[lukeap69]

  I've watched TSAVJason on the other thread and closely on this thread, since I started this thread. I've PMed him privately about his posts on the other thread. As far as I'm concerned, he is posting his personal impressions on this thread. I don't think he's gone too far here (yet), and I will step in with PMs if he does. 
 
There are very few of these headphones out there in the wild yet. So far Tyll is less than impressed, but he has yet to dive in yet. For now, we will just have to trust the few (like Jason) that have actually heard them and spent serious time with them. Jason sounds like he is a very experienced headphone enthusiast, as well as a dealer. Seems like he may have found his dream job. I'm taking his impressions with a grain of salt, but I also realize he has heard the cans and I have not. Ultimately I need to hear them for myself, which I hopefully can do at RMAF. 
 
For now, I'll just thank Jason for his impressions, and ask people and Jason to take any logistical question off-line (into PM space), and use this thread for actual impressions. 
 
Thanks,

Allan

 
Tyll is less than impressed? I thought he has not heard (or measured) the Utopia yet, only the Listen? 

 

[Allanmarcus]

Opps, you are right. Unimpressed with the listen. Means nothing regarding the utopia and Elear. My bad. 
 

Measured the Listen yesterday. Peak at 3.5kHz on the raw curve was only 5dB above baseline. To me, it made the sound too polite and boring. If they've settled on that tuning for the Elear and Utopia, I don't think they'll make the cut in the long run...unless you like milk toast reproduction

 

[TSAVJason]

Opps, you are right. Unimpressed with the listen. Means nothing regarding the utopia and Elear. My bad. 

We will be at the SF Head-Fi meet with the Utopia, Elear and Listen. We've also got plans to be at RMAF with all 3 as well. When I say we, I mean a sales manager from FocalNA and I. I'll let him do the sales presentations and I'll answer the tech questions since my engineering skills are far superior to my posting skills.

 

[georgep]

We will be at the SF Head-Fi meet with the Utopia, Elear and Listen. We've also got plans to be at RMAF with all 3 as well. When I say we, I mean a sales manager from FocalNA and I. I'll let him do the sales presentations and I'll answer the tech questions since my engineering skills are far superior to my posting skills.

Will you have any of the Stax headphones that your store offers for sale available there as well to compare?

 

[meomap]

We will be at the SF Head-Fi meet with the Utopia, Elear and Listen. We've also got plans to be at RMAF with all 3 as well. When I say we, I mean a sales manager from FocalNA and I. I'll let him do the sales presentations and I'll answer the tech questions since my engineering skills are far superior to my posting skills.

Hi,

Any recommendations for 3rd party cable for Elear? Carda's Clear, Nordost Heimdall 2 or Blue Heaven, or some other vendor? Any inputs would be appreciated.

 

[PLUSSOUND]

Hi,

Any recommendations for 3rd party cable for Elear?

 
We offer cables for Elear with our new 3.5mm extended connectors, which will also work with many other headphones such as Beyerdynamic, Sony, Denon, and others.
http://www.plussoundaudio.com/customcables/headphone.html
 

 

[TSAVJason]

The tuning on the Listen is a significantly different voice platform from the Elear and Utopia. The Utopia is more a REFERENCE headphone, clean and detailed with real BASS, The Elear is more the lively punchy delivery with space similar to the MrSpeaker Ether 1.0 and the Listen is an enhanced version of the Spirit Pro with a little more punch. I think your take on the Listen is fair Allan yet I think in the $250 price point its a very nice set of cans.
 
Well there you have it, PlusSoundAudio has cables along with a number of other companies. Kimber has the Axios in bal/unbal, Nordost has the Heimdal 2 for bal and the Blue heaven for unbal. WireWold also makes a very sweet cable.I don't know the PlusSound product so I have no opinion but on the Elear I thought the WireWorld was easy on the pocket book and made a pretty good presentation. 
 
As far as the STAX, no, I am hired by Focal to explain the technology and to help with other engineering questions. Maybe STAX will be there although that is not likely since the American distribution isn't active in much of anything unless the Japanese reps are coming in and then he shows up sometimes. I am not going to the meet as The Source AV Design Group, however those that want to talk to me as a representative of The Source AV are welcome to ask whatever they like.To be a little more clear we will be in the same display space with Cavalli and Mr.Speakers. 
 
