Focal Elear and Utopia

He already did that to fund his DAC...

 

Thanks, I asked last month if anyone had tried the ol' pad switcheroo.

Post #142

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...pressions-at-source-av.2402/page-8#post-62604

 

I'll try to keep up better next time.

 

Hey, gear lust is a cruel mistress. We all know the score. No excuses!

 

That sounds similar to what's on the Beyer COP.

 

Question for Tyll,

Is the channel imbalance in the Utopia at an acceptable level for the price?

Do headphones like the HD650 actually have drivers matched to within 0.5 db like they claim?

 

Not Tyll, but I don't really see the problem, so I decided to answer anyway .
In the new comparo the Utopia drivers seem very closely matched to 2.3kHz with the stock pads and from 2.3kHz to 20kHz+ with the Elear pads. I see more a problem that's likely ever so slight positioning and pad differences. Driver matching seems to be excellent on the official review unit.

HD650 drivers are most likely much more closely matched than 0.5db. Say maybe 0.05db sensitivity difference (or less) and not much of a difference in FR either. Maybe max deviation of 0.5db? Again, most measurement differences are actually pad/positioning/measurement errors. Tyll's dummy head even has different compensation curves for left and right.

 

Yup.

 

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...ocal-elear-and-utopia.2270/page-24#post-69217

What did you think about my comments of testing max SPL of low frequencies?

 

I know Tyll is possibly going to elaborate more soon (because he's the best) but here's Focal's response to my request for more information about their cable for Elear/Utopia. Picture they incuded is Elear cable

Looks like whatever 3.5mm locking connector they use on Elear is some kind of "standard" and the Utopia is possibly still changing for the production models.

 

I got the Focal Elear and my Draug 2 today. I wasn't sure I'd get them in the first batch actually, in which case I was thinking of cancelling my order. Thankfully they came in time!

I'm not a super experienced reviewer of headphones and I don't have as much experience as most people on these forums. Some background: I've gone from HE-400i and Oppo PM-3 to a ZMF Omni which I loved. However, the weight and clamp was too tight so I followed some recommendations and got an Ether C instead. Unfortunately, I found the EC to be way too thin, even though they were much more detailed than my previous headphones. In the end, I sold all of these headphones and I've been using an HD650 I received as a gift instead for the last month.

What can I say - the Elear really does sound like a "super" HD650 to me. Keep in mind my source chain plain sucks here (I'm visiting the States right now before I head back to China). I'm merely using my Oppo HA-2, since my HA-1 is much too heavy to travel with. I know that the HD650 scales up tremendously, but the neat thing about the Elear is that it sounds noticeably better even on my modest HA-2. The bass is way better than the Ether C - tracks from Massive Attack, Muse, and even random KPOP have the oomph and rumble I crave. However, I find the soundstage to be a slight improvement over the 650 as well (though nothing too huge), as my tracks from Jizue and Yoshi Horikawa prove. Guitars from live recordings of Rodrigo y Gabriela sound ever so natural and even so-so mastered vocal tracks from Adele and Imogen Heap sound wonderful!

Build quality is incredible - better than I expected from looking at pictures. Blows everything else I've owned out of the way (including the Ether C, which I thought had beautiful carbon fiber cups). The weight - what can I say? The Elear's supposedly weigh around 440g but it sure doesn't feel like that. I feel none of the discomfort that my 550g ZMF Omnis gave me and the clamp is lighter than my HD650's too!

So what's the catch? Now I'm wondering if I should purchase a Utopia instead, haha! I can't really imagine how it can improve on the Elear, but if the Utopia (with Elear pads) has the same tonality but with noticeably more "plankton" and clarity, my trigger finger is itchy. In which case I'll probably just sell these Elear's off before I head to China next week since I'm sure some people would like to get them immediately (at no profit to me of course; I'm no flipper).

Sorry for the rambling, hope this is somewhat informative!

edit: Also sorry that this seems like so much hype - I admit I have a "new toy" feeling right now and I'm not really listing any negatives. However, while I enjoyed all my previous headphones, I always noticed some flaws pretty shortly after (flabby bass and vocal veil on HP150, build quality and sometimes harsh treble on 400i, lack of dynamic punch on PM-3, weight and clamp on ZMF Omni with slightly wonky treble, and overall thin tonal signature on the Ether C). But right now after a few hours of listening, the Elear possesses none of these drawbacks. Maybe I should just forget the Utopia ever existed and be happy with what I have now, haha!

 

Lucky you! Hope you're enjoying them.

I think you said it best right there. Shinier and better will always be around the corner.

 

Knowing myself, I'm afraid I'll be sucked into Utopia lust as well after experiencing the Elear, but that $3K difference should help keep things rational.

 

Ha!!! It's just like the Grado RS1 "Dot".....

 

It does look open, just a finer metal mesh, but yes the logo and the silver metal ring are in the path of the rearwave. Maybe the fancy 'F' offers precisely-tuned rearwave diffusion.

 

So why did Focal have to use the stupid Lemo connectors that stick out half a mile from the cup on the Utopia. It's just like Sennheiser using sensible connectors on the HD700 and dumb as hell connectors on the HD800.