Focal Clear headphones
Jun 10, 2018 at 9:35 PM Post #3,916 of 12,500
A good album to showcase what the Clear can do: "Mediterraneamente" by Gianluigi Trovesi. Setting aside the question of how the Clear compares with the Elear and Utopia, it's an incredibly good headphone.
 
Jun 10, 2018 at 10:28 PM Post #3,917 of 12,500
A good album to showcase what the Clear can do: "Mediterraneamente" by Gianluigi Trovesi. Setting aside the question of how the Clear compares with the Elear and Utopia, it's an incredibly good headphone.
Cadenze orfiche, Tammurriata nera, and Materiali were my favorites. It was so enjoyable listening to those tracks on the Clear and then on HD800. Both presentations were sublime.
 
Jun 11, 2018 at 3:59 AM Post #3,918 of 12,500
Such a long journey and I am delighted to reach the Focal Clear as my final desitnation.

I had to double check those weren’t Tyll words from innerfidelity ... :older_man: ...
 
Jun 11, 2018 at 11:11 AM Post #3,919 of 12,500
On the question of whether the Clear has an appropriate amount of bass, IMO it needs to be emphasized that it really depends on which tracks are being listened to, since there's so much variability there. I find that the Clear could use more bass for some tracks, is perfect for others, and is actually a bit bass heavy for some. On average, for the tracks I've been listening to for the past several days, I find the amount of bass to be about right.
 
Jun 11, 2018 at 11:15 AM Post #3,920 of 12,500
On the question of whether the Clear has an appropriate amount of bass, IMO it needs to be emphasized that it really depends on which tracks are being listened to, since there's so much variability there. I find that the Clear could use more bass for some tracks, is perfect for others, and is actually a bit bass heavy for some. On average, for the tracks I've been listening to for the past several days, I find the amount of bass to be about right.
Can you name a few in each category (too little, just right, too much)? Would like to try them out with my Elear (which has more bass than the Clear) to hear what you’re hearing, just out of interest.
 
Jun 11, 2018 at 11:55 AM Post #3,921 of 12,500
Can you name a few in each category (too little, just right, too much)? Would like to try them out with my Elear (which has more bass than the Clear) to hear what you’re hearing, just out of interest.
Elear might have more (mid)bass, Clear has a more 'quality' bass. More detailed, more controlled, cleaner. And extends deeper. I love my bass a lot, and prefer the Clear's presentation to the Elear even with more bass heavy music.
 
Jun 11, 2018 at 11:56 AM Post #3,922 of 12,500
Can you name a few in each category (too little, just right, too much)? Would like to try them out with my Elear (which has more bass than the Clear) to hear what you’re hearing, just out of interest.

You can hear these differences pretty easily with many of the genre stations on Tidal and Spotify. A good example is the station "Finest Fusion" on Tidal. That station is good for showing both variations in bass and overall recording quality. The Clear sounds great with some tracks, but with other tracks it reveals that the recording quality isn't so great, and a less revealing headphone could be more enjoyable with those tracks.
 
Jun 11, 2018 at 2:08 PM Post #3,923 of 12,500
"Bad Asteroid" and "Flatlands" by The Aristocrats are examples of tracks where I wouldn't want the Clear to have more bass.
 
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Jun 11, 2018 at 5:17 PM Post #3,924 of 12,500
Jun 11, 2018 at 5:22 PM Post #3,925 of 12,500
Is that because of the terrible dynamic range in those tracks?

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/75803

I don't see the connection. Regardless of dynamic range, we can evaluate the tonal balance. Moreover, this type of music inherently isn't going to have a wide dynamic range, but that doesn't mean anything as far as sound quality or music quality.
 
Jun 11, 2018 at 5:38 PM Post #3,926 of 12,500
I don't see the connection. Regardless of dynamic range, we can evaluate the tonal balance. Moreover, this type of music inherently isn't going to have a wide dynamic range, but that doesn't mean anything as far as sound quality or music quality.

I only asked because IME when the dynamic range is terrible there is usually audible distortion as well. Of course this isn’t always the case which is why I asked.

Both the tracks you listed should have no trouble scoring well in dynamic range if mastered well. Again, I’m only asking if that may be the reason why you wouldn’t want more bass with them listening to the Clear, or if it’s just personal preference. Just curious.
 
Jun 11, 2018 at 6:38 PM Post #3,927 of 12,500
I only asked because IME when the dynamic range is terrible there is usually audible distortion as well. Of course this isn’t always the case which is why I asked.

Both the tracks you listed should have no trouble scoring well in dynamic range if mastered well. Again, I’m only asking if that may be the reason why you wouldn’t want more bass with them listening to the Clear, or if it’s just personal preference. Just curious.

The recording quality sounds good to me. I think the reason the dynamic range isn't high is because the volume level of the instruments isn't changing much over the duration of the tracks, simply because that's how the music is. So I set the volume level where I like it, and can judge the bass. I hear other tracks from other artists with a similar style of music, but the bass is lacking, so I think it just comes down to variability in how the recordings were mixed.
 
Jun 11, 2018 at 7:34 PM Post #3,928 of 12,500
The recording quality sounds good to me. I think the reason the dynamic range isn't high is because the volume level of the instruments isn't changing much over the duration of the tracks, simply because that's how the music is. So I set the volume level where I like it, and can judge the bass. I hear other tracks from other artists with a similar style of music, but the bass is lacking, so I think it just comes down to variability in how the recordings were mixed.

I’m not trying to debate your perception but it is interesting to me that you consider dynamic range has to do with various volume levels throughout a track vs the dynamics within each instrument as it is played.

Your response made me think of ‘wimpy loud sound’. Check out this clip with similar music (somewhat) to get a direct comparison to the detrimental effects of DR compression:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/ca-academy/dynamic-range-no-quiet-no-loud-r643/



Regardless, in the end I was curious why you pointed out you wouldn’t want more bass from those tracks and it spawned this thought process for me. Apologies if it derails from the Clear.
 
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Jun 11, 2018 at 8:15 PM Post #3,929 of 12,500
^ Interesting stuff, and maybe compression of the dynamic range affects my perception of the bass. But in the end, I'm setting the volume where I like it and judging the tonal balance, which I see as a largely separate dimension from dynamic range.
 
Jun 12, 2018 at 3:45 AM Post #3,930 of 12,500
How about the CMA800i? Is that as good with Focal headphones as the 600i and the 400i? Is the 800i not too old in 2018?
'Old' depends on what you are prioritising. The CMA400i and CMA600i both use a newer AK chip (so support DSD256 and PCM 384kHz), they also sport more connectivity - balanced outputs and optical in, which the CMA800i does not have, only SPDIF and SE output. However, on pure sound quality the CMA800i is actually quite a lot better. If you can live with DSD64 and 192kHz support and don't need optical or balanced outputs then you can have 80-90% on the CMA800R/CAS192D performance (which cost almost £4k combined) for a lot less. In fact PM me if you want to know how much less. :)
 

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