[buzzlulu]

My Elear's arrive tonight and I will be demoing with a Mojo. I am back to these forums after a ten year absence and demoed wireless cans for airline travel. Up next is a new pair of TOTL cans as I want to get back into headphone listening when I do not listen to my big two channel system. Big system is TOTL Naim/Linn and I am looking for that sound in my headphone setup- involving musical with PRAT.

I want to demo and make the right decision. Elear's are on the top of my list due to the tie in with Naim (Focal partner with Naim and used Naim DAC to voice the Utopia and Elear).

I have an itch to also try Beyerdynamic - T5p 2nd (and maybe T1 2nd) - as Beyerdynamic were used years ago to develop Naim headphone amp.

Any feedback comparisons on these two Beyerdynamic vs. Elear's??

Being in NY area I might attend CanJam and listen to the Utopias however I do not think I want to make that kind of price investment

PS did not like Sennheiser 650's from when I had them 10 years ago - boring.
Kept my Grado RS1 - more exciting like my Naim gear

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

My Elear's arrive tonight and I will be demoing with a Mojo. I am back to these forums after a ten year absence and demoed wireless cans for airline travel. Up next is a new pair of TOTL cans as I want to get back into headphone listening when I do not listen to my big two channel system. Big system is TOTL Naim/Linn and I am looking for that sound in my headphone setup- involving musical with PRAT.

I want to demo and make the right decision. Elear's are on the top of my list due to the tie in with Naim (Focal partner with Naim and used Naim DAC to voice the Utopia and Elear).

I have an itch to also try Beyerdynamic - T5p 2nd (and maybe T1 2nd) - as Beyerdynamic were used years ago to develop Naim headphone amp.

Any feedback comparisons on these two Beyerdynamic vs. Elear's??

Being in NY area I might attend CanJam and listen to the Utopias however I do not think I want to make that kind of price investment

PS did not like Sennheiser 650's from when I had them 10 years ago - boring.
Kept my Grado RS1 - more exciting like my Naim gear

I'm not sure how you will take the Elear if you thought the 650 was Boring. To me the last word I would ever use for the Elear is boring ha. Real punchy assertive sound. I also think prat is a good word to describe the Elear as well.

In regards to the T1 second gen it defenetly is more musical then the first gen, but not a far cry from it (more bass is the first thing I think of). When we held a meet up at the store a headfi member said that the second gen (which he heard at the store) was not the same as his original T1 that he brought with him. He felt the second gen is less analytical, which is something that he really likes abou the original. Not sure if the second gen would be musical enough for your tastes but who knows! I think the beyer Amiron might fit that bill...happy listening and tell us your thoughts!

 

[MarkF786]

I'm not sure how you will take the Elear if you thought the 650 was Boring. To me the last word I would ever use for the Elear is boring ha. Real punchy assertive sound. I also think prat is a good word to describe the Elear as well.

In regards to the T1 second gen it defenetly is more musical then the first gen, but not a far cry from it (more bass is the first thing I think of). When we held a meet up at the store a headfi member said that the second gen (which he heard at the store) was not the same as his original T1 that he brought with him. He felt the second gen is less analytical, which is something that he really likes abou the original. Not sure if the second gen would be musical enough for your tastes but who knows! I think the beyer Amiron might fit that bill...happy listening and tell us your thoughts!

I was going to throw in a pitch for the Amiron as well.  I find them much more evenly balanced in frequency response and more comfortable than both the HD650 and the Elear and quite a pleasure to listen to.  Since I got them, they've become my go-to cans, over the HD650 and the Elear, though saving the Elear for 'special occasions', since they do have more dynamic impact or punch, a little more detail, and a little more sub-bass.

 

[buzzlulu]

I'm not sure how you will take the Elear if you thought the 650 was Boring. To me the last word I would ever use for the Elear is boring ha. Real punchy assertive sound. I also think prat is a good word to describe the Elear as well.

In regards to the T1 second gen it defenetly is more musical then the first gen, but not a far cry from it (more bass is the first thing I think of). When we held a meet up at the store a headfi member said that the second gen (which he heard at the store) was not the same as his original T1 that he brought with him. He felt the second gen is less analytical, which is something that he really likes abou the original. Not sure if the second gen would be musical enough for your tastes but who knows! I think the beyer Amiron might fit that bill...happy listening and tell us your thoughts!

Thank you for the feedback.

How do the T5p 2nd compare with the T1?

If the Elear has PRAT than I will be happy!

