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Focal Elear - Impressions Thread
- Thread starter grizzlybeast
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Headphone4Life
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I hooked my Elear up to my Hifiman HM-601LE to see how it sounded and man does it sound good. I thought since its a warm DAP it might be to smooth and easy going but that's not the case as it sounds even more dynamic than before. I wish I could find a USB dac that uses the same Philips dac as the old Hifiman daps do.
Guys, I would love to hear some of your feedback on which Amp/Dac pairings you would recommend for the Elear. Also if anyone has been using a upgraded balanced cable can you describe the improvements/differences please.
deutschemark
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I love the Chord Mojo Dac + Alo Continental V5 amp. It's really an immersive experience. Also an added benefit of being portable.
Stratos27
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I am using an Oppo HA-1 and have been very happy with the results. I have a balanced cable being made and should have it in a week or so.
Gibsonorbust
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Just received my Elears and its an eye-opening step up from my 11-year old 650s.
The soundstage is much more expensive. Imaging is also improved with great coherence and instrument separation. Bass is rich and impactful! If you listen to rock or metal these are so fun! Maybe not as much slam as the HE-1000s but these are also a fraction the price (and overall quite competitive). Mids do sound relaxed but maybe because I'm so desecrated by the bass on day-one. I always preferred the rolled off highs of the 650s -which the Elears compliment- but has more detail. Overall, if you like the 650s relaxed presentation the Elear is more of that but better across the board. Very pleased.
iTunes > Parasound Zdac usb > M^3 amp > Elears
The soundstage is much more expensive. Imaging is also improved with great coherence and instrument separation. Bass is rich and impactful! If you listen to rock or metal these are so fun! Maybe not as much slam as the HE-1000s but these are also a fraction the price (and overall quite competitive). Mids do sound relaxed but maybe because I'm so desecrated by the bass on day-one. I always preferred the rolled off highs of the 650s -which the Elears compliment- but has more detail. Overall, if you like the 650s relaxed presentation the Elear is more of that but better across the board. Very pleased.
iTunes > Parasound Zdac usb > M^3 amp > Elears
GU1DO
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Any news when Next shipment arrive at www.moon-audio.com ?
jlbrach
Headphoneus Supremus
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I love the Chord Mojo Dac + Alo Continental V5 amp. It's really an immersive experience. Also an added benefit of being portable.
I have the Elear ,the Mojo and the new ALO amp.....to be honest the Mojo is more than enough for the Elear,it is very efficient and pairs very well
I have the Elear ,the Mojo and the new ALO amp.....to be honest the Mojo is more than enough for the Elear,it is very efficient and pairs very well
deutschemark
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I had the Mojo alone for some time and where as it has plenty of power and sounds pretty decent with the Elear, the Mojo + Alo V5 amp is a significant improvement IMO.
frigginloony
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OK folks I have pondered greatly as to the decision on which way to present this info without making a total laughing stock ass of myself by using a bunch of audiophile jargon which i only vaguely understand. Thus i have decided on the cheep, tawdry, slither up from the wagon rut (much like your favorite lawyer), direct, punch in the gut. No dilly dallying, no flowery words (well as little as humanly possible anyway). " Just the facts please ma'am" as one Joe Friday would say ( I wonder how many of you will remember that or for that matter ... have ever heard of it.. look it up for God's sake) 
Caution .....To my ears only!!!! ( thus the lawyer reference)
After 50 + hours of burn in, after three dacs, five amps, and two different cables. compared against only two other cans Grado 225i and Mr Speakers Alpha Dogs (sorry that's all of my cans and other than a few 10 min or so demos of sens 650, 800s and a brief try of a 880 (which i immediately sent back)
^^^^^ refer to Caution above please
The Elears are my personal end game. That is PERIOD with a P dot dot dot
Let me explain
If you want a set of headphones that:
1: Put you in the front three rows in the middle of that orchestral stage and you hear each instrument with uncanny clarity, location, sound dynamics and punch. These are your cans
2. Sit you 10 feet away from Diana Krall as she sings Desperado directly to you and you hear every breath, intonation and sigh she utters, thus making you infinitely embarrassed to stand up in a crowded room.
These are the cans for you
3 Places you 5 rows deep center stage in front of Mick jagger, David Bowie, John Lennon, David Gilmore or any number of your favorite rock bands and made your sinus cavities quake with that piercing guitar, gut wrenching sub base and knee exhausting near collapse from perching that brunette from Poli Sci class on your shoulders all the while thinking " whats that smell, how did I get here and why am I talking to myself" .... (ahh those were the days my friend) These are the cans for you.
