[makne]

Does anyone know where this hard-shell carrying case can be bought?
https://www.focal.com/en/headphones-0/headphones/cables-and-accessories/hard-shell-carrying-case

I want to buy one for my Elears but can't find it anywhere except Focal's official site. Although Focal might charge a fortune for it...

I'd like to know too... Maybe it hasn't been released yet?
It's probably crazy expensive though, given what they charge for the earpads, headphone stand etc...

 

[banco-sg]

From what I've heard, the Utopia carries the same extreme dynamic capabilities of the Elear, but does not have the same bass slam which is part of why the Elear is so engaging.

I can assure you utopia is puncy enough, but not as punchy as elear. Basically, lesser bass quantity, but it has quality bass. The bass is punchy enough and good enough for any genre, unless you are really basshead.
The good thing about utopia is it is engaging, and can be analytical if you want to.

 

[Mr H]

I was moving my head and the right speaker made a crackle. I'm hoping it doesn't die god it's too soon don't take it lol
man if it dies this one will be the worst built headphone I've ever had. My HD650 are 4 years old and sound fine as always and I got them used from a forum

 

[banco-sg]

I was moving my head and the right speaker made a crackle. I'm hoping it doesn't die god it's too soon don't take it lol
man if it dies this one will be the worst built headphone I've ever had. My HD650 are 4 years old and sound fine as always and I got them used from a forum

crackle as if something is moving? something sounds like loose screw?
or creaking sound from the hinge?

 

[PpapaBearD]

So I just ordered a Space Gray (to match my Mac ) WooAudio WA8 (direct from WooAudio) to try out with the Elears...will compare to Mojo...which has been driving the Elears really well, but I want to try something different of course .

With how good the Elear is proving to be in such a short time I'm really considering ordering the Utopia given the current sales price...and if folks would buy the Ether C Flows and/or P9s I have for sale, that would help greatly .

 

[Mr H]

crackle as if something is moving? something sounds like loose screw?
or creaking sound from the hinge?

no from the speaker, the sound was almost out. don't know if that's the proper term sorry

 

[talan7]

My balanced 2.5 cable came in for the Elears, and I'm listening to them on my fiio X7 gen 2. Wow! The air, and transparency. Whoever said this headphone doesn't have soundstage hasn't heard it with balanced cables. Easy to drive too.

 

[guliver]

My balanced 2.5 cable came in for the Elears, and I'm listening to them on my fiio X7 gen 2. Wow! The air, and transparency. Whoever said this headphone doesn't have soundstage hasn't heard it with balanced cables. Easy to drive too.

Would you mind to tell us where did you get the cable from?

 

[talan7]

https://m.ebay.com/itm/2-5mm-TRRS-B...CC-Silver-Plated-Copper-OPTIONS-/172696306217

I got the silver plated option. The soundstage with the x7 2 is remarkable.

 

[talan7]

I'm using the Elears with my fiio X7 gen II balanced 2.5...awesome. I also use the Elears single ended with the X7 gen II and my Vorzuge Vorzamp Duo with the bass boost, 15 dbs centered at around 18 hz. The Elears can handle the bass boost, one of the few of my headphones that can.

For my next trick I ordered a balanced 2.5 to RSA/ALO cable to go out from the X7 gen II to my balanced firestone audio fireye hdb amp. Balanced signal to balanced amp should yield great results.

 

[DivaFonda]

no from the speaker, the sound was almost out. don't know if that's the proper term sorry

Did you buy from a place that accepts returns or honors the warranty? That would be unacceptable to me for such expensive headphones. Unless it was only a loose cable connection or something. But if it's the driver, replace IMO.

 

[abvolt]

https://m.ebay.com/itm/2-5mm-TRRS-B...CC-Silver-Plated-Copper-OPTIONS-/172696306217

I got the silver plated option. The soundstage with the x7 2 is remarkable.

I got that same cable only with 4 pin balanced xlr, I'm very pleased with it's sq..

 

[myhalis]

I have the Elear for about a year and I got a Utopia 2 days ago. Based on my experience with the Elear, it will take 200+ hours for Utopia to sound their best.

With that in mind, here are some early impressions:
It is clear from the moment you put them on that the tonality is different. The Utopia is more neutral and does not have the upper-mid range or lower treble dip. This is more agreeable to my ears/taste and one of the main reasons I bought them. Violins sound more realistic. I was impressed how the Elear rendered Maria Calas' voice but the Utopia does even better with female vocals.

It is also clear that the utopia sounds more open and has better instrument separation.

For now, I have been driving them both with a mojo. Both headphones have the same sensitivity but the utopia sounds louder when driven at the same volume level from mojo. Is it really louder or is it my idea? How can I check? Is it because Utopia paints a more vibrant picture of the music and is more transparent and articulate or is it because the beryllium driver is 135mg and the aluminum-magnesium 150mg?

Two days into it, I am really happy with the purchase. Does utopia blow away the elear? It is early for me to say but right out of the box, I would say it does not. Elear is really good. I will try to compare the two in the future.

 

[liopleus]

I have the Elear for about a year and I got a Utopia 2 days ago. Based on my experience with the Elear, it will take 200+ hours for Utopia to sound their best.

With that in mind, here are some early impressions:
It is clear from the moment you put them on that the tonality is different. The Utopia is more neutral and does not have the upper-mid range or lower treble dip. This is more agreeable to my ears/taste and one of the main reasons I bought them. Violins sound more realistic. I was impressed how the Elear rendered Maria Calas' voice but the Utopia does even better with female vocals.

It is also clear that the utopia sounds more open and has better instrument separation.

For now, I have been driving them both with a mojo. Both headphones have the same sensitivity but the utopia sounds louder when driven at the same volume level from mojo. Is it really louder or is it my idea? How can I check? Is it because Utopia paints a more vibrant picture of the music and is more transparent and articulate or is it because the beryllium driver is 135mg and the aluminum-magnesium 150mg?

Two days into it, I am really happy with the purchase. Does utopia blow away the elear? It is early for me to say but right out of the box, I would say it does not. Elear is really good. I will try to compare the two in the future.

Theoretically the Utopia should be more efficient than the Elear. Not only is the mobile assembly (dome + coil) lighter but the magnet force is stronger as well with 6 separate magnets in the Utopia and 1 circular magnet in the Elear.

Picture of the back of the Elear driver: www.stereolifemagazine.com/images/news/2016/FocalElearDriver.jpg
Utopia driver: www.stereolifemagazine.com/images/news/2016/FocalUtopiaDriver.jpg

 

[myhalis]

Theoretically the Utopia should be more efficient than the Elear. Not only is the mobile assembly (dome + coil) lighter but the magnet force is stronger as well with 6 separate magnets in the Utopia and 1 circular magnet in the Elear.

Picture of the back of the Elear driver: www.stereolifemagazine.com/images/news/2016/FocalElearDriver.jpg
Utopia driver: www.stereolifemagazine.com/images/news/2016/FocalUtopiaDriver.jpg

Sounds logical.

I did a quick search on headfi and found the following relevant post. Some inner fidelity measurements say that Utopia is easer to drive. But the published sensitivity by the manufacturer is the same.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/foc...ents-head-fi-tv.811270/page-142#post-12803588

and here are the specs:
https://www.focal.com/headphones/elear/pdf/elear_specifiction-sheet.pdf
somehow I can't find the published specs for the utopias but a number of sites have them at 104 db, same as the elear
https://www.moon-audio.com/focal-utopia-headphones.html