[rael67]

Me too, I have tried different cables and couldn‘t notice any difference. A renowned cable manufacturer even told me that there for the Clear MG will be no difference in sound between his handmade cable and for example the openheart cables from aliexpress. Some more information:

 

[dpeterfy32]

Focal Clear Mg vs utopia or nutopia. How is clear mg weaker than them? has anyone heard both or all three with a serious served desktop source?

 

[DivineCurrent]

Focal Clear Mg vs utopia or nutopia. How is clear mg weaker than them? has anyone heard both or all three with a serious served desktop source?

I tried out the Nutopia earlier this year compared to my Clear MG, for reference I was using the RME ADI-2 DAC. Clear MG is definitely punchier and warmer, but actually has more energy in the treble air region than the Nutopia. The Nutopia is more neutral and the treble texture is definitely more refined and smoother than the Clear MG. The Nutopia also has a clearer and cleaner midrange than the MG. In general, I'd say the Nutopia sounds more realistic than the MG.

But I wouldn't say the MG is a lot weaker than the Utopia 2022, it is just less resolving and does not bring out as much detail. Also the soundstage is more in your face, at least with the stock MG pads. Swapping the MG to Utopia pads brings the stage much closer to the Nutopia, but it still does not sound as smooth and detailed as the Nutopia. I think the one major advantage the MG has over the Nutopia is the mid bass punch and warmth. Which is why I have not bought a Nutopia yet, besides being ridiculously expensive, I think the Clear MG gets you 90 - 95% of the way to the Utopia for 1/3rd the price. I also happen to prefer the warmth of the Clear MG over the Nutopia.

 

[cirodts]

has anyone tried to compare the MG with the audeze lcd x?
I would really appreciate your impressions.

 

[cirodts]

Prima di tutto , devo delle scuse alle Focal Clear MG: finalmente ho risolto i miei problemi con queste cuffie. Non sono sottili e striduli come inizialmente li avevo deprecati. Il primo problema è che devono essere accoppiati con un cavo decente. Quel maledetto cavo di serie dovrebbe finire immediatamente nella spazzatura. Non sprecare soldi per tutto ciò che è consigliato nel thread "cavi economici". E NON acquistare un cavo senza nome da $ 300 "16 fili 7N cristallo singolo rame/argento misto" da Amazon. Il mio cavo Audiophile Ninja è arrivato oggi e *MAN* che differenza incredibile ha fatto! Il SECONDO problema che ho riscontrato è che queste cuffie sono assetate di energia. Nelle ultime settimane ho sostituito le valvole raddrizzatrici con il mio Woo Audio WA6-SE cercando di trovare il punto giusto. Alla fine l'ho trovato, tra tutte le cose un tubo Brimar 5Z4GY del NOS del 1972 da $ 35. Il "Mighty" 596, il Sophia Princess 274B, il KR 274B-HR impallidiscono in confronto a questo semplice tubo. Certo, questa cosa è come un reattore nucleare, funziona così caldo che posso sentirlo irradiare calore da 2 piedi di distanza. Ma il suono che emette è semplicemente incredibile! Caldo, ricco, non denso, risolutivo, veloce... qualunque cosa tu dica, è tutto lì.

Ecco la configurazione del test: PC > USB > Topping HS01 USB Isolater > VMV D1se (minimo veloce, taglio 70k, filtro "Tube 3") > Woo Audio WA6-SE Gen 2 (raddrizzatore NOS Brimar 5Z4GY, coppia abbinata di valvole di potenza Westinghouse 13EM7 ) > Jack a bassa impedenza, volume a posizione 9:00 > Cavi Audiophile Ninja > Focal MG/Focal Utopia

