Focal Elear and Utopia Impressions at Source AV

Great point that Marv and I might have skipped over, but I think we'd both agree.

 

Are the Elear and Utopia pads interchangeable?

If so, would the different pad materials affect the sound signature if mounted on the other headphone?

 

I have a small hunch that out of all of your impressions that will be one thing I disagree with. Only because I think for the price of a used hd650 its very detailed., or can be. Metrum Pavane>Trafomatic Head 2 w/ gold lions> HD650 DHC cable, is pretty resolving. Id imagine something like a mutec would help as well as better tubes and I am already satisfied with details.

Your impressions sound in line with most others, and with a lot of honesty from your perspective.
I really appreciate them. They are rather sobering and very helpful!!!!
Again I appreciate everyone else's as well. They hype seems a bit warranted depending on the perspective. Not many options for those who like warm clean sound.

So many headphone enthusiasts in Cali. You guys have the cream of the crop when it comes to being able to try before you buy.

 

@n3rdling :thx for the impressions. I've been looking for something both brighter, and more present, so I might end up going with an original T1 or T90 To supplement my LCD 2s. The Utopias might be right for me, but are way out of my price range.

 

The Elear seems to be a little divisive so far; it's hard to lock down consistent impressions (even from experienced ears), especially on the midrange... Is sample variance (similar to early Ethers) possible with dynamics?

This made me LOL

 

Given @Marvey listened through the McIntosh primarily and @n3rdling through the Woo5, I am concerned that we are in apples vs tangelos territory here. Maybe we've learned that the WA5 isn't a good pairing, but I guess I would like to hear more about the midrange anomalies from the others.... A French TH900 != A fun HD650 in my mind.

 

thats a good point!

 

Face woofer lol .

Some pad redesign is in order it seems. With the talented modders out there, there's got to be some potential to get rid of this 20dB drop in upper mids and take the mid-bass a notch down no?

arnaud

 

I at least totally agree with n3rdling's assessment regarding the mids not being 100% comparable to the HD650 mids. The HD650 mids are liquid, introspective, and quite frankly, better than the Elear's. I think my remarks with regard to there being a lack of cohesiveness from the mids to treble is essentially n3rdling and I hearing the same thing here. For those that regard that particular quality of the HD650 as its premier feature, then the Elear might not be a super-650 for you.

However, I still think overall and in the scope of things, the Elear represents a super-650 with regard to warm tonal balance, palpable bass, and resolution that only moving coils can do. For those that were expecting an upgrade in every single aspect of reproduction and absolutely no trade-offs, sorry, but welcome to the wonderful world of audio.

If I were to gauge Elear hype right now it seems

Tyll >> Marv >>> OJ >>>> n3rdling

As far as sample variance, unless Tyll received a pre-production unit I highly doubt it. I think all 4 members' impressions make 100% sense given their unique reference points and unique personal preferences.

 

Utopia exists in another dimension that is always unreachable. 4k...

 

Major design flaw like this would be pretty difficult to take care of with simple mods. Similar to HD-800, figuring out the way to drop just a few db from similarly narrow peak took Sennheiser years and perceived LF increase they apparently achieved came along with much higher distortion.

Looks like Stratocaster with heroic efforts on HD-800 was able to drop the whole HF region, cudos to him but such a narrow dip on Elear is a totally different animal to tame.

 

^THIS^
It's super important to understand where people are coming from and what they value.

 

The way I am coming at this is that Be tweeter is not the only part of the differences between the Elear in the Utopia as they have quite different voicing it appears. The perforated leather pads vs. porous pads have a large influence on the low frequency response of the driver as well as tonality across a broad frequency range. Now, the interesting bit is that the Elear treble appears less damped than that of Utopia (sharper resonances) so something else besides the pads is going on (if anything the utopia pads are expected to have less absorption at high frequencies) and I suppose it's go nothing to do with the actual self damping properties of the diaphragm (because its first audible breakup up must be in ultrasonic range). The resistive screens of the baffle, the suspension system of the driver?

You modders are so good at it, I am sure something can and will be done if there's a need for it ;-).

arnaud

 

Thanks. I think I had already let myself get a bit retarded about Elear being 'everything you love about a well-driven HD650' (care of Warren in the HF thread).

I have been tempted by FOTM a number of times but I always come back to HD650 for its mids. If Elear detracts from this, it's a non start for me. I guess I just have to stop dancing around the issue and finally spend the money on amping my HD650 properly...

 

Wow, just caught up with the thread. Great stuff. I'm really looking forward to hearing these at !CanJam.

I find it interesting that people are comparing the Ether C to the Elear. Open vs closed just seems to me to apples and oranges. I use the Ether C when I need isolation, but I use open for anytime else. To me the question (that has been addressed, so this is rhetorical), is "can the Elears be end game open headphones to replace the PMx2 or HD800?" Sounds like possibly yes. Please sign me up for the loaner! Don't forget there's country between the east and west coasts!

So, do we like Jason from Source AV now?

 

Jason is an "acquired" taste.

 

Arnaud, do you agree that sr-009 sounds plasticky as some others say?

 

I absolutely agree to ignore you

 

Wait...so Elear being "French TH900" would imply basshead-level, punch-in-face bass and lower mid dips, that's reaally different from the HD650