Focal Elear and Utopia

Which is why I'm asking Tyll how the two compare subjectively if he still has the PM-1 around.

(One comforting thing to note is that Tyll talked of the PM-1's lack of transperency in its review when comparing to the likes of HD800 and friends, but never mentioned anything of the like in the Elear review.)

 

the pm-1 isn't even in the hi-fi conversation, it isn't worth talking about.

 

PM-1 and Elear measurements may appear to share broad similarities, but there are some pretty large differences (>=5dB) throughout the mid-range. The rise to the 3-4kHz peak is more gradual on the Elear; there is an obvious 500-600Hz dip on the Elear.; and the Elear also has a much faster drop above 4kHz. Overall, the upper-midrange peak is lower relative to the mid-range on the PM-1.

 

On this topic, the Elear and LCD-4 actually have near identical measurements. Differences I see in the FR are that the Elear has a very broad hump centered around 100Hz like many other dynamics, plus a 10kHz blip. Square waves are remarkably similar. It'd be an interesting comparison to see if poor inner detail is indeed an inherent trait of planar magnetics.

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/FocalElear.pdf

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AudezeLCD4.pdf

 

@Hands All the Oppo stuff sounds muffled and off: the headphones, receivers, disc players, you name it. Oppo somehow makes ESS Sabres and everything else sound like the redshirts from the Lufthansa heist that Jimmy Conway merced to the Layla coda: DEAD. You can just tell instantly from less a minute of listening to them right after a Sennheiser or better implemented DAC.

@Marvey Ortho/STAX fans hate sustain. None of those headphones do sustain well at all. They don't decay right. The Magnepan speakers sound a lot better and still don't have any sustain. Put Black Sabbath on a planar and laugh.

The Elear is looking less like a super HD 650 and more like a super LCD-X that doesn't suck. I wonder if the treble gets as annoying as the Fazors and the hole is as big of a deal as the K7XX.

 

I guess I'll post my subjective impressions from having heard these at the SF Head-fi meetup. They were featured in the Axios/Astell&Kern/Cavalli room, and each pair of Ether Flow and Elear/Utopia was run through some permutation of the former sources/amps (A&K players, Liquid Gold/Crimson/Carbon).

I was out of the loop when I walked in, having not really known about the news of Focal entering the headphone market. I tried the Elear first, and immediately thought it sounded like an improved HD600/650. Mid-centric, comparable (if not better) resolution, but without the signature "veil," so a much more "alive" and engaging sound.

The Utopia was more relaxed than the Elear, and definitely a more technically proficient headphone. They had a wider soundstage and really smoooooth presentation--perhaps not as wide of a soundstage as what I'm used with the HD800, but I really enjoyed their sound, and could see myself listening to them for hours on end without fatigue (very comfortable on the head too).

When a friend told me of their MSRP prices, I was in disbelief. I could make a case for the Elear, but I felt the Utopia hit the same ceiling as the HD800 with what's possible for dynamic drivers--maybe sacrificing some of the HD800's soundstage for a more euphonic sound (none of the HD800 hotness), but still without the bass texture of planars or the attack of electrostats that I've heard, making it a questionable spend at $4000. I acknowledge that my opinion could change though, if I were spend more time with them outside of a meetup session, with less ambient noise and different source/amp pairings.

FWIW, if I had that amount to spend on a new transducer, I'd personally go the route of an electrostat--the speed, precision, and other attributes of the SR-007/009 feel like more bang for the buck for my listening preferences than the Utopia.

 

You know what, you're absolutely right, "near identical" isn't apt. Agreed on the audibility of the differences. I pointed out the FR differences not to make light of them but to draw attention to the mid- to upper-midrange. I wonder if the tonal balance in this range is close enough between the two for valid comparisons of perceived "inner detail", especially this range where much musical nuance resides.

While I like Stax, I hold no opinion as to the relative plankton-retrieval ability of the different transducer types. What got me wondering is the structure of the Elear and Utopia drivers and how acoustically open they look. Reminiscent of the K1000 driver. IIRC K1000 engineers discarded ortho/estat and developed their "Ventilated Linear Dynamic" driver because they believed acoustic openness is key for transparency. I wonder if this doesn't translate well to plankton/low level detail.

 

Can't emphasize this enough. Yesterday I fudged with the ring baffle around the driver in my HD800 and I compared two different kinds of felt. At first I thought I preferred the newer one that I bought at Michael's, but when I switched back I realized that the older one that I had been using for a few months now has a more correct sounding midrange. It also sounded slightly less bright. The other one felt just slightly subdued around 1.5kHz. There were also differences outside frequency response, where I felt the old felt sounded slightly more open and smoother, but that could just be my imagination.
Then I measured them. The old one had about 0.5db more energy centered around 1.5kHz and less than 0.1db less treble from 5kHz on my head.

 

I'd visit SBAF just to read your analogies.

 

The PM1 and PM2 are the exact same headphone with different cosmetics...this was verified by Oppo....so any perceived difference in sound is simply not accurate.

I must disagree with Psalmanazar as I think my Oppo HA-1 sounds great with my 800 S. It's Class A amp makes the Senn's really sing!

 

EDIT: Snipped for my own cattiness. Larry, I think you have a wack avatar as this place doesn't need to be even more dudely than it already is. But that is off topic. Moving on!

 

Well then I got some inaccurate info from Oppo then....I tried them and did not care for their small sound stage ...The HD 650's and 800 S sounded better to me in that dept.......

Sorry you don't like my Avatar ....this gal is just to gorgeous to ignore... ....

 

I get the funny feeling that your avatar is actually a dude. I sense a disturbance in the force.

 

HE6 also has a somewhat prominent 10KHz peak which seems to respond well to mod in form of the grille removal. I wonder if the Elear can be modded in a similar fashion to lower that peak Tyll has noted.