[BassicScience]

I'm not sure how you quantify something being "infinitely better". I'm not sure I really understand "this headphone was a better experience then this other one so that completely negates one of them". Nothing wrong with feeling that way, but it doesn't personally make much sense to me. I don't even think the Utopia is twice as good as the Elear, even less then that compared to the Clear. I've auditioned the Utopia twice now and both times found them to be too bright for me to enjoy. I couldn't say another headphone is infinitely better then the Utopia though.

The Elear was a competent headphone, but not a revelation in any way. The Utopia has a rightness (to my ear) that hasn't been equaled by any other headphone I've heard before or since, and it's not a case of incremental improvement. It's a completely different listening experience. So if I'd bought the Elear, I would have been highly unsatisfied every time I listened to it knowing there was a phone (and in fact, several others) that I would rather be listening to. With the Utopia, I know it doesn't get any better for me. There was ZERO reason for me to purchase an Elear. Hence, the "divide by zero equals infinity" comment.

Regarding a headphone being bright, that's not that hard to fix, although it sounds like you don't hear the other benefits of the Utopia in the same way I do, which is totally fine. I'm not here to tell people my opinion is sacrosanct. Just trying to introduce another way to place relative value on competing products. Cheers.

 

[Mani ATH 87]

The Elear was a competent headphone, but not a revelation in any way. The Utopia has a rightness (to my ear) that hasn't been equaled by any other headphone I've heard before or since, and it's not a case of incremental improvement. It's a completely different listening experience. So if I'd bought the Elear, I would have been highly unsatisfied every time I listened to it knowing there was a phone (and in fact, several others) that I would rather be listening to. With the Utopia, I know it doesn't get any better for me. There was ZERO reason for me to purchase an Elear. Hence, the "divide by zero equals infinity" comment.

Regarding a headphone being bright, that's not that hard to fix, although it sounds like you don't hear the other benefits of the Utopia in the same way I do, which is totally fine. I'm not here to tell people my opinion is sacrosanct. Just trying to introduce another way to place relative value on competing products. Cheers.

Glad you are enjoying the Utopia as much as you are. It's a rare treat to find the one headphone you will always be satisfied with going forward.

 

[davehg]

I think about things differently than either of you. When I bought my Utopia a couple years ago, I auditioned the Elear at the same time. I was psychologically ready to own the best headphone I could afford, and I had the luxury of having plenty of disposable income at the time. If the Utopia had been a small incremental upgrade over the Elear, I might have saved the $3k and waited for something even better to come along, but it really wasn't in the same league at all. Was the Utopia 4x better? No, it was infinitely better, because the Elear gave me nothing of the same experience (try dividing by zero). I was at an age where I wasn't willing to compromise anymore, especially if spending the money wouldn't require any other sacrifices to be made.

Fast forward to this year's SoCal CanJam. I listened to the Clear and all of the newer Focal headphones. My opinion hasn't changed. Utopia is clearly the best phone they make, with only the Stellia even in the near distance. There's something about a Beryllium driver, and I think it's the resolution and fidelity to the source that it offers. I'm a huge believer in high fidelity. Personal sonic preferences can be layered on top of a high fidelity component by other means, but if a component is producing distortions, it's really impossible to get rid of those. People are free to prefer component X over higher fidelity component Y, as long as they realize that it's a personal sonic preference, and don't assert that X is "better" than Y.

My experience with the Focal tweeters on speakers is very similar. The BE drivers have a unique honest fidelity that is very pure. I do feel the Clear is much closer to the Utopia in overall performance whereas the Elear left me cold.

The cost of the Utopia coupled with the upper frequency bite on bad recordings made the Clear an easy choice, especially at the $1100 price point special they had last year.

 

[BassicScience]

My experience with the Focal tweeters on speakers is very similar. The BE drivers have a unique honest fidelity that is very pure. I do feel the Clear is much closer to the Utopia in overall performance whereas the Elear left me cold.

The cost of the Utopia coupled with the upper frequency bite on bad recordings made the Clear an easy choice, especially at the $1100 price point special they had last year.

Thanks for your perspective. In fairness, the Focal booth at CanJam this year featured a variety of different electronics, whereas in 2017, it was pretty much Questyle across the board. I wasn't particularly rigorous in my comparison of the cans, but when I listened to the Clear, it wasn't a case of feeling like if I could tweak this or that, it might approach the Utopia. That's not to say that it's not a competent headphone, and I do agree that it bests the Elear, based on memory. Maybe I was expecting more, given that InnerFidelity had promoted the Clear over the Utopia.

Regarding upper frequency bite, I don't experience that phenomenon with my Utopia, although I generally listen to less poorly recorded music now than I used to. Another factor may be that I use the top-of-the-line Questyle DAC, which is notable for having very low levels of IM, which can be a source of high frequency harshness. Or it could just be that I'm less sensitive to treble than younger ears.

Finally, I don't think I've heard any Focal loudspeakers with beryllium drivers. At an audio show maybe ten years ago, I heard the Grand Utopias in a large room with very expensive electronics. The sound was on the lush side, but I'm not entirely sure that was down to the tuning of the speakers. Too many variables to say anything definitive, but it made me even more surprised by the perceived accuracy (non-lushness) of the Utopia phones when I auditioned them.

 

[Mani ATH 87]

Thanks for your perspective. In fairness, the Focal booth at CanJam this year featured a variety of different electronics, whereas in 2017, it was pretty much Questyle across the board. I wasn't particularly rigorous in my comparison of the cans, but when I listened to the Clear, it wasn't a case of feeling like if I could tweak this or that, it might approach the Utopia. That's not to say that it's not a competent headphone, and I do agree that it bests the Elear, based on memory. Maybe I was expecting more, given that InnerFidelity had promoted the Clear over the Utopia.

