Focal Utopia Headphones
Utopia are THE reference high-fidelity headphones manufactured in France by Focal. They are the result of 35 years of innovation, development and manufacturing of high-end speaker drivers and loudspeakers. Equipped with exclusive technology, they offer striking realism, neutrality, dynamics and clarity, for sound with unrivalled purity. Utopia are unique they are the world’s first audiophile headphones to be equipped with totally open-backed full-range speaker drivers with pure Beryllium ’M’-shaped domes. They meet all the requirements expected of high-end headphones due to their sophisticated and elegant design and to purposeful materiality, such as the carbon fibre yoke and true lambskin leather ear cushions.
Pure Beryllium ‘M’-shaped dome speaker driver
The Purity of sound at its apogee
Utopia are equipped with totally open-backed full-range speaker drivers with pure Beryllium ‘M’-shaped domes. Once more, the engineers at Focal have pushed back the limits of acoustic innovation and have succeeded in providing a listening experience worthy of the best Focal loudspeakers.
The result: a transducer with a frequency response ranging from 5Hz to more than 50kHz without any crossover or passive filtering! You’ll completely forget you are wearing these headphones, and the reproduction of the audio signal is of unrivalled purity.
TENDING TOWARDS A PLANE WAVE WITH AN ULTRA-NEARFIELD LOUDSPEAKER
One of the reasons why headphones sound different to speakers is due to the shape of the soundwave. Whether it’s an inverted dome or a positive dome, a listening distance of an inch requires that the shape of the dome is completely redesigned to achieve a plane wave in ultra-nearfield listening. In order to achieve this, Focal innovated once again by designing a cone with a new ‘M’-shaped dome. Utopia, of course, is equipped with the famous pure Beryllium dome in order to offer an unrival- led mass rigidity damping ratio.
A MONOLAYER VOICE COIL WITHOUT FORMER
As part of the project, Focal has design the very first voice coil without former that also features a monolayer coating to make it even lighter. The result is a voice coil measuring 25mm in diameter by 4.4mm in height which is actually lighter than voice coils measuring 15mm x 1.5mm used in other high- end headphones on the market. The goal is to have excellent mechanical coupling to the dome considering its diameter, and to ensure the voice coil is always controlled by the magnet’s magnetic field regardless of the excursion of the moving part.
TENDING TOWARDS INVISIBILITY
The surround is clearly a key component of the moving part. When it comes to the physical demands expected of Utopia and Elear headphones, the surround needs to offer an optimized compliance and have high Xmax, to ensure they are as lightweight as possible. Once again, Focal has proved its expertise with another world premiere: the thinnest suspension ever created, with a thickness of 80 microns!
This challenge required months of work to conciliate very low mass, maximum excursion and the linearity of the moving assembly, all while ensuring perfectly balanced sound regardless of the volume.
High-fidelity cable: ACOUSTIC TRANSPARENCY AND EASY CUSTOMISATION
The cable supplied with Utopia was specifically selected for its capability to respect the original audio signal, such as its very low impedance (< 90 mΩ/metre). It is totally symmetrical in order to offer extremely low crosstalk (< 70 picofarads). The shielding protects it from electromagnetic interference and allows for a longer cable (4m/13 ft.). Finally, the 9.5mm Lemo® connector and the 6.35mm Neutrik® stereo jack enable easy customisation.
High-end design: REMARKABLE DESIGN AND COMFORT
Particular attention has been paid to the design of Utopia, in terms of use, comfort and overall aesthetics. These audiophile headphones feature elegant, high-quality materials, and comfort has been greatly enhanced thanks to the mechanical design which has been optimised to the smallest detail: the constant bend of the headband, an even distribution of weight, the design of the yoke and the memory foam ear-pieces.
ACCESSORIES SUPPLIED
- Rigid case with magnetic closing mechanism
- 4m (13ft.) OFC cable: 1 x 6.35mm Neutrik® stereo jack
- 2 Lemo® connectors
- Optional: a stand to showcase your Utopia Headphones in your space
