[PeteSTRADAMUS]

How are you liking the Clear-Mojo combination? My Mojo arrived yesterday, so limited head time, but they seem to have a wonderful synergy.

They are made for each other. I feel as if I don't need anything else.

 

[CrisW]

Ok, got a pair of clears on loan till tuesday. Hope it’s enough time to decide if I keep them. They got about 10 hours under their belt. First listen was, let me say, ok ish. Going to let them run continuously for the next two days. Let’s hope they open up a bit.

 

[TSAVJason]

Ok, got a pair of clears on loan till tuesday. Hope it’s enough time to decide if I keep them. They got about 10 hours under their belt. First listen was, let me say, ok ish. Going to let them run continuously for the next two days. Let’s hope they open up a bit.

Light not loud playback while you’re not listening will burn them in nicely

 

[CrisW]

Dynamics and speed are top notch. Acoustic guitars, snares, hi hats, piano
Coming from an Oppo PM-3, which is closed, but a planar.
The speed these Clears have is amazing.
Try Opeth Heritage, track 6 Häxprocess.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

I was comparing the 24/192, and 16/48 version of Thelonious Monk’s “Genious of Modern Music, Volume 1” this morning on my Mac with the Mojo and Clears. The instrument separation, tone and imaging differences were clear as a bell. This is a killer semi-mobile rig, I may play around with my iPad and the Onkyo hi Rez app during the games this afternoon.

 

[Ekul61]

Dynamics and speed are top notch. Acoustic guitars, snares, hi hats, piano
Coming from an Oppo PM-3, which is closed, but a planar.
The speed these Clears have is amazing.
Try Opeth Heritage, track 6 Häxprocess.

Sounds nice. I'm close to a utopia purchase. Would be nice to compare the 2.

 

[Aeskualpio]

Finally got around to shooting the Focal Clear video. I talk about the whole line up (Elear, Clear, Utopia) and give some info off the top of my head.

I am still glad/amazed I didn't cough through the video since I have been sick! Check it out if you have the time.

FOCAL CLEAR VIDEO

Great video overview Craig.
Just posted my thoughts on your Youtube post, but I'll say that the Clear have been mind-blowing for me.
Prior to the Clear my listening was mostly through Shure 864, Fostex TH -X00 Purplehearts, Sennheiser HD 6XX, paired with the A&K240 or FiiO X7 mkii plus/minus the Chord Mojo.
The Clear are end game headphones. I've got about 50 hours of burn in on the Clear and the bass is becoming nice and tight, great separation, great soundstage.

 

[blackmesashadow]

Hello folks

Excuse my english it's my second language. Until now i've only been a bystander in this thread. I received a pair of Focal Clears this Friday. Apparently i bought the last pair in Sweden I've had a couple of headphones before including: Sennheiser HD600, Sennheiser HD800, Sennheiser HD800S, Audeze LCD-2, Audeze LCD-3, Beyerdynamic T1 and Oppo PM-3. I still own the HD600's and Oppo PM-3 I've changed amps and dacs alot but have now settled on the Mcintosh MHA100 which is the best amp i've ever had(Even better than the Auralic Taurus mk2 IMHO) of course that's subjective. But the Mcintosh has life and musicality to it. It might not be fully neutral but with that sound and the VU meters dancing who cares really.

When the Focal arrived i wanted to listen right away, i like to hear when the headphone changes during the burnin phase. First listen was on my MHA100 with the onboard dac and it was totally ok, it didn't have the details i was expecting and clearly(no pun intended) needed breakin. I let the Clears play random music over the night and the next day when i listened things had started to change. They were beginning to open up. More details started to appear and the sound was more graceful. I ended up listening almost the whole day, even woke up early on a saturday because i was excited to listen. I tried various genres and the headphone is a good allrounder, it pretty much handled everything i tried. I listened to Jazz, Classical Music, Prog, Rock, Metal, Country even some Electronic Music.

During the day the sound started to improve even more and i decided to up the game a bit. I took my Mcintosh MCD1100 sacdplayer from my main Stereo(Mcintosh C48,MC302,MCD1100,Auralic Aries and Ascendo D9) and plugged into MHA100 with balanced XLR. And it gave an even better soundstage, even more flow and details. I must say that the Clears have a larger soundstage than i extected. Not as big as HD800 or HD800s but rather big. Now i felt it was time for some serious burnin so i started to play Pink noise during the hours i didn't listen and during the night between Saturday and today. This morning i was pleased to hear that the sound was even more refined, it doesn't have any harshness to it with my setup. But still really good resolution, imaging and a coherent experience. I really love the treble, to my ears it's not harsh at all. But lot's of details and playfullnes. I listened to The Nutcracker Suite and The Four Seasons and i really enjoyed that. I also tried them with my Iphone 6S and it was ok but i wouldn't recommend using them without an amp if you want to hear their fullest potential.

I'm really excited to hear if there's going to be even improvements but even if not i'm really happy i bought the Clears. I've also ordered a IFI Micro IDSD BL that i'm going to test with the Clears. I want a portable solution so i can listen during Christmas when i'm away from home.

 

[Rayzilla]

...I've also ordered a IFI Micro IDSD BL that i'm going to test with the Clears. I want a portable solution so i can listen during Christmas when i'm away from home.

I am interested to hear what your comments are with this pairing. I have the BL and I love it with everything that I throw at it, even with something like the ED8, which has been said to not really need an amp or not scale very much. When I pair it with my BL it really cleans up the bass and overall sound. Then when I switch on the 3D, it gives the closed sound of the ED8 and very nice expanded soundstage without sounding artificial.