4: [size=10pt]And FINALLY ... If you have a shear desire to hear your music as that hard working musician and studio intended while relaxing in bliss, clean, clear, sweet, driving, "take me now sweet Jesus"... "HOT DAMN I'M ALIVE" quality of music. These cans are for you.[/size]
[size=10pt]Now I hope this explains why this is MY personal end game. I need nothing else. I am almost positive there ARE better out there. Perhaps they are more expensive, perhaps they are less expensive, perhaps they are better with this or that genre, perhaps they are better with this or that cable or dac, or dap or amp or format or mod etc etc etc. But, currently, the Elears will make me happy for a long, long time. I will be quite content to go thru the rest of my life ... if need be... with my teac ud 301 as my dac, my Violectric HPA 90 and those lovely jewels of Ear candy called music. [/size]
[size=10pt]As I say this .... YOU folks are saying ..... "BS he'll be digging in his wallet by next week!!!" You are probably right too [/size]
Quality is subjective for every living creature. With me being as creature as creature can be, I feel that these are BMW or Mercedes in style at an Audi price. Worth every damn bit of what you pay for.
Now are the Elears ALL sweetness and LOVE. NO
These are Damn heavy 10 grams heavier than my Alpha Dogs but they are comfortable to wear... go figure. Very comfortable indeed.
The included cable could have been put to good use to strap down the space shuttle while flying it to Florida.
And sound wise.... if you have badly recorded music that you are hoping against hope that these will make it all better, well just tuck that K back into your wallet, cause these will expose that dime store engineer who should be selling supermarket PA systems rather than mixing music and make you want to ask Hillary's staff to grab a hammer to fix his mixing board.
Also, if you are a basshead.... these are 'NOT FOR YOU .... NOT FOR YOU" (Picture your mama telling you that as she slaps your wrist after you stole that candy when you were a mere tike) [size=10pt]The bass and subbase is clean, clear, punchy and TRUE to its origin. It’s there in all its glory as the studio intended for nearly any genre.[/size][size=10pt] [/size][size=10pt]However its not there if you truly want your eyeballs fluttering in their sockets.[/size]
[size=10pt]Finally[/size]
[size=10pt]What else can I say? If I didn't put a [size=13.3333px]definitive[/size][size=10pt] picture of where I stand on the sound and overall quality of the Elear, then I have failed [/size][size=13.3333px]miserably[/size][size=10pt] in trying and I deserve your scorn and laughter. If I have [/size][size=13.3333px]succeeded[/size][size=10pt], then I have served my special purpose on this earth and ya'll can allow me to exist on this forum for yet another day.[/size][/size]
[size=10pt]Enjoy these, most of you will NOT make a wrong decision with this choice. [/size]
Caution .....To my ears only!!!! ( thus the lawyer reference)
After 50 + hours of burn in, after three dacs, five amps, and two different cables. compared against only two other cans Grado 225i and Mr Speakers Alpha Dogs (sorry that's all of my cans and other than a few 10 min or so demos of sens 650, 800s and a brief try of a 880 (which i immediately sent back)
^^^^^ refer to Caution above please
The Elears are my personal end game. That is PERIOD with a P dot dot dot
Let me explain
If you want a set of headphones that:
1: Put you in the front three rows in the middle of that orchestral stage and you hear each instrument with uncanny clarity, location, sound dynamics and punch. These are your cans
2. Sit you 10 feet away from Diana Krall as she sings Desperado directly to you and you hear every breath, intonation and sigh she utters, thus making you infinitely embarrassed to stand up in a crowded room.
3 Places you 5 rows deep center stage in front of Mick jagger, David Bowie, John Lennon, David Gilmore or any number of your favorite rock bands and made your sinus cavities quake with that piercing guitar, gut wrenching sub base and knee exhausting near collapse from perching that brunette from Poli Sci class on your shoulders all the while thinking " whats that smell, how did I get here and why am I talking to myself" .... (ahh those were the days my friend) These are the cans for you.
4: [size=10pt]And FINALLY ... If you have a shear desire to hear your music as that hard working musician and studio intended while relaxing in bliss, clean, clear, sweet, driving, "take me now sweet Jesus"... "HOT DAMN I'M ALIVE" quality of music. These cans are for you.[/size]
[size=10pt]Now I hope this explains why this is MY personal end game. I need nothing else. I am almost positive there ARE better out there. Perhaps they are more expensive, perhaps they are less expensive, perhaps they are better with this or that genre, perhaps they are better with this or that cable or dac, or dap or amp or format or mod etc etc etc. But, currently, the Elears will make me happy for a long, long time. I will be quite content to go thru the rest of my life ... if need be... with my teac ud 301 as my dac, my Violectric HPA 90 and those lovely jewels of Ear candy called music. [/size]
[size=10pt]As I say this .... YOU folks are saying ..... "BS he'll be digging in his wallet by next week!!!" You are probably right too [/size]
Quality is subjective for every living creature. With me being as creature as creature can be, I feel that these are BMW or Mercedes in style at an Audi price. Worth every damn bit of what you pay for.
