[HTSkywalker]

New Elear owner, Initial impressions are good. I have to agree with the consensus. Impact, Punch, Dynamics, and Clarity are quite good. I do not hear a recessed mid range though...........I think the cans sound pretty great across the whole spectrum. I have them pared with my Finale F-138 FFX EL84 tube amp (6 WPC) it seems like a good match. Im off to hear some more. Happy to be on the Focal band wagon !!!!!!!!

The Elear makes a great match with the Violectric line of amps across the spectrum with pin-pointing details, and a good match too with the Cavalli CTH.

 

[Kopf]

Dear Focal Elear experts,

I have the Focal Elear, bought it in the year of release and I am still happy with it.

I would like to ask you something regarding pairing with electronics because here I am struggling. Of course, what I need to do is to go to a good shop and simply test it. But I wanted to check with you upfront.

First of all whats important for me. I am not an audiophile guy, I am not striving for perfectionism I am simply an occasional listener. Whats important for me is the balance of the lows, mids, highs, dynamics and space but I am not looking for the details.

When I was looking for a new headphone I went to a good shop after a partially disappointing purchase of Beyerdynamic DT 1770 at amazon. I compared a bunch of headphones, inc. Audeze, Staxx, Sennheiser, other Beyerdynamic models, Hifiman, B&W, Audioquest and several more … and the Focal Utopia (at that time there was no Focal Clear).

Regarding my experience with electronics:

When I compared the headphones I listened with Chord Hugo TT and Naim CD player, using some of my own CDs and audiophile CDs from the shop. The Elear sounded great to my ears. The Hifiman 1000 as well.

My desktop set-up at home is very old . I have a Harman Kardon amp and CD Player and use Dynaudio Contour loudspeakers but basically do not listen to CDs anymore. But the Elear plugged directly into the old Harman amp sounds dynamic as well, full bass, punchy, clear voices and space that is enough for me but a bit sibilant sometimes. That was not the case when I listened with the Naim/Hugo set-up but apart from the slight sibilance I didn’t recognize major differences but did not make a side by side comparison. So, apart from the sibilance I missed nothing with my old Harman set-up.

My Elear plugged directly into my old Samsung smartphone sounded surprisingly comparable, enough punch, clear voices but sometimes a bit sibilant as well.

My Elear plugged directly into my new business HP notebook … it sounds like a 10 EUR headphone, no bass, strange voices, flat sound, metallic, sibilant … sounds like the headphone would be broken … completely crap.

My Elear plugged directly into my 15 years old Acer notebook … well, it sounds great , bass, punch, space, clear voices, no sibilance … I am missing nothing, listening to Spotify and youtube , that’s why I kept it that way.

But I was thinking to upgrade my electronics last year. A friend of mine bought a Naim Unity Nova and Avantgarde Accoustic Fino loudspeakers … sounds fantastic. Now I plugged my Elear directly into his aim Unity Nova and … it sounds like a mess again, the same as with my HP notebook, completely crap, unlistenable. That wondered me because the Naim Uniti products are sometimes sold in a bundle with Focal headphones.

I sticked with my Acer notebook again.

Recently I got a present from my cousin who gave me inEar-headphones and a dragon fly red DAC.

So I used that Dragonfly Red with my new iphone, my HP notebook and my old Acer notebook. The result is surprisingly varied: no dynamics with the iphone but no sibilance, listenable now with the HP notebook but not really good, better listenable with my old acer notebook, a bit brighter now but no dynamics and punch anymore.

What strikes me is:

• That some people are claiming that electronics (DACs, amps) have limited impact on the sound, well depending on the electronics chosen the Elear sounded absolutely great to absolutely crap … huge impacts from electronics
• apparently there is not much needed to drive it well because apart from a bit sibilance it sounded good with my old Samsung smartphone and my very old Harman amp
• why does it sound completely broken with a 6.000 EUR Naim Uniti Nova?

I read several times when there is a impedance mismatch that the bass becomes boomy but with the Naim Unit Nova it was a shocking experience and with the Dragon Fly Red there is basically no dynamics anymore. Furthermore it was surprising as well that using the Dragon Fly Red in different set-ups the sound was very much different as well despite using the same DAC, means the amp part has huge impact as well, right?

When I learned in the beginning that I was happy with the sound with my old pretty much outdated Acer notebook (which I kept because of that reason), that using my old Harman the sound is not much away from the Naim/Chord set-up (at least I was missing nothing if there wouldn’t be the slight sibilance) and even the sound with my Samsung smartphone was good if there wouldn’t be the slight sibilance, I thought there is no need for big investments in electronics (like the Chord Hugo TT).

But pairing seems to be a huge issue … do not understand why that is. The impedance thing seems not to be the only thing, reportingly only resulting into boomy bass. So, I am wondering what that is that has so huge impact on the sound quality of the Elears? What’s your experience / recommendation taking the above into consideration?

Thank you
Best!

