Focal Elear and Utopia Review / Preview With Measurements - Head-Fi TV | Page 180 | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

james6333 · Sep 8, 2016 at 6:58 AM

^

I agree with Muse. the mid suck out is huge and ruins the Elears. Combined with the slightly soft treble it makes for a pretty dull listen for my tates.

Take the HD800S and add some bass, suck out the upper Mids more, knock down the treble 2-3db and you have the Elear (not really but you get the idea).

Toolman · Sep 8, 2016 at 7:11 AM

snk8699 said:
... they think I'm crazy for spending my money on headphones. Only you guys understand my audiophile struggles.

We all have a sickness...this is an asylum LoL

AxelCloris · Sep 8, 2016 at 7:31 AM

musicman59 said:
I heard that this year CanJam at RMAF is going to be outside in a tent. Is this true?
Also heard that some companies (headphones and speaker systems) are either not coming or cancelling because of the work in the hotel.

They announced they're setting up a semi-permanent structure in the parking area to accommodate all of the exhibitors. The way I read that was that it'll be similar to the tent from CanJam SoCal's Westin hotel. Some of the manufacturers have rooms in the tower and some will be in the auxiliary area.

Muse Wanderer · Sep 8, 2016 at 8:43 AM

twerk said:
When you say the mids are sucked out, what is that in relation to?

I mean, many claim the elear as a very mid centric sound with softer treble, relatively speaking. Does it sacrifice mids for bass? In other words, what in your opinion takes the emphasis in order to recess the mid range, Muse?

The bass is too emphasised which may be fine if I was a basshead. My aim is absolute speaker like neutrality. Even my HD800S lags behind in this respect.

Listening to a string trio I listened to live in concert followed up by the same rendition on my speakers (via Yggy Rag) resulted in the same neutral sound. HD800S recessed upper mids emphasised the viola and double bass whilst the violin was artificially furthered away. I also listen to Bruckner 5th symphony and the lower mids (brass instruments) completely take over the upper mids (violins).

The Elear takes this to such an extreme that for my aims and listening tastes repels me.

The Utopia on the other hand presents the music with a lifelike tuning that only the HD650 (with lesser technicalities), the impressive SR009 and my Campfire Andromeda IEM kind of equaled. The SR009 however does not have the dynamic sound that feels like the real thing to me.

I really need to get the Utopia (despite its harsh price tag) at some point to pair with my Yggy Rag. Selling lots of stuff to get there eventually!

TWerk · Sep 8, 2016 at 9:34 AM

toolman said:
We all have a sickness...this is an asylum LoL

People outside of Head-fi probably won't understand, either. I told a friend about the Elear I am buying, and he couldn't believe I would spend so much on a headphone.

Futhermore, he couldn't believe I would buy it when I have others I currently own. Why would you need multiple expensive headphones?!

The "real" world just doesn't get us...

Soundizer · Sep 8, 2016 at 9:54 AM

twerk said:
toolman said:

We all have a sickness...this is an asylum LoL

Click to expand...

People outside of Head-fi probably won't understand, either. I told a friend about the Elear I am buying, and he couldn't believe I would spend so much on a headphone.

Futhermore, he couldn't believe I would buy it when I have others I currently own. Why would you need multiple expensive headphones?!

The "real" world just doesn't get us...

I can only go 6 hours without headphone injection, after that any longer and I get the shakes. People also remark on how pale I look. It's getting worse. My Doctor does not take it seriously.

james6333 · Sep 8, 2016 at 10:12 AM

muse wanderer said:
The bass is too emphasised which may be fine if I was a basshead. My aim is absolute speaker like neutrality. Even my HD800S lags behind in this respect.

Listening to a string trio I listened to live in concert followed up by the same rendition on my speakers (via Yggy Rag) resulted in the same neutral sound. HD800S recessed upper mids emphasised the viola and double bass whilst the violin was artificially furthered away. I also listen to Bruckner 5th symphony and the lower mids (brass instruments) completely take over the upper mids (violins).

The Elear takes this to such an extreme that for my aims and listening tastes repels me.

The Utopia on the other hand presents the music with a lifelike tuning that only the HD650 (with lesser technicalities), the impressive SR009 and my Campfire Andromeda IEM kind of equaled. The SR009 however does not have the dynamic sound that feels like the real thing to me.

I really need to get the Utopia (despite its harsh price tag) at some point to pair with my Yggy Rag. Selling lots of stuff to get there eventually!

This pretty much sums up how I feel about the Elear and have been trying to say. But you have said it much better lol.

Your making me sad for my headphone budget as I see Utopias in my future. I was hoping I could get always with HD800S or Ether Flows but it does not seem like that is going to work out for me either. The Utopias cost enough to take a chunk out of my next speaker purchase so I need to move forward with caution.

Muse Wanderer · Sep 8, 2016 at 10:55 AM

Yeah I listened to the Ether Flows too at Canjam. Whilst having a very surreal impressive sound relative to good dynamics, the mids are still recessed.

This past year I became obsessed about this feature as I love my violins! The HD800 and HD800S soundstage is based on this in part, as mids are thrown far away from the rest.

