[Sonic Defender]

   
There is a post in this thread from a guy that did blind testing of the Elear and Utopia with his wife. If memory serves me correctly he played 10 tracks and his wife put each on him and he chose which he prefered while his wife wrote it down. I think the Utopia won 6 out of the 10 times, the Elear sounded 'better' with the other 4 tracks.
 
SO, like what has already been said. When you reach a certain level, it comes down to personal preference as to which is better. Technologically the Utopia is clearly superior, but that doesn't mean you will prefer the way it sounds over another HP.

That wouldn't be a reliable or valid test. Without a doubt he would be able to know just by feel which headphone is which.
 
Edit: unless they are so similar in weight and feel, the whole nine yards, that would be different, but even the weight of the cable may differ and be a tell.

 

[frigginloony]

  these types of comparisons are always silly...is the utopia 4 times as good as the elear?of course not just like all products that are more expensive there is a law of diminishing return...is the utopia a better HP...for sure and if you can afford them they are definitely worth the expense IMHO but that is solely based upon your wallet

 
Indeed, this type of question just begs labeling as trolling sometimes. Probably not in this case, but how many times have you seen the same in the other various headphone impressions threads. example is the lcd 4 worth the money over the lcd x, ether vs ether flow, hifiman blah blah, sens   blah blah. How many times can we ask the same question and come away with varied opinions.  Well to be honest ........   a boatload!  
 
But, for those who ask such things,  what damn difference does it make to YOU, the person who may end up spending 4K, or 1K or $200 what OUR opinion is regarding the amount of outlay vs reward questions.  Why not instead ask YOURSELVES, "hey.... is it worth me shelling out another 2 to 3 mortgage payments, or 3 months rent, or down payment on a car? ” Instead, step out to your local shop owner, or your friend’s house who has one or both ( or all for that matter... lucky him/her) or bow down to the amazon GOD with a prime membership, or even go to one of head-fi’s online dealer such as The Source AV or MTME and ask the professionals for a possible loan out.  Hell, spend a couple hundred bucks and go to one of the canjams, it may be worth the effort if you are going to shell out 4 grand. There is even an option that is offered by a source by the name of “The Cable Company who has a lending program, it cost some money in rental fees but in the past, they would apply that to the purchase price if you bought the item. For goodness sake, listen to what you are thinking about buying. Extensively if possible, with YOUR  ears, with YOUR music or movies and always thinking of YOUR budget.
 
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying it’s not a legitimate question. But in my opinion, and believe me it’s a humble opinion, that question should be asked by YOU  to YOU.  This is because the folks on the forums are not wearing your ears, they aren’t carrying your wallet, and they sure as hell don’t have to fend off an angry and vengeful wife or husband when you empty that box on the kitchen table and then say “but HUN it was only four thousand dollars  . Frigginloony told me they were a great buy and it was worth it”.
 
Think about it…. Would you really really take the advice of some guy with a nick named “FRIGGINLOONY" to make  a decision to spend 4K  , 1 K,  or even 20 bucks? 
 
 
OK sorry, I feel better now, now that I got that off my chest, let the slaughter begin. Ya’ll be gentle, I bruise easily. 

 

[xinghui0711]

   
Indeed, this type of question just begs labeling as trolling sometimes. Probably not in this case, but how many times have you seen the same in the other various headphone impressions threads. example is the lcd 4 worth the money over the lcd x, ether vs ether flow, hifiman blah blah, sens   blah blah. How many times can we ask the same question and come away with varied opinions.  Well to be honest ........   a boatload!  
 
But, for those who ask such things,  what damn difference does it make to YOU, the person who may end up spending 4K, or 1K or $200 what OUR opinion is regarding the amount of outlay vs reward questions.  Why not instead ask YOURSELVES, "hey.... is it worth me shelling out another 2 to 3 mortgage payments, or 3 months rent, or down payment on a car? ” Instead, step out to your local shop owner, or your friend’s house who has one or both ( or all for that matter... lucky him/her) or bow down to the amazon GOD with a prime membership, or even go to one of head-fi’s online dealer such as The Source AV or MTME and ask the professionals for a possible loan out.  Hell, spend a couple hundred bucks and go to one of the canjams, it may be worth the effort if you are going to shell out 4 grand. There is even an option that is offered by a source by the name of “The Cable Company who has a lending program, it cost some money in rental fees but in the past, they would apply that to the purchase price if you bought the item. For goodness sake, listen to what you are thinking about buying. Extensively if possible, with YOUR  ears, with YOUR music or movies and always thinking of YOUR budget.
 
