|
Post by Axis on Dec 18, 2016 10:28:26 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by kewlmunky on Dec 20, 2016 8:59:37 GMT -5
I would love to get to try them out, someday. I have a local home/car/headphone audio dealer that carries Focal. I know they had Focal's previous Spirit Classic and Pro headphones, but haven't gone to see if they got the new Elear and Utopia, yet. I'll have to visit them soon. More realistically, I'm interested in getting the Elear. I'm sure the Utopia is amazing, but it is quite out of my price reach for the near future. That local audio store also has the Mcintosh MHA100 "headphone" amp that I want to try out my HE-6 on
|
|
|
Post by simpleman68 on Dec 20, 2016 10:32:26 GMT -5
May just be me but I've had an awful time with Focal in the past due to those Be tweets. I tried every trick in the book to tame them but they are one of the brightest/tinniest tweets I've ever heard. Last pair I had was a set of component 6.5" in my truck. Nice mids and great bass but those highs..... Scott
|
|
|
Post by kewlmunky on Dec 20, 2016 11:00:30 GMT -5
May just be me but I've had an awful time with Focal in the past due to those Be tweets. I tried every trick in the book to tame them but they are one of the brightest/tinniest tweets I've ever heard. Last pair I had was a set of component 6.5" in my truck. Nice mids and great bass but those highs..... Scott Interesting. I've never heard their BE tweeters for car audio, however I have listened to and own a couple different sets with their other tweeters. I'm running their older 3 way polyglass set for front componenets that have the aluminum/magnesium tweeter, and I find them to be amazing. I run their KRC coaxial components in the rear with their aramid fiber tweeter, and have also listened to the KRX2 with the same tweeter, and find it to be quite good as well. Both tweeters are indeed pronounced and I set the jumper on the crossover down, but it never sounds harsh/uncontrolled. In my opinion, the whole inverted dome tweeter is just superior to dome tweeters, at least in car audio. My friend has ran a few different German Maestro car speakers, which also have inverted dome tweeters. To me, inverted dome tweeters seem to allow greater dispersion and are less harsh sounding. Maybe the better dispersion allows them to be played lower, thus not sounding as harsh.
|
|
|
Post by simpleman68 on Dec 20, 2016 13:14:46 GMT -5
May just be me but I've had an awful time with Focal in the past due to those Be tweets. I tried every trick in the book to tame them but they are one of the brightest/tinniest tweets I've ever heard. Last pair I had was a set of component 6.5" in my truck. Nice mids and great bass but those highs..... Scott Interesting. I've never heard their BE tweeters for car audio, however I have listened to and own a couple different sets with their other tweeters. I'm running their older 3 way polyglass set for front componenets that have the aluminum/magnesium tweeter, and I find them to be amazing. I run their KRC coaxial components in the rear with their aramid fiber tweeter, and have also listened to the KRX2 with the same tweeter, and find it to be quite good as well. Both tweeters are indeed pronounced and I set the jumper on the crossover down, but it never sounds harsh/uncontrolled. They use(d) the same tweets in their Utopia Be mobile components as they do in their Grande Utopia towers. To be fair, any mobile environment makes it near impossible to control audio to any point near optimum. And again, could just be my ears/preference. I tried dropping them at both points on the factory x-overs but the -2 (if I recall correctly) made them sound a bit compressed and the -4 setting killed the highs altogether. Scott
|
|
|
Post by sahmen on Dec 20, 2016 13:47:57 GMT -5
Spend that much? lol... Funny you should ask... With the Cavalli Liquid Gold Amp tucked right behind it, we're looking at a cool $8000 in that picture alone, and we have not even included a DAC yet... And why must Focal flaunt the name "Beryllium" on the cans themselves like that... Do they want to promise listeners a quick ticket to the other "utopia" too? Well. I am not ready to board that ship yet... Seriously though, I am curious about the Utopia and the Cavalli gold enough to wishlist them, but that is all I can do for now... I seriously wish I could get both in my hands for an hour or two to given them a real good listen, but that is all the enthusiasm I can work up now, since my current budget denies me any real access
|
|
|
Post by nathanzachary on Jan 16, 2017 17:12:57 GMT -5
I personally love Focal, but at the same time, strongly dislike any of the beryllium lines. They also had a set for car audio, and I found them to be quite harsh.
|
|
|
Post by Axis on Jan 16, 2017 17:19:44 GMT -5
I personally love Focal, but at the same time, strongly dislike any of the beryllium lines. They also had a set for car audio, and I found them to be quite harsh. Never heard of anyone strongly disliking the beryllium tweeters in the top of the line Focal speakers and no one has written that the beryllium drivers in the Focal Utopia headphones are harsh. This thread is about the Focal Utopia headphones.
