FOCAL Diva Utopia
Floorstanding loudspeakers
Diva Utopia is a full active speaker that keeps the Focal’s identity, yet manages to use quite unusual elements in how it is made. The result is a speaker that looks good, sounds good, and is easy to connect to anything. Is it enough to be a truly high-end speaker?
Funkce a forma
With 121cmx42cmx56cm, the size of the speaker would fit into nearly any room. That cannot be said about its mouse-grey appearance. No question it is very stylish, though. Focal opted for an asymmetrical polymer cabinet, that is structurally quite inert, and my knuckle test proves that it is as soundless (resonance-free) as any MDF cabinet out there. Finish is great and successfully mimics anodized aluminium, no complains here. Most of the ribbed polymer structure is not seen anyway, as it is covered by removable felt panels, strategically fitted so there is a gap between the cabinet and the panels. Apart from aesthetics, it is also acoustically very good solution for eliminating reflections from the speaker. At the time of the review, Focal only offers mouse-grey panels that look like a warehouse carpet, but I was told that other colour options are in preparation. The bad thing is that the Diva Utopia will be shipped with grey felt and the other panels are to be only available as an extra set for extra money. I guess Focal should change the policy here. To make up for it, the Focal logo is backlit and looks great.
The Diva Utopia is a 3-way loudspeaker that features Focal’s iconic 27mm IAL2 beryllium tweeter, not less iconic W-sandwich 16.5cm midrange unit, and 4 push-push arranged 16.5 woofers firing in pairs to the sides, supported by a large diameter plinth-firing bass reflex port. The beryllium dome is a one-piece M-shaped geometry, which Focal has been perfectioning over years and is said to have an extremely linear frequency response, low distortion and improved sound dispersion. The "W" stands for a structure of a foam core that is sandwiched between two glass fibre sheets, giving the cone its typical grey ash colour. Focal claims that such a cone outperforms Kevlar fabric (taken here as a reference) in its mass, thickness and flexing behaviour. The Diva Utopia is specified as 27Hz-40kHz (+/-3dB). Sensitivity is out of question, as these Focals are fully active.
Nízké frekvence
Fully active means there are separate amplifiers for each section; 250W amp for bass, 75W amp for midrange, and 75W for treble. All the amps are designed by Naim, and all are Class AB, not D that one would expect in an active speaker. The power consumption is 280W when in active mode, and the heat is managed by a large aluminium heatsink incorporated in the speaker’s spine.
Focal goes even further by implementing a streamer and a DAC in the Diva Utopia. This way, it is an all-in-one solution, and for listening to music there is no need to have anything else but in-wall power socket and internet connection. As such, it is one of the cleanest and the least complicated music systems available. When connecting, one of the speakers us used as a master, connected to local network via HDMI, TOSLINK, RCA, USB-A 2.0, or RJ45 Ethernet. The other speaker connects to the master via RJ45 Speaker Link. Adaptive Bluetooth connection is available too (aptX, SBC, AAC).
The Diva Utopia can play virtually anything: WAV, FLAC, AIFF, and Apple Lossless up to 24 bit/384 kHz, MP3, AAC and OGG up to 48kHz/ 320kbit (16bit), DSD64 and DSD128, as well as Windows Media and Interntet radios, UPnP, Spotify Connects, TIDAL Connect, Qobuz and QPlay. Wireless streaming supports AirPlay 2 and Google Cast. Focal provides an app for iOS and Android that is common for Naim too. The speaker can be controlled by a remote controller that comes with it.
Čistota rozlišení
The Diva Utopia surprised me by how much better they were in soundstaging compared to other Focal speakers that I have auditioned in the past. Perhaps it is thanks to more organic shapes, perhaps thanks to the felt segments that represent an exterior full of gaps a edges, that diffuse and absorb reflections. The result is a deep and wide soundstage and very good imaging capabilities.
Voices were also clean and controlled through the Diva Utopia, their sibilants well suppressed, and they flow in a very calm manner. Too calm, perhaps, as the tracks I listened to, had the same serene quality. The bass of the Diva Utopia was rather dry and inexpressive, the treble was a bit detached from the rest of the spectrum (phasing problem?) and a bit samey no matter which music I played. Although the speakers always maintained their composure, the way they played was slightly colourless and I often found myself leaning towards the speakers and increasing the volume in an attempt to get some more life from them. This was not the sound I’d be willing to pay for so much money; 30-40% of the Diva Utopia’s asking price would buy me a better speaker. I identified the villain quite fast – the built-in streamer engine was definitely not the best choice. If you want to get the Diva Utopia rock, you need to invest into an external streamer.
Tonální věrnost
Thanks to a combination of circumstances, I had three streamer alternatives on hand: the Simaudio Moon 641 of the new North series, and two streamers from Cary Audio, the cheaper DMS-650 and the more expensive DMS-800 PV. With any of them, the sound of the Diva Utopia got much, much better. Beyoncé's Daddy Lessons (Lemonade) with all the clapping and shouting and the introduction by the saxophone was the track that made my feet tap. The Diva Utopia’s sound got denser, more powerful and more colourful, it opened up and was pleasure to listen to. The combination with Cary Audio's streamers was particularly magical, mainly due to Cara's ability to send the vocals into the room in an almost 'tubed' way, warm and very palpable, as if the performer was standing there in front of me in the flesh. I liked the Cary (the cheaper one) even more than the Moon 641, which -although objectively more precise and with tighter bass – did not have the ability to transform the sound into experience quite the same way as the Cary streamer did. In this configuration (and still using the Diva Utopia’s internal amplification modules) the speakers certainly didn't disappoint.
Prostorovost
How to deal with the overall assessment of the Diva Utopia? As an all-in-one active speaker, the Focal Diva Utopia performs well, if only at half throttle. If you just want to use them as plug & play speakers and not worry about peripheries, this is an excellent way to bypass the need to buy a full hi-fi setup, which would ultimately make you spent a similar amount of money. But if I view the Diva Utopia with the same lens I would use for a high-end passive speaker, the investment into an outboard streamer will be needed. Then the price will go up to the total of 40+ k€, which doesn't seem adequate to me – better sound can be had at this price point. Admittedly, I didn't mention that the Diva Utopia has built-in calibration, so you can calibrate them to the exact parameters of your listening space via the software wizard. This is a feature that will be attractive to owners and tilts the scales in the direction of the Diva Utopia. So, the decision whether or not to get them is ultimately more of a financial decision. If I am to evaluate them as a ready-to-listen package delivered by the manufacturer, the Diva Utopia’s potential remains unexploited.
Doporučení prodejci
Avitsmart, Praha, +420 605 836 876
Horn Distribution, Praha, +420 272 656 485
Web výrobce: http://www.focal.com
Připojené komponenty
- Sources: Interní Naim streamer Diva Utopia, Cary DMS-650, Cary DMS-800 PV, Simaudio Moon North 681
- Amplifiers: Interní Naim Diva Utopia
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Nordost Valhalla V2, AudioQuest Vodka Ethernet
- Power conditioning: IsoTek Evo 3 Elite, Isotek V5 Aquarius
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