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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
ghdprentice
6,363 posts
 

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

yyzsantabarbara
4,467 posts
 

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.

 

 

larsman's avatar
larsman
1,741 posts
 

I've had Utopia for over 2 years as well - works great!! 

soix
8,655 posts
 

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. 

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