[Andrew_WOT]

Lol Hifiman and their 20 versions of the same headphone.

LOL, not as bad as Audeze though.

 

[vonBaron]

Sound as good as on Utopia! \m/

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Ok, gang, the Audiophile Ninja cable arrived today so now I can do a true A:B comparison with the pad swap.

Does anyone have any specific music they want me to use for testing?

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Ok, gang, the Audiophile Ninja cable arrived today so now I can do a true A:B comparison with the pad swap.

Does anyone have any specific music they want me to use for testing?

 

[ColSaulTigh]

I don't think I can deal with an hour of this....

 

[TWerk]

Ok, gang, the Audiophile Ninja cable arrived today so now I can do a true A:B comparison with the pad swap.

Does anyone have any specific music they want me to use for testing?

Now y'all know how much of an audiophile I am. Whoops.

 

[TWerk]

Oh yeah don't forget about -

 

[Andrew_WOT]

I don't think I can deal with an hour of this....

LOL, I didn't expect you to listen it after reading the song title.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/q3giw3/hifiman_arya_2020_v2_vs_arya_2021_v3stealth/

Another good one from fellow head-fier
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hif...ressions-thread.890421/page-441#post-16802271

 

[pataburd]

 

[ColSaulTigh]

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.

 

[MLGrado]

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.

I was afraid to mention this. I didn't wish to incur the wrath of all cables sound the same.

Because I also was extremely dissapointed with the sound of my MG initially.

I was determined to give them time, though, to burn-in. (Whether you think this is a legit phenomenon, or is the result of ear/brain acclimation, or a combo of both, it seems indeed to be a very, very real thing. My personal observations say items with moving parts like the headphone diaphragm definitely improve in time. I am less convinced about cables and similar. Note I never said I am a total skeptic as skeptic has come to be defined in this day and age. The jury is merely still out; my mind is quite still open though)

That said, I changed my Clear MG Pro to a no-name custom made balanced cable ala Amazon or eBay, and OMG... the sound. THIS is what I had been missing. Put stock cable back on??? Dreary. Return to replacement cable, I was hearing headphone nirvana, and to this date have never heard a better headphone under $2000.

I am glad I can come out and admit this, now that someone else has gone on record as having noticed it.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Dekoni Stellia LTD perhaps due to solid leather and more dense foam (they don't compress when worn) seem to have more pronounced effect.
They are also deeper than stock pads that came with MG Pro.
Posted it before, measurements for reference.

Would be interesting to see if effect is just as pronounced with stock Stellia Pads as Dekoni stopped making them.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

I was afraid to mention this. I didn't wish to incur the wrath of all cables sound the same.

Because I also was extremely dissapointed with the sound of my MG initially.

I was determined to give them time, though, to burn-in. (Whether you think this is a legit phenomenon, or is the result of ear/brain acclimation, or a combo of both, it seems indeed to be a very, very real thing. My personal observations say items with moving parts like the headphone diaphragm definitely improve in time. I am less convinced about cables and similar. Note I never said I am a total skeptic as skeptic has come to be defined in this day and age. The jury is merely still out; my mind is quite still open though)

That said, I changed my Clear MG Pro to a no-name custom made balanced cable ala Amazon or eBay, and OMG... the sound. THIS is what I had been missing. Put stock cable back on??? Dreary. Return to replacement cable, I was hearing headphone nirvana, and to this date have never heard a better headphone under $2000.

I am glad I can come out and admit this, now that someone else has gone on record as having noticed it.

Oh, it's a VERY real thing. I think there is a line of diminishing returns, but I also think there's a line of unacceptable performance. What I can't understand for the life of me is why Focal would think it was a good idea to bundle their $1,500 Clear MGs with a 4', impossibly inflexible, sonically horrible piece of crap cable. I mean, it's just awful. Am I going to buy a Tara for the MG's? No. I do have one on the way for the Utopias though...but that's a review for another day.

I can say the same thing for my Sennheiser HD-8XX, the factory cable is very "meh", but the Norne Audio Draug 3 really brings them to life!

Yes, people, invest in something better than what's in the box. You won't be disappointed.

 

[TheFrator]

I was afraid to mention this. I didn't wish to incur the wrath of all cables sound the same.

Because I also was extremely dissapointed with the sound of my MG initially.

I was determined to give them time, though, to burn-in. (Whether you think this is a legit phenomenon, or is the result of ear/brain acclimation, or a combo of both, it seems indeed to be a very, very real thing. My personal observations say items with moving parts like the headphone diaphragm definitely improve in time. I am less convinced about cables and similar. Note I never said I am a total skeptic as skeptic has come to be defined in this day and age. The jury is merely still out; my mind is quite still open though)

That said, I changed my Clear MG Pro to a no-name custom made balanced cable ala Amazon or eBay, and OMG... the sound. THIS is what I had been missing. Put stock cable back on??? Dreary. Return to replacement cable, I was hearing headphone nirvana, and to this date have never heard a better headphone under $2000.

I am glad I can come out and admit this, now that someone else has gone on record as having noticed it.

I'm going to have to test this cable theory. I've had the MG's for a few days using stock cables but I have a custom cable coming next week. Will update with my findings.