Focal Elear and Utopia

Hello my friend

Could you mesure the internal diameter of focal Elear earpad?

I read some
People complaining about this pads touching the tip and upper ear and causing pain

I love how sennheiser hd800 earpad is designed! It's very large and can handle all kind of ear size.

Also, what do you mean by inorganic?
Maybe is like a artificial sound?

I was using a shure 846 with black filter, and I remember that they sounded congested and artificial... do you think Elear could have the same presentation?

Cheers

 

Inside of the pads measure roughly 5cm high, and 4cm wide

And as for 'inorganic'', yeah. Violins and pianos just don't sound as full as they should, giving them the impression that you're listening to them through a wall. The EQ settings help bring back their fullness.

 

I'm looking for ideas. I love the utopias, but the headband is really uncomfortable for me. I must have a pointy head, because the headband pushes down on and causes pain to the top of my head. Sennheiser don't do this to me because of the small padding gap at the top of sennheiser headbands (brilliant!). I was thinking of putting some sort of extra padding on the utopias on the headband and leaving a gap like that on the sennheisers. I guess this is the difference between a company that has been in the headphone game for a long time and a relative newcomer. My guess is that the next gen utopia will focus on comfort (hopefully).

So, any ideas for how to add extra padding to headband but leave a gap at the top for my noggin bone? Any commercial or esty products come to mind?

 

Put some foam under the sides of the top of the headband, using painters tape (so it doesn't leave residue)?

 

How about 2 small headband like those, in each site o utopia leather band?

It will kill the design... but will much more comfy

https://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic...484605627&sr=1-13&keywords=Headphone+headband

 

That looks like a full sized headband cover.

I was thinking of something like this, but designed such that it has no material at the apex of the underside of the headband.
https://www.amazon.com/Headphone-Sennheiser-Audio-Technica-Replacement-Protector/dp/B01D6UIBWY

 

Have one of these! They add some comfort... maybe you can try 2 of them, one above the other?

 

Do you think that Elears deserves all the Hype?!
I'm a little concern about some bad but sincerely reviews. I don't know if when some said that Focal headphones were the new Era , they were just into the train Hype.

I wish I had a chance to try the Elears... my gut
Fellings tell me they cannot touch the sennheiser Hd800S / 800 and audeze LCD 3 as some previous reviews have stated....?
Looking foward to read your and others friends opinions!

 

I get your concern. The Elear is very polarizing here. I'm a "like it" guy. But, I know its still a flawed headphone, and it won't play great with all gear. I wouldn't feel comfortable saying for you to buy it blind (or anyone actually).

But if you have a nice tube amp, and you're open to some pad swapping, it could be quite a rewarding headphone at the price. I personally like it more then the HD800 and LCD-3 fazor, but that's just me and my tastes....

 

I think they can touch the HD800 / LCD-3 but if you like it or not depends on your personal taste.

 

I would agree that they're pretty hyped up. But the hype exists for a reason, they're pretty good headphones all around. Don't let us nitpicking their flaws turn you off them.

That being said, I would definitely try to audition or borrow any headphone in the $500+ range before you commit to a purchase, unless you're buying them used. If you buy headphones for their full price new, don't like how they sound, and cant return them, you're probably gonna see an instant 20-30% hit on their resale value.

 

I went to Audio Sanctuary in London this month (amazing headphone store, btw) and spent some time with the Elear. It's definitely a good headphone, but I don't think it's the single best 1k$ 'phone yet. It's just another pick and it has flaws as almost every top-tier headphone still has.

The Elear is far from reference neutrality or even from natural sound. The upper midrange is muffled and veiled and the treble is colored with minor peaks, though overall quite smooth. But fans of Classical music should easily pick up the artificial rendering of violins and could possibly be bothered by it.
The LCD-2 is similarly tuned but it manages to avoid the veil. Whereas the Elear sounds muffled to me, the Audeze goes by as simply dark sounding.
Cycling through all the headphones, including Hifiman Edition X V2, Pioneer SE-Master 1, etc., the little Oppo PM-2 surprised me positively. It's a very soft sounding headphone that probably lacks speed and attack for most users, but apart from the slightly warm rendition, it hardly allows critique. That's a very impressive consumer-oriented treble tuning, IMO.

