[canali]

People seem to love these or not (one complaint is scooped out upper mids?)..a pair I could get used was modded: "The stock cable was docked to an XLR plug and the stock 1/4" plug was modded into an XLR-1/4 a balanced cable with a 3.5 adaptor."...unsure if this would present issues

 

[makne]

People seem to love these or not (one complaint is scooped out upper mids?)..a pair I could get used was modded: "The stock cable was docked to an XLR plug and the stock 1/4" plug was modded into an XLR-1/4 a balanced cable with a 3.5 adaptor."...unsure if this would present issues

yes the 4k dip is a dealbraker for some. With a warmer amp in particular, I felt like voices, acoustic guitars etc. Lacked some "edge" and presence. Easily fixed with a small notch eq (I used 3dB at 4kHz with 2 Q-value). Now with my Hugo I don't use eq anymore, as it is a more neutral/transparent dac/amp.

The cable mods shouldn't be a problem if it's done properly. Will add extra bulk to the cable though. Although if bulk is a concern, I'd recommend getting a custom cable anyway as the stock one is long, thick and heavy.

As for Elear vs HEX, it's really up to preference. Elear has dynamic punch, engaging, intimate sound. HEX has a spacious soundstage and laid-back, softer sound.
Build quality is a win for Elear, all metal and leather vs. HEX plastic. Elear has deeper cups and softer pads but HEX is lighter, so comfort is kinda 50/50.

 

[canali]

yes the 4k dip is a dealbraker for some. With a warmer amp in particular, I felt like voices, acoustic guitars etc. Lacked some "edge" and presence. Easily fixed with a small notch eq (I used 3dB at 4kHz with 2 Q-value). Now with my Hugo I don't use eq anymore, as it is a more neutral/transparent dac/amp.

The cable mods shouldn't be a problem if it's done properly. Will add extra bulk to the cable though. Although if bulk is a concern, I'd recommend getting a custom cable anyway as the stock one is long, thick and heavy.

As for Elear vs HEX, it's really up to preference. Elear has dynamic punch, engaging, intimate sound. HEX has a spacious soundstage and laid-back, softer sound.
Build quality is a win for Elear, all metal and leather vs. HEX plastic. Elear has deeper cups and softer pads but HEX is lighter, so comfort is kinda 50/50.

Thankyou.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

I'm sure you could listen to classical music on the elear and have a good time, but there are better options out there for sure if that is what you will mainly be listening to...

I'm A/Bing Elear with HD800 now on the 600i, Tidal. The Elear is definitely more intimate presentation, but in regards to fast piano segments the Elear has more body to the sound, but that also means it is slightly more bloated compared to the HD800. In the same fast segment the HD800 makes each piano strike a little more spaced out with clarity. I personally can enjoy both for what they offer... The Elear for its intimacy, or feeling like I am closer to the piano player, and the HD800 for separation.

I think it just depends on what the listener wants out of the experience. Tonally the Elear is warmer so that can change ones opinion real quick either way.

In regards to huge orchestral songs I still hear good detail from Elear but its not as easy to pick out as it is on the HD800. Hmmmm personally I think I would go Elear, just because I find it more engaging and therefore more enjoyable. BUT thats just my ears.

 

[makne]

Had a 3-hour session with several STAX models (L300, L700 and SR-009), LCD-X, HEX, and of course Elear today. Using Chord Hugo as dac/amp (used a STAX for the stax obviously).
After listening to all of the above and quickly going back and forth to Elear for reference, I walked out of the shop and am still able to very much enjoy my Elears!

Some short impressions if anyone is interested:

The Stax had great imaging and layering. Electrostat-treble is something truly special. There's more treble, but at the same time less... what I mean is that the treble is more detailed, more resolved and present than on any dynamic or planar I've heard, but still it's never piercing and even less fatiguing than Elear's treble (or any other headphone really). I never found them lacking in the bass either. None of the Stax could match the engaging dynamic punch of the Elear though.

L300: Tonality the most neutral of the bunch. Soundstage is narrow and shallow (what some call vertical soundstage), yet there's some airiness to the sound due to the electrostat-treble. You'll never find normal headphones with this kind of resolution at this price point. (This was the only stax I used with a SS-amp which may contribute to why it was the most neutral. I used the small stax amp with this, and a bigger hybrid-amp for the others).

L700: wider and deeper soundstage than L300. Treble is more laid-back, but yet they're even more detailed than L300. Some weird coloration in the mids, I actually preferred L300 for vocals. According to the guy in the shop it was mainly because of the hybrid amp, but the 009 sounded completely natural on the same amp?

SR-009: Hard to describe these, especially after such a short demo. Didn't really pick up on anything, they just sounded RIGHT. Clarity, resolution, separation out of this world. L700 had a more distinguishable character.

LCD-X: Not that different from Elear overall. More hazy in the mids and highs, Elear feels more resolving and is definitely more airy and sparkly. LCD-X sounds veiled in comparison imo. LCD-X has that awesome Audeze bass though, fast, clean, powerful, never-ending depth. Soundstage is of about the same dimensions.

