the >10 kHz frequency range, the precise issue with my previous setup, that is otherwise still very good and will continue to be used for IEMs and earphones. Two soft silicone pinnae are installed on the sides, separated by a distance matching my head, and multiple "height" adapters have been 3D-printed for further customization, based on fit, head size and shape. Each set of microphones has an XLR output I separately adapted to 3.5 mm. I used a transparent source—the FiiO K9 Pro ESS—for measurements after confirming it was not a bottleneck in any way. This artificial head simulator feeds the microphone lines into a reference USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/12th setting, netting a good balance of detail and signal to noise ratio. The default tuning was used for testing, and no app or program-based EQ settings were chosen, unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is measured at least thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the individual measurements for statistical accuracy.


As before, you can find my headphone frequency response measurements on VSG.squig.link along with all the earphone measurements. Scroll to the bottom and choose different targets there, including two from Harman Kardon developed after years of R&D. The Harman 2018 over-ear target in particular, is a reference curve many headphone makers aim for now, but I find it too bass-boosted. As such, I am opting for the Harman 2018 curve with the bass target from the Harman 2013 curve, which is what is referred to as the "Harman Combined" target. Before we get talking about the sound signature of the Focal Utopia (2022), I want to briefly talk about the channel balance achieved here. You will notice how the left and right channels are basically identical across the entire 20 Hz to 20 kHz range of interest. The tiny discrepancies could be measurement artifacts or simply present without my ears detecting them anyway. As such, I have no complaints on driver matching and quality checks, which is a must in the price range the Utopia operates in and one that Focal outright talks about.

Focal has a lot of marketing talk when it comes to both the original and this new Utopia, but the general goal has been to allow for a fairly neutral frequency response and a sound signature reminiscent of speakers in a well-treated room—minimal distortion, high precision, accurate sound all the way. Funny how this simple formula can be applicable to monitoring headphones but also appeals to audiophiles! I will say that the new Utopia is one of the best tuned headphones on the market as it is and this is even before we get to the technical capabilities of the drivers. The goal here was to have a more mellow treble response based on customer feedback of the original Utopia, which in turn is exactly what they ended up doing. Compared to the original which I personally thought was not bright at all, this can be more appealing to treble-sensitive users as well as those who simply want a warmer tonality. It's overall a warm-neutral set that should appeal to pretty much everyone, and EQ can only take it to the next level based on your preferences.

Given this is an open-back dynamic driver set, there is the expected dip in the sub-bass albeit far more controlled than usual. Indeed, with a slight EQ bass shelf added, the Utopia can hang with flagship planars although it doesn't have the associated speed. I had just finished a round of planar headphone reviews and the Utopia felt slower in a manner that was initially startling, before I spent more time with the set and started to appreciate what it was capable of—especially in the mid-bass and lower mids. This is probably the most dynamic set I have ever listened to in that the Utopia (2022) can easily distinguish between simultaneously playing notes at various different volumes. The original Utopia had an issue whereby it would drop out or even distort with extremely dynamic tracks—think Hans Zimmer—or at relatively high SPL. Whether it's the updated voice coil or the rest of the driver tweaks done, the exact same track that I noticed had this issue on the original Utopia played just fine here! This alone makes the new Utopia a worthy upgrade in my books. Add to this an extremely resolving driver topology capable of picking apart apart nuances easily and also giving you time to appreciate both leading and trailing ends of tones, and now you have what is, at least in my opinion, the best bass from any headphones ever. It's tight, responsive, comes off quite natural in presentation, and you can so easily pick up transients owing to the excellent dynamism on offer. I wanted to go louder here than I did with any other headphones so as to get this larger-than-life sound all around and inside my head. It was like having a personal rave and I had to keep reminding myself to not do so.

The mid-forward tonality lends favorably to vocals albeit at the expense of instruments slightly. I had a generally good time with rock music in particular having male vocals take center stage with drums and bass guitars prominent but in the background. Instrument separation is excellent here and I have no complaints about imaging either. Closing my eyes, I could easily visualize where everything in a personally recorded binaural recording was coming from. At the same time I did notice the Utopia did not really meet its own expectations in providing a wider stage, and the new Utopia continues the trend of most Focals having a relatively cramped soundstage. This is the first time I really started remembering why I have a fondness for some specific planar/e-stat sets. Timbre also felt slightly off, albeit not enough to come off metallic, for a dynamic driver set, potentially owing to the slightly uneven response in the upper mids and lower treble. I also noticed a more prominent 3.5-4.5 kHz peak in my ears that made some female vocals sound nasally but this could be down to my HRTF, so I can't say whether you will have a similar experience. While I am on my complaint roll, there is a touch of sibilance from the 6 kHz presence which is not a measurement artifact or personal preference, and I did end up applying a simple treble EQ shelf in the treble region proper to get string instruments their due. The Utopia (2022) still has good treble extension, but I think I would have preferred the tonality of the original more. So keep this in mind as classical music—especially string instruments, piano keys, and even cymbals/triangles—will likely sound better on other headphones.

Source Pairing

My time with the Focal Utopia (2022) was done off either the SMSL SU-10 or the iFi Pro iDSD Signature DAC, paired with a variety of solid state and tube/hybrid amplifiers. In general I noticed solid-state amplifiers to make for a lean sound that did not lend favorably to the warmer tuning here. Tube mode on the iFi Pro iDSD Signature coupled with my EQ filters got me mostly where I wanted it but it wasn't until a borrowed Feliks Audio Envy tube amplifier came in—meant for a whole different set originally—that I started to realize why so many people paired the original Utopia with tube amps. Yes, this is adding lower order distortion to the 2nd/3rd/4th (possibly) harmonics but gosh does it sound good. I did not have the same effect with software plug-ins aiming to replicate tube amps, nor with less-expensive tube amplifiers from the likes of xDuoo and a couple of other brands. In particular, I noticed the soundstage slightly expand, which is a much-needed improvement in my books. Vocals also got smoother and the slight harshness in the upper mids and lower treble also was noticeably improved. It's definitely an HRTF and psychoacoustic factor too, and perhaps also the pairing of these headphones with the gorgeous looking amplifier also plays a role. It's no blind test, but I would certainly recommend a good tube amplifier for the Utopia based on the noticeable improvements delivered.