[makne]

Fancy DAC, amp, etc. not needed with the Clear, IMO. Plugged Clear into the computer and watched/listened to this: .

OMG, mind blown, these guys are amazing. I feel like I was there with them. Note everyone listening with headphones, maybe it was mixed for headphones.

they’re easy to drive yeah, sounds good with anything. They do have enough resolve to benefit from good upstream components, but will sound great from a portable amp or dap too

 

[nanaholic]

In my eyes, it’s the closest thing we know of an «optimal FR» with the data we have available, and I don’t know of any other yardstick that would fit better. The objectivity-part is comparing all headphones to the same yardstick without personal bias from the reviewer, in my eyes that makes it objective (as objective as we can make it).

The take away is that the Harmon Curve is a nice target to go for where the least amount of people will be offended, but it's hardly an "optimal FR". Again, it's a carefully controlled curve as decided by popular vote, no more and no less. Coining it the "optimal", "the neutral standard" etc is jumping a big shark.

You can measure other headphones against it objectively, that part is completely fine, but dissing headphones not meeting that FR curve (which some reviewers are easily prone to do) is not objective.

 

[Paulo Abreu]

[...] You can measure other headphones against it objectively, that part is completely fine, but dissing headphones not meeting that FR curve (which some reviewers are easily prone to do) is not objective.

Its like dissing music that's not part of the top charts and that everybody buys (hence sounds "better for the majority" of people) ... ...

 

[gLer]

The take away is that the Harmon Curve is a nice target to go for where the least amount of people will be offended, but it's hardly an "optimal FR". Again, it's a carefully controlled curve as decided by popular vote, no more and no less. Coining it the "optimal", "the neutral standard" etc is jumping a big shark.

You can measure other headphones against it objectively, that part is completely fine, but dissing headphones not meeting that FR curve (which some reviewers are easily prone to do) is not objective.

Inoffensive and polite. My two least favorite words in headfidom

 

[up late]

afaik Tyll used the harman curve when talking about «neutral», but when you say it I can’t remember reading what compensation went into the graphs

note that tyll was not using the harman target response curve at the time he wrote this article: https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/headphone-measurements-explained-frequency-response-part-one
i do recall him using a modified version of it, however. i don't know whether he applied it to his fr measurements of the lcd-3 or the clear.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

Fancy DAC, amp, etc. not needed with the Clear, IMO. Plugged Clear into the computer and watched/listened to this: .

OMG, mind blown, these guys are amazing. I feel like I was there with them. Note everyone listening with headphones, maybe it was mixed for headphones.

WOW so ironic. I was just talking about them on the Utopia thread a second ago...
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-utopia-general-discussion.811273/page-551#post-14338290
I jumped from that thread to the 600i thread and then here. You were like the third post I read on here ha.

Saw them live Sunday for the first time and I had such a great time. That album (ironically again) is freaking fantastic. I am at the store now and listening to the whole thing through. Whats really dope is that they live record their 2018 concerts. So for $10 I bought the digital download for my concert and should have it in a few weeks (FLAC no less .

I bet with the Clears they sound equally awesome. Clears and Utopia both have such great speed and separation. They marry well with this type of jazz. Not to mention the drums with them!

Try to see a live show if you get the chance @Phronesis , you won't be disappointed... For the rest of you Clear owners and a like, check em out y'all!

 

[Phronesis]

WOW so ironic. I was just talking about them on the Utopia thread a second ago...
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-utopia-general-discussion.811273/page-551#post-14338290
I jumped from that thread to the 600i thread and then here. You were like the third post I read on here ha.

Saw them live Sunday for the first time and I had such a great time. That album (ironically again) is freaking fantastic. I am at the store now and listening to the whole thing through. Whats really dope is that they live record their 2018 concerts. So for $10 I bought the digital download for my concert and should have it in a few weeks (FLAC no less .

I bet with the Clears they sound equally awesome. Clears and Utopia both have such great speed and separation. They marry well with this type of jazz. Not to mention the drums with them!

Try to see a live show if you get the chance @Phronesis , you won't be disappointed... For the rest of you Clear owners and a like, check em out y'all!

