[gefski]

Any of you guys find constantly changing volume on your amp when listening to Clear, specifically with dynamic tracks. I find myself constantly struggling to find good volume level. For quieter music parts I tend to increase volume so I can hear every details in all instruments (can't help doing that) and when suddenly drum kicks in, it hits my ear really hard. I also get ear fatigue because of it, not because of any harsh highs but because loud notes hitting really hard (like drumstick poking in my ears)

In other words, like real live music with large dynamic swings ?

 

[Svatopluk]

I should have been more detailed as my experience is somewhat limited. My lcd3 and Hifiman 400i which are planar. Are never fatiguing . My focal clear, 800s, and grato 60 which are all dynamic drivers. Can be fatiguing at times. My short 2 week trial of the dynamic driver focal Utopias were fatiguing. A all with the viole tric 280 balanced amp.

I have the Gumby>V280>Utopia) setup and it's not fatiguing at all. It sounds like your're DAC may be really bright or the volume level may perhaps be a little too high. I find in most cases, dynamic drivers deliver better detail at lower volume than planar magnetic headphones, but that's just my ears.

 

[ToddRaymond]

This is to see if balance is good on the Ayre.

Having owned one of their preamps and two of their power amps (including the former flagship), I can tell you that balanced is the only way to go with their gear.

 

[Luke Thomas]

I have the Gumby>V280>Utopia) setup and it's not fatiguing at all. It sounds like your're DAC may be really bright or the volume level may perhaps be a little too high. I find in most cases, dynamic drivers deliver better detail at lower volume than planar magnetic headphones, but that's just my ears.

I think your correct. Correct. The Utopias must. Be dac sensitive.

 

[dontfeedphils]

I think your correct. Correct. The Utopias must. Be dac sensitive.

The Utopia are "everything sensitive". Never listed to a pair of headphones that are quite this revealing of source (outside of maybe the HD800 variants).

 

[bidn]

The Utopia are "everything sensitive". Never listed to a pair of headphones that are quite this revealing of source (outside of maybe the HD800 variants).

Indeed, I fully agree with you.
And the Utopia are not only revealing the the different DACs but even of the different DAC settings, at least with very clean and detailed DACs.
With my Utopia I can clearly hear the differences between the different DAC settings of my RME DAC-amp.
The (default) "Short Delay Sharp" DAC filter was too cold for me. After listening to different settings, trying out sharp, slow ... filters, different delays, etc., I finally settled for the NOS setting. There are not many headphones that allow you to hear all of this.

It is so nice Focal invested so much R&D in their high end super expensive speakers with Beryllium driver technology to trickle this down in headphones (Utopia), and now a more trickled and cheaper (no Berylium) version, the Clear (though not as revealing as the Utopia), allowing many to taste and enjoy this sonic experience to a large extent

 

[Paulo Abreu]

Exactly. That's literally what dynamics are. It means a variation between the soft and loud portions of a song. If a song has wide dynamics, that's a good thing. Ramping the volume up to make the soft parts "normal volume" is just asking for trouble. If you can't hear the little things, ask yourself why they mastered those parts so quietly.

Well said. I also found myself like the OP messing with volume on 1st auditions but now I'm listening at lower and steady volumes, only adjusting between albums (I have the terrible habit of listening entire albums from track 1 to x, I almost never shuffle). This takes me to a question, do you guys know if replay gain is a function that's applied before the DAC? I think FiiO will introduce RG on X7 sometime this year but I don't know if that will make any effect using it as a transport to my desktop DAC/AMP ? if yes, that would be great.

 

[bgbkt]

Exactly. That's literally what dynamics are. It means a variation between the soft and loud portions of a song. If a song has wide dynamics, that's a good thing. Ramping the volume up to make the soft parts "normal volume" is just asking for trouble. If you can't hear the little things, ask yourself why they mastered those parts so quietly.

I just have to learn to resist temptation to increase volume. Clear is sometimes so clear that you hear all those intricacies in music that you didn't hear earlier and you just want a little bit more...

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Well said. I also found myself like the OP messing with volume on 1st auditions but now I'm listening at lower and steady volumes, only adjusting between albums (I have the terrible habit of listening entire albums from track 1 to x, I almost never shuffle). This takes me to a question, do you guys know if replay gain is a function that's applied before the DAC? I think FiiO will introduce RG on X7 sometime this year but I don't know if that will make any effect using it as a transport to my desktop DAC/AMP ? if yes, that would be great.

