Iggydang t1_iu23src wrote on October 27, 2022 at 11:59 PM

It's a QC issue, which is why some clip at 80dB and others go to >95dB without issue. I got lucky with my old pair that never had the clipping until I stuck a Harman EQ on and cranked it way past normal listening levels on the traditional 2049 clipping test.

From what I've seen, it affects the 1st gen open backs the worst (Elear/Elex, Utopia), the Clear is a lot better, and I haven't seen any complaints with the Clear MG (presumably the 2022 Utopia as well, but it's still too new to say). My pair can be maxed out on my Apple dongle playing 2049 without any issues, so it's not an issue for me.

Just an aside, but this is how silly Focal's statement that "the clipping is intentional, turn the volume down" was. Their PR relied on QC never letting headphones go to customers with this issue, but 3 bottles too many during lunch and people get headphones that clip in YouTube. Now we have the "my pair has no issue, stop killing your hearing" bunch making the whole issue bigger than it is. It's 100% a QC issue if you are encountering it 1) at normal listening volumes, and 2) your listening volumes don't average ~>95dB like some very deaf people. Force a return of the headphones until you get an acceptable one, or get a newer model that doesn't have the issue as much, since it's quite unreasonable to pay their prices just to be unable to watch YouTube.

Roxaos OP t1_iu25pfa wrote on October 28, 2022 at 12:14 AM

This is very informative, thanks for taking the time to write all this up.

Shame Focal had that as a response, but all well.

I think I'll try to get a newer pair of Clears.

blorg t1_iu2slxl wrote on October 28, 2022 at 3:10 AM

The Clear is worse for this than the Utopia, both from my own experience (I have both) and reviews I've seen.

I can get it on both but have to go louder on the Utopia before I get it. Like you say it's variable, but it's not just my ones, for example both ASR and Oratory1990 specifically mention the clipping issue with regard to the Clear, but not the Utopia.

I get the impression that the Elex may be worse than the Clear though. There are also plenty of reports of driver failure particularly on older (pre-2020 revision) Utopias, and the Elex.

Iggydang t1_iu391v4 wrote on October 28, 2022 at 5:59 AM

This paints a picture of QC getting better the more you spend, which I guess makes sense considering how much more their margin probably shoots up with a Utopia compared to an Elex. Thanks for sharing your experience, I remembered seeing posts about Utopia and Elear clipping, or maybe I was confusing them with the driver failure.

> driver failure particularly on older (pre-2020 revision) Utopias

The 2020 revision was purely to add the new accessories, as far as I know the headphone/drivers remained the same. Purely anecdotal, but I know someone who bought the 2020 revision Utopia and had a driver die within 3 months. It was replaced under warranty, before one side died again - it was the lampcord XLR cable the second time. I get why they had to specify the 2022 Utopia had "increased reliability" at that point, if they never took the chance to fix it with the 2020 SKU.

> and the Elex

Did you see the post on Head-Fi where someone repaired their broken Elex? The voice coil's wire had broken in the black goop they use to shield the soldered connection to the 3.5mm, so you could theoretically clean it off, desolder the old wire and solder on a new stronger connection to fix it. With broken Elex going for $200+, I'm quite surprised more people haven't cleaned up on the broken eBay ones and fixed them for an audio bargain. The same thing is probably happening with the OG Utopia drivers as well, since the Clear OG/MG had a new voice coil and seemed to fix most of it, and the 2022 Utopia also only replaces the voice coil for higher reliability.

blorg t1_iu3fgph wrote on October 28, 2022 at 7:24 AM

This is what Focal said about it (in October 2018). You are right, it wasn't the 2020 revision specifically that they fixed it, but they claim to have identified and fixed an issue with voice coil fragility at some point after the initial release. But as you say, there do seem to be still a high number of failures.

>Regarding defective Utopia drivers, as already mentioned in the first pages of this thread, we experienced a voice coil fragility during early production batches. Not all headphones from these batches were affected. This problem which caused some drivers fragility has been identified, analyzed and fixed. We managed to take on defective headphones returns, but some units could be left on the market.

>As this issue is identified by our Team, we have informed our distribution network and they know how to proceed in case of defective drivers. Indeed, all defective headphones under warranty (according to local warranty policies) will be repaired free of charge by the Focal Team (the driver will be replaced). Which is why we strongly recommend you to contact your local dealer (specifying the serial number of your product and attaching the invoice) if you are experiencing any issue with your headphones to ensure After Sales Service. Please note that the serial number and the invoice are compulsory to track your headphones.

>The official warranty of Utopia, Clear and Elear headphones is 2 years by default. There are then specific cases in some countries for potential extension, please contact the local distributor to know the local warranty policy.

>In conclusion, we are aware of this situation and will do our best to fix all defective headphones. Be sure we have reinforced our quality controls.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-utopia-general-discussion.811273/page-590#post-14515753

I did see that post about fixing the voice coil. I think if I did end up with a failure on one of mine out of warranty I'd try a local/DIY repair rather than Focal, because they reputedly charge an absolute fortune to fix them (like literally thousands of dollars to fix a Utopia driver). Which is outrageous... but they do sound good.

sic_erat_scriptum t1_iu5nlg4 wrote on October 28, 2022 at 6:58 PM

> I get the impression that the Elex may be worse than the Clear though. There are also plenty of reports of driver failure particularly on older (pre-2020 revision) Utopias, and the Elex.

They redesigned the voice coil for the Clear, which is why it doesn't have the same problems the Elear and early Utopia units had.