[gLer]

Tried a second pair of Elear's today after last year's clipping experience and it's the same thing. With what's been said I'm in serious doubt it's a defect anymore but worse, a badly designed headphone. Of dozens of auditioned headphones literally none but the Elear acts up with certain bass heavy tracks. For casual listening up to moderate levels all is fine. You want to go louder sometimes where subbass plays a part, good luck.

Is there only a certain batch affected or what do we know so far?

The Elear (and Elex and Clear and presumably the Utopia) are simply not designed to play doof-doof bass heavy tracks at high volume. Focal have come out and said as much when they described the intentional driver excursion limits of this design.

It does have certain benefits, bringing a level of dynamism and ‘punch’ unlike any other open backed headphones (at least that I’ve heard), combined with exceptional clarity and detail. And bass certainly isn’t lacking, especially in the Elear. Elex owners probably hit the ‘clipping’ point earlier because the bass is toned down by the pads, which means you have to go louder to get more bass, and then - bam - too loud.

If that’s not your cup of tea and you need that extra, deeper, ear shaking sub bass at volume, I can think of a handful of headphones that will give you that better than the Focals.

Every headphone has its shortcomings and limitations. Loud bass is Focal’s. For every headphone that does bass the way you want it I can probably name a few things the Elear does better.

If I’ve learned anything in this hobby it’s that here is no one-size-fits-all headphone, not even for $2000.

 

[moriez]

You know, the most absurd thing about it is that any other headphone doesn't break a sweat at more or less the same listening volume. I'm just perplexed.

Would you happen to have a link or something to Focal's info?

 

[gLer]

You know, the most absurd thing about it is that any other headphone doesn't break a sweat at more or less the same listening volume. I'm just perplexed.

Would you happen to have a link or something to Focal's info?

Sure, here it is: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-elear-impressions-thread.811961/page-298#post-13789603

 

[bidn]

Tried a second pair of Elear's today after last year's clipping experience and it's the same thing. With what's been said I'm in serious doubt it's a defect anymore but worse, a badly designed headphone. Of dozens of auditioned headphones literally none but the Elear acts up with certain bass heavy tracks. For casual listening up to moderate levels all is fine. You want to go louder sometimes where subbass plays a part, good luck.

Is there only a certain batch affected or what do we know so far?

Hi moriez,

I agree with gLer, congrats to you gLer for explaining the issues so well .

Indeed the Focal's hp are not designed for a huge bass at very high volumes but are instead designed to behave like loudspeakers (clipping).
For bass-heavy music at high volume, I can suggest as an alternative the Campfire Audio Cascade,
way too much bass and treble and too far off neutrality for me,
but they seem designed for loud bass-heavy music, their huge bass is quite impressive.
Compared to the Elear, the Cascade are a step back regarding several SQ aspects,
but they are quite small and made to be folded, making them much easier to take along anywhere.

 

[moriez]

One thing to note is that you guys seem to be assuming I'm demanding huge bass at high volume. While it varies from person to person what that is I feel I am not even close to pushing the Elear more than other headphones. I'm not anywhere near being a basshead and care about my hearing. But you got to be able to listen to any kind of music at a volume that within reason suits you, not having to mind your headphone might go 'protecting' itself which I think is quite a laugh given the money we're paying. All pretty unique. I didn't get the full retail package so don't know if Focal's statement is included in the manual. I think it should be.

 

[catscratch]

So far I managed to bottom out my Clear just once, not with music but playing Fallout 4. At one point there is a very powerful deep bass tone played and that caused the left driver to rattle. It was at a pretty decent volume but certainly not deafening. Never happened with actual music though.

I do think they need to revise how much excursion the drivers have; with this many people offering evidence it's likely more than just anecdotal. But for most music at a reasonable volume, I doubt it will be a problem. Also, I wonder how much bottoming out the drivers actually risks damaging them.