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying it’s not a legitimate question. But in my opinion, and believe me it’s a humble opinion, that question should be asked by YOU  to YOU.  This is because the folks on the forums are not wearing your ears, they aren’t carrying your wallet, and they sure as hell don’t have to fend off an angry and vengeful wife or husband when you empty that box on the kitchen table and then say “but HUN it was only four thousand dollars  . Frigginloony told me they were a great buy and it was worth it”.
 
Think about it…. Would you really really take the advice of some guy with a nick named “FRIGGINLOONY" to make  a decision to spend 4K  , 1 K,  or even 20 bucks? 
 
 
OK sorry, I feel better now, now that I got that off my chest, let the slaughter begin. Ya’ll be gentle, I bruise easily. 

I might actually trust "FRIGGINLOONY" if I have disposable income. Literally 

 

 

[Imusicman]

Your right. That wouldn't be a valid test if it was done like that. I'm the guy who submitted the post and the test was done differently. The test was actually on my wife not me. I would definitely recommend reading it if anyone is curious about how the Elear compares to the Utopia.

 

[Rchandra]

OK! did a lot of A/B yesterday and took some notes. I started out using the the Aurlic Taurus amp and Hugo TT for DAC. I listened to The Elear, Beyerdynamic Amiron, Sony MDR Z1R using Tidal. I was mainly listening for Prat and also which frequencies stood out to me the most.  I also listened to the Grado RS1 and also the Grado rs80e briefly. 

"Say something loving" by The XX-  The Elears seemed to have the most prat and It may just be due to their punchy nature. The Z1R got me really engaged to the song but its in a different way than he Elear. Its more atmospheric in its nature and I hate to use this analogy again but it sounds more "liquid" to me. The Amiron seemed to have the most extended highs and this was evident to me since I could hear the "ssssss" sound when the female started singing. The Amiron's bass was below the Z1R and Elear in regards to tightness. The amount of bass between all 3 are slightly bumped up but to me it doesn't bleed into the other sounds which is something worth noting.  

I switched the Amp up to see if the synergy would change between headphones. To me the Taurus sounds like a neutral amp, not trying to add anything to rest of the chain. I went to the CMA 800i and Hugo TT.  After listening I feel like the 800i added slight warmth to the Amrion. To me this is a bonus since I tend to like warmer cans. 

" Havona" by Weather Report-      "The Elear and Z1R take the cake" is what I wrote. Very engaging from both headphones. I think this is where I hear the "speaker sound"  of the Elear comes through. I plan on listening to more Jazz with the Elear where originally I just listened to a lot of rock with it. The Amiron is more neutral of the bunch and its truly up to preference in regards to what one wants from a sound signature. I got more separation with the Z1R and Elear then I did the Amiron. Bass once again was tighter on both those cans then the Beyer. With all that said I still  feel like price to performance the Amiron is no slouch. 

In the end to answer your question @buzzlulu
 I feel like the Elear has a closer presentation to certain Grado's where the music is kind of pumped at you and engaging in that regard. The Z1R is very engaging as well, but in a more atmospheric way. It would be comparable to going to a live show (Elear) or going to see a movie at a theater (Z1R). This is over simplifying but trying to make it easier to identify their sound sigs... to answer your other question I think that the Amiron is more neutral and is just tonally different then the Elear. I feel like you get what you pay for in regards to both. The Elear  gets me toe tapping immediately.  Also- when I went to the store I didn't see a T5p second gen... I made sure to look. We have at least 8 Beyers on Demo amd didn't see them. Ill ask Mark (the owner) about them!

As always If anyone wants to ask any questions about different headphones, amps ect or what we have in stock/prices feel free to PM me. Hope this helps at all
-Craig at MTME

So... For hip hop, edm and male vocals which one would you prefer the elear or the z1r i am curious as I have had a love hate relationship with these headphones lol.

 

[shootthemoon18]

 
The soundstage on Elear is what I found interesting/odd compared to other headphones. The presentation is like from your head and moves forward ( a lot of depth), unlike the traditional "left to right" earcup sound (width) . 

 
Whenever i listen to the Elear after coming from other headphones, i have the same feeling as well. Sounds that i remember coming from 4 and 8 o'clock seem to come from 5 and 7 o'clock in the Elear. I also find it hard to judge the size of Elear soundstage because of the point above and also because of its fantastic depth. Whenever i try to define its boundary, suddenly something further appears. I would't say Elear has massive soundstage like HD800 but to say that i say that it has small soundstage either. I would describe them as average soundstage size with extraordinary depth. To say that Elear has small soundstage is also saying that midrange headphones like HD650 and DT1770 have tiny soundstage.