|
|
|
Post by nathanzachary on Jan 16, 2017 17:43:50 GMT -5
I personally love Focal, but at the same time, strongly dislike any of the beryllium lines. They also had a set for car audio, and I found them to be quite harsh. Never heard of anyone strongly disliking the beryllium tweeters in the top of the line Focal speakers and no one has written that the beryllium drivers in the Focal Utopia headphones are harsh. This thread is about the Focal Utopia headphones. I understand that this thread is about the Utopia headphones. I'm simply saying that I don't care for the beryllium tweeters. What I personally like about Focal's speakers are the slight warmth that they bring, and I find the beryllium lines to undermine that warmth. It's all individual preference anyway, so I was just offering my opinion.
|
|
|
Post by Axis on Jan 16, 2017 18:00:49 GMT -5
Never heard of anyone strongly disliking the beryllium tweeters in the top of the line Focal speakers and no one has written that the beryllium drivers in the Focal Utopia headphones are harsh. This thread is about the Focal Utopia headphones. I understand that this thread is about the Utopia headphones. I'm simply saying that I don't care for the beryllium tweeters. What I personally like about Focal's speakers are the slight warmth that they bring, and I find the beryllium lines to undermine that warmth. It's all individual preference anyway, so I was just offering my opinion. Absolutely, you pay your money you take your pick. I have never heard anyone describe the Focal beryllium tweeters as you do. What am I missing ? Are the Focal beryllium tweeters harsh and not warm ? I really want to know because I have never heard them. How did I miss this with all that I have read about them ? And what is warm in a tweeter ? I like smooth and coherent in a tweeter !
|
|
|
Post by GreenKiwi on Jan 18, 2017 3:00:53 GMT -5
I got to hear the Utopia's at a meet here in SF. They were very very good. I was maybe even more impressed with their Elear, since it was "only" $1000 But it did sound really enjoyable too.
|
|
|
Post by sahmen on Jan 18, 2017 3:22:29 GMT -5
I got to hear the Utopia's at a meet here in SF. They were very very good. I was maybe even more impressed with their Elear, since it was "only" $1000 But it did sound really enjoyable too. So Green, if I may, how do the Utopia and the Elear stack up against your audeze (LCD-X/XC) and your Sennheiser hd650? I know the comparisons will be imperfect since you only heard the focals at a meet, but I am not looking for perfection...
|
|
|
Post by GreenKiwi on Jan 19, 2017 0:34:02 GMT -5
So firstly, this was all in meet conditions. I have the LCD-2, XC, Ether C and HD650 that is on loan to a friend. 1. the Utopia is better than everything I have... and as good as the SR-009 and LCD-4. At this level, they are all absolutely amazing and it's mostly whether or not you like their style. They are all 21+ year old scotches. 2. the Elear felt like a HD650 that just did everything better. I felt that compared to the LCD-2F it was more of a tossup. I didn't have the LCD-XC or Ether C in a place I could listen to close enough to make a comparison, plus they are both closed headphones. Sorry that I didn't have more detailed responses, it was quite a while ago and at a meet. I will say that both focals were so much more comfortable than the LCD-2/XC that I'd pick them up over the LCDs if I didn't already own them. On the other hand, the Ether Flow is a real competitor, though it splits the difference between the two and is equally comfortable. Pricing also plays a role, as I see it the current street prices are: - Utopia $4k
- Mr Speakers Ether Flow - $1800
- Elear - $1000
- LCD-2 - $700 (adorama seems to always have it on sale)
- HD650 - $350 (or really $199 through MassDrop)
If I didn't have the LCD-2 already, I'd pick up the Elear. Right now, I'm saving my pennies for the Mr Speakers Electrostatic Headphones.
|
|
|
Post by sahmen on Jan 19, 2017 7:38:23 GMT -5
Thanks Green, this is detailed and helpful enough for me. I didn't realize Mr. Speakers are working on a pair of Electrostatics, but that is interesting too.
|
|
|
Post by bluemeanies on Jan 19, 2017 8:38:50 GMT -5
IMO...SNAKEOIL I am not a person who believes in those esoteric products that will make your system have an epiphany. I was recently on Audioificenando and people were talking about the new B&W D3's with WEL cables that can cost as much as $21,000 for a couple of meters and how much an improvement in sound with WEL! REALLY! Cables costing as much as a pair of speakers? Well I cannot recant what I have said before on this forum and other forums..."Money is relative". If you have it spend it and people do just that...spend it.
|
|