 

[gLer]

One thing to note is that you guys seem to be assuming I'm demanding huge bass at high volume. While it varies from person to person what that is I feel I am not even close to pushing the Elear more than other headphones. I'm not anywhere near being a basshead and care about my hearing. But you got to be able to listen to any kind of music at a volume that within reason suits you, not having to mind your headphone might go 'protecting' itself which I think is quite a laugh given the money we're paying. All pretty unique. I didn't get the full retail package so don't know if Focal's statement is included in the manual. I think it should be.

I think if you’re spending the sort of money you’re spending on an Elear or other great headphones like it, then it’s not much of a leap to do a bit of research to find out about issues and sound signatures and ‘limitations’. All that info is easily searchable and available on this site, so it’s not a great mystery. If you think the limitations are not to your liking, don’t buy the headphones. It’s not rocket science.

 

[gLer]

Also, I wonder how much bottoming out the drivers actually risks damaging them.

According to Figal you won’t damage the drivers, but if you hit the excursion point chances are you’ll quickly lower the volume to avoid any possible damage. If I really want to deafen myself with bass I’ll switch to the LCD-3 and walk around with my ears ringing the rest of the day.

 

[moriez]

I think if you’re spending the sort of money you’re spending on an Elear or other great headphones like it, then it’s not much of a leap to do a bit of research to find out about issues and sound signatures and ‘limitations’. All that info is easily searchable and available on this site, so it’s not a great mystery. If you think the limitations are not to your liking, don’t buy the headphones. It’s not rocket science.

Gosh, that's a very snarky tone buddy. I might not fully succeed at being informative and objective but I can pat myself on the back for making effort to being constructive. On that note I can only say to do some introspective work on what ticks you off so much about what I've said.

 

[gLer]

Gosh, that's a very snarky tone buddy. I might not fully succeed at being informative and objective but I can pat myself on the back for making effort to being constructive. On that note I can only say to do some introspective work on what ticks you off so much about what I've said.

I do apologize - didn’t mean to come off as snarky but reading that back realise that I did.

I guess it’s just the repeat emphasis on the same ‘issues’ that regularly come up in the same thread, given all the information that’s available, gets a bit old sometimes. Regardless my tone was out of line.

Bottom line, you’re right, the Elear is not ideal for deep bass tracks, but for everything else it seems to blow the socks off most headphones I’ve heard, some costing twice as much or more.

 

[kman1211]

You know, the most absurd thing about it is that any other headphone doesn't break a sweat at more or less the same listening volume. I'm just perplexed.

Would you happen to have a link or something to Focal's info?

There are two headphones I found somewhat similar to the Focals in their sound profile and how the headphones behave, the DT 48 and DT 480 which after listening to them and the Focal open-backs side by side, it seems to me that Focal driver design takes some influence from the old metal driver Beyers

 

[waveSounds]

I haven't been able to recreate the driver excursion on my set and I listen to a lot of techno, electro and bass heavy music. My amp puts out 5W and I tried cranking the volume to 12 o'clock, normal listening volume 9-10, and still nothing (apart from being too loud to listen to comfortably for more than a few seconds). What tracks were you listening to when you had the driver clip? I'll give them a try.

 

[gLer]

I haven't been able to recreate the driver excursion on my set and I listen to a lot of techno, electro and bass heavy music. My amp puts out 5W and I tried cranking the volume to 12 o'clock, normal listening volume 9-10, and still nothing (apart from being too loud to listen to comfortably for more than a few seconds). What tracks were you listening to when you had the driver clip? I'll give them a try.

Try the track "Why So Serious" from The Dark Knight soundtrack. That usually does it. Just watch your ears (and your headphones).

 

[waveSounds]

Yes, that did it around the 3:44 mark. I could only turn it up that loud by virtue of the track having nothing but subbass, if the strings came back in I'd be deaf now

 

[loopfreak]

Trying two nights in a row to make the Elear clipp has made my brain clipp instead. Need something short to dampen the echoing This could be a sub-hobby, hehhh

Anyways, tried the The Dark Night OST as recommended, I was on 3/4 of the volume pot and nothing happened. I didn't want to go flat out since the lows were making significant pressure on my ear drums. Elear is on LPG100 which puts more than 1.5W on 80ohm .