[franz12]

There seems to be a little disconnect between the midrange and the treble, but it is barely noticeable to me in most songs.

By the way, Clear is quite a 'professional' grade headphone. It does not miss any single detail in music. Bass is fairly strong but does not mask vocal. It is leaning toward a brighter side, but is not harsh. (to me, hd800s and ie800 are harsh) I have to deal with a lot of bad recordings, but Clear seems to be fine with those, despite it is quite resolving anyhow.
It is more efficient than aeon flow open. My hugo can drive clear at a lower volume. At a quite a low volume, listening is still quite enjoyable. I only use one headphone, not a collector. I will only use Clear for a next few weeks and see whether it wins my head time.

 

[Beagle]

I didn't hear any disconnect either. The Clear ware, in my mind, far more detailed than were the Elears, and the mid-range is better balanced. And the transitions from mid-range to treble sounded fine.

You can kind of see it here:
https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/FocalClearsnA1BRQE000007.pdf

 

[robertbudding]

You can kind of see it here:
https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/FocalClearsnA1BRQE000007.pdf

The Sennheiser HD800 S rolls off even more in the upper treble fundamentals.

https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD800S.pdf

The highest fundamental on a piano is at about 4k. Yes, pipe organ goes a bit higher, but I don't listen much to organ music. So you're really talking about harmonics. Sibilance occurs from 4k - 10k, so perhaps it's a reasonable design decision to slightly suppress that range, and it seems fairly common across multiple headphones from various companies. What you listen to also affects what you hear from a headphone. I listen to a lot of classical, and, for me, the Clear sounds fantastic. But I'm not a fan of sibilance.

 

[up late]

You can kind of see it here:
https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/FocalClearsnA1BRQE000007.pdf

referring to measurements - now that's a turn up

 

[Beagle]

The Sennheiser HD800 S rolls off even more in the upper treble fundamentals.

https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD800S.pdf

The highest fundamental on a piano is at about 4k. Yes, pipe organ goes a bit higher, but I don't listen much to organ music. So you're really talking about harmonics. Sibilance occurs from 4k - 10k, so perhaps it's a reasonable design decision to slightly suppress that range, and it seems fairly common across multiple headphones from various companies. What you listen to also affects what you hear from a headphone. I listen to a lot of classical, and, for me, the Clear sounds fantastic. But I'm not a fan of sibilance.

True, but there is plenty of information in that range. To suppress bad sibliance (which would be the recordings fault) means to also suppress a lot of overtones.

I'm not saying it's an annoying problem, it's not. It's just that the slight lack of energy in the area is noticeable on certain things. And I'm nit-picking anyway. The Clear is a major improvement over the Elear. It gets the midrange mostly correct and that's what matters most, along with a balanced bass which integrates seamlessly into the mid. There's a lot to love about this headphone.

 

[robertbudding]

True, but there is plenty of information in that range. To suppress bad sibliance (which would be the recordings fault) means to also suppress a lot of overtones.

I'm not saying it's an annoying problem, it's not. It's just that the slight lack of energy in the area is noticeable on certain things. And I'm nit-picking anyway. The Clear is a major improvement over the Elear. It gets the midrange mostly correct and that's what matters most, along with a balanced bass which integrates seamlessly into the mid. There's a lot to love about this headphone

It’s not a huge roll-off in the upper treble, and many headphones have similar behavior. Yes, there is a lot to like in the Clear. I like them far more than the Elear. They aren’t perfect, but they are damned good.

 

[swmtnbiker]

I received my Clear yesterday while at work. Of course I couldn't resist trying it out right then and there, so I plugged it directly into my 2017 MacBook Pro and cranked up Tidal. It sounded wonderful, but didn't blow me away. Cut to last night, when I had a couple of hours to listen to it on my home rig. WOW! Pairing this headphone with the balanced out of my HA-1 being fed by a Mimby was AMAZING. The dynamics, micro-detail, and overall balance was really quite startling to me. Based on this noticeable leap in performance I don't understand the comments I've read stating that this headphone doesn't scale that well. My personal experience so far has been the exact opposite.

I have some days of comparison with my AFO ahead, but damn, the Clear had me up past midnight and I shut things down with major reluctance. All I wanted to do was listen to just ONE more song. That hasn't happened to me in a long time.