I definitely need to go see them live. Seeing their interactions in the video, with their admiration for each other's playing and their joy in playing together, brings me joy. As a hobbyist musician myself, I'm in awe. Just listened to and watched that track again, and the Clear did it justice. This will make me sound like an old man, but seeing young people making this kind of music makes me feel that the future of music is in good hands, and more generally maybe the future of the world is in good hands.

 

[Ken G]

Just curious, does anyone else who has had multiple Focal HPs (Utopia, Elear, Clear, Elex) notice a difference in clamping pressure for the Clear. I've only had the Clear for a week or so but it seems to clamp a lot harder than the Elear that I also have. Starts to bother me after about an hour. I'm pretty sure that I've seen some others on this or different forums who have also noticed a difference in clamping pressure.

 

[LordBorg]

Just curious, does anyone else who has had multiple Focal HPs (Utopia, Elear, Clear, Elex) notice a difference in clamping pressure for the Clear. I've only had the Clear for a week or so but it seems to clamp a lot harder than the Elear that I also have. Starts to bother me after about an hour. I'm pretty sure that I've seen some others on this or different forums who have also noticed a difference in clamping pressure.

Yes, I have the Clear, Elear, and Elex. Tthe Clear have a stronger clamp at first but it gets better after a few days.

 

[Phronesis]

Just curious, does anyone else who has had multiple Focal HPs (Utopia, Elear, Clear, Elex) notice a difference in clamping pressure for the Clear. I've only had the Clear for a week or so but it seems to clamp a lot harder than the Elear that I also have. Starts to bother me after about an hour. I'm pretty sure that I've seen some others on this or different forums who have also noticed a difference in clamping pressure.

When I was comparing the Elear, Clear, and Utopia, I did notice that the Clear clamps a bit more, but I either got used to it or the clamping force when down. I now find the Clear quite comfortable, and have to summon some courage when going back to the LCD-3.

 

[TSAVJason]

Fancy DAC, amp, etc. not needed with the Clear, IMO. Plugged Clear into the computer and watched/listened to this: .

OMG, mind blown, these guys are amazing. I feel like I was there with them. Note everyone listening with headphones, maybe it was mixed for headphones.

No it’s mixed on near field and standard playback speakers. The live room mix is a headphone mix and is based on Sennheisers silent disco and mixed by a different engineer. It’s a challenging process with instruments that are primarily acoustic The record mix is remoted and mixed for video, CD and vinyl. As a last minute choice they opted to release hires versions.

 

[Phronesis]

No it’s mixed on near field and standard playback speakers. The live room mix is a headphone mix and is based on Sennheisers silent disco and mixed by a different engineer. It’s a challenging process with instruments that are primarily acoustic The record mix is remoted and mixed for video, CD and vinyl. As a last minute choice they opted to release hires versions.

Makes sense, thanks for letting us know.

 

[makne]

Just curious, does anyone else who has had multiple Focal HPs (Utopia, Elear, Clear, Elex) notice a difference in clamping pressure for the Clear. I've only had the Clear for a week or so but it seems to clamp a lot harder than the Elear that I also have. Starts to bother me after about an hour. I'm pretty sure that I've seen some others on this or different forums who have also noticed a difference in clamping pressure.

The Clear definitely sits tighter than the Elear. At first I thought it was just because the Clear’s pads are firmer (which I actually prefer) but it’s the same thing with the Utopia so idk.
You could bend careully on the aluminum yokes to relieve some clamping pressure

 

[TSAVJason]

The Clear definitely sits tighter than the Elear. At first I thought it was just because the Clear’s pads are firmer (which I actually prefer) but it’s the same thing with the Utopia so idk.
You could bend careully on the aluminum yokes to relieve some clamping pressure

Swap the Clear pads to the Elear to see if the Elear seems like it clamps a little more. My understanding is the yoke on both are identical.

 

[makne]

Swap the Clear pads to the Elear to see if the Elear seems like it clamps a little more. My understanding is the yoke on both are identical.

I would, but don’t have the Elear on hand atm.
Yeah the yokes, and rest of the headband really, seems identical. I think it feels a little tighter assembled and a little firmer than my old Elear, but idk.