Never shuffling is best, IMO. The album is in an order for a reason. I keep it that way myself. No clue about the replay gain though.

 

[robertbudding]

Having owned one of their preamps and two of their power amps (including the former flagship), I can tell you that balanced is the only way to go with their gear.

Are noise levels so high that balanced operation is needed? I wouldn't expect that with the Clear because of its high efficiency.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

Thanks! It sounds like it leaks as much sound as other phones, maybe slightly less if any.
But it looks to me that Clear can retrieve details at a lower volume, so that I don't need to increase volume all the way up to the range of 80-85db. If that is the case so that I can comfortably listen between 75-80db, it may leak sound less ultimately than other open-back phones.

This is a very under rated quality that I love about Focal Elear/Clear/Utopia. Don’t need to end up blasting your ears out to eek out the details. I must say though, it is difficult to not turn it up when you’re enjoying a good headphone

Indeed, I fully agree with you.
And the Utopia are not only revealing the the different DACs but even of the different DAC settings, at least with very clean and detailed DACs.
With my Utopia I can clearly hear the differences between the different DAC settings of my RME DAC-amp.
The (default) "Short Delay Sharp" DAC filter was too cold for me. After listening to different settings, trying out sharp, slow ... filters, different delays, etc., I finally settled for the NOS setting. There are not many headphones that allow you to hear all of this.

It is so nice Focal invested so much R&D in their high end super expensive speakers with Beryllium driver technology to trickle this down in headphones (Utopia), and now a more trickled and cheaper (no Berylium) version, the Clear (though not as revealing as the Utopia), allowing many to taste and enjoy this sonic experience to a large extent

Couldn’t agree more with this. This is why even though I love the Clear, I would still aspire to get the Utopia, and think it’s worth it. BUT to have the Clear hit on so many areas price/performance wise it’s tough to not “settle” and get the Clear lol. I’m glad Focal really nailed the tone on the Clear as well. I feel it’s exaclty what the customer wanted coming from the perspective of the Elear and Utopia. Neutral, “Clear” but still has punch and a fun sound. The transparency is up there as well among many other things.

I just have to learn to resist temptation to increase volume. Clear is sometimes so clear that you hear all those intricacies in music that you didn't hear earlier and you just want a little bit more...

When I first listen to a track I hear what is going on and try to get a jist of what the sharpest sound will be. This could be a trumpet, female voice that gets really high ect. Then I adjust my volume to that sound, as to not hurt my ears and try to leave it there. That is then now my volume range for that specific song. I also know I won’t be hurting my hearing, but also getting the most details I can. Does anyone else do this? I’m all for different thoughts on the matter to achieving the best of both worlds (hearing detail/not hurting my ears).

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I seriously do believe that if the only way to hear the "details" in a song is for the volume to be up high enough that the more prominent elements are painful, there are two options available. One is that the headphone you're wearing is uneven and wonky, the other is that those details are intentionally mastered low in the mix so having them not be bell clear is what's supposed to be happening.

As cool as it is to put a microscope on all those little things like the sound of flute keys hitting the body of it or fingers tapping on a guitar's fretboard, I worry that listening to that extent is a forest-for-the-trees scenario and the music as a whole falls by the wayside. What I loved about the Clear was that I wasn't listening to pieces of instruments, I was listening to the music they made.

 

[Bern2]

Faux News Alert! There is no HD820 coming and there is no Focal coming starting with the letter P.

Rut...Ro....someone's only batting .500...

Bern

 

[TSAVJason]

Rut...Ro....someone's only batting .500...

Bern

Yep, I guess I can’t count on what I’m told sometimes. Actually over a few brands I’m closer to 900 but who’s counting

 

[Liu Junyuan]

I have the Gumby>V280>Utopia) setup and it's not fatiguing at all. It sounds like your're DAC may be really bright or the volume level may perhaps be a little too high. I find in most cases, dynamic drivers deliver better detail at lower volume than planar magnetic headphones, but that's just my ears.

The V280/281 is a solid state amp that synwrgizes very well with the Utopia.