Fonti: @pataburd "Night Train" - Ray Brown All Stars (YouTube) , "Battle in the Mutara Nebula" - Star Trek II OST (Tidal MQA, final unfold @ DAC) , "I Can Feel It" - Sickick Mash-up (YouTube) , "More Than a Feeling" - Boston (Tidal MQA, final unfold @ DAC) , "Ants Marching [Live at State Theatre, Sidney, New South Wales, Australia - marzo 2005 ]" - Dave Matthews Band (Tidal MQA, svolgimento finale al DAC) , "Shoot to Thrill" - AC/DC (Tidal MQA, svolgimento finale al DAC) , "LaGrange" - ZZ Top (2005 Remaster, Tidal MQA, svolgimento finale @ DAC) , "Nessun Dorma" - Puccini: Turnadot, Act 3, Andrea Bocelli & The New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Tidal MQA, finale unfold @ DAC) , "Stairway to Heaven" - Dolly Parton (Tidal, Hifi, 44.1k) , "On Broadway" - George Benson (Tidal MQA, final unfold @ DAC) , vari altri brani dalla mia playlist "Headphone Test Tracks" su Tidal. Non è stata utilizzata alcuna equalizzazione in nessun momento.

Prima impressione: questi cuscinetti sono intercambiabili direttamente: si adattano perfettamente. Stacca, aggancia. Semplice. I pad dell'MG sono SOSTANZIALMENTE più pesanti dell'Utopia. Scambiandoli dalle MG all'Utopia, le Utopie sono passate da appena percettibili sulla testa a sembrare quasi un carro armato. È abbastanza drammatico. Allo stesso modo, mettere i cuscinetti Utopia sulle MG le ha fatte sentire circa la metà del loro peso originale, simile a quello di un carro armato. Il comfort è notevolmente migliorato. I pad Utopia sono molto più freddi sulla testa per tempi di ascolto prolungati. I cuscinetti MG, sebbene comodi, risultano caldi in confronto e si nota davvero la differenza in termini di vestibilità.

Profili audio: prima di tutto c'erano le configurazioni originali di fabbrica (meno i cavi). Le MG ora suonano molto, molto bene! Alla pari con le mie Sennheiser HD-8XX, con un suono ricco e burroso. Comunque molto preciso. Il palcoscenico sonoro si è ampliato parecchio. Il posizionamento dello strumento è MOLTO specifico. Il basso è ben guidato e pulito, non sbatte. Con questa combinazione, la cassa della batteria suona davvero (AC/DC, DMB), il fondo orchestrale è accurato ed esattamente dove dovrebbe essere (Mutara Nebula, Nessun Dorma) e il Jazz si rafforza (Ray Brown, George Benson). La gamma media è ben bilanciata, non saturata. C'è un certo spessore con le MG che non è presente con le Utopie. I pianoforti sembrano presenti ma non "vivi". Le voci maschili sono forti, non fioche. Violini e viole sono puliti e non stipati, ma mancano di "aria". Attribuisco questo al roll-off di fascia alta. C'è un'attenuazione significativa nella fascia alta che fa sembrare tutto come se stessi ascoltando ATTRAVERSO i padiglioni auricolari e non con loro che circondano l'orecchio. Ora capisco: qui c'è quasi un fattore "assorbente". Forse il memory foam?

Ascoltare la stessa prova con le Utopie configurate in stock presenta un'esperienza completamente diversa. È chiaro il motivo per cui c'è una differenza di $ 3.000 tra queste cuffie. Secondo la mia ipotesi, tutto ciò che è al di sopra dei 3kHz risponde molto meglio con le Utopie. I pianoforti diventano "live", l'orchestra alta si illumina e si muove molto più in avanti e presente. I piatti si schiantano invece di "tintinnare" e la batteria ha quel "colpo" che manca alle MG. Ciò ha l'effetto di ampliare il palcoscenico sonoro da molto vicino (MG) a molto ampio (Utopia).

Un'altra osservazione che ho riscontrato è che spostare le cuffie indietro sulla testa (in modo che la parte anteriore delle coppe tocchi la parte anteriore delle orecchie) fa una differenza sostanziale, ampliando ulteriormente il palcoscenico sonoro. Per impostazione predefinita, entrambe le cuffie si spostano in avanti sulla mia testa e atterrano con le orecchie al centro delle coppe. Tendo ad ascoltare con il mento abbassato e gli occhi chiusi, e questo fa sì che le cuffie si spostino in avanti. Rimettendole sulle orecchie, entrambe le cuffie si aprono davvero un bel po'. La mia preoccupazione è che la naturale pressione di serraggio su ciascuno di essi li farà spostare naturalmente senza un aggiustamento consapevole.

