[Vigrith]

Am I correct in understanding that a few members already own these? Can you tell me how good they isolate? Do they leak much sound, or are they good for an open can in that respect?

 
I've read that they are the Utopia are both actually more open (thus leaking more) than other regular headphones - I don't own them yet as they've not been released in Europe but I'm sure someone that does can chime in again (the reports of this may have been in the main Focal thread rather than here, can't remember).

 

[james6333]

These just arrived (ordered from Headroom). They come in the same packaging as the Utopia. Built like a tank but a little heavy. I have not tried them yet (at work).

 

[BrutalLegend]

Great. Looking forward to impressions and synergy with rock & roll and metal.

 

[james6333]

Great. Looking forward to impressions and synergy with rock & roll and metal.

What do you define as rock and metal? I listen to all types of music. Anything that is done well I can enjoy these days. From Audiophile stuff to electronic music.

I don't listen to death metal but have had some Sabaton, Amon Amarth and Clutch in the mix over the last few months. Most of my melt/Rock is from my younger days so it is older stuff like Iced Earth etc.

 

[TMRaven]

Focal Elear in the house, here's string of consciousness impressions:
 
 
-Carefully packed, amazing presentation and product box
-Removing it out of the product box for the first time might send chills down your spine, it actually looks and feels high end.
-Aluminum yokes are darker than most pictures indicate; very nice subdued look overall
-Headband is way plusher than what you might expect
-Velour earpads kind of have a crunch to them when you put them on and adjust on the head, as if there's newspaper in them, I don't like it particularly myself.
-Plenty of room inside the pads, enough room for my picky tastes.
-Clamping force is a little high for my tastes though; I wonder how much it will lessen over time.
 
-On my first couple of songs I use to test overall frequency balance, I'm noting a very pleasing and warm sound that's pretty coherent.  Bass isn't as overpowering as Marv's impressions or NYer's impressions would indicate.  Treble isn't splashy or problematic.
-There's definitely a depression in the 3-4k area that will kill harmonic energy from Violins etc.
-The midrange reminds me a lot of TH-X00 Mahogany, in that it's full out to about 2k, and then takes a dip starting in the 3-4k region, leading to the relaxed Violins.  If you're a fan of TH-X00 Mahogany mids, you'll probably like these mids.  The lower mids on this are more full-bodied than the TH-X00, most likely due to its open-backed design.
-Bass almost seems to share the TH-X00 mahogany power as well, but without the closed-can added boom.  I don't have the TH-X00 anymore to compare side-by-side though, just going off memory.
-Playing with some test tones, the bass actually gets louder at 50hz than 60hz (might be the input impedance of my headphone jack playing with the impedance spike of the Elear at 50hz), but starts to taper off after that.  Extension about on par with planars like HE-400, only slightly lagging behind ones like LCD-X.
-Staging isn't large, and is rather in your head, but the sound is open.
 
There's a general sense of confusion to the sound, due to my playing it off my computer's onboard (hence I'm only commenting on general sound signature). When I get a dedicated amp/dac again, I imagine these will scale nicely. My computer's headphone out might have slightly higher output impedance as well, which might explain why the bass on these got louder at 50hz.)
 
 
 
I can see some people being put-off by the subdued harmonics in the 3-5-k region, but as someone who's used the HD800 and HE-400 for a long time, I don't mind it particularly, and in fact I prefer a more robust lower midrange than upper.

 

[grizzlybeast]

yeah I didn't find the bass overwhelming at all. but the 10khz kind of bothered me. I had to eq a trim there. Still something artificial about the midrange and I find the sound stage to be relatively larger than most people are commenting about so I am in the minority that actually liked the sound stage along with a lot of folks that heard them at the meet. Could have been my gear though...maybe I under appreciate the soundstage of my pavane and Trafomatic head 2 w/HG's

 

[james6333]

I have listened to these for about two hours now (fresh out of the box). First impression is that they are at the same caliber as the HD800s with a different tuning.

The bass quantity slots 1/2 way between the H800S and the TH900. Bass quality is there in the mix too.

The only major down side, is the Mids seem pretty resessed to me. I like a mid forward sound (hens my long term use of grados). I feel like I need to turn the Elear up pretty loud to hear the Mids and at that point everything just seems loud. I had the same issue with the TH900 which I returned due to overly stong bass and distant Mids.

I think the tuning of the HD800S might have been more my style (though they lacked bass impact) just because of the Mids being so far behind the bass (specially) on the Elear.. Some would call this "sounds stage" but to me it is a frequency balance issue. I was hoping for more of Focals speaker house sound which is a hair forward in the Mids (Electra line).

Looking at the measurments with the Utopia pads on the Elear, I will buy a pair to try and it should solve my problems. If I have to give up bass to push the Mids forward so be it.

