[ra990]

That’s because the Clears are a, all a rounder. Sounding equally good with all genres. Many cans can’t do all types.

Yea, that's what I'm starting to realize. If you enjoy the Clear's sound signature then you'll enjoy it regardless of the source. But it is essentially achieving that by coloring the sound compared to something like the HE1K.

 

[conquerator2]

Eh, I'll be the first to point out the HEK are colored as well. They follow the usual HiFiMAN house sound - emphasized upper mids / lower treble and softened mid bass. Not saying they aren't a great performer, just saying that unless you build a gear around them to address these particular shortcomings, they too are colored in some way. Whether that is less obvious, or more pleasing is subjective. It was pretty apparent to my ears

 

[Blueshound24]

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten”
- Benjamin Franklin

Nice quote
I feel better now thinking of all my expenditures in audio

 

[ra990]

Eh, I'll be the first to point out the HEK are colored as well. They follow the usual HiFiMAN house sound - emphasized upper mids / lower treble and softened mid bass. Not saying they aren't a great performer, just saying that unless you build a gear around them to address these particular shortcomings, they too are colored in some way. Whether that is less obvious, or more pleasing is subjective. It was pretty apparent to my ears

Yes, I suppose they all add their distinctive touch to the sound. But, I would say they are "clearer" than the Clears. Probably been asked several times, but in terms of clarity/transparency, how do the Utopia compare to the Clear?

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Yea, that's what I'm starting to realize. If you enjoy the Clear's sound signature then you'll enjoy it regardless of the source. But it is essentially achieving that by coloring the sound compared to something like the HE1K.

Not sure I agree with this, I’ve auditioned bot HEK’s in my System hazy and indistinct, haven’t heard any bleeding into the mids with the Clear, in fact it’s one of the most coherent presentations I’ve heard. The Clear reflect the amp, clearly, the differences between my Mojo, MicroZOTL and Herron 5 are readily apparent (DACs as well) unlike say the HD800, they sound great on a far broader array of equipment.

 

[ra990]

Not sure I agree with this, I’ve auditioned bot HEK’s in my System hazy and indistinct, haven’t heard any bleeding into the mids with the Clear, in fact it’s one of the most coherent presentations I’ve heard. The Clear reflect the amp, clearly, the differences between my Mojo, MicroZOTL and Herron 5 are readily apparent (DACs as well) unlike say the HD800, they sound great on a far broader array of equipment.

Interesting, it was the first thing that jumped out at me coming from the HE1K, but to be fair my Clears haven't broken in yet.

 

[ra990]

Another thing I noticed, compared to the HE1K, these are enjoyable at a much lower volume. With the HE1K, I had to turn up the volume to make them punchy. With the Clears, they're punchy from a much lower volume, so I'm finding myself listening at a much lower volume than I'm used to.

 

[ra990]

Been listening to Kendrick Lamar's DAMN at a decent volume and the headphones are crackling with a lot of the heavy sub bass in the track. I'm having to turn down the volume to make that stop, then it's clean, but I'm at a pretty low volume now. Is this normal? Does it get better after break-in?

EDIT: Found some posts about it:

The Clear is awesome, it really is. But with my Rap music, I can't play as loud as I want because of that little crackle noise I get once in a while.
That's just with rap music and a very small amount of Trance/Techno. Rock and other genres rock on the Clear, I'm just hard to please for a long time without finding something that is bothering me and moving onto something new. I have to be Bi-polar awesome or something.

I did when I first got them. But, now it will only rarely happen when I try to max out my Mojo, and at that point it's so loud I turn down the volume. These don't have the same issue as the Elear. I was the first non industry owner of the Clear in the USA. So I've owned mine for a while now, you have to burn them in and the bass gets nice and tight. No rattle.
So, only on heavy bass at very high volume I get the crackle, I just feel like the driver is over driven at that level.

 

[abvolt]

Dude I hope your not starting to go though what I did with the Elear's two hp's bad in less than a year, Because I really want to own the Clear's. It's not normal, Focal seems to have an issue with their hp's. Sorry I'd send them back..enjoy

 

[ra990]

Dude I hope your not starting to go though what I did with the Elear's two hp's bad in less than a year, Because I really want to own the Clear's. It's not normal, Focal seems to have an issue with their hp's. Sorry I'd send them back..enjoy

Going to give them more time to break in and then reevaluate the sub bass performance. But, yea if it continues after a couple weeks of breaking in, they're going back.