 

[thecrow]

Dear Focal Elear experts,

I have the Focal Elear, bought it in the year of release and I am still happy with it.

I would like to ask you something regarding pairing with electronics because here I am struggling. Of course, what I need to do is to go to a good shop and simply test it. But I wanted to check with you upfront.

First of all whats important for me. I am not an audiophile guy, I am not striving for perfectionism I am simply an occasional listener. Whats important for me is the balance of the lows, mids, highs, dynamics and space but I am not looking for the details.

When I was looking for a new headphone I went to a good shop after a partially disappointing purchase of Beyerdynamic DT 1770 at amazon. I compared a bunch of headphones, inc. Audeze, Staxx, Sennheiser, other Beyerdynamic models, Hifiman, B&W, Audioquest and several more … and the Focal Utopia (at that time there was no Focal Clear).

Regarding my experience with electronics:

When I compared the headphones I listened with Chord Hugo TT and Naim CD player, using some of my own CDs and audiophile CDs from the shop. The Elear sounded great to my ears. The Hifiman 1000 as well.

My desktop set-up at home is very old . I have a Harman Kardon amp and CD Player and use Dynaudio Contour loudspeakers but basically do not listen to CDs anymore. But the Elear plugged directly into the old Harman amp sounds dynamic as well, full bass, punchy, clear voices and space that is enough for me but a bit sibilant sometimes. That was not the case when I listened with the Naim/Hugo set-up but apart from the slight sibilance I didn’t recognize major differences but did not make a side by side comparison. So, apart from the sibilance I missed nothing with my old Harman set-up.

My Elear plugged directly into my old Samsung smartphone sounded surprisingly comparable, enough punch, clear voices but sometimes a bit sibilant as well.

My Elear plugged directly into my new business HP notebook … it sounds like a 10 EUR headphone, no bass, strange voices, flat sound, metallic, sibilant … sounds like the headphone would be broken … completely crap.

My Elear plugged directly into my 15 years old Acer notebook … well, it sounds great , bass, punch, space, clear voices, no sibilance … I am missing nothing, listening to Spotify and youtube , that’s why I kept it that way.

But I was thinking to upgrade my electronics last year. A friend of mine bought a Naim Unity Nova and Avantgarde Accoustic Fino loudspeakers … sounds fantastic. Now I plugged my Elear directly into his aim Unity Nova and … it sounds like a mess again, the same as with my HP notebook, completely crap, unlistenable. That wondered me because the Naim Uniti products are sometimes sold in a bundle with Focal headphones.

I sticked with my Acer notebook again.

Recently I got a present from my cousin who gave me inEar-headphones and a dragon fly red DAC.

So I used that Dragonfly Red with my new iphone, my HP notebook and my old Acer notebook. The result is surprisingly varied: no dynamics with the iphone but no sibilance, listenable now with the HP notebook but not really good, better listenable with my old acer notebook, a bit brighter now but no dynamics and punch anymore.

What strikes me is:

• That some people are claiming that electronics (DACs, amps) have limited impact on the sound, well depending on the electronics chosen the Elear sounded absolutely great to absolutely crap … huge impacts from electronics
• apparently there is not much needed to drive it well because apart from a bit sibilance it sounded good with my old Samsung smartphone and my very old Harman amp
• why does it sound completely broken with a 6.000 EUR Naim Uniti Nova?

I read several times when there is a impedance mismatch that the bass becomes boomy but with the Naim Unit Nova it was a shocking experience and with the Dragon Fly Red there is basically no dynamics anymore. Furthermore it was surprising as well that using the Dragon Fly Red in different set-ups the sound was very much different as well despite using the same DAC, means the amp part has huge impact as well, right?

When I learned in the beginning that I was happy with the sound with my old pretty much outdated Acer notebook (which I kept because of that reason), that using my old Harman the sound is not much away from the Naim/Chord set-up (at least I was missing nothing if there wouldn’t be the slight sibilance) and even the sound with my Samsung smartphone was good if there wouldn’t be the slight sibilance, I thought there is no need for big investments in electronics (like the Chord Hugo TT).

But pairing seems to be a huge issue … do not understand why that is. The impedance thing seems not to be the only thing, reportingly only resulting into boomy bass. So, I am wondering what that is that has so huge impact on the sound quality of the Elears? What’s your experience / recommendation taking the above into consideration?

Thank you
Best!

i could be wrong but here is a youtube reviewer commenting on various amp matchings with the elear who has had similar experiences to you:

 

[jasonb]

Mine sound great just with the headphone jack on my M1 MacBook Air. Loud enough at 40% as well.

 

[AudioDuck]

But pairing seems to be a huge issue … do not understand why that is. The impedance thing seems not to be the only thing, reportingly only resulting into boomy bass. So, I am wondering what that is that has so huge impact on the sound quality of the Elears? What’s your experience / recommendation taking the above into consideration?

Thank you
Best!

I’ve owned the Elear twice, and consider it one of the greatest bargains in head-fi.