When I get the chance to drop by the HP shop, I will also bring my BL and try the Clear and Utopia too. Maybe even the Abyss 1266 too.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Hello folks

Excuse my english it's my second language. Until now i've only been a bystander in this thread. I received a pair of Focal Clears this Friday. Apparently i bought the last pair in Sweden I've had a couple of headphones before including: Sennheiser HD600, Sennheiser HD800, Sennheiser HD800S, Audeze LCD-2, Audeze LCD-3, Beyerdynamic T1 and Oppo PM-3. I still own the HD600's and Oppo PM-3 I've changed amps and dacs alot but have now settled on the Mcintosh MHA100 which is the best amp i've ever had(Even better than the Auralic Taurus mk2 IMHO) of course that's subjective. But the Mcintosh has life and musicality to it. It might not be fully neutral but with that sound and the VU meters dancing who cares really.

When the Focal arrived i wanted to listen right away, i like to hear when the headphone changes during the burnin phase. First listen was on my MHA100 with the onboard dac and it was totally ok, it didn't have the details i was expecting and clearly(no pun intended) needed breakin. I let the Clears play random music over the night and the next day when i listened things had started to change. They were beginning to open up. More details started to appear and the sound was more graceful. I ended up listening almost the whole day, even woke up early on a saturday because i was excited to listen. I tried various genres and the headphone is a good allrounder, it pretty much handled everything i tried. I listened to Jazz, Classical Music, Prog, Rock, Metal, Country even some Electronic Music.

During the day the sound started to improve even more and i decided to up the game a bit. I took my Mcintosh MCD1100 sacdplayer from my main Stereo(Mcintosh C48,MC302,MCD1100,Auralic Aries and Ascendo D9) and plugged into MHA100 with balanced XLR. And it gave an even better soundstage, even more flow and details. I must say that the Clears have a larger soundstage than i extected. Not as big as HD800 or HD800s but rather big. Now i felt it was time for some serious burnin so i started to play Pink noise during the hours i didn't listen and during the night between Saturday and today. This morning i was pleased to hear that the sound was even more refined, it doesn't have any harshness to it with my setup. But still really good resolution, imaging and a coherent experience. I really love the treble, to my ears it's not harsh at all. But lot's of details and playfullnes. I listened to The Nutcracker Suite and The Four Seasons and i really enjoyed that. I also tried them with my Iphone 6S and it was ok but i wouldn't recommend using them without an amp if you want to hear their fullest potential.

I'm really excited to hear if there's going to be even improvements but even if not i'm really happy i bought the Clears. I've also ordered a IFI Micro IDSD BL that i'm going to test with the Clears. I want a portable solution so i can listen during Christmas when i'm away from home.

Excellent summary, no need to apologize for your English skills, they are superior to most Americans (myself included) .

We’ve both burned in our headphones in a similar fashion, with similar results. I may get burned at the Head Fi Stake, but I prefer the Clear to the HD800 by a significant margin. I’m kicking back and jamming Neil Young’s “Weld” on my Mojo, something I would never have done with My HD800S. Better dynamics, tone, body, and imaging within the soundstage.

I look forward to reading your further impressions, cheers!

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

Excellent summary, no need to apologize for your English skills, they are superior to most Americans (myself included) .

We’ve both burned in our headphones in a similar fashion, with similar results. I may get burned at the Head Fi Stake, but I prefer the Clear to the HD800 by a significant margin. I’m kicking back and jamming Neil Young’s “Weld” on my Mojo, something I would never have done with My HD800S. Better dynamics, tone, body, and imaging within the soundstage.

I look forward to reading your further impressions, cheers!

Why should you worry about any criticism for your comment? They are the Clear winner for you soundwise. I like them a lot better than any 800 or 800/s.

 

[donlin]

Excellent summary, no need to apologize for your English skills, they are superior to most Americans (myself included) .

We’ve both burned in our headphones in a similar fashion, with similar results. I may get burned at the Head Fi Stake, but I prefer the Clear to the HD800 by a significant margin. I’m kicking back and jamming Neil Young’s “Weld” on my Mojo, something I would never have done with My HD800S. Better dynamics, tone, body, and imaging within the soundstage.

I look forward to reading your further impressions, cheers!

I completely agree. Although I can’t compare them side by side, the HD800S was my main headphone for close to a year and I know music was not nearly as enjoyable as it is through clear.
The HD800 may have been the king years ago but it’s just one of many these days.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Why should you worry about any criticism for your comment? They are the Clear winner for you soundwise. I like them a lot better than any 800 or 800/s.

The HD800 is a “Golden Calf” on HF, some may consider it heresy that this new (by Sennheiser standards) dynamic headphone is superior. “Cortez the Killer” at unhealthy volume levels is goosebump raising good on the iPad 4, Mojo, Clear combination.

 

[Ekul61]

Good stuff looking forward to a demo. IMHO the utopia were a little better than the 800 S. (Not a lot)
So if the clear is a little better than the 800S
And the utopia is a little better than the 800S
This puts the clear right up there with the $4000 focal utopia.
I realize all speculation. But a thought.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Good stuff looking forward to a demo. IMHO the utopia were a little better than the 800 S. (Not a lot)
So if the clear is a little better than the 800S
And the utopia is a little better than the 800S
This puts the clear right up there with the $4000 focal utopia.
I realize all speculation. But a thought.

I only listened to the Utopia briefly, not in my system, so I can’t compare them. I loved what I heard, but after a couple “near death experiences” I’m learning to enjoy the moment and what is (where I am, what I have), and right now that’s the Clear. It’s a great headphone, across genre, from Wagner to Grandpa Grundge, on a broader array of equipment, Focal has a winner in the Clear.