[moemoney]

Anyone with the Sony MDR-Z1R and Focal Clear do a comparison for me?

Listen to a loaner set of Z1R at the moment, and they are a solid headphone, but not a lot WOWs me.

I don’t have the Clear but I have the Elear and the Sony, and the Z1rs get more playing time. The Elears are collecting dust on their stand. The Sonys just does that much more for me, gets me more involved in the music.

 

[Benno1988]

This is pretty much what my issue with the Z1R was. There's a pronounced dip somewhere in the upper mids or lower highs, maybe combined with some boost in the highs above that. It creates a sense of solid bass, sparkle at the top, and larger stage, but at the expense of rendering the sound of acoustic instruments (e.g., cymbals) to be quite unrealistic, to my ears. That may not be a big problem with electronic music, but it was a big problem for most of the music I listen to. By contrast, I find the fidelity of the Clear to be quite realistic with good recordings (it's a bit circular, but I define good recordings as those which sound good with all of my good headphones).

Exactly this. Upper mids somewhere it's just a bit funky. Some songs you don't notice, but some have a lot of important sounds going on there and it just doesn't do a good job. Things sound weird.

 

[Stephen77]

Anyone here using a Audeze Deckard DAC/Amp to power their Clear's? I use it with the Sonarworks True-Fi App. I really wonder if my sound can be any better. I want to get a tube amp someday to see.

 

[makne]

Anyone here using a Audeze Deckard DAC/Amp to power their Clear's? I use it with the Sonarworks True-Fi App. I really wonder if my sound can be any better. I want to get a tube amp someday to see.

If you do get a tube amp, make sure it’s not an OTL. Clear doesn’t play well with high output impedances

 

[TSAVJason]

"Unit to unit variation" is just the result of two people who can't find another way to politely disagree about the sound of a particular model of headphones.

Maybe a different school of thought. I might suggest person to person listening variants is far more likely.

 

[pbarach]

Whether there’s any audible physical burn in is debated, but most people will agree that most headphones will be perceived as sounding better over time. That has been my experience with the Clear and several other headphones.

I'm guessing that with most headphones, it's because the listener gets used to the headphone's sound and accommodates to it. The only headphone I've owned with audible improvement on burn-in was AKG K702, which had deeper bass extension after 100-150 hours. No change with the Clears from the day of arrival until now.

 

[Bastianpp]

Exactly!
Me english is far from good so it's difficult for me to write properly, thank you for explaining it correctly!

Haha, you are very funny person.
Your english is bad but you can laugh and worry for the bad english by other people.-

 

[Meanstreak242]

Just bought these headphones at Axpona and I'm extremely happy with them. (I was not planning on buying anything there, just check things out. I somehow ended up at the Focal booth and after listening to all of their headphones I had to buy the Clear.) I think what got me was how (to my ears) with them I can hear everything so clearly with no frequencies bleeding into or overpowering others. I have it paired with a Woo Audio WA7tp (mullard cv4003 tubes in the power supply) and a Chord Qutest. (I also have a Mojo, and as others have said in the thread it also pairs very well with these headphones.)

Coming from Audeze LCD-2f's (which I still love and am definitely keeping), while the soundstage isn't as wide, I find the depth of the soundstage and the imaging to be quite impressive. I listen to a very wide variety of music (which is why I loved the LCD-2 I found them to just sound good with anything I threw at them) and so far I've yet to find any song/genre that not only sounds great, but I am hearing additional detail that I just didn't hear from the Audeze. I think these are one of the few headphones (other than Stax SR-L007 that I've had quite a lot of time with) that I can clearly hear instruments behind other instruments. On the majority of headphones I've heard it either sounds like they are on top of each other, or just melded together.

After reading through 394 pages in this thread the last few days and seeing so many questions about pairings with tube amps, I figured I'd offer my experiences. With the right tube amp, these headphones are addictive. I should probably take these things off soon as I've had them on pretty much all waking hours of the day that I'm not at work. I was having a really hard time at the show deciding if I wanted to spend more money on another pair of headphones when I was perfectly happy with the setup I had. Now I am extremely happy that I did. I'm hearing some songs I know very well in a whole new way. It's great.

