Jude, thanks for pulling measurements on those!  I agree that a lot of Utopia folks will be picking up Elear pads.  I still prefer stock, as you mentioned, but having the option to go back and forth that easily is really nice.  
 
BTW, you might want to link that post from the OP so it's easy to find later for reference.

Wow, that's pretty amazing correlation between the measurements for the Utopia w/ Elear pads versus the Elear itself. Looks like the pads account almost entirely for the difference in bass, as well as for the dip in response at 4 kHz.
 
Likewise, very strong correlation between the Elear w/ Utopia pads and the Utopia, with the Utopia pads providing some lift in response between 1-2 kHz.
 
Always good to have options!

THD of Utopia is so low! World class low (take a look at the thd measurement of hd800 from Tyll himself, then you know: Focal = different level)

griff2 said:

Nope the V1 is mainly a DAC with a headphone amp bolted on. I sold mine and replaced it with Schit gear for not much more money,but much better audio quality.

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I'd say that's personal taste since the naim has a class a amp attached to it. As for me I dislike the schit DAC no matter the series not my sound preference. I like the naim for certain headphones and my chord Dave for others.

pkcpga said:

I'd say that's personal taste since the naim has a class a amp attached to it. As for me I dislike the schit DAC no matter the series not my sound preference. I like the naim for certain headphones and my chord Dave for others.

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Horses for courses the Gungnir multibit is revealing, dynamic, grain-free and organic sounding. Also, the Naim class A output to the headphones is the pre out stage boosted, and can't really drive power hungry headphones: the Schit Lyr 2 can.

Don't get me wrong, I like Naim gear, I have a Naim pre/power combo for my speaker system; I just think Naim are better at analogue electronics than digital.

god-bluff said:

You obviously have heard it with Focals?

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No, do you think the Focals can elevate the V1s innate capabilities?

buttuglyjeff said:

I have a weird question.  Did you by chance try your Kimber/Sony cable on the Elear?  Just curious if they fit?  It would be awesome to double purpose them in two headphones...

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The Kimber licensed cable from Sony does not fit on either the Elear or Utopia!! However Focal has endorsed the Kimber Kable Axios and Nordost Heimdal 2 cables for the Focal Elear and Utopia. These cables are brilliant in performance standards with the Focal Elear & Utopia. There are other cables being produced that fit these headphones. WireWorld is another great "no nonsense" cable that will be delivering cables very soon. I haven't tested some of these other cable companies that have published they are making cables for them but I'm sure they are going to be another option in that arena. I've seen the announcement from DHC & PlusSound. These companies have not yet provided cables for testing or review so we have no opinion on them.

Good news!! Our Focal delivery began to arrive last night and today. We are bringing them into inventory today and will be shipping pre-orders and replacement orders tomorrow. So those of you that pre-ordered from us at The Source AV will have them pretty damn soon. Replacement orders on the Elear will be shipped "overnight" and we thank you for your patients. Anyone that wants to pay the difference between our standard 3 day shipping policy and overnight can let your customer service rep know as we call to confirm shipping information. We know that we don't have enough to ship our huge pre-orders but we are assured that the current pre-orders will be fulfilled by the 1st week of September. Being that these numbers are in the hundreds it seems Focal has at least put a dent in the demand on delivery.

Again, thank you for your patients and if you have any questions please feel free to contact us for shipping status updates or new orders.

griff2 said:

Horses for courses the Gungnir multibit is revealing, dynamic, grain-free and organic sounding. Also, the Naim class A output to the headphones is the pre out stage boosted, and can't really drive power hungry headphones: the Schit Lyr 2 can.

Don't get me wrong, I like Naim gear, I have a Naim pre/power combo for my speaker system; I just think Naim are better at analogue electronics than digital.

