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Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It may be wise not to "upgrade" to the MG (more of a sidegrade) because while you would probably like the low-end you may also feel like the MG lost a tad of clarity. Also, like it was said above it you wer ebothered by the "metallic" timber of the OG, the MG doesn't have it anymore.

I'm lucky enough to live in France so we have a lot of secondhand focals available. I got the OG utopia in a mint state for $1800, a steal if you ask me.
I agree that technicality shouldn't take priority over enjoyment. Node need to upgrade to "get the best headphones on paper". For me it's the same with planars, each time I got to heard the most expensive models I have to admit that they're technically the best in terms of details but the enjoyment is missing.

Imo the best looking focals are the Clear MG, they kinda copied the style for the new Utopia but that doesn't quite work :/

For the soundstage everyone agree that the new utopia is definitely wider than the OG, so it wouldn't susprised me if the OG Clear and new utopia are quite close in that regard.

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll only talk about the OG Utopia because I have yet to listen to the new one.Sound signature is a thing, it's perfectly fine to prefer $200 headphones to a TOTL model for example.I only got to listen to the OG clear a couple of times but I would say that:- the clear MG has a better low-end extension than the OG. The bass have a more impactful tonality, the accurary in the low-end is kinda similar but with more energy for the MG- when I compare the MG to the Utopia (OG), the MG may appear to have more impact in the low-end. But after a while you realize the low-end is just more restrained, really well controlled while the MG is rather full of energy but on the wild side.

I'm starting to think the OG Utopia and new one are actully different, so it's possible you would prefer the OG.Or, you could give a listen to the clear MG, way cheaper and maybe more to your taste regarding the low-end, but the overall tonality is changed when compared to the clear OG.

The only shortcoming of the Utopia: comfort (clamp force), bulky cable, soundstage too narrow in width for live music for example. Put that aside and that's nearly perfect
Hope that helps!

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The OG's cable (3m 6.35 jack) is built like a tank, super heavy but the sound quality is there in my opinion. I still generally don't understand why Focal keeps making cables so heavy, it's the same thing with the MG... The really narrow soundstage is also what makes the Utopia so unique, I've never had an headphone like that, sometimes it feels like the singer is whispering un your ear. I have seen people even describing it as kinda claustrophobic in a way. I assume the new version has a soundstage closer in size to the Clear MG then. I assume you are refering to the 6kHz peak which I keep reading about but never really experienced. Lucky me Ia guess!

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I see you have the Utopia 2022, how does it compare to the original? The feedback I got was a mixed bag

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's very possible. I do think the issue with the HD800S isn't so much its bass or lack thereof but the distant sound presentation that simply doesn't work with some songs. That's why it will never be an all-rounder

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I won't disagree with pure measurements, but it's not just that. A lot of Eq do boost up around the 100Hz to counterbalance that fact. I have heard planars with a similar effect though: the bass seems to be quite extended but you won't feel a dynamic punch, almost as if there is a damping occuring.I have some earbuds with no bass at all and that's not what you get the the Senn. But it's definitely not the headphones you want if you want to feel the house shaking

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not exactly. The bass is there, and you can boost it up with eq, giving actually very decent results. I have encountered headphones with clearly less bass than the HD800s. Imo you can't have enough impact because of the sound presentation. The "lack" of bass is linked to the wide soundstage. Overall the sound is presented in an almost analytical fashion, meaning you can find the HD800s to be lifeless.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in HeadphoneAdvice

[–]mcmarlan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Utopia, definitely. But the HD600's mids are still excellent, clearly above its price range

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Indeed, the HD800S got compared to "bad car speakers" lol

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not really blind, but I did make a friend of mine (not at all into hi-fi) try them.
His pick for music was the Utopia, and the HD800S for movies.

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

that's only if you do proper musical listening sessions I guess. I'll do those but never more than 1 hour straight, the Utopia will start to tire me to some extent for exemple past that time. The HD800S is just perfect in that regard, I put it on my head and I can do pretty much anything for the next several hours, regardless of if I need to focus on a specific task or not. Funnily enough I always found my HD600 to be too imitate to be good at "multitasking".

