Yes, the wife will probably tear you a new one if you spend $4,000 on a pair of headphones. Still, you might run into a modest bonus at work or win an online sports bet, neither of which you’ll have to tell the wife, so there’s a good chance you can spend that much and never earn her ire. We’re just pointing out the ways in which you can get your grubby hands in one of Focal’s top-of-the-line Utopia headphones.
If you’ve ever heard of Focal, chances are, it’s due to one of their speakers. They’ve been in that business three decades, after all, only getting into the headphone space around four years back. And while we’re not exactly going nuts over the aesthetics of their new flagship cans, the specs and design do promise to bring a whole lot to your private listening pursuits.
The Focal Utopia is an audiophile-grade headphone with open-backed, full-range speaker drivers in the form of M-shaped domes. That open-back design allows it to leave a good amount of space between the speakers and your ears, creating a sound stage that makes whatever you listen to sound more life-like compared to noise-isolating closed headphones. With an impedance of 80 ohms and a sensitivity of 104dB, Focal claims these headphones will prove a whole lot easier to drive than similar high-end gear.
They also deliver exceptionally clear sound, courtesy of dome speaker drivers that boast 50,000 vibrations per second, allowing it to isolate individual sounds without crossover or passive filtering. Oh yeah, the drivers are made from pure berrylium, a ridiculously expensive hard gray metal that sounds like something they made up in a comic book universe.
Want one and can actually afford it? The Focal Utopia is slated for availability starting September.