World's Best Dynamic Headphone?

Focal made headlines with the first-generation Utopia back in 2016. The most common complaint was that it could do with more bass. Another common gripe about the Utopia was that it didn’t sound as wide as one might expect flagship-class headphones to be; particularly against Sennheiser’s HD 800S, which incidentally, costs a lot less. Fortunately, Focal has been listening to its customers’ feedback and they believe that these issues have been addressed with the new second-generation Focal Utopia.

- Kenny Yeo

FOCAL UTOPIA 2022

A GLANCE

TYPE Circumaural, open-back

DRIVER 40mm pure beryllium ‘M’shaped dome Impedance: 80 Ohms

SENSITIVITY 10 4 dB SPL / 1mW @ 1k Hz

FREQUENCY RESPONSE 5HZ – 50K HZ

WEIGHT 490G

PRICE $7, 299

The new Utopia is an open-back dynamic driver headphone. Most people won't notice it if they only took a passing glance because it looks mostly like its predecessor. However, they are tell-tale signs if you know where to look.

The yoke is recycled forged carbon fibre, so it has a distinctive marbled pattern. The grilles, both inside over the drivers and outside of the housing, are also different. The driver grille is now shaped like an M to follow the curve of the speaker driver - the first-generation Utopia has a flat grille. This, according to Focal, results in a more linear treble.