The Focal Listen Professional is 32Ω at 107.1 dB/mW; the Focal Utopia is 80Ω at 104.0 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.
The Utopia needs 3.1 dB more than the Listen Professional to reach the same loudness — 0.40 mW against 0.19 mW.
| Specification | Listen Professional | Utopia |
|---|---|---|
| Impedance | 32 Ω | 80 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 107.1 dB/mW | 104.0 dB/mW |
| Sensitivity (voltage) | 122.0 dB/V | 115.0 dB/V |
| Power for 100 dB | 0.19 mW | 0.40 mW |
| Voltage for 100 dB | 79 mV | 0.18 V |
| Current for 100 dB | 2.5 mA | 2.2 mA |
| Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule) | 4.00 Ω | 10.00 Ω |
| Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280 | 280 | 280 |
Every source in the database that drives one of them drives the other. On power, the choice between these two changes nothing about what amplifier you need.
10 sources are low enough in output impedance for the Utopia under the one-eighth rule but not for the Listen Professional (Zoom AMS-22, Arturia MiniFuse 2, Arturia MiniFuse 1, 7 more).
2 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Utopia but cross it with the Listen Professional (FiiO BTR11, Rupert Neve RNHP).
280 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both.
The Utopia is more demanding than 53% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Listen Professional than 25%.
| dB SPL | Listen Professional power | Listen Professional voltage | Utopia power | Utopia voltage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | 1.9 µW | 8 mV | 4.0 µW | 18 mV |
| 85 | 6.2 µW | 14 mV | 0.01 mW | 32 mV |
| 90 | 0.02 mW | 25 mV | 0.04 mW | 56 mV |
| 95 | 0.06 mW | 44 mV | 0.13 mW | 0.10 V |
| 100 | 0.19 mW | 79 mV | 0.40 mW | 0.18 V |
| 105 | 0.62 mW | 0.14 V | 1.3 mW | 0.32 V |
| Source | Price | Headroom, Listen Professional | Headroom, Utopia | Output impedance | Noise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JadeAudio JA11 | $20 | 21.9 dB | 14.8 dB | 0.5 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO KA11 | $29 | 30.1 dB | 23.1 dB | 0.7 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO BTR13 | $59 | 27.1 dB | 20.0 dB | 0.6 Ω | 1.0 µV |
Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. 67 of them also publish an output impedance low enough for both under the one-eighth rule and a noise figure that stays below the audible-hiss threshold with both.
The cheapest of the 67 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 21.9 dB of headroom on the Listen Professional and 14.8 dB on the Utopia, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 4.00 Ω and 10.00 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 13 dB and 20 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.
| Model | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listen Professional | 5 Hz – 23 kHz | ±3 dB | not printed |
| Utopia | 5Hz – 50kHz | not printed | not printed |
Focal prints 5 Hz – 23 kHz for the Listen Professional and 5Hz – 50kHz for the Utopia.
Listen Professional: Focal puts the tolerance in the row heading rather than beside the numbers: the label itself reads "Frequency response (+/- 3dB)".
Only one of the two is a specification. The range printed for the Listen Professional comes with a tolerance; the one printed for the Utopia does not, and a range without a ±dB figure says nothing about how loud that model is at either end of it. The two cannot be compared number against number, however similar they look in the table. Of the 490 models whose maker prints a range, 58 print the tolerance.
Not a measurement; maker by maker.
Both have a page of their own. In full: Focal Listen Professional and Focal Utopia. Every figure on this page comes from what Focal published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.