[racebit]

Looking into possibly getting the clears soon and I was wondering what good amp/dac combo would be ideal for a 1kish budget for the unit. I would like to make use of the 4 pin balanced if possible and it would need to have USB IN and analog coax out for my desktop speakers to listen to from time to time. Thank you for your support!

I use the Clear with a Mojo. I think it works great, but I always wonder if I could get better performance with a more powerful DAC/amp, specially in the bass which requires more power due to the headphone impedance being much higher in the bass region.
I have been looking at the TT2, but besides the scary price, it seems that it may be overkill with 7W unbalanced and 18W balanced. That is, it seems I will be paying a lot for something I won't use, as the headphones I use or will ever use have lower impedance (Clear, Z1R).
My thing is does anyone with a Clear and Mojo, found a *clear" advantage on using a more powerful amp than the Mojo with the Clear, (specially in the bass)?

 

[B.inthe6ix]

I have found my Fostex HP-A4BL to be an excellent DAC/AMP, & hard to beat at the price point. It has very useful features, power, & typical Japanese quality design & performance. It's gain engage is very effective / ideal for internet use where extra power is required. Wonderful balanced sound to compliment that of the Clear. Check out the specs. Highly recommended.
B.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

I love the Clear, but I just had my second pair fail, this time whil I was listening to them. It sounded like a tube burning out with a rush, static and distorted sound. It took two moths to get my replacement last time, getting a bit frustrating, has anyone else experienced anything like this?

 

[racebit]

I love the Clear, but I just had my second pair fail, this time whil I was listening to them. It sounded like a tube burning out with a rush, static and distorted sound. It took two moths to get my replacement last time, getting a bit frustrating, has anyone else experienced anything like this?

WOW! Assuming there is nothing different with Focal headphones compared to other brands, the statistical probability of that is way lower than winning the lottery. More over if we consider these headphones exist for so little time.

 

[ElDeejei]

I have found my Fostex HP-A4BL to be an excellent DAC/AMP, & hard to beat at the price point. It has very useful features, power, & typical Japanese quality design & performance. It's gain engage is very effective / ideal for internet use where extra power is required. Wonderful balanced sound to compliment that of the Clear. Check out the specs. Highly recommended.
B.

Wow, you have the amp that clearly meets my specs! Thank you for the input with the clears. I will be seriously looking into that unit!

 

[ElDeejei]

I use the Clear with a Mojo. I think it works great, but I always wonder if I could get better performance with a more powerful DAC/amp, specially in the bass which requires more power due to the headphone impedance being much higher in the bass region.
I have been looking at the TT2, but besides the scary price, it seems that it may be overkill with 7W unbalanced and 18W balanced. That is, it seems I will be paying a lot for something I won't use, as the headphones I use or will ever use have lower impedance (Clear, Z1R).
My thing is does anyone with a Clear and Mojo, found a *clear" advantage on using a more powerful amp than the Mojo with the Clear, (specially in the bass)?

How about maybe looking into a Hugo 2? That wouldn't cost nearly as much as a TT2. That is my next consideration after the Fostex unit mentioned earlier to "future proof" my gear for a long while even if the DAC\AMP ends up going over my projected 1k range.

 

[racebit]

How about maybe looking into a Hugo 2? That wouldn't cost nearly as much as a TT2. That is my next consideration after the Fostex unit mentioned earlier to "future proof" my gear for a long while even if the DAC\AMP ends up going over my projected 1k range.