It is good enough to benefit from good amplification and a high-resolution source, but can be slightly forgiving of poorer-quality recordings. Why? I’m not an engineer, only a music-lover, so I don’t know the technical reasons…

My experience has been that it works very well with Burson gear (you can find the older Soloist model or HA-160 for $300 or so), Violectric (ie a V100 or V200 would work, really, really well- I’ve owned the V200 twice as well- amazing amp for the money).

A good tube amp for the Elear is the Feliks Audio Echo, those are a bit more expensive around $500 used.

 

[HTSkywalker]

The problem with the Elear same with most highly detailed Cans is that they expose the good and the bad recordings or amps. Remember that the Elear have an 80 Ohms impedance so running it using a phone or a laptop is not recommended and would produce poor sound. A good Felix amps as @AudioDuck mentioned would bring out the best in the Elear. Keep in mind that the Elear is a $1K headphones and should be paired with good amps.

 

[JazzVinyl]

I’ve owned the Elear twice, and consider it one of the greatest bargains in head-fi.

It is good enough to benefit from good amplification and a high-resolution source, but can be slightly forgiving of poorer-quality recordings. Why? I’m not an engineer, only a music-lover, so I don’t know the technical reasons…

My experience has been that it works very well with Burson gear (you can find the older Soloist model or HA-160 for $300 or so), Violectric (ie a V100 or V200 would work, really, really well- I’ve owned the V200 twice as well- amazing amp for the money).

A good tube amp for the Elear is the Feliks Audio Echo, those are a bit more expensive around $500 used.

Agree about Elear being a bargain and also pairing well with Violectric as well as other quality SS amps. I use mine primarily with the OG Shanling M6 DAP via a balanced cord and it is oh so, wonderful.

.

 

[jasonb]

The problem with the Elear same with most highly detailed Cans is that they expose the good and the bad recordings or amps. Remember that the Elear have an 80 Ohms impedance so running it using a phone or a laptop is not recommended and would produce poor sound. A good Felix amps as @AudioDuck mentioned would bring out the best in the Elear. Keep in mind that the Elear is a $1K headphones and should be paired with good amps.

Can’t say I agree with the part about amplification. I have an Elear with Clear pads and for the moderate volume I listen at, my M1 MacBook Air headphone jack does great and only needs to be at about 40%. They also sound great with a Qudelix 5K as well, and that’s single ended on the 1volt setting. I usually listen to them on the 5K at about the -25db area. I have used these on a Topping NX4DSD or a Schiit Audio Magni Heresey with an ODAC and don’t notice any advantages so I just keep it simple.

 

[Mr H]

hello friends. My elear are still half dead. is there any way to find a left elear driver? I've tried to find online stores and nothing shows up

 

[HTSkywalker]

hello friends. My elear are still half dead. is there any way to find a left elear driver? I've tried to find online stores and nothing shows up

The problem is that you will need a matched pair as 1 driver won't do.

 

[Liberte]

hello friends. My elear are still half dead. is there any way to find a left elear driver? I've tried to find online stores and nothing shows up

Maybe the issue is similar to the Elex where the tiny wire needs resoldering inside, they may be repairable. There's videos on youtube and posts on here about it.

Is there any word on focal releasing another mid range open backed headphone in the European market?

It seems strange they didn't replace/retune the Elear for the EU and do the same as the Elex - put clear pads on and market as a new product. I really like focal's sound and think more people should hear it, there's just a bit of a gap in the entry point for their products. I know if I hadn't been fortunate enough to find an Elex over here it would've taken longer for me to arrive at Elegia as a closed back option and the Clear as a future end game.

 

[TSAVJason]

hello friends. My elear are still half dead. is there any way to find a left elear driver? I've tried to find online stores and nothing shows up

Focal has replacement drivers for the Elear. Why haven’t you contacted Focal? Or a Focal dealer?

 

[joespride]

hello friends. My elear are still half dead. is there any way to find a left elear driver? I've tried to find online stores and nothing shows up

buy a used pair on the cheap, This way you will have a 2nd driver should you ever lose another and you will have other spare parts to boot

 

[HTSkywalker]

buy a used pair on the cheap, This way you will have a 2nd driver should you ever lose another and you will have other spare parts to boot

All pairs come matched so no spares are recommended. A new Pair at Focal costs $600

 

[joespride]

All pairs come matched so no spares are recommended. A new Pair at Focal costs $600

Im sure a new pair will come matched but to make a repair a reasonable affair I am fairly confident the differences would not be nearly as audible as 1 driver NOT WORKING. A lot of manufacturers of speakers do not go to the trouble of matching drivers I have yet to hear a pair of drivers that were off the shelf where the minor measurements differences were audible. Im sure some golden ear folk can tell. I am also sure most can not and personally I would buy a 300 - 350.00 used pair and make my repairs. 600 for a new pair of drivers is quite high especially since Focal knows this has been an issue for some time