[Wildcatsare1]

Thank you Joseph, they are still less than a year old, so I’d love to speak to the folks at Focal to see if I can avoid this occurring again.

 

[thecrow]

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.

Would the lcd x or one of the new hifimans be an option IF you looked gor a replacement. Or new fostex?

 

[kman1211]

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?

That does concern me a bit, sounds similar to what happened to some Elears which I read some people having issues of the drivers failing on them. Reported cases of focal headphone driver failure seem higher than average from what I can tell. I wonder why some fail like that, makes me think there is a design fault or a manufacturing tolerance issue. The Sony MDR-R10 for example has an issue where their drivers can suddenly die due to design fault in the voice coil, with those it’s not a matter of if, more of a matter of when sadly. I’ve had two friends who had R10s fail on them. Two months for a replacement? Their customer service needs to be stepped up. With some Beyers I’ve had in the past that failed it took a week or less to have them fixed including shipping time. I’ve only ever had to deal with Beyer(driver and cable failure on a DT 1770) and Audioquest(those constantly failing Nighthawk wood cables) customer service before, so not sure what it’s like with other companies.

I’m a bit cautious, but still want to try them, I’m going to have to make sure I get one from an authorized dealer so I know the warranty is good. Would get the Utopia but it’s out of my price range.

 

[B.inthe6ix]

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

After much research on the subject I have arrived at an optimal playback setting of 16 bit / 48 khz on my Mac (48khz is believed to be a slight improvement from 44.1). There is a lot of material on this & perhaps you would find this link worth a read : https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html#toc_1ch. Scroll to page top.
I don't know how you managed that good deal on the pairing but you sure lucked out on that one!!! You'll be very pleased with that Fostex I'm certain. It will probably come with the latest firmware but if you decide to update for any reason, make sure you understand the process. You don't want to brick it. I had someone do it for me & they had problems with it & later realized that the unit already had the latest update. Make sure you use the proper card type & proper formatting on the micro card. https://www.fostexinternational.co...nloads/HPA4BL_FirmwareUpdateProcedures_E.pdf . Give us some feedback after you're set up. As a side note, I leave the filter button in the out position.
B.

 

[esauseesaw]

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)?

Power is only one specification of an amp. There's more to it that. PA amps have bags of power but that doesn't mean they make Hi-Fi speakers sound better. If you like what the Mojo does then maybe consider a stand alone headphone amp? Chord's DAC technology is exceptional but others might offer better options for amplification.

 

[Martijn W]

deleted

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Would the lcd x or one of the new hifimans be an option IF you looked gor a replacement. Or new fostex?

Not sure, I used to have an LCD3f, I liked it, but wanted a bit more clarity. I’m wondering about the Ether 2 and Zach’s new headphones.

 

[ElDeejei]

After much research on the subject I have arrived at an optimal playback setting of 16 bit / 48 khz on my Mac (48khz is believed to be a slight improvement from 44.1). There is a lot of material on this & perhaps you would find this link worth a read : https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html#toc_1ch. Scroll to page top.
I don't know how you managed that good deal on the pairing but you sure lucked out on that one!!! You'll be very pleased with that Fostex I'm certain. It will probably come with the latest firmware but if you decide to update for any reason, make sure you understand the process. You don't want to brick it. I had someone do it for me & they had problems with it & later realized that the unit already had the latest update. Make sure you use the proper card type & proper formatting on the micro card. https://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/tech_support/downloads/HPA4BL_FirmwareUpdateProcedures_E.pdf . Give us some feedback after you're set up. As a side note, I leave the filter button in the out position.
B.

I found them on the B stock market so hopefully, it doesn't come back to bite me in the butt long term. Especially after Wildcat was having issues with his pairs. Thank you for the link it saved me some cash as well as gave me some insight on what to listen to and not listen to when it comes to marketing from some companies.

 

[thecrow]

Not sure, I used to have an LCD3f, I liked it, but wanted a bit more clarity. I’m wondering about the Ether 2 and Zach’s new headphones.

The ether2 would be worth looking at.
I always found the ether flow open were somewhat similar to my hd800

But that was mot the ether 2.

I do enjoy the auteur - particularly when matching it to music that matches well. I’m over the honeymoon period with them so the wow factor has gone but still enjoyable. A couple of norne cables with it. I sometimes yearn for the character of the lcd3 that I have demoed a few times - but I’m cant have both.

Certainly would be interesting to know how the new Zmf sounds like (the more premium one) but probably best I don’t hear it.

Zachs warranty (as per his website) for original owners is fantastic - drivers for the life of the heafphones.

It certainly gets tricky at this level getting what you want with minimal compromises

Would the lcd4 give you the clarity/ sound you're after?

 

[B.inthe6ix]

I found them on the B stock market so hopefully, it doesn't come back to bite me in the butt long term. Especially after Wildcat was having issues with his pairs. Thank you for the link it saved me some cash as well as gave me some insight on what to listen to and not listen to when it comes to marketing from some companies.

This marketing can be applied to headphone cables as well. If an exotic cable does it for someone on an aesthetic level - that's fine. But look at it from Focal's end. They give you 3 cables with their expensive Clear headphones. Those cables are obviously just lamp cord wrapped in attractive weave. Can a customer really believe that Focal is going to risk their high end sound & reputation on a lamp cord cable if it would degrade the sound quality of the Clear? Yet there are those of us that believe that those cables must be crap if they're going to give us three of them for "free". AND insist that their brain is hearing a variety of audio signatures available with different wires. One can justifiably assume a high end headphone (& speaker) company like Focal is not going to try to sell you their precious product without an in depth understanding of the "life line" that connects it to the source of the music. IMO it's nice to have an attractive and / or otherwise suitable aftermarket cable but not for the reasons dictated by marketing.
B.
Edited for clarification.

