I’ve enjoyed a pair of Focal Utopia for a few months and had many lengthy listening sessions with various headphone amplifiers. In the end I found them “too accurate” and “perfect” sounding, aka “clinical” for my taste. I did sell them in the end.
I prefer the slightly more colored and euphonic response of the hand crafted ZMF Auteurs in African Blackwood these days. Perfection and listening bliss.
I typically settle in to a comfortable chair to listen to them through all the tubage of the PrimaLuna HP dialogue integrated that has a straight through tube headphone driver.
At the computer and for more casual listen I prefer the lighter weight and very musical and slightly euphonic presentation of the HD600 cans and Woo WA6 with 13EM7 and 274B Sophia rectifier tube upgrades. The combo still blows me away with its budget musicality.
It is all personal taste dependent of course and the reason there are thousands of options out there for every taste and budget. Enjoy the Utopia and the WA5-LE!