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Yes as I said personal taste, I find the schiit Yggdrasil to be a boring listen with less separation and a little turned off by its inability to play DSD or any music that's actually 24 bit since schiit uses a 21 bit or less DAC and claims less than 1% of music is really above, might have been the case in 2010 when they first wrote that but not today. Doesn't work for myself since about a quarter of my music is above and works well with the naim and chord DACs. For someone still using cd quality or so I'm sure the schiit DACs are great but can not compete with more capable DACs, the Yggdrasil is the same price point as the naim and still needs an amp and does not play high res. So I don't find it to be a deal.

tsavjason said:

The Kimber licensed cable from Sony does not fit on either the Elear or Utopia!! However Focal has endorsed the Kimber Kable Axios and Nordost Heimdal 2 cables for the Focal Elear and Utopia. These cables are brilliant in performance standards with the Focal Elear & Utopia. There are other cables being produced that fit these headphones. WireWorld is another great "no nonsense" cable that will be delivering cables very soon. I haven't tested some of these other cable companies that have published they are making cables for them but I'm sure they are going to be another option in that arena. I've seen the announcement from DHC & PlusSound. These companies have not yet provided cables for testing or review so we have no opinion on them.

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That's great news I love the nordost cable. They make great speaker cables I use as well.

tsavjason said:

Good news!! Our Focal delivery began to arrive last night and today. We are bringing them into inventory today and will be shipping pre-orders and replacement orders tomorrow. So those of you that pre-ordered from us at The Source AV will have them pretty damn soon. Replacement orders on the Elear will be shipped "overnight" and we thank you for your patients. Anyone that wants to pay the difference between our standard 3 day shipping policy and overnight can let your customer service rep know as we call to confirm shipping information. We know that we don't have enough to ship our huge pre-orders but we are assured that the current pre-orders will be fulfilled by the 1st week of September. Being that these numbers are in the hundreds it seems Focal has at least put a dent in the demand on delivery.

Again, thank you for your patients and if you have any questions please feel free to contact us for shipping status updates or new orders.

Click to expand...

 
 
I'll be camped outside my house waiting for them to be delivered.

heliosphann said:

 

I'll be camped outside my house waiting for them to be delivered.

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Like this...

x relic x said:

Like this...

 

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Speaking of camping...

pkcpga said:

Yes as I said personal taste, I find the schiit Yggdrasil to be a boring listen with less separation and a little turned off by its inability to play DSD or any music that's actually 24 bit since schiit uses a 21 bit or less DAC and claims less than 1% of music is really above, might have been the case in 2010 when they first wrote that but not today. Doesn't work for myself since about a quarter of my music is above and works well with the naim and chord DACs. For someone still using cd quality or so I'm sure the schiit DACs are great but can not compete with more capable DACs, the Yggdrasil is the same price point as the naim and still needs an amp and does not play high res. So I don't find it to be a deal.

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I'm very surprised you find the Schiit DAC boring.  As for bit depth a little digital 101 is in order: 21 bit corresponds to a signal-to-noise ratio of 121 db: a near impossible target for the following analogue electronics after the DAC stage to achieve.  Even 16 bits, which corresponds to a signal-to-noise ratio of 96 db would be tricky for all but the best designed analogue stages.  Most DACs, including the Naim, will struggle to achieve a signal-to-noise ratio of -100 or lower (equal to about 17 bits) in their analogue stages
 
Also I cannot think of any music in existence today which truly achieves a 24 bit, 144 db signal to noise ratio: just because its in a 24 bit container doesn't mean it has a true 24 bit signal-to-noise.  BTW if you were to really hear a recording with with a true 24 bits S/N at a realistic level, you would probably be deaf for a while after (or permanently).  24 bits is used in the recording industry as headroom for the production and is not really appropriate for the consumer.  Nonetheless, 24 bits has been hijacked as "higher resolution"  by those wishing to (re)sell their back catalog of music.
 
Summing up: a higher bit depth is not a higher resolution it is a greater signal-to-noise ratio (technically, dithering noise is reduced as the bit depth goes up).  As usual in hi-fi the bigger is better is marketing spin (sample rate or bit depth) to appeal to the non-technical or hi-fi snob.

Isn't this thread about the Focal Elear & Utopia? Maybe I'm still green here but I thought the idea was to stay on topic and in this case as it relates to Focal Elear & Utopia and how it sounds and pairs. Just say'n