 

[Phronesis]

This marketing can be applied to headphone cables as well. If an exotic cable does it for someone on an aesthetic level - that's fine. But look at it from Focal's end. They give you 3 cables with their expensive Clear headphones. Those cables are obviously just lamp cord wrapped in attractive weave. Can a customer really believe that Focal is going to risk their high end sound & reputation on a lamp cord cable that would degrade the sound quality of the Clear? Yet there are those of us that believe that those cables must be crap if they're going to give us three of them for "free". AND insist that their brain is hearing a variety of audio signatures available with different wires. IMO it's nice to have an attractive and / or otherwise suitable after market cable but not for the reasons dictated by marketing.
B.

Agreed. I doubt cables make any significant sound difference. People don’t worry about cables in the worlds of music recording and production.

 

[joseph69]

Agreed. I doubt cables make any significant sound difference.

I don't want to get into any headphone cable debates, at all, so please be clear on this. I just want to say that I've been using a 4-pin XLR Wireworld Nano Platinum Eclipse from day one with my Utopia. I run a fully balanced system so I never used the stock 1/4" terminated cable (except when I borrowed the Utopia to demo...3x.)

Yesterday I decided to terminate the stock cable with a Neutrik 4-pin XLR connector to find if I heard any differences. I listened last night for a few hours with the stock cable, and please, don't get me wrong, the stock cable wasn't bad sounding, but I found it lacked the excitement, detail, clarity, punch and dynamics the Wireworld offers (too me.) I would describe the stock cable as holding back the Utopia, but I could see others preferring it, especially if their upstream gear is on the brighter side.


This is coming from the same guy who asked before owning the Utopia "why would the Utopia (a $4K) headphone need an aftermarket cable at this price point?" Well now I hear why for myself. Just to be clear, I will continue to use the stock cable for a while so I can get more aquatinted with it's sound. because as I mentioned, it's not bad sounding, just different. And yes, I know this is the Clear thread.

 

[Phronesis]

I don't want to get into any headphone cable debates, at all, so please be clear on this. I just want to say that I've been using a 4-pin XLR Wireworld Nano Platinum Eclipse from day one with my Utopia. I run a fully balanced system so I never used the stock 1/4" terminated cable (except when I borrowed the Utopia to demo...3x.)

Yesterday I decided to terminate the stock cable with a Neutrik 4-pin XLR connector to find if I heard any differences. I listened last night for a few hours with the stock cable, and please, don't get me wrong, the stock cable wasn't bad sounding, but I found it lacked the excitement, detail, clarity, punch and dynamics the Wireworld offers (too me.) I would describe the stock cable as holding back the Utopia, but I could see others preferring it, especially if their upstream gear is on the brighter side.


This is coming from the same guy who asked before owning the Utopia "why would the Utopia (a $4K) headphone need an aftermarket cable at this price point?" Well now I hear why for myself. Just to be clear, I will continue to use the stock cable for a while so I can get more aquatinted with it's sound. because as I mentioned, it's not bad sounding, just different. And yes, I know this is the Clear thread.

I don't doubt that you and many others are genuinely perceiving significant and consistent differences - brain imaging would confirm it. I've perceived such differences myself when comparing DAC/amps in the past. But when I introduced some controls in my comparisons, the differences I previously perceived pretty much disappeared -- a shocking and unwelcome result! IMO, it's worth trying to introduce some controls in these comparisons, in order to better determine whether perceived differences are due to the gear versus variations, biases, and errors in our perception. That can save a lot of time and money down the line with respect to pursuing gear upgrades which don't actually improve the sound. A really good general book to read on perception is "Subliminal" by Leonard Mlodinow.

 

[B.inthe6ix]

The brain / mind is such a marvel .
Here's one for ya: Once upon a time a guy asked his friend to help him choose the best sounding headphone cable between the stock cable & the aftermarket one he had just purchased. (already the friend's brain was conditioned to believe that the aftermarket cable must be superior or it would not have been purchased - right?)
In a blind test this friend chose one over the other because he truly believed that there must be a difference since 2 cables were involved, In actual fact, the same cable was auditioned twice.
If one tries to perceive (subtle) nuance the brain will inherently amplify what one suspects to be true.
It's like silver vs copper. Without even hearing them, the brain registers silver as being brighter - because of it's appearance. I used to believe that linear crystal copper speaker wire was superior because the "stretched" copper crystals shortened the "effective" length of the speaker cable.
ALL of our preconceived expectations are based on marketing influence (some of which we are not consciously aware of OR are received via the perceptions of others) . There's relatively little one can do to offload those influences, once absorbed - even if one is convinced that we are free of them. THAT is the power of marketing. The only way around all this is to just spend your money on what gives you satisfaction. The brain / mind is such a marvel
B.

 

[gb21011971]

Having the Clear for a year now. Still blown away occasionally. Listening to some oldies, goldies I haven't in years.

In Mike Oldfield's Shadow on the Wall, there is a banjo playing in the background! Never heard that before. Checking now on my MDR-1000x, can't hear it.....

Amazing.

Wondering how many instruments pop up when playing it with the Utopia.