The Amiron- can it go up against the Elear? I am only looking for one headphone

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

I'll go back to store (probably tomrorow) and I'll listen to the Elear versus the Amiron to give you a better A/B comparison. What music genres do you like? It could help me make a better gauge. Also I usually pair the headphones I -A/B with a Hugo for the DAC section.

In regards to T5p- I don't have any headtime with that. I'll see if we have a demo in the store and give it a listen!

 

[buzzlulu]

I'll go back to store (probably tomrorow) and I'll listen to the Elear versus the Amiron to give you a better A/B comparison. What music genres do you like? It could help me make a better gauge. Also I usually pair the headphones I -A/B with a Hugo for the DAC section.

In regards to T5p- I don't have any headtime with that. I'll see if we have a demo in the store and give it a listen!

Thanks

Hugo will be good for demo purposes - I will most likely end up there after the Mojo.

Music - EVERYTHING. 6000 lp's and 2000 cd's on the shelves!

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

Wow. You aren't messin around. I'll use Tidal so I can bounce around.

 

[guido]

How are the Elears on the Mojo?

 

[Rchandra]

The elear is continuing to amaze me by the day im running it with my ifi nano dac and everytime im about to just jump ship to purchase a new headphone after giving it thought i always ask myself does the new headphone i want destroy the elear in sound quality? The answer it NO.. I was so close to buying the z1r but my elear keeps stopping me lol.

 

[maibuN]

I will be hated for saying this but my Elear is continuing to give me hearing loss with its extremely rough and agressive signature and its elevated highs. It might be even worse than stock HD800.

 

[buzzlulu]

Wow. You aren't messin around. I'll use Tidal so I can bounce around.

Ah yes - I'm in my late 50's so have grown up owning music instead of renting it. Unfortunately it is a habit tough to break.
With that said I have a subscription to Tidal and my buying addiction has definitely been curtailed. It's like an all you can eat buffet. Still buy records though. Having a fully maxed out Linn LP12 will do that for you.

End game is to have a headphone system to play around with - and one which fits my Naim/Linn mold. Will play with the Mojo now however the new Hugo2 will most likely be my end game. Many on the Naim forum have been using the original Hugo as an alternative to $5-20K Naim streamers so it definitely has the same U.K. PRAT flavor.

As for cans I will have to see. Hoping the Elear will hit the spot. I have been demoing the B&W P7 wireless for the airplane - really like the sound of those so I am tempted to try the P9 and compare it to the Elear's. Anyone done that? Other than possibly trying a pair of Bayerdynamic nothing else seems to interest me. Don't want Planars and I did not like my Sennheiser 650's from 10 years ago.

Lots of chatter about the Sony Z1R however I do not know anything about it and if the sound meets my requirements for engaging toe tapping PRAT?

 

[MartynB85]

  I will be hated for saying this but my Elear is continuing to give me hearing loss with its extremely rough and agressive signature and its elevated highs. It might be even worse than stock HD800.

What is your chain? I don't find them rough at all, I find them quite smooth coming from 400i's.

 

[ThELiZ]

I will be hated for saying this but my Elear is continuing to give me hearing loss with its extremely rough and agressive signature and its elevated highs. It might be even worse than stock HD800.

Pretty similar to my experience with these at CanJam London. I found them to sound unnatural. I couldn't figure out why though. Was almost too dynamic. Midrange sounded odd. I would like to try them again so I can pinpoint what I didn't like about them. It was an odd listen.

 

[maibuN]

 
What is your chain? I don't find them rough at all, I find them quite smooth coming from 400i's.

I use Centrance Hifi-m8 via USB from my computer with spotify or foobar. For comparison I had modded HD800 (sd & anax 2), Ether Open and HD650. From what I have been reading, Elear should be smooth and warm sounding, at least more so than HD800 and Ether Open but honestly I can't confirm this. For my ears, HD650 is smoothest, followed closely but Ether Open which is a bit thin sounding and Elear is more on par with HD800 in terms of aggressiveness / listening fatigue / earpearcing.

 

[maibuN]

Pretty similar to my experience with these at CanJam London. I found them to sound unnatural. I couldn't figure out why though. Was almost too dynamic. Midrange sounded odd. I would like to try them again so I can pinpoint what I didn't like about them. It was an odd listen.

 
Yes, it is very unnatural. It might be because of the huge upper midrage dip in combination with the uneven treble. A friend listened to my Elear in comparison with Ether / HD650. He is absolutely not into audio and he doesn't have experience with (expensive) headphones. He said Elear just sounded unnatural to him, Ether / 650 sounded more realistic.Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Elear is bad, it also has it strenghts, but for a 1k€ headphone it might have too many trade-offs.