 

[Aeskualpio]

I received my Clear yesterday while at work. Of course I couldn't resist trying it out right then and there, so I plugged it directly into my 2017 MacBook Pro and cranked up Tidal. It sounded wonderful, but didn't blow me away. Cut to last night, when I had a couple of hours to listen to it on my home rig. WOW! Pairing this headphone with the balanced out of my HA-1 being fed by a Mimby was AMAZING. The dynamics, micro-detail, and overall balance was really quite startling to me. Based on this noticeable leap in performance I don't understand the comments I've read stating that this headphone doesn't scale that well. My personal experience so far has been the exact opposite.

I have some days of comparison with my AFO ahead, but damn, the Clear had me up past midnight and I shut things down with major reluctance. All I wanted to do was listen to just ONE more song. That hasn't happened to me in a long time.

I always want to listen to my Clear.
Only the iSine 20s get near equal playing time and that’s only because I mostly use them at the office

 

[qrtas]

I received my Clear yesterday while at work. Of course I couldn't resist trying it out right then and there, so I plugged it directly into my 2017 MacBook Pro and cranked up Tidal. It sounded wonderful, but didn't blow me away. Cut to last night, when I had a couple of hours to listen to it on my home rig. WOW! Pairing this headphone with the balanced out of my HA-1 being fed by a Mimby was AMAZING. The dynamics, micro-detail, and overall balance was really quite startling to me. Based on this noticeable leap in performance I don't understand the comments I've read stating that this headphone doesn't scale that well. My personal experience so far has been the exact opposite.

I have some days of comparison with my AFO ahead, but damn, the Clear had me up past midnight and I shut things down with major reluctance. All I wanted to do was listen to just ONE more song. That hasn't happened to me in a long time.

I am with you here. The clear scales up pretty well. It is true, low impedance headphones, just in terms of volume, can be driven with a phone or a laptop. But in terms of sound improvement (details, micro details, soundstage, tighter bass, etc) they do scale up.

My clear with my iPhone 7 sounds good, with my ifi micro idsd black label sounds spectacular, and with my ifi iCan pro It blows my mind.

If someone gets this headphones with the intention of using them without proper amplification, just because they are low impedance, is not taking full advantage of them.

 

[franz12]

I am with you here. The clear scales up pretty well. It is true, low impedance headphones, just in terms of volume, can be driven with a phone or a laptop. But in terms of sound improvement (details, micro details, soundstage, tighter bass, etc) they do scale up.

My clear with my iPhone 7 sounds good, with my ifi micro idsd black label sounds spectacular, and with my ifi iCan pro It blows my mind.

If someone gets this headphones with the intention of using them without proper amplification, just because they are low impedance, is not taking full advantage of them.

Clear sounds pretty good from my Hugo. But I am unsure whether that is because it has better DAC or AMP section than my macpro.

I don't think Clear is power hungry like some planars. I guess it is more of a matching problem rather than a 'power' problem.

 

[Ojisan]

I’m not hearing the disconnect between the midrange and the treble, I’d Love to hear from other folks, is this the case for you? What are you using as a source, do you prefer the hotter treble of the Utopia?

I have brought this up before in my impression of Clear. My setup has been PC -> USB -> Yggy (Gen5/A2) -> BAL -> Jotunheim.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-clear-headphones.861727/page-63#post-13904828

For reference, I found the stock HD800 to be mildly bright but not as bad as some people make it. My DIY SDR and SBAF mods made it much better but with a slight hint of Senn haze. Utopia out of the box was better than modded HD800 with better bass texture, better mid body and clarity (but not as bold/thick as Clear), and just-right presence and treble that gives enough sparkle for spatial cues and those hard-hit piano notes when needed. I would say though that the liveliness and dynamics are a lot more apparent with Clear. Utopia is slightly tame and neutral compared to Clear but a lot more dynamic compared to my modded HD800.

Some examples where I felt the lack of presence with Clear:

• "Seven Days" by Sting, Album "Ten Summoner's Tales": First 30 seconds has a nice spaciousness especially listening to the rim clicks and the reverberations from it. Somehow I heard a disconnected reverberations with Clear. Could have been coloration.
• "Chant" by Fourplay, Album "Between the Sheets": At about 7 sec and 14 sec, there is a swoosh sound effect from left to right followed by (I believe) wooden chimes. The effect of swoosh was quite diminished in Clear.
• "Speed Demon" by Michael Jackson, Album "Bad": A car rumbles by from left to right at the intro. I think it's supposed to move left-forward -> center -> right. Clear shows its depth by making it sound as if it's coming from somewhere deeper in the soundstage and then takes a sharp turn at center. None of my other headphones does this.