Hugo 2 is/was my first consideration. I am not sure even Hugo 2 being battery powered, has enough power to take every bit of performance from the Clear. And me being a desktop only user, would prefer a non-battery unit, even if only for durability factor.
Also I don't like some things about Hugo 2, one being the placement of inputs, outputs and buttons. Who would think of buttons on the inputs side and inputs and outputs on the same side? I want buttons and outputs facing me, and inputs facing the other side. I use only optical as input, which means in order to have the HP connectors facing me I have the optical input facing me as well, which is not a good thing given that optical cables should not be strongly curved.
Mojo is a perfectly designed device for what it is, Hugo 2 is not.
And some people prefer the Mojo over the Hugo 2. For example www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfoOkc1hy1Y&t=613s
Unfortunately Chord does not make a DAC meant for my use: desktop only, headphones only. But I am sold on Rob Watts filters.
But the main question here is: Is Hugo 2 able to get every bit of performance out of Clear, or will a more powerful amp as the TT make the Clear perform better?
My dilemma is the Hugo 2 may under perform and the TT2 may be overkill with output power meant for speakers. But I am leaning more to the TT2 each day, so that it can feed all the power to the bass.
From TT2 specs: 288 mW RMS 300Ω; 7.3 W RMS 8Ω
Clear is 55 ohm, but by innerfidelity is about 300 ohm from 40 to 70 Hz, and if so 288mW may not be too much. I don't know. Anyone can help here?

 

[500178]

It took me 1 second of comparing the utopia to the elear and clear (which I all own(ed) btw), to figure out the elear/clear have no chance at all against the utopia. Yet I constantly see people declaring the clear to be on the same level. It's quite interesting, I wonder if those people are simply looking for no dynamics, texture or bass at all. Preferences differ I suppose ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[racebit]

I love the Clear, but I just had my second pair fail, this time whil I was listening to them. It sounded like a tube burning out with a rush, static and distorted sound. It took two moths to get my replacement last time, getting a bit frustrating, has anyone else experienced anything like this?

One question popped up my mind. What amps did you use them with? Maybe powerful amps can send some peaks on switch on/off for example? Also do you use loud volumes?
If that was the case, Focals connected only to mobile devices would never suffer failures.
I am not saying it would be a fault with the amp, but maybe a weak HP can not accommodate strong amps so well. Just suggesting, probably nothing of this is true.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

One question popped up my mind. What amps did you use them with? Maybe powerful amps can send some peaks on switch on/off for example? Also do you use loud volumes?
If that was the case, Focals connected only to mobile devices would never suffer failures.
I am not saying it would be a fault with the amp, but maybe a weak HP can not accommodate strong amps so well. Just suggesting, probably nothing of this is true.

The first failure was with a Lyr 3, the second with the Monoprice Cavaliers Liquid Spark, and one of the reasons I love the Clear is that I can listen at lower volume because of the detail.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

^Oh, and I’ll be picking up a couple Mega Million tickets!

 

[ElDeejei]

So I got a good deal on the Clear + Fostex HP-A4BL for $1359 (incl taxes/shipping). Cannot wait to hear what I have been missing with my music all this time. One quick question regarding the music resolution and sample rate.
My music library ranges from 16-24 & 44.1-96k FLAC. Is it best practice to set the DAC to max settings in the windows 10 default format properties? Or do I just keep it at what my music files are encoded in for example in my case max 24bits - 96khz.
Below is what my PC is capable of at the moment as a reference for my question until my gear comes in.

or

 

[thecrow]

I love the Clear, but I just had my second pair fail, this time whil I was listening to them. It sounded like a tube burning out with a rush, static and distorted sound. It took two moths to get my replacement last time, getting a bit frustrating, has anyone else experienced anything like this?

I appreciate the post. I don’t have the clear but do have the elear. 18 months in and no issue. Refurb/open box from moon audio

From memory I beleive tou were tempted by the utopia when your first clear was being repaired- did you also go that way too?

 

[Wildcatsare1]

I appreciate the post. I don’t have the clear but do have the elear. 18 months in and no issue. Refurb/open box from moon audio

From memory I beleive tou were tempted by the utopia when your first clear was being repaired- did you also go that way too?

I ended up sticking with the Clear and Abyss 1266, they are quite complimentary headphones. Not sure what I’m going to do now, I guess it depends on what options the Cable Company will give me. I really love the Clear, but this is getting tedious. Wish they carried the ZMF Line.

 

[joseph69]

@Wildcatsare1
Sorry to hear of your misfortune.
Hope everything works out in your favor and you end up with another Clear knowing how much you enjoy them.