[cav1sa]

Hello friends! I'd like to welcome myself to this exclusive club. It's too early for me to post any impressions yet, but I wanted to share with you what my desktop looked like for about 10 seconds before I put them on-for a very long time I suspect

 

[MartynB85]

How is the sound leakage on these? I know they are very open but do they leak as bad as say he400i's? These things double up as portable speakers  

 
If your Elear's were your only set of cans would you be happy?
 
Also are these particularly poor/weak in any genre's of music. I listen to soft classical through to hard edm, dubstep.

 

[edsjo]

  How is the sound leakage on these? I know they are very open but do they leak as bad as say he400i's? These things double up as portable speakers  

 
If your Elear's were your only set of cans would you be happy?
 
Also are these particularly poor/weak in any genre's of music. I listen to soft classical through to hard edm, dubstep.

They leak sound, but not too bad. I am relatively new to open headphones though, but was pleasantly surprised the leakage was smaller than I had expected.
 
I would not be happy if they were my only pair. First, I want a smaller closed back headphone when moving around/commuting. Secondly, I also find them very dynamic and punchy to the point that they can make my ears tired. Sometimes I just listen to some background music when doing something else and I don't always prefer the Elear in that case, they might demand too much attention from you.  When I actively want to listen though, they are clearly my 1st choice. A delightful pair of headphones.

 

[MartynB85]

 
They leak sound, but not too bad. I am relatively new to open headphones though, but was pleasantly surprised the leakage was smaller than I had expected.
 
I would not be happy if they were my only pair. First, I want a smaller closed back headphone when moving around/commuting. Secondly, I also find them very dynamic and punchy to the point that they can make my ears tired. Sometimes I just listen to some background music when doing something else and I don't always prefer the Elear in that case, they might demand too much attention from you.  When I actively want to listen though, they are clearly my 1st choice. A delightful pair of headphones.

 
Yes me too. After trying a few different sets today they vary alot, from owning the he400i's i pretty much wrote off open cans but some actually leak very little.
 
I think I can deal with that, I guess that quality is what make them special.
 
Is there anything in this price range that I should take a look at before I pick up a set? It's quite a large investment for me.

 

[Rchandra]

I have had the elear for about 2 weeks now and it easily is one of the best bang for buck audiophile headphone you can have. It competes with headphones costing more like the z1r and the hd800S the male vocals and the punch is amazing for almost every genre of music if i had to nit pick the only issues i have are that it does need a slight bass boost and female vocals dont have that thickness to them that i like almost as if something is slightly off?? Other then that these are my $1000 king of headphones for now on par with my t1 second generation

 

[abvolt]

I have had the elear for about 2 weeks now and it easily is one of the best bang for buck audiophile headphone you can have. It competes with headphones costing more like the z1r and the hd800S the male vocals and the punch is amazing for almost every genre of music if i had to nit pick the only issues i have are that it does need a slight bass boost and female vocals dont have that thickness to them that i like almost as if something is slightly off?? Other then that these are my $1000 king of headphones for now on par with my t1 second generation

 
I certainly agree for the 1k one spends for the Elear's they can't be beat I think they are simply excellent sounding hp's.. 

 

[abvolt]

  Hello friends! I'd like to welcome myself to this exclusive club. It's too early for me to post any impressions yet, but I wanted to share with you what my desktop looked like for about 10 seconds before I put them on-for a very long time I suspect

 
Welcome how about any thoughts on your ifi ican pro I'll be getting one next month..enjoy

 

[cav1sa]

 
Welcome how about any thoughts on your ifi ican pro I'll be getting one next month..enjoy

Thanks! The iCAN Pro complements the Elear wonderfully. I like to emphasize bass on them, so XBass is perfect for that. I consider the ican pro my end game headphone amp, it's got all the features I'll need and sounds amazing.

 

[abvolt]

  Thanks! The iCAN Pro complements the Elear wonderfully. I like to emphasize bass on them, so XBass is perfect for that. I consider the ican pro my end game headphone amp, it's got all the features I'll need and sounds amazing.