 

[Kyle 491]

I'm auditioning the Clears right now and have maybe 8 hours on them. Coming from the Hifiman HE1000V2, the first thing that I notice is that the Clears are pretty bloomy. The low end colors the midrange compared to the HE1K, where the entire frequency range seemed more distinct. It also has a particular sound that comes through on everything that I'm playing through them. With the HE1K, if I played 3 different songs on them, they all sounded different - it really let the sound of the source come through uncolored. With the Clears everything seems to have a similar warmth to them. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice pleasant sound and I like it so far, but it does make them a little more monotonous and less engaging from song-to-song. I know they're not in the same price category, but just thought I'd share my first impressions after about a day of listening.

Voicing my agreement with this view, I listened to both the HE 1000V2 and the Clear, while the Clear has a stronger bass impact, the HE1000V2 is much more vivid in the mid-range to treble regions and more accurately reflects the song, conveying subtleties and spacial cues and adjusting its presentation to suit the music, rather than imposing a samey, grey character to the music that the Clear does. Clear sounds un-involving in comparison with a lifeless mid-band that makes one want to turn up the volume for more involvement, only to be hit by harshness similar to how the Elear sounds at high volumes (not sure what this is caused by, high excursion factor of the driver combined with modal breakup & narrow staging?). I found that the HD650 with 2017 drivers is also more involving and responsive to what is being fed through it, despite having inferior bass overall, it does sound better at high volumes. HE1000V2 and HD650 really have masterfully judged mid-ranges, capable of sounding both relaxed or intense as the music calls for it, warmer yet more vivid at the same time. As for the Clear, I think its no accident that it was designed with such a colour scheme, it is highly appropriate for the sound it produces, namely grey. But seriously, they are indeed capable of playing any genres competently at moderate volumes without harshness or treble spikes & in that regard can be considered genre masters with high clarity and impact, just not my kind of sound.

I listened to all the above transducers amped by the Master 9,Hugo V2, Audiolab M-Dac and Matrix M-Stage (v1) in turns.

 

[Ekul61]

Also

Voicing my agreement with this view, I listened to both the HE 1000V2 and the Clear, while the Clear has a stronger bass impact, the HE1000V2 is much more vivid in the mid-range to treble regions and more accurately reflects the song, conveying subtleties and spacial cues and adjusting its presentation to suit the music, rather than imposing a samey, grey character to the music that the Clear does. Clear sounds un-involving in comparison with a lifeless mid-band that makes one want to turn up the volume for more involvement, only to be hit by harshness similar to how the Elear sounds at high volumes (not sure what this is caused by, high excursion factor of the driver combined with modal breakup & narrow staging?). I found that the HD650 with 2017 drivers is also more involving and responsive to what is being fed through it, despite having inferior bass overall, it does sound better at high volumes. HE1000V2 and HD650 really have masterfully judged mid-ranges, capable of sounding both relaxed or intense as the music calls for it, warmer yet more vivid at the same time. As for the Clear, I think its no accident that it was designed with such a colour scheme, it is highly appropriate for the sound it produces, namely grey. But seriously, they are indeed capable of playing any genres competently at moderate volumes without harshness or treble spikes & in that regard can be considered genre masters with high clarity and impact, just not my kind of sound.

I listened to all the above transducers amped by the Master 9,Hugo V2, Audiolab M-Dac and Matrix M-Stage (v1) in turns.

Clears definitely aren’t perfect. What I found was the Clears have less flaws than most. Price, cables, case, sound are hard to beat.

 

[snafu1]

I really like the 3.5mm cable that comes with the Clear. It's just the perfect length. I would be terrific to have a similar cable, but balanced, with a 2.5mm TRRS connector. Can anyone recommend a source for something like this?

Update: Never mind I found just what I wanted on surfcables.com

 

[ra990]

Distortion on bass continues for me after another 24 hours of break-in. Can't listen to any tracks with sub bass at over medium volume without it. Is this normal? I'd say they have over 50 hours of break-in by now (mix of pink noise, frequency sweeps, and classical). Here's one it really struggles with requiring me to turn my volume down to med-low levels.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Distortion on bass continues for me after another 24 hours of break-in. Can't listen to any tracks with sub bass at over medium volume without it. Is this normal? I'd say they have over 50 hours of break-in by now (mix of pink noise, frequency sweeps, and classical). Here's one it really struggles with requiring me to turn my volume down to med-low levels.

How loud do you listen, I’m listening to this on Tidal at 12:00 on the Herron 5, the bass that starts around 2:21 is distorted in the recording, it’s not the headphone. It sounds like the mike overloading. Other than that the bass sounds fine, though “loud” is relative.