Focal Elear and Utopia

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by SingSing, Jun 14, 2016.

  1. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    well there is an opinion for ya
     
  2. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    The armchair quarterbacking is getting a little intense.... just sayin'.
     
  3. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    Uhhhh yeeahhhhh so anyway I says to Mabel I says...
     
  4. m17xr2b

    m17xr2b Friend

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    Got a listen today with both headphones at the London meeting. I used my mobile gear Phone-Vbus2-Regen with Battery PSU->GO V2 balanced.
    The elear had nice punch but the mid bass was a bit too much for my tastes. The utopia was much better, a great headphone, not worth the price in my opinion. I much prefer the HEK as I felt it had better resolution and soundstage.
     
  5. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    The HEK resolution does not touch the heels of the Utopia. At our meet the Utopia had the HEK owner wanting to sell it. Someone did prefer the HEK because it was laid back in dynamics but the Utopia is the clearer and more detailed headphone.
     
  6. potkettleblack

    potkettleblack Acquaintance

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    Now you've said that I'm sure he'll do a complete 180 on his opinion.
     
  7. Wolfgang

    Wolfgang New

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    Shoo! Go away.
     
  8. danishchelsea

    danishchelsea New

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    Collected and saved money for HD650, bought it.Enjoying it.. And now the saving starts for Elear :punk:
     
  9. potkettleblack

    potkettleblack Acquaintance

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    The HD650 is not enjoyable.
    At our meet the Elear had the HD650 owner wanting to sell it.

    P.S I'm a basshead.
     
  10. Maxx134

    Maxx134 Dunning–Kruger effect poster boy

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    I believe there is a reason why Tyll noted soundstanging anomalies with a small image or height perception. ..

    Also, what I am theorizing will also apply to both the Utopia and the Elear because of the similarity in design. ..

    Ok first sit down and put your thinking headphone on. .

    Now consider this:

    Both have the design, where the total diameter of the driver, and it's associated "back wave" of the diaphragm is going out thru a "hole" in rear...

    Now, you will say to me that the surrounding mesh is also there, similar to am HD800,
    But that is not the issue. ..

    The issue with is that (because of the deep magnets), the DEPTH of the center hole is enough to play a factor,
    and even behave like a "port hole" to the rear. (!)

    Regardless of the surrounding openness of the frame structure, the WHOLE back wave of the diaphragm is "tunneled", not "funneled" thru a hole out the rear. ..(!)

    The Outer cup design should have been "flanged" outward in order to acousticly couple this hole with the outside air, like a trumpet end, or like a horn speaker. ..

    Now you may disagree and say the opening hole is large enough,
    But is it only a 40mm diameter diaphragm, so much less than a 40mm hole...

    The length of this effective "port" behind this unique diaphragm should have an effect according to the depth and sensitivity of the driver diaphragm.
    The length and or depth of this "port hole" is an unavoidable result of the depth/size of its superior surrounding magnets ...
    SO is saving grace of magnet superiority, is also now it's "Achilles heel". ..

    It should be noted that this is all my own theory and opinion,
    and if it has any persuading basis, it should have been already contemplated by Focal..

    Yet when have we noticed compromise in manufacturing design by companies ?
    Yep, always.
    Me playing sad violin here.
    :Violin:
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2016
  11. n3rdling

    n3rdling Friend

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    Quick correction, Stax was bought for 15 million. That was an early typo. Comparing Stax build quality to HFM/Audeze is laughable. FWIW, your heroes at Senn still can't make a HP with 1/10th the distortion of a Stax. Also Senn has gone downhill in SQ since the 90s. :p Still probably my 2 fav HP manufacturers though.
     
  12. MrButchi

    MrButchi Gear Master Europe

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    And... Back to our regular program.
    Who has ordered the Utopia thus far?
    What are the announced shipping dates?
     
  13. Xecutor

    Xecutor New

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    Waiting for the Focals to hit the stores here in India, will be carrying my reference Sennheiser HD 250 Linear II and another favourite Sony MDR CD-3000 for comparison. Very much eager to hear what Utopia has to offer.
     
  14. Koth Ganesh

    Koth Ganesh Friend

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    @Xecutor, you prepared for a price of INR 300,000 ?:(
     
  15. Rotijon

    Rotijon Friend

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    Jesus, just have someone ship a underdeclared unit from the states or something.
     
  16. rayfalkner

    rayfalkner Not to be confused with Roy Fokker - Friend

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    Hopefully the Indian customs are not as greedy then.

    A little bit of story:
    Here, the customs officers in charge know very well the baseline value of stuffs, especially electronics, especially if the said electronic is easily Googled to find its retail price.

    If they smell anything fishy about the declared value, they will then require you to provide the copy of the transaction report, or the page link to the place / ad that you purchase from, or a copy of your credit card statement, or even a transcript of personal communication between you and the seller if you describe the stuff as a private or personal trade / gift.

    Most of those can still be circumvented by a bit of silver tongue and some good Photoshop skills but still... a real pain in the ass.
     
  17. Koth Ganesh

    Koth Ganesh Friend

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    Ray,,, exactly what happened to me when I bought the LCD-X and the HE-6. Customs are a greedy bunch here, well greedy is a bit strong. They are pretty knowledgeable most of the time.
     
  18. Xecutor

    Xecutor New

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    I just said, I'm eager to try them out, I doubt I'll ever buy a HP at $3999. Am more interested about the Utopia rather than the Elear, as I'm assuming Elear won't sound nearly as good as what I've in my collection. And about customs, I believe in declaring full value for brand new items, as during repairing issues one gets a lot of advantages, for used goods declaring used automatically reduces the tax by 50% so in that case I've never been taxed.

    Frankly speaking, Utopia is too expensive for my tastes, but that doesn't stop me from trying new things out. I will still say this, I am doubtful that the Utopia will as good in imaging, sound stage, timber and detail like my Senn HD 250 L II.
     
  19. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    If I were to audition the Utopia and decide it was the best experience listening to headphones and that it was truly end game, I don't think that I'd buy it. While I could sell off everything but one amp and dac and afford the Utopia. But I don't think that I'm willing to give up the diversity and enjoyment that I get from my collection of gear.

    But that's what it would take to own the Utopia. Who knows, maybe sometime in the future I'll get an opportunity to buy a used one or demo model for 1/2 price. That would put it into play without having to sell the farm. Honestly I'm more interested in the Elear ATM.
     
  20. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    that naked gun seen gave me a laugh
     

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