[paul2qute]

I picked up my new Focal Clears this morning. Now I just have to do the burn-in vs quick-listen dance when I get home.

I'm listening to mine now with the Nordost heimdall 2 cable,that cable transforms the focal clear into a totally different beast,far more than the cable did with the focal utopia I owned

 

[kino lau]

I'm listening to mine now with the Nordost heimdall 2 cable,that cable transforms the focal clear into a totally different beast,far more than the cable did with the focal utopia I owned

Cables make no difference at all. One wire is just like another. It's all snake oil...lol

 

[RobinTim]

Cables make no difference at all. One wire is just like another. It's all snake oil...lol

You clearly have very different ears than me.

 

[hbmorrison]

Cables make no difference at all. One wire is just like another. It's all snake oil...lol

Uh-oh.

 

[Shazb0t]

You clearly have very different ears than me.

Something that would be interesting for you to try would be to setup a double blind listening test with your wife/girlfriend switching cables if you can. I think you'd be surprised.

 

[RobinTim]

Something that would be interesting for you to try would be to setup a double blind listening test with your wife/girlfriend switching cables if you can. I think you'd be surprised.

Why do you assume that I have a wife/girlfriend But for sure, that would be an interesting experiment.

 

[kino lau]

You clearly have very different ears than me.

I actual have 3 different aftermarket cables noted in my signature.

Something that would be interesting for you to try would be to setup a double blind listening test with your wife/girlfriend switching cables if you can. I think you'd be surprised.

I actually noted a comparison between the stock coiled cable and my latest from Trevor at Norne Audio in a recent post in this thread. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-clear-headphones.861727/page-221#post-14161763 Obviously there are a lot of cable manufacturers that are selling product that yields no significant benefit to the listener...or "would have been" listener.

 

[dreamscape]

....

Actually having the Clears has made me learn a lot about the LCD-3s, what they are capable of and what they don't do so well.

Needless to say I am sold. I'll be picking up my own pair later this week.

This interests me greatly, would you mind expanding on what you learned about LCD-3?
I've got an LCD-X that I'm considering moving on...a baby and less time on my hands means I lean towards HD650 more often for the lightness and comfort for the brief time I have. Love the Audeze sound, though, and its energy. But all I've read about the Clear makes it sound like an appropriate sidegrade.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

This interests me greatly, would you mind expanding on what you learned about LCD-3?
I've got an LCD-X that I'm considering moving on...a baby and less time on my hands means I lean towards HD650 more often for the lightness and comfort for the brief time I have. Love the Audeze sound, though, and its energy. But all I've read about the Clear makes it sound like an appropriate sidegrade.

The Clear is very high energy (not bright), dynamic, with accurate tone, versus the thicker, slower sound of the LCD (haven’t heard the 4) Audeze Cans. After I had the Clear for a couple weeks I sold my LCD-3 and HD800.

 

[dreamscape]

The Clear is very high energy (not bright), dynamic, with accurate tone, versus the thicker, slower sound of the LCD (haven’t heard the 4) Audeze Cans. After I had the Clear for a couple weeks I sold my LCD-3 and HD800.

Interesting thank you. Your preference of Clear over the HD800 is also interesting, one thing keeping me from pulling the trigger on Clear is waiting to hear what the HD820 the closed version sounds like.

 

[hbmorrison]

This interests me greatly, would you mind expanding on what you learned about LCD-3?
I've got an LCD-X that I'm considering moving on...a baby and less time on my hands means I lean towards HD650 more often for the lightness and comfort for the brief time I have. Love the Audeze sound, though, and its energy. But all I've read about the Clear makes it sound like an appropriate sidegrade.

Sure. At first I was really disappointed with the LCD-3s when I swapped back to them after listening to the Clears. The clears offer so much detail and sparkle in the mids, it sounded like the LCD-3s were bogged down and clouded. Also the Clears offered surprising impact, for me at least, so I felt like I wasn't getting anything back from the LCD-3s. But when I started to switch up the music I was listening to I realised that I was favouring music that allow the Clears to excel. With symphonic music in particular, the additional detail and texture from the Clears give so much voice and texture to violins and woodwind I sometimes find myself holding my breath in anticipation.

When I moved on to simpler forms of music, say arias and lieder with piano and light string accompaniment, I found that the rich musicality of the LCD-3s were a joy to listen to. The Clears are unforgiving of vocal compression in contemporary music, particularly female vocals, which end up sounding fizzy and sibilant. I think the rolled off highs of the LCD-3s take the edge off the additional energy modern production processes add.

Some caveats. This is based on what I was hearing from a loan pair of Clears that did not have much burn-in. They may relax slightly over time. I did my listening through an Oppo HA-1 which I think is particularly neutral. Other amps might add warmth that would help take the edge off modern production. In both cases the differences between the Clears and LCD-3s might become less apparent. I haven't listened to LCD-Xs so I cannot comment on cross-grading to the Clears. My understanding is that the LCD-Xs have a more neutral sound so overall they may be closer to the Clears than the LCD-3s?

 

[NickedWicked]

Anyone have experience with litz occ cables and the Clear. I heard some people say it adds some midrange aggressiveness.

 

[paul2qute]

I did a blind test with the Mrs and she picked the Nordost heimdall 2 cable over the coiled cable by focal every time.I'm really impressed with the bass on the focal clear,it's just right for dance music

 

[nishan99]

Little off the subject. I’ve owned the 800S and Clear. But not the Senn 650. How does the Clear compare to the Senn 650. Thanks.

can you please give us a brief difference between the 800s and the Clear ?

 

[GodsInHisHeaven]

So I have been living with my new Clear for a couple of days now and I like them a lot.

The headband can be come a little uncomfortable when compared to my hifimans / sennheiser hd 800 after a while,
Do we have any good tactics to battle this hotspot?