These Focal Diva Mezza Utopia speakers take streaming hi-fi to a whole new level
Following on from last year's Diva Utopia, which would set you back a hefty £29,999, the Mezza require even deeper pockets at £55,000 per pair. So what do you get for your gigantic pile of cash?
Standing slightly taller than an Emperor penguin at 50in, each speaker has a frankly ludicrous 500W of total amplification inside, with 90W going to the tweeter, 130W to the 6.5in mid driver, and 280W shared between the four 8in bass drivers (two on either side of each speaker). Never mind bothering the neighbours, there'll be flightless birds in Antarctica who'll be annoyed with you if you crank these right up.
You can feed them (the speakers, not the penguins) wirelessly using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and if you've got a hi-res source the ultra-wide band connection between them allows for playback at up to 96kHz/24-bit without needing to use a cable. Tether them together using ethernet and that jumps to studio-level 192kHz/24-bit. As we said at the start: no half measures.
There's a companion app you can use to control music playback, but the Focal Diva Mezza Utopia also support various Wi-Fi standards, including AirPlay 2, Google Cast, and Spotify Connect. With so much sonic power on offer the speakers need a little taming, so you can also run sound tests via the app that will calibrate them to the acoustics of your room.
If you'd rather hook up your kit the old-fashioned way you also get a good array of physical connections on the primary speaker too, including optical, RCA, HDMI eARC and USB.
The Focal Diva Mezza Utopia aren't the kind of speakers you can just order on Amazon, so if you're interested in a pair you'll need to head to Focal's website to find a dealer near you. And don't forget to warn your credit card of what's to come.
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Stuff.tv
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Huawei's familiar app caveats supply, but the Freebuds 6 otherwise deliver plenty for the price. Pros Energetic audio that doesn't skimp on bass Noise cancelling is decent for open-fit earbuds Cons The usual app hurdles to navigate Semi-open fit won't be for everyone Huawei Freebuds 6 technical specifications Drivers 11mm dynamic + planar diaphragm ANC Yes Bluetooth version Bluetooth 5.2 Codecs supported SBC, AAC, L2HC, LDAC Durability IP54 (buds) Battery life 4hrs/24hrs (ANC on, buds/case, sound quality priority) 6hrs/36hrs (ANC off, buds/case, connection priority) Dimensions 31x19x24mm, 4.9g (buds, each) 66x50x27mm, 40.3g (case)
