[qrtas]

I agree with the above comments. The Elear really is a very versatile headphone, sure you can find some cans that do better in this or that area, but in terms of overall performance and ability to play everything with a natural and effortless touch, the Elear is unbeaten for me by any sub-2000 dollar (yes, 2000) headphone (or at least all that I have heard). 

Just curious to hear what sub-2000 dollar headphones you have listened.

I was just thinking that since the Utopia is $4000, probably we would had been ok with the elear at $2000. Obviously I much rather prefer the $1000 tag. But to me it is awesome that some people are comparing the elear with much more expensive headphones.

So if the elear is competing with $1500 -$2000 headphones. I would had been nice if the utopia was only $2000, but competing against LCD4, hifimaman he1000, and even the stax 009. I am almost positive that a company like this could make much more profit, because more of our would mind to save a little more for the utopia.

Any way, just a thought

 

[zeloutre]

Just curious to hear what sub-2000 dollar headphones you have listened.

I was just thinking that since the Utopia is $4000, probably we would had been ok with the elear at $2000. Obviously I much rather prefer the $1000 tag. But to me it is awesome that some people are comparing the elear with much more expensive headphones.

So if the elear is competing with $1500 -$2000 headphones. I would had been nice if the utopia was only $2000, but competing against LCD4, hifimaman he1000, and even the stax 009. I am almost positive that a company like this could make much more profit, because more of our would mind to save a little more for the utopia.

Any way, just a thought

 
All the cans in my signature
Some are less than €1000 (HE-560, SR-507), some closer to €2000 (LCD-3, LCD-XC, Ether C, TH-900, SR-L700), and to me the Elear is arguably better than all of them, except the SR-L700.
 
Clearly if the Utopia was €2000 I would have thought twice before buying the €1000 Elear. But I guess they simulated demand and decided on a €4000 price with reason.

 

[mikek200]

Just curious to hear what sub-2000 dollar headphones you have listened.

I was just thinking that since the Utopia is $4000, probably we would had been ok with the elear at $2000. Obviously I much rather prefer the $1000 tag. But to me it is awesome that some people are comparing the elear with much more expensive headphones.

So if the elear is competing with $1500 -$2000 headphones. I would had been nice if the utopia was only $2000, but competing against LCD4, hifimaman he1000, and even the stax 009. I am almost positive that a company like this could make much more profit, because more of our would mind to save a little more for the utopia.

Any way, just a thought

I got mine yesterday,and so far ,I think they are excellent.{put on about 13 hours on them}.but need a couple of weeks of burn-in,and,more serious listening..
 
Whether they can compare to a Stax 009 ,that's another story,the Elears & the 009's are in different ball parks,but similar,and have different SQ's
 
I have sold my Stax rig,but for another reason...,PM me if you want to know..why?
 
My 009's ran me $3200-,I would have no problem spending $4K on the Utopia's,if I needed,,but..along with that ,I would in all events, totally upgrade my amp & dac,which will be another $4-5K?
I am not searching for the most detailed headphone,but rather the most musical,one that can get me totally involved with the music,no matter what genre.

 

[zeloutre]

  I got mine yesterday,and so far ,I think they are excellent.{put on about 13 hours on them}.but need a couple of weeks of burn-in,and,more serious listening..
 
Whether they can compare to a Stax 009 ,that's another story,the Elears & the 009's are in different ball parks,but similar,and have different SQ's
 
I have sold my Stax rig,but for another reason...,PM me if you want to know..why?
 
My 009's ran me $3200-,I would have no problem spending $4K on the Utopia's,if I needed,,but..along with that ,I would in all events, totally upgrade my amp & dac,which will be another $4-5K?
I am not searching for the most detailed headphone,but rather the most musical,one that can get me totally involved with the music,no matter what genre.

I'm happy to hear that you like them!

 

[mikek200]

  Anyone compared the Audeze El-8 open to the Focal Elear?

Brutal,
I have the EL-8's,and just got the Elears yesterday
I need to put more time on the Elears,,maybe 100-150 hours-then-I will do a direct comparison to the el-8's
 
Let me say this,up until yesterday,the el-8 was the headphones I grabbed for each day
IMHO,they are excellent,comfortable,relatively inexpensive,and well built.
 
