Focal Clear headphones
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Deaf Leopard
100+ Head-Fier
So I’ve been doing a little research online as I’m looking for a new headphone amp to pair with my clears coming soon. From what I’ve read online the clears don’t pair well with tube amps so I’m looking for some advice on best pairing. I’ve looked at chord amps (mojo and Hugo). I do already have an IfI micro black label (which I think is excellent). I had been looking at the SMSL SP200 which seems to review okay. I had been really interested in tube amps as I haven’t gone down that rabbit hole yet.
I love my Clears on tubes! I think specifically OTL tube amps is what you'd want to avoid, not tube amps in general.
adeadcrab
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La Figaro 339i is fantastic with my Focal headphones - it's an OTL amp. It all depends on the amp topology.
Microzotl 2 or 3 from Linear Tube Audio is probably the best OTL amp out there and is recommended even for planars like the Empyrean.. haven't tried it yet though...
Microzotl 2 or 3 from Linear Tube Audio is probably the best OTL amp out there and is recommended even for planars like the Empyrean.. haven't tried it yet though...
Unless one has extra cash to waste on rolling a few amps to find out what's what, it's best to get some auditions in store or at home (or find local head-fiers). In my case, it's lurking the classifieds for something I haven't tried yet.
So far my favorite is the Schiit Mjolnir mk1, which is touted as being a tubey sounding solid state amp, running them balanced (the new mk2 is a hybrid). That is with my Hugo mk1 as source. Straight from the Hugo mk1, the Clear sound more compressed with the presentation collapsing in both width and depth, but it's the depth that suffers the most. Dynamics are just on another level from the Mjolnir. Micro and macro dynamics are much better preserved.
I guess tube amps, both OTL and transformer coupled, that are designed with enough power delivery into 50 Ohms, can be a great match too since the Clear are very technical in presentation per se, and won't be overly mellowed in that case. But, it depends a lot on the tubes, so there is the risk of having to roll those, costing a lot more than what a tubey sounding solid state amp would.
So far my favorite is the Schiit Mjolnir mk1, which is touted as being a tubey sounding solid state amp, running them balanced (the new mk2 is a hybrid). That is with my Hugo mk1 as source. Straight from the Hugo mk1, the Clear sound more compressed with the presentation collapsing in both width and depth, but it's the depth that suffers the most. Dynamics are just on another level from the Mjolnir. Micro and macro dynamics are much better preserved.
I guess tube amps, both OTL and transformer coupled, that are designed with enough power delivery into 50 Ohms, can be a great match too since the Clear are very technical in presentation per se, and won't be overly mellowed in that case. But, it depends a lot on the tubes, so there is the risk of having to roll those, costing a lot more than what a tubey sounding solid state amp would.
Deaf Leopard
100+ Head-Fier
In terms of auditioning amps I will find it quite to do that where I currently am. I may need to go in blind and hope that I find what I’m looking for. I appreciate the advice guys and I’ll keep doing my research.
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It surely is a very special design, as pretty much everything with David Berning's technology inside.
Since I've been using my Clears so much more now that I'm working from home, the pads are starting to get really dark. Anyone have any luck cleaning these?
intronoise
New Head-Fier
Here's a helpful post for cleaning Focal Clear pads: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones..._owners_how_do_you_clean_your_microfiber_ear/
I had the Clears for a while and my only point of caution would be that cleaning it can sometimes mess with the microfibre texture. It can get kind of raggedy, so be careful!
I have been solving the same question as my clears came in yesterday. Generally from what I read avoid thx amps. I saw a lot of recommendation for violectric microzolt and what I got auralic Taurus mkii(on the way). I also got recommend liquid platinum. What is your dac? For tubes you need high impedance hp so clears are not best for that I believe.
Deaf Leopard
100+ Head-Fier
So the IFI micro black label has a good dac already built in so I do really like this combo especially when I sat down for an hour or two when I was trying the clears. What I’m looking for is a new headphone station for my living room where I will be doing most of my listening. I will more than likely rotate between the Clears and my trusty Audioquest Nighthawk Carbons. So I’m looking for an amp/dac that I could use with both. When I initially demoed the Clears I was given a Simaudio Moon 230HAD and I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t that impressed with the sound of this combo.
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It's fair to say that all our DACs are similarly tuned to quite an extent. So if you like our micro iDSD BL's sound, you might want to take ZEN DAC into account.
Deaf Leopard
100+ Head-Fier
Yeah I had been looking at the Zen Can as well as the Zen Dac. IFI do make some fantastic products and at reasonable prices as well
zenozeit
New Head-Fier
I read that Focal used to use the Feliks-Audio EUFORIA at trade shows but it doesn't show up that often in the Clears thread. It might be they were using the Euforia's with Focal Utopia's. I could only afford the Elise but was really interested on Clear/Tube Amp users impressed with there sound. I'm also too far for a live demo.
Guidostrunk
Headphoneus Supremus
I'll second that. I'm using mine with a modded Liquid Platinum. Mind boggling good! Lol
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