Focal Elear and Utopia

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by SingSing, Jun 14, 2016.

  1. TMRaven

    TMRaven Friend

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    How much perceivable weight does that aftermarket cable take away compared to the stock Elear cable when worn on the head?
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2016
  2. Tyll Hertsens

    Tyll Hertsens Grandpappy of the hobby - Special Friend

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  3. PoochZag

    PoochZag The Shadow knows - Friend

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  4. Huxleigh

    Huxleigh Almost "Made"

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    Great Googly Moogly, @Tyll Hertsens! What won't you do for us!? :D

    Well, hopefully that not that thing. You know the one. o_O Scary bearded man...
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2016
  5. ibzrg1570

    ibzrg1570 Facebook Friend

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    The amount of follow-up effort Tyll is putting into the Elear is awesome. Either he really really loves SBAF or it's that good of a headphone. My money's on both. :)
     
  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    DSC_2813 (Small).JPG
    TBC
     
  7. eastboundofnowhere

    eastboundofnowhere Facebook Friend

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    ……gently trolling this thread….Mcintosh MHA-100 or Zana Deux first….barring a lottery win….


    I'm guessing Utopia's too big for the Listen and I thought you already had the Elear.
     
  8. imac2much

    imac2much Friend

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    Thanks Tyll!

    I love your posts and reviews, but man the signal to noise ratio in the IF comment section is painful, especially in the Utopia thread. That Tony guy and the HD700 fanboy are difficult to stomach, and it's hard to ignore them since they comprise half the comments. Where's Amos when you need him?
     
  9. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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  10. imac2much

    imac2much Friend

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    Looks like Elear pads!
     
  11. Serious

    Serious Inquisitive Frequency Response Plot

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    Looks like we're getting measurements! Want oldschool V1 measurements!
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I'll provide both sets of measurements. On the solid plate and on the foam coupler.

    In the meantime, that's one long cable. Makes sense from Focal.
    DSC_2816 (Small).JPG

    My impressions are not as positive as when I first heard them - at least not without EQ. The combination of a little bit too much mid-bass and an upper mid suckout reminds me of General Motors Bose Car Audio frequency response. The Force demands balance.

    Measurements in progress.
     
  13. Huxleigh

    Huxleigh Almost "Made"

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  14. Ryanr1987

    Ryanr1987 Facebook Friend

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    Hmmmm, I've put LCD-2's up for sale. I'm either going to grab these or the HD650's for the 10000th time and just stick with them. How does the Elear compare to the HD650 with vocal engagement, and natural tonality through the mids?

    Marveys latest impressions while brief seem to go with some others guys impressions I trust saying it's a more V shaped headphone which is a nono for me as I like a more complete mid range.
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2016
  15. Ice-man

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    I sell many headphones and gear, often. And yes, I realize I have a problem. But I NEVER sell the 650. Nope, not happening. I do want on the loaner list for the Elear.
     
  16. Ryanr1987

    Ryanr1987 Facebook Friend

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    I've always sold it with the intention of buying it back LOL It ends up being a waste of money in the long run so I might as well just keep it, I never learn.
     
  17. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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  18. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    Any chance of pad rolling measurements if the Utopias show up soon?
     
  19. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Will definitely roll pads. The Elear will go on loaner at the end of the week, but I will recall them when Utopia comes in.

    In addition, will try some quick mods or even an bass shelf circuit.

    Try various mods on the HD650. At the very least, the Dynamat mods to bring technicalities closer. HD650 tonality is hard to beat. You might not sell them off again.
     
  20. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    Focal's just another manufacturer making great drivers like Audio-Technica, Fostex, and Koss and sticking them in middling headphones that only sound good enough to move off the cans off of a stock room shelf. Focal's again priced out of their intended market just like with the Spirit closed headphones which sounded okay but were more fragile than Beats and you never saw them on TV broadcasts or pictures of studios with boxes of a dozen of them like HD 280/25, DT 770, AKG K240/271, or the Fostex T40/50 line as who the hell would pay 400 dollars for a closed headphone when a 100 dollar one does the same job and then you can pick up a good open headphone or pair of powered monitors and have your tool and something that actually sounds great for less?

    The Elear and Utopia are just priced way too high again. You have a big speaker manufacturer pricing their headphones at DIY in a warehouse planar/electrostat audio jewelry and mediocre sound prices. Let's be real here. This is what Audeze is. Audeze outsources industrial design to a BMW subsidiary, has the Chinese guys who make Matrix designing their amps, and if the Sine is consistent sounding in anyway I doubt Audeze does anything other than assemble it in their warehouse factory. At least Hifiman has reasonably priced open headphones to sell to people who don't want to wire an HE-6 to a speaker tap. Focal doesn't. They have 2x overpriced Beats/studio can "competitors" and overpriced open headphones 3-5x the street price of the models they want to compete with. I don't see these doing as well for Focal as car speakers. Unless they just want to take Audeze/Hifiman quick cash from rich idiots and manufacture these in small quantities just large enough to pay for a mold and R&D but not large enough to have great quality on. This strategy didn't really work for STAX in long run as they were barely afloat for decades and got 100% bought for almost nothing by a big Chinese speaker maker.

    EDIT: Edifier bought Stax for 1.5 million in cash. Damn. At least that's better than Harman purchasing the bankrupt AKG and finding out the only things of value they had were land, buildings, and molds used to make obsolete gear that could be sold for scrap.
     

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