Scambio dei pad: non ho riscontrato alcun cambiamento significativo nel profilo audio di entrambe le cuffie durante lo scambio dei pad. Ciò che *HO* trovato è un cambiamento drammatico nel palcoscenico. Gli MG con pad Utopia si sono allargati notevolmente mentre gli Utopia con pad MG suonavano più stretti e vicini. Questo è particolarmente interessante per me considerando che i pad sembrano avere più o meno lo stesso spessore. Qualunque sia la schiuma utilizzata all'interno dei cuscinetti Utopia, è molto più morbida e tollerante. Ora, nessuno di questi ha lo stesso palcoscenico cavernoso degli 8XX, ma i pad sembrano raccontare una storia piuttosto significativa qui. Non ho idea del motivo per cui si verifica questo effetto, ma ho scambiato avanti e indietro 4 volte e ogni volta ho ottenuto lo stesso risultato.

TL;DR: Per farla breve: le MG sono in realtà ottime cuffie con il cavo appropriato e alimentate con la fonte di alimentazione appropriata . Lo scambio di pad non renderà le MG "utopie dei poveri". Allargheranno il palcoscenico in modo abbastanza significativo.

Fammi sapere se hai domande, pensieri o altre cose che dovrei considerare.

Sono assolutamente d'accordo, il cavo standard limita molto i mg chiari, suona malissimo, ho cambiato il cavo con uno giapponese Canare in rame e il miglioramento audio è enorme.

First off, I owe the Focal Clear MG's an apology - I finally figured out my issues with these headphones. They are not thin and shrill as I had originally decried them to be. The first problem is that they must be paired with a decent cable. The god-awful stock cable should go immediately in the garbage. Don't waste money on anything recommended in the "cheap cables" thread. And DON'T buy a $300 no-name "16 Strands 7N Single Crystal Copper/Silver Mixed" cable from Amazon. My Audiophile Ninja cable came in today and *MAN* what an incredible difference it made! The SECOND problem I found is that these headphones are power-hungry. I have been swapping rectifier tubes into my Woo Audio WA6-SE for the past few weeks trying to find the sweet spot. I finally found it - in of all things a $35 NOS 1972 Brimar 5Z4GY tube. The "Mighty" 596, the Sophia Princess 274B, the KR 274B-HR all pale in comparison to this simple tube. Granted, this thing is like a nuclear reactor, running so hot I can feel it radiating heat from 2' away. But the sound it puts out is just incredible! Warm, rich, not thick, resolving, fast...you name it - it's all there.

Here's the testing setup: PC > USB > Topping HS01 USB Isolater > VMV D1se (Fast Minimum, 70k cutoff, "Tube 3" filter) > Woo Audio WA6-SE Gen 2 (NOS Brimar 5Z4GY Rectifier, Matched Pair of Westinghouse 13EM7 Power Tubes) > Low Impedance jack, volume @ 9:00 position > Audiophile Ninja cables > Focal MG/Focal Utopia

Sources: @pataburd "Night Train" - Ray Brown All Stars (YouTube), "Battle in the Mutara Nebula" - Star Trek II OST (Tidal MQA, final unfold @ DAC), "I Can Feel It" - Sickick Mash-up (YouTube), "More Than a Feeling" - Boston (Tidal MQA, final unfold @ DAC), "Ants Marching [Live at State Theatre, Sidney, New South Wales, Australia - March 2005]" - Dave Matthews Band (Tidal MQA, final unfold @ DAC), "Shoot to Thrill" - AC/DC (Tidal MQA, final unfold @ DAC), "LaGrange" - ZZ Top (2005 Remaster, Tidal MQA, final unfold @ DAC), "Nessun Dorma" - Puccini: Turnadot, Act 3, Andrea Bocelli & The New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Tidal MQA, final unfold @ DAC), "Stairway to Heaven" - Dolly Parton (Tidal, Hifi, 44.1k), "On Broadway" - George Benson (Tidal MQA, final unfold @ DAC), various other tracks from my "Headphone Test Tracks" playlist on Tidal. No EQ was used at any time.