Going back to the Elear, the build quality and design is simply amazing. I really love it and it feels great on the head and it's also a joy to hold in the hands. Going by today's standards, there will be a Elear V2, Elear S or Eleark MkII later this year for 2.000 $ so I'll just wait for that!

 

Focal is now producing Utopias with 3 metre single ended cables rather than the original 4 metre. Whilst good news for some, this was a bit of pain personally. My Rag is used for speaker duties and I needed the extra metre to reach it comfortably.

I purchased the Utopia from Jan Meier, Meier Audio Germany, who went out of his way to sort it out - (Jan is highly recommended in my books!) It transpired that Focal still have some 4m cables around and they have sent him one. I am now awaiting a reterminated balanced 4 metre cable replacement from him. Focal have not updated their specs on their website, so buyers should check this out if a longer cable is needed for Utopia and presumably Elear.

 

I don't understand the fuss about the 4m cable. It's great for us living room listeners. If you don't need the extra length, just coil it up!

 

No, I don't think the Elear deserves the hype at all. And as much as I enjoy Tyll's personality and reviews, I fail to see where he's coming from when he was describing the Elear as such a moving force in the market.

Let's just cut to the chase and list its major flaws (in my opinion anyways.)

-That narrow-banded, but sudden, deep dive in the upper-midrange lower-treble transition from 4-5khz. I wouldn't think this would be so bad if the Elear had a more gradual rolloff starting at 2k, but it has what could even be somewhat of a small emphasis at 2khz. This leads to a slight shouty midrnage that also sounds dead with little harmonic energy in that 4-5k area. Violins, high brass, and percussive attacks will be de-emphasized the most. This can be alleviated somewhat with EQ, but that doesn't excuse a $1,000 dollar headphone from having such a flaw.

-Comfort. Yes, this headphone looks amazing and is built amazingly. Yes, the earpads are huge and allow for ample space for a natural fit around your ears. The weight? No, it's heavy. The headband is generously padded and disperses weight decently, but I have found the headphone to cause a hotspot on the top of my head after say 20 minutes. This is one of those massive, heavy headphones that you'll always know is on top of your head. Compared to the likes of HD800 or HD650, this is an Audeze of a headphone. We are talking about a 450gram (w/o cable) headphone here, and the headband doesn't have a suspension strap.

-The treble is still not the smoothest, which is going to be exacerbated by the lower-treble dip. The treble is not smooth in the 8-12k region. There are some peaks there, and they slightly grate. Overall they're not too excessive, but it's somewhat throws you off compared to how smooth the rest of the spectrum is. The HD800, by comparison, which is known to be a treble cannon, does have that huge peak at 6k, but the treble after that is effortleslly smooth., but maybe not the epitome of extended.

-Soundstage. This one might be a little more controversial, but I'm big on soundstage having had used the original HD800 for more than a year. The Elear has a rather tiny soundstage for being an open headphone with angled pads. More importantly, it does sound open and unrestricted, but the size of its virtual image leaves a lot to be desired.

 

I listen at a desk and coiling works great. I use the supplied velcro straps to keep the coil tidy, leaving about 3 feet of cable free:

 

Nice impressions audio friends!
How about utopia? It's uncomfortable too?
Looks like the sound is really superior, indeed...

 

While the sonic presentation of the Utopia is sublime, for me and for many, it is still a very heavy and in turn uncomfortable product. There are just too many materials available to manufactures/designers to offer a product that weights even a gram over 400 IMO. I want headphones to disappear on my head and make the process about the complete enjoyment of music. Far too often, I find myself adjusting my headphones this way and that, trying to get comfortable with them.

If only my custom iem offered the sound signature of the Utopia...

 

That's exactly what I found out yesterday when I was playing around with EQ. I was searching for a peak but from the posted fr I knew there shouldn't be one but I seems the steep roll-off makes the 2k area sound as it is emphasised. Therefore, I found it too shouty and agressive.

 

Yep. A steep cut will emphasize the frequencies on either side, which is a nasty side effect to be sure. Beyer T1.2 had this in spades due to upper-mid suckout.