I am not going to deduct one star for the price, but I think these should be a bit cheaper. I got them through a promotional deal, so I paid less than the MSRP. Are they worth it? Absolutely! A little background: I love how beryllium sounds. My main speakers are Paradigm Signature S1 v3s, and I have cherished them for over 8 years now. I recently added KEF LS50s to my home office, and I like them too, just not as much as beryllium. My next speakers probably would be Paradigm Persona 3Fs. I am not an audiophile, but I enjoy good music and appreciate good sound. I recently got a couple of noise complaints from my neighbors regarding my music being too loud, and I finally gave up and started to search for good quality headphones. I auditioned almost everything from a couple of hundreds to the Utopia range, from big bucks electronic stores to private Hi-Fi boutiques. The only two phones that I really liked were Focal Clear and Utopia. Clear was actually pretty good, and if I haven’t gotten the deal on the Utopia, I would’ve gotten the Clear. The Utopia that I auditioned was perfect. Highs were absolutely amazing and the bass was tight. The one that I brought home, however, has a boomy bass while the highs are mellower. It hasn’t broken in yet, but I think the other reviewer is correct regarding some early production units being sharper. I think I prefer the sound signature of the early units as well, but nothing is wrong with the new ones that I got. They are just closer to the Focal Clear’s sound but with noticeably higher clarity in the upper registers. Weird, but I found that small adjustments to the head placement actually helps with the boomy bass a little and makes it a bit tighter. Maybe I play with different ear-pads later on. As for the 3D sound that people talk about, it’s not as glorious as it has been described. It definitely has clarity, channel separation, and instrument separation, and although very few headphones can do this, I’ve always had all of these qualities with my speakers at a greater soundstage. I guess it comes down to necessity. If you really have to listen with phones, then these are great, otherwise good monitors with a 10” sub have better sound and probably cheaper. My only complain is about accessories. Utopia has no 3.5mm adapter in the package. There is only one long cable with a big headphone socket. At this price point, they should at least include a short cable for personal DACs and a 3.5mm adapter. Seriously, the pretty box is useless, just give us more accessories. As for stands, I went with the AudioQuest Perch over the Focal’s. Focal stand is very nice, but I couldn’t justify them being triple the price. You should cut your losses at some point, right? Unfortunately, we can’t have everything!