Massdrop x Focal Elex Review and Measurements

I am very surprised that it sounds nothing like I remember the elear...

It is not tunnel shaped or theater dynamics or treble akward like I remember the Elear.

So far initial impressions are of a detailed and tonaly realistic headphone.
It does not have the brightness of the Clear either.
Its extremely neutral sounding overall with and easily deep bass extension..

On the only possible (maybe) downsides is the semi-distant uppper mids presence (while still sounding balanced and flat) and the almost tame nature of the sound, as is relaxed compared to the hyper elear.
Overall a very refined sound..
I cannot believe it.

These are initial "out the box" impressions so need break in.

Will post more detailed observations tomorrow,
But I gotta now admit these headphones are dam nice and they feel excellent on with weight distributed well.

They came in this uber fancy box that reminded me a little of the HD800 box.
I am thoroughly impressed with whole presentation as I thought that, being a massdrop labeled product, it would come in some cheapo box..
Hell no it came in one of best boxes I have seen.
Dam..
All sleeek in bad ass black too..
New toy syndrome in full effect..
Im just glad initial impressions not dissapoint.

 

To late at night to put these to the test,
but
I'm going to measure these puppies tomorrow.

 

can we keep it real in this thread, at least a little bit? thanks bro montanas.

Edit: nice, thanks for posting some actual impressions Max! looking forward to your thoughts and measures. somehow my browser failed to show me the post until after i hit submit.

 

@Maxx134 Congrat! Hope mine would be shipped any time soon...

Btw, what do you think of elex ear pads (in terms of material)? Some early production reviewers (both in the sbaf and outside) said cheaper material than clear, and massdrop person said the same material as clear.. so, I am curious.

 

Take a look for yourself buddy:

Its a very very soft (easily compresses) pad,
Which I feel is almost like a suade material, which may be prone to dust over time but doesn't look that light it looks darker in person.
Overall its a softer to touch than what I remember fromfrom clear pads.
Here is another pic with box:


The cable is a bit stiff, similar bu thicker than a THX00 cable.
And comes with two cables, one balanced and one single ended.

They are very nice only a bit stiff, but won't tangle as they are thick.

 

The box lid is magnetic when closed.

One more close up pic:

Camera shows alotta more shine, it loooks darker & sleeker in real life..
Headband smells like real leather so I dunno.

 

Pics or it didn't happen.

Edit: Oops, pics didn't show up until I hit submit.

Time for some Jexby dislike love.

 

Hahahahahhaha when in doubt of your true motives, refer to your tag line

 

I think the Elex pads may be a bit more fuzzy and cheaper overall than the clear pads.
but that really doesnt matter because they are so comfy pillow soft, I mean really really soft..
They may be dust magnets in future tho.
Time will tell, still so nice .

Only friends dislike friends, my dislike was properly earned by mentioning usage of a hammer...


Now, I am doing an about-face with this Elex...
the driver is rediculously resolving and clear of any ringing.
Focal finally did it right:


The decay from 1k up looks better than the Elex CSD posted on first page!
edit* nice.
Less than .5ms (half the first box) equals fast decay and resolve.

Lets look at the FR for any changes...



Look at the driver matching! wow I didnt even think it would be so close due to headphone positioning, but its sweet.

would say the resolve and tonality are excellent.
I dunno what they did, but they got their act together on this one.
edit:
Here is the Distortion:


Harmonics all below noise floor, and below Fundemental 55b or more.
I need listen more, but I can say my initial observations still hold.
This unit seems well balanced and neutral and not agressive in any way..
Dam, I may have to keep them lol

 

I just realized I am only up 25db on the CSD,
I should go 30-36 like first page, my bad.
ok I changed to 34db down.
Still good.
This is a very neutral headphone, and a bit relaxed yet detailed listen.
Resolve is easily better than most dynamics out.
An easy choice for a stock sound without need for modding,
As soundstage seems decent being better laid out than Elear,
but not as powerfully dynamic as Elear.
signature Maybe not for bassheads, but very polished quality signature.
nothing lacking so far..

 

no joke, because of these posts I am now refreshing my fedex tracking page hourly.

I am so excited to hear that Massdrop has [seemingly] nailed it again. The Ebony Fostex TH-X00 has been my go to headphone since their release and they seem to have taken a similar approach in the development of this phone.(i.e. get that baby as close to neutral as possible)

 

Can you try to measure the 20-25 khz range? Just wanted to check how the breakup resonance is and how audible it is. Despite how people were saying the Clears were smooth, I felt they were still pretty sharp sounding. From your impressions, it could be possible that they found a way to tame the breakup.

 

There is definitely something different in the Elex driver, than the Elear, because (from memory) the Elear had more sudden shock in dynamics.
almost like skewed.
While the Elex is , to me more accurate in dynamics...

BUT ,
it is strange I was able to replicate your findings (cone sound) with a test signal over 90db (sub-bass signal) on the left side, but not on the right side.

It was odd because they are extremely close matched drivers, and yet only left side exibited this.

Nothing wrong was detected with the performance as they played music with extreme resolution.
My take is, there may be a strenuous power draw or oscillation or inability issue with my testing amp.

Very interesting point I wasnt aware of.

