I love the Focal creaking sound right from the beginning when you lifted them up😂 Both of them! It's unacceptable. I bought Focals and regret it, the cable broke within a week and they creak when I breathe on them, not to mention the pads, they are very pricey.

The Utopia is better than the Clear MG, but not to an extent that I would pay the difference for. They are very similar and most people could hardly tell the difference.

Great review, thanks. I sure would like to try the Utopia against my OG Clear, on the TT2.

I happen to own both Clears and Utopias and spent ample amount of time on comparing one and the other side by side. Utopias are punchier in bass and do have better resolution in treble but sometimes i feel like they are rather fatiguing for a long listening session. But for Clears, the general resolution is somewhat sacrificed compared to other high-end headphones but they are very pleasing to listen to. Technically Utopias are superior no doubt but I might recommend clears over utopias to my friends

Utopia is a marvel of a headphone. An engineering masterpiece. I had the OG Clear for a brief time long time ago, but I own the Utopia for years now, and let me tell you, don't be fooled by "plug it into your phone", "headphone type of listening experience". Utopia is a totl set in every sense, it scales with the electronics to the very very top. It can sound as wide and as spacious as the HD800 on a good DAC and AMP (I tried it on Holo May L2 -> Burson Soloist GT, both dual mono) and the sound stage was immense, same on good tube amps (tested on HA6a), Utopia will scale with your stack up to the very very top. I tested it against the Susvara, 1266 TC and loads of other sets and let me tell you, it trades punches with all of them, it's trully amazing. Not sure how far you can take the Clear, but you can take Utopia very very far indeed.

Hi all. GeorgeCurious Jacob here. I have splurged on the OG Clears and 2022 Utopias in my case and wow the utopias present the instruments with layers and depth like I have never heard before. Some headphones try to fake it by upping tremble and adding a bass shelf but honestly without any EQ the Utopias are on such a different level it is mind-blowing. I also have the equally upper tier HE1000SE and the utopias still beat it in imaging and layering/depth or separated instruments.

Think the choice of amp makes a really big difference with these headphone the arche is particularly good for focal headphones and I would love to hear utopias on it. I am currently using it with clear mgs and keep wondering if picking up the utopias would be worth it, they come up second hand fairly often.

Really good review man! I have the Clear MG, and I’ve had the OG Clear and Arya so I’d agree with your comparisons here. I’m currently looking hard at the Utopia and I’ve spent some time with it and it’s a very impressive headphone in the way that it places you right in the room with the music. It’s stunning. Utopia just has some magic there for sure. However, my wallet recoils each time I consider the purchase. There is a pretty large gap between the two but the Clear is a great value for what you get. And let’s face it, most folks aren’t going to even hear a Utopia to compare much less agree to the price even used.

Both do distort in the song 'Traust' from the band 'Heilung ' at over 85 db

I was auditioning Utopia, OG Clear and Elex.... Utopia out resolve others with more dynamics and speed.... That's what I got now.... Otherwise I'd get Elex instead... Very similar to Clear and less than 1/2 the price... In Clear/Elex, you can hear a piano playing, in Utopia you can hear the person playing the piano....

@headphone PH . I recently purchased the Clear OGs and a GS-X mini amp. They make a nice combo. As the Utopia “2020” has come way down in price, I am thinking about buying a used Utopia. Do you think that the Clear’s and Utopia’s sound signature are different enough to warrant keeping the Clear’s?

If you can get Utopia for around 2k it is definitelly worth it. Not the MSRP. Waste of money in comparison to Clear. Nice video btw thanks.

I have the focal clear worth upgrading to focal mg?

clear is better

Helpful review but the background music is distracting and it makes it hard to listen to what your saying