 

[frigginloony]

 
The soundstage on Elear is what I found interesting/odd compared to other headphones. The presentation is like from your head and moves forward ( a lot of depth), unlike the traditional "left to right" earcup sound (width) . 

 
Whenever i listen to the Elear after coming from other headphones, i have the same feeling as well. Sounds that i remember coming from 4 and 8 o'clock seem to come from 5 and 7 o'clock in the Elear. I also find it hard to judge the size of Elear soundstage because of the point above and also because of its fantastic depth. Whenever i try to define its boundary, suddenly something further appears. I would't say Elear has massive soundstage like HD800 but to say that i say that it has small soundstage either. I would describe them as average soundstage size with extraordinary depth. To say that Elear has small soundstage is also saying that midrange headphones like HD650 and DT1770 have tiny soundstage.
 


 


 Yep nearly exactly what I hear.. Seems to be third row left center stage in the pit on most genres except for electronic which just seems to be in your face and even on occasion .... all over the  place, and then team that with the dynamics and it's unlike anything else I have ever heard in a HP. 

 

[kumar402]

So... For hip hop, edm and male vocals which one would you prefer the elear or the z1r i am curious as I have had a love hate relationship with these headphones lol.

Z1R goes very deep in bass and upper mid is just sweet and is a HP which will make you enjoy the music. Only place where I would say Elear is better compared to Z1R is lower mid.
However overall vocals are better in Z1R.
Also no leakage in Z1R as it is closed and provides very good isolation so no one in house knows the volume of music.

 

[doctorjazz]

So, to sum up: Elear has huge/deep soundstage, not wide but deep, compressed and narrow, comes from above, comes from below. It has dominant, forceful mids, recessed mids, beautiful, smooth highs, razer sharp painful highs, deep bass, bass with not enough impact.

Think I've got it!

 

[MartynB85]

So, to sum up: Elear has huge/deep soundstage, not wide but deep, compressed and narrow, comes from above, comes from below. It has dominant, forceful mids, recessed mids, beautiful, smooth highs, razer sharp painful highs, deep bass, bass with not enough impact.

Think I've got it!

 
Yeah, you hit the nail on the head there  

 

[buzzlulu]

Do not want to go over this entire thread again so Elear owners please refresh my memory
 
How much burn in do these require - and quantitatively how much do they change after the burn in.
 
Do they sound significantly different after burn in compared to fresh out of the box?

 

[JGFBOOM]

I went to headphone mecca! The Source AV in Torrance, CA. I am in the market for my first audiophile headphones and i was blown away by the setup these guys have. literally every headphone and amp i have heard about was there to test, side by side. I had the room to myself for maybe 4 hours. It was amazing!
 
http://sendvid.com/fk8lzk4b
http://sendvid.com/mnu5uhnp
 
Long story short, i loved the Focal Elear's! Really impressive. definitely the most impactful and full sound while still being razor sharp on the detail. I compared then against the 4k Utopia's and another 15k set they had there. Honestly, for my ears, I definitely felt a massive law of diminishing returns past the Elears. 
 
Runner up would probably be the Senn 800s however they were "boring" to me. Very accurate however i didn't enjoy them nearly as much as the Elears, The MrSpeakers were also quite enjoyable but frankly the look of them do not compare to the Elear's (sorry aesthetic matters!). 
 
anyways, its amazing getting into this world. had so much fun...glad to be a part of the forum!

 

[doctorjazz]

I ran them in for 200+ hours (actually did it because the Illuminati LPS I'm evaluating is said to need at least that long, and I needed headphones to connect and run, figured these could use it as well). They sound more better, found them a bit disjointed initially, smoothed out the presentation some, nice combo with the ZOTL2/Illuminati.

 

[xinghui0711]

Do not want to go over this entire thread again so Elear owners please refresh my memory

How much burn in do these require - and quantitatively how much do they change after the burn in.

Do they sound significantly different after burn in compared to fresh out of the box?

I don't believe in Burn-in simply because placebo can take in place. Elear clamps hard out of box so there is physical burn-in for me

 

[frigginloony]

Quote:

So, to sum up: Elear has huge/deep soundstage, not wide but deep, compressed and narrow, comes from above, comes from below. It has dominant, forceful mids, recessed mids, beautiful, smooth highs, razer sharp painful highs, deep bass, bass with not enough impact.

Think I've got it!

 
 
 
I'm glad somebody does, cause I'm so confused you'd think I was part of Hillary Clinton's campaign staff.