First impression: These pads are direct swappable - exact fit. Snap off, snap on. Simple. The MG's pads are SUBSTANTIALLY heavier than the Utopia. Swapping them from the MG's to the Utopia made the Utopias go from barely noticeable on the head to almost feeling like a tank. It is quite dramatic. Likewise, putting the Utopia pads on the MG's made them feel about half their original tank-like weight. Comfort is improved significantly. The Utopia pads are much cooler on the head for extended listening times. The MG pads, while comfortable, feel hot in comparison, and you really notice the difference in wearability.

Sound profiles: First off was factory original setups (minus the cables). The MG's now sound very, very good! On-par with my Sennheiser HD-8XX's, with a rich, buttery sound. Still very precise. The soundstage has widened quite a bit. Instrument placement is VERY specific. Bass is well-driven and clean, not slamming. With this combination, kick drums actually kick (AC/DC, DMB), the orchestral bottom end is accurate and exactly where it should be (Mutara Nebula, Nessun Dorma), and Jazz tightens up (Ray Brown, George Benson). The midrange is well balanced, not overdriven. There is a certain thickness with the MGs that's not present with the Utopias. Pianos seem present but not "alive". Male vocals are strong, not thready. Violins & violas are clean and not crammed, but they lack "air". I attribute this to high-end roll-off. There's a significant roll-off at the very high end that makes everything now sound like you're listening THROUGH the earpads and not with them surrounding your ear. I get it now - there's almost an "absorbing" factor going on here. Perhaps the memory foam?

Listening to the same run-through with the stock-configured Utopias present a whole different experience. It's clear why there's a $3,000 difference between these headphones. By my best guess, everything above about 3kHz is far better responding with the Utopias. Pianos become "live", high-orchestra brighten right up and move much more forward and present. Cymbals crash instead of "tink" and drums have that "thwack" that's been missing in the MGs. This has the effect of widening the soundstage from very close (MGs) to very wide (Utopia).

Another observation I found is by shifting the headphones back on my head (so the front of the cups are touching the front of my ears) makes a substantial difference, widening the soundstage even further. By default, both headphones want to shift forward on my head and land with my ears in the center of the cups. I tend to listen with my chin down and eyes closed, and this causes the headphones to shift forward. By pushing them back on my ears both headphones really open up quite a bit. My concern is that the natural clamping pressure on each will cause them to naturally shift without conscious adjustment.

Pad Swapping: I did not find any significant change to the sound profile of either headphone when swapping pads. What I *DID* find is a dramatic change to the soundstage. MGs with Utopia pads widened up considerably while Utopias with MG pads sounded tighter and closer. That's particularly interesting to me considering the pads appear to be about the same thickness. Whatever foam is being used inside the Utopia pads is much softer and more forgiving. Now, neither of these have the same cavernous soundstage of the 8XXs, but the pads do seem to tell a pretty significant story here. I have no idea why this effect is happening, but I swapped back and forth 4 times, and each time I got the same result.

TL;DR: Long story short - MGs are actually very good headphones with the proper cable and fed with the appropriate power source. Swapping pads will not make the MGs "poor man Utopias". They WILL widen the soundstage quite significantly.

Let me know if you have any questions, thoughts, or other things I should consider.

I absolutely agree, the standard cable limits the clear mg a lot, it sounds terrible, I changed the cable with a Japanese Canare copper one and the audio improvement is huge.

 

[DivineCurrent]

For those of you who have the regular brown version of the Clear MG, can you tell me which color shade is more accurate to real life from the below screenshots? It seems like every image I see of the MG has a different shade brown, and I know it also depends on the lighting. But I think I do prefer the look of the deeper brown accents in the first three screenshots compared to the last two lighter brown almost copper looking photos.