Again this is right out of the box. I will give it a few days to adjust to the sound and let them break in a bit.

 

[james6333]

Great. Looking forward to impressions and synergy with rock & roll and metal.

Note fresh out of the box.

Pretty freaking good with metal/rock. The soft turning of the Mids, slight rise of bass and present but never harsh highs sound great with metal. Some may want more bass due to most metal being recorded like junk. I would say these are a must audition for metal heads. Maybe a pass for bass heads.

Random thoughts about some quick samples below:

In this Moment (very good adds warmth to a cold cd)

Amon Amarth (made vocals intelligible/clear)

Dio "holy diver" (good tonal balance for a bright mix)

3 Inches of Blood (takes the harshness out of this album)

Ayreon (very good but it is a good recording)

Gothminister (too bassy. Adds bass to an already warm mix)

Pig (...well best "band" ever so... Awesome)

Clutch (sounds listenable for a piss poor mix)

 

[Vigrith]

Ayreon (very good but it is a good recording)

 
Glad to see Ayreon get some love - all of Lucassen's projects are recorded excellently as well as being amazing albums all around.

 

[james6333]

Glad to see Ayreon get some love - all of Lucassen's projects are recorded excellently as well as being amazing albums all around.

Agreed. I think I just have too much music and often forget about them but when I got there CDs they got constant play time for a solid month.

 

[BrutalLegend]

What do you define as rock and metal? I listen to all types of music. Anything that is done well I can enjoy these days. From Audiophile stuff to electronic music.

I don't listen to death metal but have had some Sabaton, Amon Amarth and Clutch in the mix over the last few months. Most of my melt/Rock is from my younger days so it is older stuff like Iced Earth etc.

I listen to quite a wide genre of rock and metal. Here is a short example of bands I listen to:
3 Doors Down, The Vines, Jimmy Eat World, Iron Maiden, Metalica, Motorhead, 3 Inches of Blood, Bullet For My Valentine, Dio, Audioslave, Foo Fighters, AC-DC, Led Zeppelin, The Exies, Twisted Sister, All That Remains, Blindside, Black Tide, Van Halen, Accept, Bon Jovi, Creed, Deep Purple, Skid Row, Greek Fire, Judas Priest, Three Days Grace, Incubus, Linkin Park and a whole lot more. There are also some Japanese rock bands.

Hopefully something on this list rings a bell with your music collection of rock and metal.

Currently running my Mr Speakers Ether C 1.1 though I've always liked the sound of open headphones since they tend to sound more speaker like. Not too mention they are easier to drive.

What I did get to notice when I demo'ed the Elear (for a ridiculously short time) was that the room impedance feel was removed from the headphones. I loved that it was a super open design because it reminds me exactly of speakers. Surprisingly nobody else has commented on it.

 

[james6333]

I listen to quite a wide genre of rock and metal. Here is a short example of bands I listen to:
3 Doors Down, The Vines, Jimmy Eat World, Iron Maiden, Metalica, Motorhead, 3 Inches of Blood, Bullet For My Valentine, Dio, Audioslave, Foo Fighters, AC-DC, Led Zeppelin, The Exies, Twisted Sister, All That Remains, Blindside, Black Tide, Van Halen, Accept, Bon Jovi, Creed, Deep Purple, Skid Row, Greek Fire, Judas Priest, Three Days Grace, Incubus, Linkin Park and a whole lot more. There are also some Japanese rock bands.

Hopefully something on this list rings a bell with your music collection of rock and metal.

Yes, I have pretty much all of those or at least know the music. To directly answer your question I think these headphones are a good fit for commercial music rock music as they are detailed but soft enough to take the edge off (4K dip?). Unlike Grado or Sennhizer HD800S that seem to shine a light on the flaws

 

[BrutalLegend]

Yes, I have pretty much all of those or at least know the music. To directly answer your question I think these headphones are a good fit for commercial music rock music as they are detailed but soft enough to take the edge off (4K dip?). Unlike Grado or Sennhizer HD800S that seem to shine a light on the flaws

 
I am unsure to what sound the 4K dip pertains too. Vocals? String instruments?

 

[TMRaven]

You can't single out one instrument or group of instruments as far as the depression around 4-5k goes.  It mostly lessens the harmonic energy from many instruments that naturally reach the higher registers, so they will sound more distant and subdued in the mix/recording-- some of the biggest culprits being Violins, Clarinets, Trumpets, Piano, and a lot of the snap from percussion such as snares and claps as examples.

 

[BrutalLegend]

This sounds rather troubling if it affects the harmonic energy of music. As of right now I get everything from my Ether C 1.1 except for the mid bass and the annoying room impedance issue. Wish I could do an Elear vs Ether C 1.1 to come to a resolution.