[IridiumEagle]

(Still waiting for anything on safety from the Utopia manual or any Focal rep to comment on the use of Be)

 

[rgs9200m]

   

Other companies flagship HP's comes with balanced connector stock.
 

Sort of. The LCD4 comes with your choice of SE or balanced. And the top Grado and the Fostex TH900 have hardwired SE cables. So I consider it good that at least Focal has a detachable cable. And the original Senn HD800 did not have a balanced cable. An the Oppo PM1 did not come with one either, but that is only $1K, of course, but it is a flagship.

 

[gto88]

Yeah, and HE1000 come with 3 cables to cover almost all grounds.

 

[dpump]

   
I agree 100%.

Other companies flagship HP's comes with balanced connector stock. Also some companies (cough cough* sennheiser)  Include handmade premium alcantara on the padding's. And they don't ship with better pads on the cheaper versions. ps. other flagships headphones are not squeaky when you lift them. All of this less than 2 times the price of the Utopia.

The defence for the squeaky-sound is that they used carbon fiber. Well, luxury boats and Formula 1 cars use carbon fiber because it's light. Alltrough they decided to use this material, still they are heavier than most headphones. (HD800 uses metal and 60% glass plastic. And they are still much lighter and  comfortable to wear than Utopia) So whats the excuse now? 

Just my two cents but it's a total fiasco from Focal.  The sound might be good. But the material choises for 4K headphones.... C'mon srsly... 

It would be nice if people would do some research before posting. It was shown in the original video and has been discussed here several times-the main reason the Focals are as heavy as they are is because of the large magnets. The use of carbon fiber was to help offset the weight of the magnets. Without the magnets Focal are using the phones wouldn't provide the sound quality they have. Please watch the video and you will see why they weigh as much as they do and what Focal did to get the weight as low as possible.

 

[mithrandir38]

(Still waiting for anything on safety from the Utopia manual or any Focal rep to comment on the use of Be)

I think Jason was pretty clear that it's difficult and expensive to turn solid beryllium into dust. If you don't go out of your way to utterly destroy your headphone drivers you should be OK. Anecdotal evidence from their beryllium-using speakers suggest they are reliable and safe.

 

[1c3d0g]

Seems there's also a Utopia/Elear headphone stand that's specifically designed for them:
 
 
 

 
 
TSAVJason: will you be carrying these? If not, do you know where and when will they be available for purchase?

 

[TSAVJason]

Seems there's also a Utopia/Elear headphone stand that's specifically designed for them:

[ATTACHMENT=3113]Focal-UtopiaElear-Stand.pdf (723k. pdf file)[/ATTACHMENT]





TSAVJason
: will you be carrying these? If not, do you know where and when will they be available for purchase?

Yes we will. We have display versions now. It's my understanding that they've decided to make them even sweeter than your picture. I'm positive it's going to be very nice!

 

[Audio Addict]

Yes we will. We have display versions now. It's my understanding that they've decided to make them even sweeter than your picture. I'm positive it's going to be very nice!

And Expensive for a headphone stand?

 

[TSAVJason]

And Expensive for a headphone stand?

Hahahaha I'm sorry I had to giggle.
So here's my best ! Guess ! My guess is it's going to have more Utopia styling, it's going to be seriously nice and likely have a taller than average price tag.

 

[pervysage]

And Expensive for a headphone stand?

 
With a $4K headphone it's only right the stand cost at least $1K 

 

[up late]

congrats and nice pics. i'm liking the look of the elear.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

congrats and nice pics. i'm liking the look of the elear.

I quoted someone lucky before me. I wish I had them already lol.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

My compulsive eyes are aimed right at them. It's only a matter of time now lol. These things are gaining popularity quite fast here. And other sites as well. But from reviews, they fully deserve the hype.

 

[BirdManOfCT]

  Seems there's also a Utopia/Elear headphone stand that's specifically designed for them:
 
 
 

 
 
TSAVJason: will you be carrying these? If not, do you know where and when will they be available for purchase?

I'd posed a question on a YouTube video about this stand. Now I know -- thanks!

 

[ubs28]

  I got the Focal Elear and my Draug 2 today.  I'm not a super experienced reviewer of headphones and I don't have as much experience as most people on these forums. Some background: I've gone from Soundmagic HP150, HE-400i and Oppo PM-3 to a ZMF Omni which I loved. However, the weight and clamp was too tight so I followed some recommendations and got an Ether C instead. Unfortunately, I found the EC to be way too thin, even though they were much more detailed than my previous headphones. In the end, I sold all of these headphones and I've been using an HD650 I received as a gift instead for the last month.
 
What can I say - the Elear really does sound like a "super" HD650 to me. Keep in mind my source chain plain sucks here (I'm visiting the States right now before I head back to China). I'm merely using my Oppo HA-2, since my HA-1 is much too heavy to travel with. I know that the HD650 scales up tremendously, but the neat thing about the Elear is that it sounds noticeably better even on my modest HA-2. The bass is way better than the Ether C - tracks from Massive Attack, Muse, and even random KPOP (fx) have the oomph and rumble I crave. However, I find the soundstage to be a slight improvement over the 650 as well (though nothing too huge), as my tracks from Jizue and Yoshi Horikawa prove. Guitars from live recordings of Rodrigo y Gabriela sound ever so natural and even so-so mastered vocal tracks from Adele and Imogen Heap sound wonderful! 
 
Build quality is incredible - better than I expected from looking at pictures. Blows everything else I've owned out of the way (including the Ether C, which I thought had beautiful carbon fiber cups). The weight - what can I say? The Elear's supposedly weigh around 440g but it sure doesn't feel like that. I feel none of the discomfort that my 550g ZMF Omnis gave me and the clamp is lighter than my HD650's too!
 
So what's the catch? Now I'm wondering if I should purchase a Utopia instead, haha! I can't really imagine how it can improve on the Elear, but if the Utopia (with Elear pads) has the same tonality but with noticeably more "plankton" and clarity, my trigger finger is itchy. In which case I'll probably need to sell the Elears before moving onto the Utopia... decisions, decisions!
 
Sorry for the rambling, hope this is somewhat informative!  Also sorry that this seems like so much hype - I admit I have a "new toy" feeling right now and I'm not really listing any negatives.  However, while I enjoyed all my previous headphones, I always noticed some flaws pretty shortly after (flabby bass and vocal veil on HP150, build quality and sometimes harsh treble on 400i, lack of dynamic punch on PM-3, weight and clamp on ZMF Omni with slightly wonky treble, and overall thin tonal signature on the Ether C).  But right now after a few hours of listening, the Elear possesses none of these drawbacks.  Maybe I should just forget the Utopia ever existed and be happy with what I have now, haha!
 
Thanks to Jason at the Source AV for helping me with all my amateur questions!
 

 

 

 
 
Only slightly bigger soundstage than the HD 650?