Comparisons

Audeze and HIFIMAN have been kind enough to allow long-term loaners of multiple flagship-class planar magnetic and electrostatic headphones to where I have enough to talk about to merit a whole new page! Let's start with pitting the Focal Utopia (2022) up against the Audeze $4500 co-flagships in the form of the planar LCD-5 and the e-stat CRBN. The Audeze pair are not as warm as the Utopia and end up having more sub-bass extension too. The LCD-5 is more resolving across the board—arguably to the point of being fatiguing—and also competes for the tile of most cramped soundstage here. It's also a darker set that I had to EQ by ear in the higher frequencies, and essentially ends up being an excellent set for those who are willing to do so. Out of the box, I'd probably pick the Utopia for tonality although I do give the overall edge to the LCD-5 with its technical prowess. The CRBN is the only other set here that can put up a good fight against the Utopia when it comes to pure bass delivery and also looks like it belongs in the flagship class too. It's also more comfortable for me to listen to and is also my favorite Audeze with a brighter tuning that appeals to my specific music interests. The CRBN can be too bright and potentially also shouty to many though, so these are for two different sets of customers altogether and not direct competitors. In my order of preference, I'd go CRBN, LCD-5 w/EQ, Utopia, LCD-5 w/o EQ. But if you don't have an e-stat source then the CRBN isn't even in the picture. I should also point out here that the Utopia is the easiest to get going with sources, so that's also a benefit for someone who wants to budget primarily for headphones and DACs/amps thereafter.


Now we get to the two most expensive HIFIMAN open-back planars in the form of the Susvara and the HE1000se. The Susvara will get its own review in due course, whenever I can take it off my head long enough to be critical about it. This is simple enough for me: Susvara>Utopia>>>HE1000se. If you thought the CRBN was bright then boy do I have a shiny surprise for you in the form of the HE1000se! It's the epitomy of "treble = detail" mindset to where, despite it being one of the most resolving sets ever made, I simply can't see the average end user truly making good use of money with it. The HE1000se, as with the Susvara, also don't really feel flagship level although they are also very comfortable. The Susvara is the only one of this trio that is very demanding on sources, so once again I have to point out that this is not a set you simply get without budgeting a decent chunk extra on the amplifier. But it's the best tuned set out of the box I've ever tested and possibly ever listened to, except for that one time I tried the Sennheiser HE-1, and boy is it a delight for acoustic jazz and orchestral music. Both these HIFIMAN sets have a wider and taller soundstage than the Utopia and also compete favorably on imaging and detail retrieval, but easily lose out in the lower frequencies. Indeed, I can see a person with more money than me owning the Utopia and Susvara to make for an incredible duo to cover basically every music genre. Note that the Susvara's MSRP is $6000 and the HE1000se retails for $3500, although you can ceratinly get both for a lower cost after minor haggling from retailers.


I was hoping to have at least one of these HIFIMAN e-stats reviewed by now but such is the nature of things whereby newer releases—such as this very Focal Utopia—take precedence. HIFIMAN shook the audiophile world with the $6000 Susvara at a time when nothing was as expensive—at least not without going the more esoteric or e-stat route. The original Utopia itself was released at $4000 before the 2019 facelift took it to $4400, but even the Susvara paled in comparison to the HIFIMAN Shangri-La that can be purchased separately for $18,000 or as part of a system with the accompanying amplifier for a whopping $50-60,000 depending on your region. Then came the Shangri-La Jr. that automatically prompted everyone to refer to the other set as the Shangri-La Sr. and it costs $4500 by itself or $8000 with its own accompanying amplifier. These are e-stats and the associated amplifier cost will push even the Jr. well beyond the asking price of the Utopia. So in a sense the Shangri-La Jr. competes more against the Audeze CRBN whereas the Shangri-La Sr. is a halo product you try on and keep thinking of a day you could afford it. For the money there is no question that I'd purchase the Utopia though, and the Shangri-La Jr. would be next. Funnily enough, the Shangri-La Sr. is arguably the worst tuned of the lot and the wood laminate ear cups makes it also come off the cheapest of the trio. It does have the best classical music rendition of anything on the market in my opinion, and has the widest and more natural presentation to go with it. But neither of these two e-stats do bass or even vocals as well as the Utopia, and are more specialized to where you need to absolutely listen to them first, whereas with the Utopia you can get a decent impression simply by reading reviews.


I also realize that very few people would have the budget or ability to listen to any of the seven sets mentioned thus far, and so I wanted to also talk briefly about how the Utopia compares to a more attainable goal in the form of the Drop x Sennheiser HD 6XX. Costing anywhere from $199-279 depending on the time of the year and ongoing sales, this is effectively the same HD 650 that has been around for way longer than Audeze and HIFIMAN even existed, let alone when Focal started getting into headphones, and is still selling strong. This is also an open-back, circum-aural set of dynamic driver headphones with similar tonality in the form of a sub-bass dip, warmer mids, and dark in the treble. The Utopia is tuned better as evident here with a far more neutral tonality, and bests the HD 6XX in every which way possible technically too. Neither are soundstage champions, and yet the Utopia does win here! If anything I would say the HD 6XX has better timbre though, but otherwise if you are a fan of the Sennheiser set and suddenly came across a lot of money then the Utopia should certainly please you greatly.