I just got back into the office yesterday after a extended weekend vacation and lo and behold what was waiting on my desk but a box from Headroom with a Focal Elear inside.
Out of the box, the Elear actually shares a lot of qualities with the T1.... A slider/ pivot mechanism built into the headband, an anodized aluminum yoke, microfiber pads, angled driver, mesh cup, plastic housing. Even the position of the driver in relation to the pads and housing is similar.
Only difference is that the Elear design seems much better engineered and more robust. Having a metal end cap on the headband with screws that allow you to access the slider/ pivot mechanism is a big point of confidence (for me). The Beyer end cap is a solid piece of plastic and the detent feels like a piece of plastic against the aluminum yoke arm. When you rely on friction between aluminum and plastic the day will come when Aluminum overcomes and plastic deforms or fails. As best I can tell, there is no way to access the internals on the T1 to repair its eventual demise. I also like that the Elear mechanism feels like metal on metal and that the slider arms on the yokes are near 1" wide whereas they are less than half that on the T1.
All the more remarkable when you consider the MSRP on the Elear is $100 cheaper.
The HD800 doesn't really pull punches, it can stand toe to toe, but they are different animals. The HD800 looks like a futuristic version of the Sony Qualia.... or just plain futuristic. The Elear is a more of a classic headphone design and is a well executed specimen. The cable is obviously a bit cumbersome and about my only negative remark would be that the cup housing, the outer ring, is plastic.
You are getting plenty for the money, but an anodized aluminum housing would've been sweet.
On sound, I've listened to all of 3 records bouncing back and forth between the Elear and a couple others that are priced at or above and I think the Elear is a game changer.
I wish I still had my JVC DX700 to compare it to, but against the T1, LCD2, and HD800 it hits so much harder, sounds so much more full bodied and nourishing.... It has that pressurized tonal mass that allows you to feel the music as much as hear it, but it does this without veering into one note bloated bass... I actually thought one of my other headphones was malfunctioning after listening to Elear for a minute... because it sounded so lifeless and anemic.
A couple of caveats.... Out of the iFi iDSD I didn't think it performed half as well as it does out of my Luxman rig. I have no clue why, but it comes plummeting back to earth through the iFi brick and is a much more even battle between my 4 big shot headphones out of the iDSD.
On my Luxman rig, the Elear just stomps the Effing ESS out of all them. I've never heard anything like it.
I am going to unpack my Stello deck and hunt down my Cayin C5 to see if I can make some sense of it.
Not sure why it would lose so much of its dynamic drive and scale through the iDSD but I'll see if I can replicate on either of the other two.
For now Elear + Luxman =