The Problem with most measurement rigs, is the ability to measure accurate data in higher frequencies.
The data is there, but can be very skewed according to the type of "coupler" and materials used for it.

I tried very much to duplicate Marvy V1 coupler,
but for trebles range I went with a more "natural" paper surface.

Anyways, my point is, that most FR pics you see, will have most variation in the treble range, due to surface reflections and such.

Anyways since you probably know all that stuff and are talking about a range past what was graphed,
It would definitely be interesting to see, so I will try post:


30db down plot, shows some lingering decay past 20khz but not last long .
The software I am using (REW) only goes up to 24khz..
Please post more about what your views are as I find this very interesting.
Are there any pics showing this on the other models?

 

Its mostly information that I gathered from the head fi for the Clears where the Focal representative mentioned raising the resonance from 22k for Elear to 24k for Clear: . It seems pretty accurate from these measurements: https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/focal/elear/ https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/focal/clear/. The only resonance measurements on SBAF I've seen that goes up to 40khz was @Serious 's raw hd800 driver measurement. It'd be awesome if we started doing resonance measurements with the advent of more metal diagphragms.

 

Just got mine yesterday. Very sleek looking but not fond of the earpads. They have a velour/suede-like feel to them, which is cool for shoes or whatever but I don't like it around my ears #firstworldprobs #fussybritches I ordered a pair of Dekoni fenestrated sheepskin pads so will be able to audition when they come.

 

Do mind that the Focal kids (and pretty much headphones in general) are sensitive to pad swapping. Never tried the fenestrated ones, but my experience with sheepskin v. velour or suede is the former presents a hair more treble energy. Suffice to say I stuck with velours for my Beyers, despite being a big fan of leather

 

I got a set of Dekoni Elite Sheepskins for my DT880, and did not like what they did to the sound signature. I also noted that those particular Dekoni were targeted not just for the DT880, but the DT770 and DT990, too. So what, you say?

Since I didn't like the Dekoni pads, I ordered a set of velour replacement pads from Beyer. Unfortunately, the pads also made them sound like crap. After reading the packaging closely, I noticed the pads were for the DT770/990, NOT the DT880. Beyer makes a different model for the DT880. Looking closely, I noticed a slight difference between DT770/990 pads and DT880 pads. After replacing the pads on my DT880 with the correct model pad, they looked and sounded as good as new.

Soooo... If the pads for the DT880 from Beyer are different than the pads Beyer makes for the DT-770/990, how could a single model from Dekoni sound good for all three Beyer headphones?

My long-winded way of agreeing with Lyer25, and issuing a cautionary tale about swapping pads. [Quietly slinks away to return the forum to those with more pithy inclinations]

 

Thanks for the warning Luckybar. Yes I am a believer The pads change the sound on headphones more than any other tweak typically. I've swapped many a pad on the Beyers, haha. The 880s probably have a different perforation pattern on the back, I haven't owned a set of 880s for a while, otherwise I'd check to confirm. The number of holes and the pattern on the back of the pad, as well as the material inside, makes a huge difference with the 770/880/990.

My favorite on the 990s is the non-fenestrated Dekonis, while my favorite on my T1s is the fenestrated Dekonis made for the TH900, they allow the driver a little closer to the ear for a little more bass. I also liked the J-Money pads back when they were being made... there is a little more bass but slightly less resolving upper-end. The weird gel ones that Beyer offered sounded great with the perfect amount of bass for the DT880 but felt really odd on the skin and didn't breathe. The leather pads they offered sounded terrible as they were not perforated on the back which resulted in an echo-chamber like effect. I've also played with Stax pads, Mr Speakers pads and ZMF pads on customized Fostex, etc. and a variety of pads on Grados.

Based on my inclinations for wanting a little more bass on most headphones, the calfskin tends to almost always sound better to me... however those wanting a more neutral sound would lean toward the velour in most cases.

 

Decided to give the Elex a shot to replace my Clear and save a bit of money, and I'm happy with my choice. The Elex holds its own, to the point that this is the first time I've downgraded without feeling like I've downgraded.

How it compares to the Clear:

- 92.7% of the Clear's sound for half the price. That's a no-brainer!
- Looks better than the Clear (I'M BATMAN) and build quality is the same, but textiles used feel cheaper (pleather headband covering, microfiber doesn't feel quite as nice)
- Less elevated bass than the Clear makes it a bit flatter/drier sounding
- Bass control and slam is about on par with the Clear (which I'm very happy about since this was my favorite aspect of the Clear. I do miss the slight emphasis of the clear so I'm curious how they'd respond to EQ)
- Upper mids sound a bit recessed, but they're still well presented. Not a "hole" like Elear
- Treble timbre is very similar to the Clear. A bit less smooth but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's rough either

The upper mids recession bothered me at first; and was especially pronounced when compared to my HD600 (I don't totally agree with Marv's 'Super HD600' designation for that reason). But once I stopped comparing and gave my ears time to adjust the sound evened out just fine. I hear the HD600's upper mids as being a bit north of neutral and the Elex as being a bit south by the same degree. Comparing them directly exaggerated the difference.

Overall the Elex keeps everything I enjoyed about the Clear (with some minor concessions) for a much better price. Unless you are in love with silver things I'd buy the Elex second hand or wait until it drops again.