Regarding upper frequency bite, I don't experience that phenomenon with my Utopia, although I generally listen to less poorly recorded music now than I used to. Another factor may be that I use the top-of-the-line Questyle DAC, which is notable for having very low levels of IM, which can be a source of high frequency harshness. Or it could just be that I'm less sensitive to treble than younger ears.

Finally, I don't think I've heard any Focal loudspeakers with beryllium drivers. At an audio show maybe ten years ago, I heard the Grand Utopias in a large room with very expensive electronics. The sound was on the lush side, but I'm not entirely sure that was down to the tuning of the speakers. Too many variables to say anything definitive, but it made me even more surprised by the perceived accuracy (non-lushness) of the Utopia phones when I auditioned them.

I personally found the Utopia to be bright and detailed. The Clear to be mostly neutral sounding and the Elear to be warmly colored. None of the three headphones lean drastically in those directions, but still in those directions none the less. I wish the Utopia was less bright and leaned more towards being warm, it would have given me more reason to save my pennies. The Clear was praised on innerfidelity because it's a very neutral headphone that almost gets to Utopia sound at half (or less) the price. Price to performance ratio is an important statistic for a lot of people. If it's not something you consider relevant at all then why not aim for the HE 1? Or the Shangri La?

 

[340519]

My experience with the Focal tweeters on speakers is very similar. The BE drivers have a unique honest fidelity that is very pure. I do feel the Clear is much closer to the Utopia in overall performance whereas the Elear left me cold.

The cost of the Utopia coupled with the upper frequency bite on bad recordings made the Clear an easy choice, especially at the $1100 price point special they had last year.

Yes, I have an Electra home theatre complement, but due to their brightness, I would never use them for music. They are very exciting for movies though.

 

[TSAVJason]

Yes, I have an Electra home theatre complement, but due to their brightness, I would never use them for music. They are very exciting for movies though.

Actually I think the Electra 1038 be is great for music ....at least for me it’s good. It’s not what I use but if I was in that category I wouldn’t be bummed about them at all for music

 

[BassicScience]

I personally found the Utopia to be bright and detailed. The Clear to be mostly neutral sounding and the Elear to be warmly colored. None of the three headphones lean drastically in those directions, but still in those directions none the less. I wish the Utopia was less bright and leaned more towards being warm, it would have given me more reason to save my pennies. The Clear was praised on innerfidelity because it's a very neutral headphone that almost gets to Utopia sound at half (or less) the price. Price to performance ratio is an important statistic for a lot of people. If it's not something you consider relevant at all then why not aim for the HE 1? Or the Shangri La?

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with your characterizations of the various Focal cans. One man's "neutral" can be another man's "muffled", however. The inner dynamics and nuance afforded by a beryllium driver override (non-egregious) tonal nonlinearities for me. I'm not saying that the Utopia can't possibly be improved. Just that no other current headphone gets it more right, overall, for me. If you prefer the Clear, that's great (for you and your wallet)!

I also never said that price/performance ratio isn't important (even to me), just that how each person calculates that is very different. I went through my reasoning in my first post, and won't repeat it here. The comment about the HE1 and Shangri La misses the mark. I don't prefer any electrostat I've heard to the Utopia, and whereas a $4k expenditure is relatively painless in my current financial condition, $85k is another story. So it would make no sense to spend vastly more money on something one wouldn't prefer to own.

 

[340519]

Actually I think the Electra 1038 be is great for music ....at least for me it’s good. It’s not what I use but if I was in that category I wouldn’t be bummed about them at all for music

I would use them, but I much prefer my Golden Ear Triton 1s. They're my holy trail deserted island speaker. Took 30 years to find them.

 

[Mani ATH 87]

it would make no sense to spend vastly more money on something one wouldn't prefer to own.

Exactly how I feel about the Elear/Clear vs the Utopia.

 

[xevman]

Which one of the Dekoni earpads changes the sound the least on the Clears? Mine have discolored and have tried everything to clean them to no avail. Decided I'm probably better off with black earpads but don't want to change the tonality of these headphones.

 

[TSAVJason]

I would use them, but I much prefer my Golden Ear Triton 1s. They're my holy trail deserted island speaker. Took 30 years to find them.

Nothing wrong with that! I personally use the McIntosh XRT1.1K speakers

 

[pataburd]

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with your characterizations of the various Focal cans. One man's "neutral" can be another man's "muffled", however. The inner dynamics and nuance afforded by a beryllium driver override (non-egregious) tonal nonlinearities for me. I'm not saying that the Utopia can't possibly be improved. Just that no other current headphone gets it more right, overall, for me. If you prefer the Clear, that's great (for you and your wallet)!

I also never said that price/performance ratio isn't important (even to me), just that how each person calculates that is very different. I went through my reasoning in my first post, and won't repeat it here. The comment about the HE1 and Shangri La misses the mark. I don't prefer any electrostat I've heard to the Utopia, and whereas a $4k expenditure is relatively painless in my current financial condition, $85k is another story. So it would make no sense to spend vastly more money on something one wouldn't prefer to own.

Having both the Clear and the Utopia, it is evident that, although the Clear are a very good listen, the Utopia are so much more detailed and nuanced across-the-board [for me, positively]. I concur: the Utopia are certainly the best dynamic headphones I have ever heard and probably the best headphones, period, that I have either owned or listened to.

 

[dontfeedphils]

Having both the Clear and the Utopia, it is evident that, although the Clear are a very good listen, the Utopia are so much more detailed and nuanced across-the-board [for me, positively]. I concur: the Utopia are certainly the best dynamic headphones I have ever heard and probably the best headphones, period, that I have either owned or listed to.

+1

 

[Soundizer]

Has focal clear pro gone end of life. Impossible buying the 5m cable for it in the uk.