Now are the Elears ALL sweetness and LOVE. NO
These are Damn heavy 10 grams heavier than my Alpha Dogs but they are comfortable to wear... go figure. Very comfortable indeed.
The included cable could have been put to good use to strap down the space shuttle while flying it to Florida.
And sound wise.... if you have badly recorded music that you are hoping against hope that these will make it all better, well just tuck that K back into your wallet, cause these will expose that dime store engineer who should be selling supermarket PA systems rather than mixing music and make you want to ask Hillary's staff to grab a hammer to fix his mixing board.
Also, if you are a basshead.... these are 'NOT FOR YOU .... NOT FOR YOU" (Picture your mama telling you that as she slaps your wrist after you stole that candy when you were a mere tike) [size=10pt]The bass and subbase is clean, clear, punchy and TRUE to its origin. It’s there in all its glory as the studio intended for nearly any genre.[/size][size=10pt] [/size][size=10pt]However its not there if you truly want your eyeballs fluttering in their sockets.[/size]
[size=10pt]Finally[/size]
[size=10pt]What else can I say? If I didn't put a [size=13.3333px]definitive[/size][size=10pt] picture of where I stand on the sound and overall quality of the Elear, then I have failed [/size][size=13.3333px]miserably[/size][size=10pt] in trying and I deserve your scorn and laughter. If I have [/size][size=13.3333px]succeeded[/size][size=10pt], then I have served my special purpose on this earth and ya'll can allow me to exist on this forum for yet another day.[/size][/size]
[size=10pt]Enjoy these, most of you will NOT make a wrong decision with this choice. [/size]
JWahl
1000+ Head-Fier
Finally got to hear these at a meet last week. I really want them now. I was going to wait for tax refund season, but I think I'm going to sell some gear to make it happen. I'll probably sell my RS2e, THX00 Purpleheart, iUSB 3.0, and Valhalla 2. Then just keep my Mojo to use with the Elear for now. The Elear seems well rounded enough to where I won't miss the Purpleheart much. I've been listening to my modded HD-650 more now anyways. I can always get a better amp and/or DAC later on.
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I've had my Focal Elear's for around 3 weeks now, upgrading from a pair of Sennheiser HD700's. They are quite a jump in terms of sound and build quality from the HD700s and I'd like to think that I won't be looking to upgrade these for some time, if at all.
I first heard the Elear's at Canjam London back in August and for me, they were the standout headphones there (in terms of price/performance) and I promptly put myself on the pre-order list with Focal. I also heard them at the National Audio Show in the UK in September and Headroom in October, each time I listened it reaffirmed for me that these are truly special headphones and I made the right choice in ordering them.
My only small gripe is with the supplied cable, far too long and unwieldy for my use (at a desk) - thankfully my re-terminated Forza Audioworks Noir MK2 cable arrived today after 2 weeks away, so can now get on with enjoying these headphones and not having to battle the cable every 5 minutes.
I first heard the Elear's at Canjam London back in August and for me, they were the standout headphones there (in terms of price/performance) and I promptly put myself on the pre-order list with Focal. I also heard them at the National Audio Show in the UK in September and Headroom in October, each time I listened it reaffirmed for me that these are truly special headphones and I made the right choice in ordering them.
My only small gripe is with the supplied cable, far too long and unwieldy for my use (at a desk) - thankfully my re-terminated Forza Audioworks Noir MK2 cable arrived today after 2 weeks away, so can now get on with enjoying these headphones and not having to battle the cable every 5 minutes.
bugger43
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I would be very curious with Elears on a balance set up. I use my Marantz from FLAC CDs from computer or Tidal.To me it sounds great already. I can't imagine even better but I am sure it is.
nordkapp
Headphoneus Supremus
This cable is ridiculous. Sorry Focal. See Beyer and Sennheiser......
Honestly, I think the THX00's are overpriced for the SQ.
Yes, they're pretty and comfortable, but for $400-450 there are better options and saving half that towards something like an Elear is one of them.
And if you have parting anxiety with your THX00's, grab a pair of Creative Aurvana Live's!
Similar type of sound, more comfortable, and damn are they cheap. Really incredible for the price.
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