Are there any happy long-term owners of the Focal Elex/Clear/Utopia?


After reading so much horror stories about Focal QC I thought there is no way such headphones will survive at least 2-3 years without something got broken. Can Focal headphones last 3-5+ years without any issues? Mine 9-months Elex is going fine, but who knows when it could stop working. Usually have seen recommendation to go for the Clear, instead of the Elex, just because there are much less driver issues, due to more thicker copper voice coil, is Elex really like slow time bomb and very quickly it will broke? Or all these posts about Focal QC over exaggerated??

ajihu

I have had my Focal Utopia over 2 years… doing great. I Also them on vacations for a couple months a year. No problems.

My Focal dealer told me not to buy Focal and get the Meze Empy he also sold. The Empy was cheaper. He told me that he did not want to sell another Focal and have to deal with repair issues.

The Meze Empy was a very good headphone and had great build quality. I sold the Meze after a year of heavy use to go a different direction with headphones.

 

 

If the Focal sound is truly special to you it’s probably worth risking their well-known QC problems, but definitely buy from a credible dealer in the event things go south.  Otherwise, there are lots of excellent headphones out there so if you’re not wed to the Focal sound I’d look elsewhere and avoid the potential hassle.  Best of luck. 

I was among the first to get the Utopia in North America back around the beginning of October 2016.   Many headphones have come and gone between then and now but I still have my Utopia and its been trouble free for nearly 6 years (knock on wood).  My current collection includes the Susvara, Abyss 1266TC, ZMF Verite open and the Utopia.  I have no plans to sell my Utopia.  Long gone from that time frame are the HEK v2 and SE, LCD X and 4z, ZMF Verite closed and Aeolus. I still very much enjoy my Utopia driven by an Auris Nirvana tube amp or an Enleum 23R with digital sources Aurender W20SE connected to a Holo May KTE.

After reading so much horror stories about Focal QC I thought there is no way such headphones will survive at least 2-3 years without something got broken. Can Focal headphones last 3-5+ years without any issues? Mine 9-months Elex is going fine, but who knows when it could stop working. Usually have seen recommendation to go for the Clear, instead of the Elex, just because there are much less driver issues, due to more thicker copper voice coil, is Elex really like slow time bomb and very quickly it will broke? Or all these posts about Focal QC over exaggerated

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