Also asking because I'm considering swapping my red MG Pro for the regular MG, I think it will fit my setup color vibe better.

From the official Focal YouTube channel

These two are from the Headphones.com channel

RTINGS.com

TSAV (The Source Audio Video Design Group) Channel

 

[AnyDave]

For those of you who have the regular brown version of the Clear MG, can you tell me which color shade is more accurate to real life from the below screenshots? It seems like every image I see of the MG has a different shade brown, and I know it also depends on the lighting. But I think I do prefer the look of the deeper brown accents in the first three screenshots compared to the last two lighter brown almost copper looking photos.

Also asking because I'm considering swapping my red MG Pro for the regular MG, I think it will fit my setup color vibe better.


From the official Focal YouTube channel





These two are from the Headphones.com channel



RTINGS.com



TSAV (The Source Audio Video Design Group) Channel

I think it’s closer to the bottom than the top. It’s fairly brown IRL.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

For those of you who have the regular brown version of the Clear MG, can you tell me which color shade is more accurate to real life from the below screenshots? It seems like every image I see of the MG has a different shade brown, and I know it also depends on the lighting. But I think I do prefer the look of the deeper brown accents in the first three screenshots compared to the last two lighter brown almost copper looking photos.

Also asking because I'm considering swapping my red MG Pro for the regular MG, I think it will fit my setup color vibe better.


From the official Focal YouTube channel





These two are from the Headphones.com channel



RTINGS.com



TSAV (The Source Audio Video Design Group) Channel

A cross between 1 and 2 is most accurate. They are VERY bronze and much darker (IMO) than pics 3 and 4.

 

[cirodts]

How can I clean the clear mg pads?

 

[ColSaulTigh]

How can I clean the clear mg pads?

Warm water and a drop or two of Woolite in a clean sink. Dip them, GENTLY brush them with a soft damp microfiber cloth, then let them sit someplace warm with some air ventilation fort several hours until dry.

Or just buy the Dekoni "Limited Edition" leather pads and be done with it.

 

[Alboxhen]

My wife uses her MG daily for at least 1-3 hours; got them in Feb 2021 and they now are super worn with a hole on the cover that's opened on one of the pads. We still have the fresh replacement pads but I ordered some dekoni replacements to juggle. She doesn't care about the wornness or the hole. Buy beware ye, they shall crumble in the sands of thyme

 

[dancehall]

Hi guys,

Happy owner of a pair of Radiance, I'd like to switch to open-back headphones. I've read that the difference I'll get with this Clear Mg compared to my Radiance won't be huge. What can you tell me?

I could get them for 990 euros new right now with a special offer. I'm also interested in a pair of Kennerton Vali Neoteric that I could get for 650 euros new too.

Thanks for any help!

 

[thelittletaffia]

Hi guys,

Happy owner of a pair of Radiance, I'd like to switch to open-back headphones. I've read that the difference I'll get with this Clear Mg compared to my Radiance won't be huge. What can you tell me?

I could get them for 990 euros new right now with a special offer. I'm also interested in a pair of Kennerton Vali Neoteric that I could get for 650 euros new too.

Thanks for any help!

I had the Radiance for a short while. They were not as dynamic as the Clears, very musical though and were strong on female vocals. Sound stage was not quite as wide as the Clears, which is to be expected. Bass was very good. I wouldn't have reached for the Radiance when having the Clears. I returned the Radiance as I wanted closed backs to compliment my Denon AH-D9200 which they did not, they were too close to the Clear.

 

[Rob49]

Hi,
I ordered one of these from Amazon UK,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07MNMNP3K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Hope that helps.

I have ordered the Focal Clear MG’s which I should receive next week. I have a Sony DMP-Z1 player, which doesn’t have a XLR connection, would I be able to use this, rather than have to buy a new custom cable ??

 

[rael67]

If the sony DMP-Z1 has an balanced output it should work.