Go listen to a live orchestra and you will literally feel the screech of the violin strings in your bones. The Elear is so unreal sounding in a bad way that I couldn't listen to it for too long. Utopia on the other hand was astonishingly good. I was enjoying music rather than critically listening to the sound. Stravinsky Petrushka and Rite of Spring came alive in front of me. Bruckner 5th symphony was balanced throughout with clear violins in the majestic finale. Clarity, dynamics, bass, treble correctly implemented relative to live acoustic music. If I had my Yggdrasil at hand, the results could have been even more spectacular.

Speakers (Monitor Audio GX100 fed by Yggdrasil-Ragnarok) opened my eyes to how most headphones have V-shaped tuning.

The Campfire Audio Andromeda was my first purchase that equaled my speaker tuning.

Now I need to decide between replacing my speakers to Salk Song 3 or purchasing the Utopia.

Speakers will probably be the answer and then move to a more reasonably priced used Utopia, we'll see.

Evshrug · Sep 8, 2016 at 1:20 PM

I'm at "Music to My Ear" in Pittsburgh!

Store is completely empty, BunnyNamedFrank went upstairs with the proprietor to check out some... Other stuff, speakers or records or something, so I've got a my own music selection with me and an Audio GD stack with me (plus all their stuff).

Building up impressions, any questions? Song recommendations?

Flamenco guitar sounds amazing but also very listenable.

gnarlsagan · Sep 8, 2016 at 1:29 PM

muse wanderer said:
Yeah I listened to the Ether Flows too at Canjam. Whilst having a very surreal impressive sound relative to good dynamics, the mids are still recessed.

This past year I became obsessed about this feature as I love my violins! The HD800 and HD800S soundstage is based on this in part, as mids are thrown far away from the rest.

Go listen to a live orchestra and you will literally feel the screech of the violin strings in your bones. The Elear is so unreal sounding in a bad way that I couldn't listen to it for too long. Utopia on the other hand was astonishingly good. I was enjoying music rather than critically listening to the sound. Stravinsky Petrushka and Rite of Spring came alive in front of me. Bruckner 5th symphony was balanced throughout with clear violins in the majestic finale. Clarity, dynamics, bass, treble correctly implemented relative to live acoustic music. If I had my Yggdrasil at hand, the results could have been even more spectacular.

Speakers (Monitor Audio GX100 fed by Yggdrasil-Ragnarok) opened my eyes to how most headphones have V-shaped tuning.

The Campfire Audio Andromeda was my first purchase that equaled my speaker tuning.

Now I need to decide between replacing my speakers to Salk Song 3 or purchasing the Utopia.

Speakers will probably be the answer and then move to a more reasonably priced used Utopia, we'll see.

I don't find the mids too recessed to affect my enjoyment of the Elear, mainly because the dip doesn't really affect the FR until around 4k, which is a bit higher up than the meat of vocals and other mid-centric sounds imo. I'm saying this as a mids-head that enjoys the SR-009 and Etymotic ER4 more than just about anything out there.

That said, I'd love to get my hand on a pair of Utopia pads to put on my Elear, since I wouldn't mind getting that increase in linearity. And since we're talking about it, I'm thinking that since the Utopia pads even out the 4k dip a bit on the Elear, there should be a way to modify the Elear pads to have a similar affect. Hopefully that wouldn't involve punching a bunch of holes in the fabric.

TSAVJason · Sep 8, 2016 at 1:29 PM

evshrug said:
I'm at "Music to My Ears" in Pittsburgh!

Store is completely empty, BunnyNamedFrank went upstairs with the proprietor to check out some... Other stuff, speakers or records or something, so I've got a my own music selection with me and an Audio GD stack with me (plus all their stuff).

Building up impressions, any questions?

The Source AV endorses the store Music to my Ears!!!

james6333 · Sep 8, 2016 at 1:45 PM

I hope to get to that same store this month (I am in Ohio). What amps are they using?

TSAVJason · Sep 8, 2016 at 1:51 PM

Here is a fun bit of news. Many of you know today is my birthday and Saturday is our birthday headgear meet. Well Ray Kimber just called and offered a factory authorized discount on his Axios cables in anticipation of my 200th birthday so for the month of September you can receive a $200 discount on Axios cables from The Source AV. I'd like to thank everyone for the birthday wishes and support. I'd especially like to thank Ray Kimber for this awesome program he's offered us.

TSAVJason · Sep 8, 2016 at 1:54 PM

james6333 said:
I hope to get to that same store this month (I am in Ohio). What amps are they using?

They have some pretty cool amps. I'd suggest calling Mark or his team to get a better idea what they have on display. Their new showroom just opened. Good guys though. Worth the visit.

musicman59 · Sep 8, 2016 at 2:30 PM

tsavjason said:
Here is a fun bit of news. Many of you know today is my birthday and Saturday is our birthday headgear meet. Well Ray Kimber just called and offered a factory authorized discount on his Axios cables in anticipation of my 200th birthday so for the month of September you can receive a $200 discount on Axios cables from The Source AV. I'd like to thank everyone for the birthday wishes and support. I'd especially like to thank Ray Kimber for this awesome program he's offered us.

Happy birthday Jason! Wishing you many more full of health and blessings! :tada:

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