OK Kids, I'm off. Enjoy the music!

 

[bigfatpaulie]

Please don't go - some of us do really value your input and experience.  
 
Good dealers that are passionate about their product are rare and it would be such a shame to lose one around here.
 
To others, I would like to point out that Jason is being intentionally neutral; he has strong (as we all do) personal preferences towards certain headphones, both e-stats and non.  At the end of the day, he's just a guy who loves music and headphones just like me.  He doesn't speak in absolutes which I think shows a very level head.  Something more people could afford. 
 
But that's me.  IMHO.  YMMV.  And so on.

 

[georgep]

Yes, as you say, with IMHO and YMMV in mind, I cannot see how "Jason is being intentionally neutral" - quite the opposite in fact. But that's just me.

 

[Vigrith]

Yes, as you say, with IMHO and YMMV in mind, I cannot see how "Jason is being intentionally neutral" - quite the opposite in fact. But that's just me.

 
And? I can see why he'd be tired of the constant nagging - what's your issue with him not being intentionally neutral, if he isn't? Why do you feel the need to point out that he's trying to market his product? People that intentionally go out of their way to do this sort of thing are the reason dealers and manufacturers, etc. are not coming out and talking to the people.
 
Everyone complains about members of the industry and headphone companies or what have you don't reach out to the community as though they're on a high horse, and then when Jason or anyone else comes out to talk about a product he sells and, quite obviously also likes (whether or not there is some unconscious bias there is absolutely irrelevant), he's treated this way.
 
Damned if you do, damned if you don't? What exactly is people's problem here? He's a MOT, it's in his name. In his avatar. Take his statements as you will and feel free to counter argue as you deem fit IF you've also auditioned the headphones yourself, otherwise can you not just be sceptical in your own head rather than constantly nagging away at someone that's quite CLEARLY going out of their way to help people here?

 

[georgep]

You know what, you're right, I shouldn't care if he is CLEARLY going out of his way to help people here part with their money. In the same way you believe him to be a benevolent friend of the audio community, I choose to believe the opposite, in large part because of his position as a reseller and tight affiliation with the product developer. And there is nothing wrong with people peddling their wares, it just doesn't sit well when there is an effort to appear to be a disinterested neutral party.

 

[Vigrith]

I don't know if that "you're right" was sarcastic or not but I do not need confirmation as I am aware of the situation.
 
The difference being I only voiced my opinion because people have felt the need to be hostile and pushy to the point where there needs to be tension in a place I feel is meant to have a friendly environment. He's not telling you to spend your money, he is giving his opinion and/or advice, whether people buy into that advice and invest into the headphones without auditioning them first is their problem. Jason has opened his doors and let people go there for free to try the products in question with a bunch of audio gear and held a nice little event with headfiers, Focal, dealer reps, Cavalli personel - is this not enough?
 
I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere in a country that has no access to headphone gear whatsoever, I'll soak up any bit of information I can find. What I do with that information is MY decision, I am intelligent enough to weed through that information and judge what should or should not be taken into consideration with all factors weighed in. Do people not do this? If so, then what's the issue with someone like that giving their opinion just because they happen to market it?
 
I'll just lay the case to rest on my end now, I just wanted to throw this out there so people know they are appreciated rather than feeling like they're being pushed out of here just because of a select group of people that have nothing better to do than complain and derail threads when they can quietly judge the case at hand individually. Thread's for impressions, not to have people who've not listened to the product discredit the few that have for x or y or z reason, but that's not my job to enforce.
 
edit: typo

 

[georgep]

   
...
 
 Thread's for impressions, not to have people who've not listened to the product discredit the few that have for x or y or z reason, but that's not my job to enforce.
 
....

 
Glad to hear.

 

[up late]

yawn. looking forward to more impressions.

 

[musiclvr]

It seems that I'm am reading more impressions about Head-Fier's and their practices, personal approaches to business, or credibility over actual impressions of headphones!
I am really interested in the Utopia as I really liked how the Focal Spirit Pro was tuned (small earcup aside). I like the materials chosen for the Utopia and the aesthetic is very appealing to me as well. The Focal headphones have kept their value pretty well too. I think I would like the Elear but I know my curiosity and lust for the Utopia will bias any opinion I have if the Elear to ever consider.....for now. Now just to wait on impressions of headphones and not people.......