 

[Tekunda]

I am just listening via Qobuz, Bach Cantatas 22 by Gardiner, which Bach wrote for the Easter season, with my Clear on a Questyle CMA 12.
What "glockenreine" (as we say in German) clear as a bell female voices.

 

[phthora]

Just bought these headphones at Axpona and I'm extremely happy with them. (I was not planning on buying anything there, just check things out. I somehow ended up at the Focal booth and after listening to all of their headphones I had to buy the Clear.) I think what got me was how (to my ears) with them I can hear everything so clearly with no frequencies bleeding into or overpowering others. I have it paired with a Woo Audio WA7tp (mullard cv4003 tubes in the power supply) and a Chord Qutest. (I also have a Mojo, and as others have said in the thread it also pairs very well with these headphones.)

Coming from Audeze LCD-2f's (which I still love and am definitely keeping), while the soundstage isn't as wide, I find the depth of the soundstage and the imaging to be quite impressive. I listen to a very wide variety of music (which is why I loved the LCD-2 I found them to just sound good with anything I threw at them) and so far I've yet to find any song/genre that not only sounds great, but I am hearing additional detail that I just didn't hear from the Audeze. I think these are one of the few headphones (other than Stax SR-L007 that I've had quite a lot of time with) that I can clearly hear instruments behind other instruments. On the majority of headphones I've heard it either sounds like they are on top of each other, or just melded together.

After reading through 394 pages in this thread the last few days and seeing so many questions about pairings with tube amps, I figured I'd offer my experiences. With the right tube amp, these headphones are addictive. I should probably take these things off soon as I've had them on pretty much all waking hours of the day that I'm not at work. I was having a really hard time at the show deciding if I wanted to spend more money on another pair of headphones when I was perfectly happy with the setup I had. Now I am extremely happy that I did. I'm hearing some songs I know very well in a whole new way. It's great.

That was more or less my experience at a meet-up. I heard the Clear, fell in love with them, and bought a set as soon as I got home. That certainly make a great first impression! Thanks for sharing your impressions!

 

[MLGrado]

Just bought these headphones at Axpona and I'm extremely happy with them. (I was not planning on buying anything there, just check things out. I somehow ended up at the Focal booth and after listening to all of their headphones I had to buy the Clear.) I think what got me was how (to my ears) with them I can hear everything so clearly with no frequencies bleeding into or overpowering others. I have it paired with a Woo Audio WA7tp (mullard cv4003 tubes in the power supply) and a Chord Qutest. (I also have a Mojo, and as others have said in the thread it also pairs very well with these headphones.)

Coming from Audeze LCD-2f's (which I still love and am definitely keeping), while the soundstage isn't as wide, I find the depth of the soundstage and the imaging to be quite impressive. I listen to a very wide variety of music (which is why I loved the LCD-2 I found them to just sound good with anything I threw at them) and so far I've yet to find any song/genre that not only sounds great, but I am hearing additional detail that I just didn't hear from the Audeze. I think these are one of the few headphones (other than Stax SR-L007 that I've had quite a lot of time with) that I can clearly hear instruments behind other instruments. On the majority of headphones I've heard it either sounds like they are on top of each other, or just melded together.

After reading through 394 pages in this thread the last few days and seeing so many questions about pairings with tube amps, I figured I'd offer my experiences. With the right tube amp, these headphones are addictive. I should probably take these things off soon as I've had them on pretty much all waking hours of the day that I'm not at work. I was having a really hard time at the show deciding if I wanted to spend more money on another pair of headphones when I was perfectly happy with the setup I had. Now I am extremely happy that I did. I'm hearing some songs I know very well in a whole new way. It's great.

I would seem to agree with your assessment of the width/depth of the soundstage vs the Audeze LCD-( ) headphones.

Tuberolling is both fun and tiresome with these I have so many combos, I just wish I could find the perfect one and just leave it alone.

Currently I am still driving them with the Icon Audio Hp8 MkII, but have 'sidestepped' or maybe stepped up a bit (especially in features, and in the fact you can have true, native DSD sans digital processing in the DAC itself) to a RME ADI-2 DAC fs.