Clearly, these are not fundamental tones of music but I feel these areas are important ambiance that is part of listening to music. I felt something missing, whether its rock, pop, symphonies, chamber music, etc. Not saying Clear is at fault because it got me liking the Focal sound Judging from lack of similar views, it's probably minority view

 

[DavidWeinberg]

I received my Clear yesterday while at work. Of course I couldn't resist trying it out right then and there, so I plugged it directly into my 2017 MacBook Pro and cranked up Tidal. It sounded wonderful, but didn't blow me away. Cut to last night, when I had a couple of hours to listen to it on my home rig. WOW! Pairing this headphone with the balanced out of my HA-1 being fed by a Mimby was AMAZING. The dynamics, micro-detail, and overall balance was really quite startling to me. Based on this noticeable leap in performance I don't understand the comments I've read stating that this headphone doesn't scale that well. My personal experience so far has been the exact opposite.

I have some days of comparison with my AFO ahead, but damn, the Clear had me up past midnight and I shut things down with major reluctance. All I wanted to do was listen to just ONE more song. That hasn't happened to me in a long time.

I am in a similar situation. I really liked the Clear when I tried out a pair a few weeks ago. I also liked the AFO, but my evaluation was back in December. I’ll have a chance to compare both in a few weeks when I’m in NYC. While I think I favor the Clear, I want to be able to absolutely certain. I also want to be able to use the Clear when I travel and not in a controlled space like my home. I think the Clear may be a bit too open for me allowing my to hear external sounds and others to hear my music. I know this topic (bleed-through and dampening) was addressed earlier in this thread. But it still something I need to settle upon.

That is why I am interested in hearing your thoughts comparing the Clear with the AFO, although I think we can specualte where you may be heading. Do post your impressions when you are ready.

 

[franz12]

I am in a similar situation. I really liked the Clear when I tried out a pair a few weeks ago. I also liked the AFO, but my evaluation was back in December. I’ll have a chance to compare both in a few weeks when I’m in NYC. While I think I favor the Clear, I want to be able to absolutely certain. I also want to be able to use the Clear when I travel and not in a controlled space like my home. I think the Clear may be a bit too open for me allowing my to hear external sounds and others to hear my music. I know this topic (bleed-through and dampening) was addressed earlier in this thread. But it still something I need to settle upon.

That is why I am interested in hearing your thoughts comparing the Clear with the AFO, although I think we can specualte where you may be heading. Do post your impressions when you are ready.

Clear can retrieve details at a lower volume than AFO. You can go pretty low so that you do not bother others that much. But it is true that Clear allows you to hear more external sounds than AFO.
Clear is a truly 'professional' grade headphone in that you can hear a subtle detail effortlessly, while AFO has a more cohesive sound with slightly warmer sound signature, which I think it is more 'consumer' friendly.
Overall, they have pretty similar presentation IMO. I understand why someone who has both keeps one and sells the other.

 

[MCPT]

Does anyone have a DAP recommendations for the Clear? I believe at least one person was using a Fiio X7 mark II with good results (of course, the amp selection makes a difference). I listen to my headphones in multiple areas of my home, so a DAP would be what I use 95% of the time with the Clear.

I'm currently using an LG V20 as a DAP with my Fidelio X2, but I'm planning on upgrading both and may start with the the DAP. I'm looking for an Android DAP that plays FLAC and DSD in their native form while also allowing for streaming. It sounds like the Clear may be a little bright, so I don't want to buy a DAP that adds any glare/brightness. If anyone has experience with a DAP that compliments the Clear, I would appreciate your thoughts. I'm currently leaning towards a DAP with interchangeable amps so I can switch amps if needed to alter the sound to my preference. I know the Clear are efficient, but there are reports of improvement with more powerful amps, so I don't want an under powered DAP.

I've spent some time listening to a few locally available headphones. Having heard the LCD-X and HD800S, I've learned that I want something in between the two and from the reviews I'm reading it sounds like the Clear would fit my preference. I found the LCD-X to be too warm/bassy and although I enjoyed the clarity and soundstage of the HD800S, I found them to be too thin sounding as a result of what I perceived to be a lack of bass (they were both connected to a McIntosh amp that was better than anything I plan to use). I would buy the Clear first, but I know that if I wait I can get it for hundreds less.

Any experience with how the Clear sounds on particular DAPs would be very helpful.

 

[Luke Thomas]

Fiio x5 through a Violectric amp is very nice. I’m sure any quality dap would sound good.