 
Awesome can't wait to get my hands on one, how's the amp in it's tube mode currently loving my all tube wa22 it's sq is truly amazing sounding looking forward to a really good sounding ss amp thanks..enjoy

 

[zowki]

My EQ to make the Focal Elear sound neutral (I use ToneBoosters Equalizer with VSTHost for a system-wide EQ)

 

1. Low shelf: 200hz, -3.0dB, 0.71 Q
2. Analog bell: 2300hz, -3.0dB, 2.26 Q
3. Analog bell: 4800hz, 6.8dB, 3.04 Q
4. Analog bell: 9000hz, -3.1dB, 2.75 Q

 

[Rchandra]

Your DAC will help with that upper dip I agree the ifi ican is great the bass boost on that dac makes the subbass come to life on the elear

 

[cav1sa]

 
Awesome can't wait to get my hands on one, how's the amp in it's tube mode currently loving my all tube wa22 it's sq is truly amazing sounding looking forward to a really good sounding ss amp thanks..enjoy

I have limited prior experience with tubes, so best I can say is it's subtle-like xbass and 3d/holo sound, which I think was a very smart design decision. At this level less is more perhaps? I usually switch between SS and Tube+ depending on what music I'm listening to.

 

[abvolt]

I've decided to try a better balanced cable for my Elear's since the inexpensive cable was soo bad sounding, went with a balanced occ copper cable made by LQi cables in made the usa it's a beautiful sheathed in black paracord and litz braided, 8ft. cable terminated with a 4 pin xlr. I've always read but don't have any experience in saying that copper cables add a heft to the bass and give the sq a touch of warmth hope so and all this for a 150. I guess that's not too bad certainly more then I've ever paid for a cable, any thoughts from you guys who have the experiences with a better graded cable is this true ? ..enjoy & thanks
 

 

[Hifihedgehog]

This is odd. My HD-650 is modded to be less dark than stock, and after adjusting to the sound of the Elear, the 650 sounds muddy and veiled in comparison, without readjustment.

I have read however, that the Elear is sensitive to amplifier output impedance. That it needs to be no more than a few ohms. Too high and the impedance curve will boost the midbass significantly. This could be a source of varying impressions. The Mojo and the Sangaku I have in loaner both have low output impedance, so the bass is not exaggerated at all.

 
 

  It's most likely varying subjective impressions on what we consider dark/bright etc.  Recently I had the chance to compare the HD650 and Elear side by side for a couple days on the Jotunheim.  From bass to upper midrange-lower treble, the Elear is by far the darker sounding headphone.  It has more bass than the HD650, the lower midrange is just as strong, and there's that big dip in the upper-mid, lower-treble transition that tends to kill harmonics.  The only time I could think of someone considering the Elear brighter is commenting on its small treble spike at 10k, which the HD650 does not have.  it's not like the HD650 is lacking very much upper treble though.

 
I have found that sometimes we, as humans in a modern busy world saturated with heavy distorting mainstream audio products across its landscape, can mistake low distortion for clarity in sum. In actuality, clarity is a two-sided coin requiring the synergy of both a neutral sound response and low distortion across that entire audible spectrum. A headphone like the Sennheiser HD 650, for example, can sound more resolving than the Grado Labs SR325 with far more bright and obtrusive treble since the Sennheiser has distortion products entire magnitudes (in some frequency bands, 10s and even 100s of times) less. Even so, if a certain frequency band is shelved by approximately -5 or -10 dB, it does matter how uncluttered, distortion-free--or, in other words, pure--its sound is because, in a very busy section of audio, the louder, un-shelved bands will have the net effect of masking or "shouting" over top the other quieter, shelved one. In conclusion, you have to have both a pure, distortion-free sound and a flat, neutral sound to have a truly clear sound. This is especially the case here. The Sound Science sub-forum elaborates much further on this subject and I highly recommend to read up on it for a better understanding of what encompasses high fidelity sound.

 

[MarkF786]

  I've decided to try a better balanced cable for my Elear's since the inexpensive cable was soo bad sounding, went with a balanced occ copper cable made by LQi cables in made the usa it's a beautiful sheathed in black paracord and litz braided, 8ft. cable terminated with a 4 pin xlr. I've always read but don't have any experience in saying that copper cables add a heft to the bass and give the sq a touch of warmth hope so and all this for a 150. I guess that's not too bad certainly more then I've ever paid for a cable, any thoughts from you guys who have the experiences with a better graded cable is this true ? ..enjoy & thanks
 

 
I'd personally go with the Beyerdynamic balanced cable instead: http://north-america.beyerdynamic.com/shop/connection-cable-audiophile-3m-balanced.html
 
I have the unbalanced version and am impressed by it, though I'm considering buying a balanced amp along with the balanced cable.