No problems with sibilance at all. Actually treble is extremely smooth, low distortion, pretty much everything you could want.

Unfortunately for me, when I got into the hobby, I ran my headphones way too hot and damaged my hearing centered around the 2000khz to 4000khz octave. The headphones I was using were purposely tuned with a large bump there for 'sparkle and presence'. I won't name them, but you might take a guess

So I am perpetually irritated in that frequency range now, and I have to take into my account my own hearing deficiencies when evaluating. The Clear do cause a bit of distress for me there, but nowhere near many others, including (surprisingly) Audeze.

TIFWIW, though. I am constantly 'shaping' tone and frequency by tube rolling, and most of that is to get a sound that is non fatiguing yet still revealing considering my handicap. The RME has a powerful parametric EQ, but I am still too stubborn in my old school thoughts on DSP... and the true native DSD playback of the RME DAC is sublime and you can't do DSP on that anyway

 

[Meanstreak242]

I would seem to agree with your assessment of the width/depth of the soundstage vs the Audeze LCD-( ) headphones.

Tuberolling is both fun and tiresome with these I have so many combos, I just wish I could find the perfect one and just leave it alone.

Currently I am still driving them with the Icon Audio Hp8 MkII, but have 'sidestepped' or maybe stepped up a bit (especially in features, and in the fact you can have true, native DSD sans digital processing in the DAC itself) to a RME ADI-2 DAC fs.

No problems with sibilance at all. Actually treble is extremely smooth, low distortion, pretty much everything you could want.

Unfortunately for me, when I got into the hobby, I ran my headphones way too hot and damaged my hearing centered around the 2000khz to 4000khz octave. The headphones I was using were purposely tuned with a large bump there for 'sparkle and presence'. I won't name them, but you might take a guess

So I am perpetually irritated in that frequency range now, and I have to take into my account my own hearing deficiencies when evaluating. The Clear do cause a bit of distress for me there, but nowhere near many others, including (surprisingly) Audeze.

TIFWIW, though. I am constantly 'shaping' tone and frequency by tube rolling, and most of that is to get a sound that is non fatiguing yet still revealing considering my handicap. The RME has a powerful parametric EQ, but I am still too stubborn in my old school thoughts on DSP... and the true native DSD playback of the RME DAC is sublime and you can't do DSP on that anyway

Wow, I'm sorry to hear about your hearing loss. I couldn't agree more with tuberolling being tiresome and fun. I'm on a quest now to find a tube that's still in production that I really like. I almost wish I had started there instead of going for NOS tubes that aren't made anymore. Once they're gone, they're gone. But on some once you hear them you're spoiled.

Because these headphones have so much detail, I find the difference in tubes to be much more pronounced than with what I was listening to before. It means I have to put quite a few hours into all my tubes over again, to really see what I like with these. First world problems right?

 

[nunovpc]

I have one pair. Lovely!

 

[MLGrado]

Wow, I'm sorry to hear about your hearing loss. I couldn't agree more with tuberolling being tiresome and fun. I'm on a quest now to find a tube that's still in production that I really like. I almost wish I had started there instead of going for NOS tubes that aren't made anymore. Once they're gone, they're gone. But on some once you hear them you're spoiled.

Because these headphones have so much detail, I find the difference in tubes to be much more pronounced than with what I was listening to before. It means I have to put quite a few hours into all my tubes over again, to really see what I like with these. First world problems right?

It is a good lesson for all Head-fier's, and one I think we all need to be reminded of. The SPL levels that we put into our ears when we are listening for full dynamic range (and beyond, as it seems the ear adjusts and the tendency is to just keep turning it up) can quickly cause permanent damage. Never had an issue for decades of two channel speaker listening, but the intoxication of headphone sound combined with a headphone that was already hot in our ear's most sensitive zone is a recipe for trouble.

Take care of your ears, folks. They are all really have actually when it come to high fidelity audio, obviously haha. Measurements, reviews, subjective, objective.. whatever, we need a healthy instrument in our heads.

But yes, some first world problem

 

[Scrum92]

I have no need for the 6.35mm or balanced cable that came with my Clears. If I were to sell them, would I void my warranty or otherwise cause complications for myself besides resale value?