Review: Andrew Everard

For anyone of the opinion that a standalone digital-to-analogue converter is not much more than a DAC chip, output circuitry and a power supply, the EMM Labs DA2i is going to come as something of a shock. It’s big and hefty – more amplifier-size at a full 440x160mm (wh) and weighing in at 16kg – and will set you back £34,995 in either silver or black finishes.

With not just so many ranges in its catalogue, but also many models in those ranges, it’s hardly surprising that Danish speaker company DALI is no stranger to the concept of trickle-down technology. After all, once the development cost of a new component, or an entire loudspeaker, has been spent, why not spread the love by finding ways of carrying over that thinking to other products?

Based in Berlin, German company MBL is perhaps still best known for its omni-directional Radialstrahler loudspeakers [HFN Jun ’21], spreading their output over 360o in the cause of creating sound that fills a room. The idea isn’t new – the design was first launched at IFA in Berlin in 1979, in the times when audio was a major focus of that show – but it has been developed and refined over almost five decades, and is still a mainstay of the company’s lineup.

The latest member of Focal’s Utopia loudspeaker family is clearly cut from a different cloth – and that’s before you lay eyes on its felt cabinet wrap. Sure, at £29,995 the Diva Utopia boasts a similarly ‘high-end’ asking price to the likes of the £34,999 Scala Utopia Evo [HFN Aug ’17] and its overall styling isn’t far off its siblings either. But this is Focal’s first active loudspeaker, the result of a collaboration with Naim Audio, its stablemate brand since 2012. In fact, to call it a speaker doesn’t really do the Diva Utopia justice. It’s more like a full system inside a loudspeaker enclosure.