So ,give me a week to 10 days for my comments-OK?
 
Mike

 

[BrutalLegend]

Brutal,
I have the EL-8's,and just got the Elears yesterday
I need to put more time on the Elears,,maybe 100-150 hours-then-I will do a direct comparison to the el-8's

Let me say this,up until yesterday,the el-8 was the headphones I grabbed for each day
IMHO,they are excellent,comfortable,relatively inexpensive,and well built.

So ,give me a week to 10 days for my comments-OK?

Mike

Looking forward to it mate!

 

[The Fed]

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 =

 

[meomap]

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 =

Luxman brand is a very good product.

 

[The Fed]

You know I just hooked up the iDSD to handle USB to SPDIF duty to feed my other dac which feeds the Luxman rig, so I could switch between the Luxman and iDSD and the difference is really something. The iDSD really sucks all the life out of it.
 
I wonder if because the Focal driver has the ability to perform relatively long excursions (by headphone driver standards), if amplifiers with too low of output impedance end up overdamping the driver and hamstringing it in some way.
 
Still working on getting Stello unpacked and reconnected.
It would make sense why Tyll and some others (myself included) report it as a sonic revelation, while others are lukewarm on it.
 
Just a thought. 

 

[meomap]

You know I just hooked up the iDSD to handle USB to SPDIF duty to feed my other dac which feeds the Luxman rig, so I could switch between the Luxman and iDSD and the difference is really something. The iDSD really sucks all the life out of it.

I wonder if because the Focal driver has the ability to perform relatively long excursions (by headphone driver standards), if amplifiers with too low of output impedance end up overdamping the driver and hamstringing it in some way.

Still working on getting Stello unpacked and reconnected.
It would make sense why Tyll and some others (myself included) report it as a sonic revelation, while others are lukewarm on it.

Just a thought. 

I used dac from Esoteric k05 and Elear sounds terrific. Wondering if Utopia is excelebrating beyond that or not.

 

[The Fed]

I used dac from Esoteric k05 and Elear sounds terrific. Wondering if Utopia is excelebrating beyond that or not.

I know right?
I am pretty stunned by Elear.... The Utopia must really be something special if it is a significant improvement over the Elear.

 

[zeloutre]

  You know I just hooked up the iDSD to handle USB to SPDIF duty to feed my other dac which feeds the Luxman rig, so I could switch between the Luxman and iDSD and the difference is really something. The iDSD really sucks all the life out of it.
 
I wonder if because the Focal driver has the ability to perform relatively long excursions (by headphone driver standards), if amplifiers with too low of output impedance end up overdamping the driver and hamstringing it in some way.
 
Still working on getting Stello unpacked and reconnected.
It would make sense why Tyll and some others (myself included) report it as a sonic revelation, while others are lukewarm on it.
 
Just a thought. 

It sounds much more better for me on my WA7 tube amp than on my Burson solid state. Not night and day but it's not the same headphone.

 

[Cardiiiii]

  It sounds much more better for me on my WA7 tube amp than on my Burson solid state. Not night and day but it's not the same headphone.

Good to know. Waiting for my Elears to hook up to my WA7!

 

[The Fed]

  It sounds much more better for me on my WA7 tube amp than on my Burson solid state. Not night and day but it's not the same headphone.

Yeah my Luxman amp is a tube amp and the Elear sounds absolutely glorious through that thing. Good to know I am not crazy.
My Stello (Solid State) sounds a bit thin when connected direct but adds a good helping of body and that dynamic richness back when I use the analog filter. Maybe falls just short of what I hear on the Luxman deck.
 
I don't think I've ever seen a headphone that is so sensitive to upstream components.
I don't think even the HD800 is.... The HD800 is more picky in order to get the most out of it, but the deltas aren't nearly as dramatic.
 
What a trip!

 

[GU1DO]

  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 =

I advise you to get Chord  Mojo insted of the Micro iDSD ,,, its better as a DAC  (way better actually) ,,
 
tonight i was comparing them  (with TH-900) ,, i can't believe how idsd have soo much artificial and hollow sound ..
 
I am selling mine for sure although its only a 2 weeks old ,, very bad dac and amp ..