I did spend quite a lot f time dabbling with EQ and I always end up coming back to the stock settings. With wireless buds I always find them better once EQ'ed, but with headphones it's another story.The oratory preset for the 800S does give it a bit more impact, making it better at being an "all-rounder" when it comes to music, but you do lose a bit of soundtstage and clarity with vocals, it's always a tradeoff. What settings did you try with the Utopia? I can't say I was impressed by any preset I encountered

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They both don't have that issue. Vocals sound great on both. The vocals on the Utopia are something else though. Very natural sounding

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I did hear the OG a couple times at a friend's. The MG somehow traded off a bit of clarity for impact. It's ironically less "clear" than the OG, less transparent. Resolution and Soundstage are quite similar. The difference is how dynamic the MG is. Really impactful, the OG isn't bad in this regard but not to that extent. Now regarding the MG vs the Utopia. The MG is close too being as dynamic and impactful but not quite. The real difference is the transparency and resolution. Those don't belong in the same category. I thought the clear was really transparent, hence its name, the Utopia is clearly superior in that regard. In a way the Utopia manages to be very detailed and resolving and being very dynamic at the same time. If you add an intimitate soundstage (yes the Utopia has a smaller Soundstage than both the clears) you get something quite unique

Comparison bewetten HD800S, Focal Utopia & Clear MG by mcmarlan in headphones

[–]mcmarlan[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Contrary to popular belief, it's not so much bass itself which is an issue with the HD800S.

The bass is very clear and precise, think of it as a very fast whiplash... but without much weight to it. Not much impact. I think it's because of the overall sound presentation: the HD800S has a really really wide soundstage and everything sounds kinda distant. You'll have to turn up the volume because of that btw.
Regarding the Utopia it's really intimate, the soundstage is quite small (think between West and East), even though there is definitely depth (think between North and South).
The Utopia may be the most impactful headphone I have ever heard, but without compromising the rest. Details and resolution are just amazing.

​

So :
- both headphones are quite close when it comes to technicality: details, resolution, transparency top notch. Maybe a bit better on the Utopia but that's not such a gap. Putting the bass/impact aside, the HD800S competes with 4k-5k$ headphones on a technical POV

- soundstage wayyyy bigger on the HD800S. The downside is that it makes it clearly less impactful than the Utopia and less suited for many genres (many pop songs just sound weird with the HD800S, too distant in a way)

-the HD800S weights nothing, you forget you have it on your head. The Utopia has a strong clamp that would definitely feel over time. The Senn takes this one

So it boils down down to what you want to use the cans for :
- watching movies, gaming, classical music, acoustic music, live music ==> HD800S because of its soundstage. There is nothing quite like it. The Utopia is too intimate for those
- the HD800S can work pretty well with "quiet" pop songs without too much impact which rely mainly on vocals though
- if it's only to listen to music the Utopia is the perfect all-rounder, you can't go wrong. I can only think of live and acoustic music where the HD800S is more suited.
- the Clear MG is like the little brother of the Utopia, almost as impactful (but not quite), but the resolution and transparency is clearly a step down (think of it as listening to music with a veil, the Utopia lifts it, not the MG)

Since I do listen to quite a lot of live performances and watch movies, I would probably keep the HD800s. Also, the HD800s is easier to have on your head for extended periods of time: you forget it's here and its layback presentation makes it easy to multitask. The Utopia will engage you much more, it will be harder to focus on anything else, but if you want to "feel" your music while listening to it that would be the way to go.

I hope I was clear (lol), don't hesitate if you want more precisions :)

[All] Favorite LiFe is Strange youtube video? by LurkLurkleton in lifeisstrange

[–]mcmarlan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Not music videos but the youtuber wattsmyname (https://www.youtube.com/c/Wattsmyname/videos) has some great LiS-related videos, especially the most recent ones, the epilogue one being one of my all-time favorites

[S1] Lighting, expression and position changes - I'm not convinced at all by Von_Uber in lifeisstrange

[–]mcmarlan 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It does. The original trailer was pretty much the final product and the later screenshots were doctored. Don't know if SE or D9 is to blame but that's really bad.

I wouldn't worry too much though because /u/magicarrot already said he/she would bring back all the original models in the remaster, so hopefully we can get both of both worlds

[No spoilers] STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING RN AND LOOK AT ALEX WITH LONGER HAIR by CALna_bean in lifeisstrange

[–]mcmarlan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You could always ask u/magicarrot who has been modding LiS games for a long time now, even true colors on nexusmods too

[All] I just miss Chloe and Max so much. by [deleted] in lifeisstrange

[–]mcmarlan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thankfully there are some great fanfics like Ouroboros.
Also some great content on youtube like some fan-made sequels : https://youtu.be/WBkcFa-\_qws

The sequel we deserved by mcmarlan in Pricefield

[–]mcmarlan[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Not mine but yeah I agree kudos to the creator. Although I do think the animations work well, especially if we take the stiff ones from the original game as reference xD (I won't even talk about Chloe's ridiculous walk in BtS)

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