Lastly, here’s the Focal Utopia clipping threshold:
It’s right around 110dB at 1khz for anyone who can’t read that. It is interesting to see there’s more headroom with the Utopia than the other models, which were around 106 to 107dB at 1khz. I think at this point you know the story for how a 10dB bass boost will change that threshold.
Again, I have to stress… 110dB at 1khz, is so loud that if this is your average listening level, you will destroy your hearing quite quickly. So you should never be clipping these headphones, for the sake of your hearing. If you do hear clipping without extreme volume-induced pain, something is either very wrong (perhaps with the headphones or something in the chain), or there could be some unintended bass boost going on - whether through a high output impedance source, some software EQ adjustment, or a function like xBass. Other than that, the only other possibility is that hearing damage of some kind has already taken place.
For those wondering about how level is calibrated on this system, it’s done so with an ND9B 1khz standard compliant external calibration tool.