Calling Focal’s Diva Utopia a set of “wireless speakers” may be like calling a Ferrari Enzo Ferrari “a sports car,” and yet that’s fundamentally what these $39,999, 47-inch-tall, floor-standing monoliths are. Linking the left and right sides is an ultra wideband (UWB) wireless connection, which Focal says can transmit up to 24-bit/96kHz lossless hi-res audio “with imperceptible latency.” Should you have the available funds, they can be ordered starting October 2 from Focal Powered By Naim boutiques.
UWB technology is known for its extremely fast data rates, which can exceed 1Gbps, but it typically only works over very short distances. However, Focal says the Focal Utopia’s UWB connection is stable up to a distance of 10 meters (about 32 feet), which should be more than enough to achieve good stereo separation. Focal recommends a minimum of 5 meters between the speakers. The UWB connection may work at longer distances, but you’ll need to make sure there are no obstructions to the signal.
Focal isn’t the first company to use UWB for wireless speakers. That title goes to Sonus Faber, which incorporated it into the $3,999 Duetto, in 2023.
If wireless isn’t your thing, or your audiophile tastes insist on the highest sampling rate possible, Focal includes a 5 meter (16.4 feet) hi-res connection cable, which increases the transmission quality to 24-bit/192kHz (the same maximum bit-depth and sample rate supported by Apple Music’s hi-res audio tracks).
The speakers may share audio information wirelessly, but you’ll still need to plug them into their own power outlets. Each speaker has three class AB amplifiers with a combined 400 watts. That power drives a 27 mm beryllium M-shaped tweeter, a 16.5 cm W-shaped glass-fiber cone midbass driver, and four W-shaped 16.5 cm woofers arranged in a push-push configuration.
Eschewing exotic materials like rare woods or space-age metals, Focal has wrapped the side panels of the Diva Utopia in felt, a material made from OEKO-TEX-certified polyester fibres. Focal says that in addition to its elegance, “felt has insulating qualities that further enhance the loudspeaker’s already outstanding performance.”
Your choices for music sources are varied: On the back panel of the primary speaker are connections for stereo RCA analog, digital optical, USB, and HDMI ARC/eARC. However, the speakers are also compatible with the Focal & Naim app, which gives you access to all of the speakers’ settings plus native support of Tidal, Qobuz, QPlay, internet radio, and podcasts.
The app doubles as a remote control (Focal includes a physical remote) and it can also be used to add the speakers to a Naim-based multiroom audio system. The speakers can also be controlled by voice assistants (Google Assistant or Siri) or by several popular home automation platforms including Control4, Crestron, Savant, RTI, HomeKit, and Google Home.
Want to bypass the app and just play music from your phone? You can stream directly via Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Universal Plug’n’Play (UPnP), or Bluetooth 5.3 with aptX Adaptive compatibility.
At the heart of the Focal Utopia’s digital brain is an Analog Devices SHARC ADSP21563 DSP. This chip can do real-time algorithmic processing of active crossover with time delays, compression, room correction and equalization, integer oversampling, and buffering. It’s also the component that’s responsible for decoding the wide variety of formats supported by the speakers, including WAV, FLAC, AIFF, ALAC, MP3, AAC, OGG, and even DSD64 and DSD128.
The resulting digital signal is then processed by dual Burr Brown PCM1791A DACs.
When you open the (very large) box, you’ll find the remote, the hi-res cable, and eight spikes and counter spikes should you need them, to create the necessary isolation from your floors.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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