HEX V2: Already found Elear superior to HEX in my last A/B, and again I came to the same conclusion. Yes the HEX is more spacious in soundstage, but other than that I prefer the Elear. More full, satisfying, punchy engaging sound, and sounds more natural and realistic imo.

 

[SRKRAM]

Listening right now, I am surprised you dont find them resolving...like Makne said you might be a treble head

What is your setup?

I've got a few set of Beyerdynamics, so I might be a treble head I enjoy the tonality of the Elears, especially with some types of music. The do sound good with guitars, as some others have said. I miss some abmient details and things like the sound of fingers ribbing on guitar strings. Perhaps some sounds just get lost in the upper mid dip. Actually, the sounds are there, if I turn up the volume in quiet sections.

After listening to the Elears for a while and going back to the Beyerdynamics they do initially sound brighter but when I go back to the Elears I notice that the bass isn't that fast, and overall the Elears can get a bit muddled sounding, where the Beyerdynamics (T1.2 & DT1990) maintain good separation.

I'm mostly driving them with a Grace m9XX, Chord Mojo and Matrix HPA-3U.

 

[makne]

I've got a few set of Beyerdynamics, so I might be a treble head I enjoy the tonality of the Elears, especially with some types of music. The do sound good with guitars, as some others have said. I miss some abmient details and things like the sound of fingers ribbing on guitar strings. Perhaps some sounds just get lost in the upper mid dip. Actually, the sounds are there, if I turn up the volume in quiet sections.

After listening to the Elears for a while and going back to the Beyerdynamics they do initially sound brighter but when I go back to the Elears I notice that the bass isn't that fast, and overall the Elears can get a bit muddled sounding, where the Beyerdynamics (T1.2 & DT1990) maintain good separation.

I'm mostly driving them with a Grace m9XX, Chord Mojo and Matrix HPA-3U.

I'm pretty sure the sounds you're describing are more subdued because of the dip yeah. Both the m9xx and mojo is slightly warm-sounding aswell If I'm not mistaken? I would try a small peak eq at 4kHz, 3dB or so, and see if that helps.

 

[Ampeezy]

I'm pretty sure the sounds you're describing are more subdued because of the dip yeah. Both the m9xx and mojo is slightly warm-sounding aswell If I'm not mistaken? I would try a small peak eq at 4kHz, 3dB or so, and see if that helps.

I use a 2dB peak at 4.5kHz with 2Q, does enough for me. But then most people dont have software with decent EQ functionality, and those that do get expensive but it really helps if that dip bothers you.

 

[oppman99]

How well do the Elears scale with higher quality amplification? I'm considering a Mjolinir, but keep reading stellar reviews about the Wells Audio Milo. I know, big price difference.

 

[JaKo]

Had a 3-hour session with several STAX models (L300, L700 and SR-009), LCD-X, HEX, and of course Elear today. Using Chord Hugo as dac/amp (used a STAX for the stax obviously).
After listening to all of the above and quickly going back and forth to Elear for reference, I walked out of the shop and am still able to very much enjoy my Elears!

Some short impressions if anyone is interested:

The Stax had great imaging and layering. Electrostat-treble is something truly special. There's more treble, but at the same time less... what I mean is that the treble is more detailed, more resolved and present than on any dynamic or planar I've heard, but still it's never piercing and even less fatiguing than Elear's treble (or any other headphone really). I never found them lacking in the bass either. None of the Stax could match the engaging dynamic punch of the Elear though.

L300: Tonality the most neutral of the bunch. Soundstage is narrow and shallow (what some call vertical soundstage), yet there's some airiness to the sound due to the electrostat-treble. You'll never find normal headphones with this kind of resolution at this price point. (This was the only stax I used with a SS-amp which may contribute to why it was the most neutral. I used the small stax amp with this, and a bigger hybrid-amp for the others).

L700: wider and deeper soundstage than L300. Treble is more laid-back, but yet they're even more detailed than L300. Some weird coloration in the mids, I actually preferred L300 for vocals. According to the guy in the shop it was mainly because of the hybrid amp, but the 009 sounded completely natural on the same amp?

SR-009: Hard to describe these, especially after such a short demo. Didn't really pick up on anything, they just sounded RIGHT. Clarity, resolution, separation out of this world. L700 had a more distinguishable character.

LCD-X: Not that different from Elear overall. More hazy in the mids and highs, Elear feels more resolving and is definitely more airy and sparkly. LCD-X sounds veiled in comparison imo. LCD-X has that awesome Audeze bass though, fast, clean, powerful, never-ending depth. Soundstage is of about the same dimensions.

HEX V2: Already found Elear superior to HEX in my last A/B, and again I came to the same conclusion. Yes the HEX is more spacious in soundstage, but other than that I prefer the Elear. More full, satisfying, punchy engaging sound, and sounds more natural and realistic imo.

^^^ Great comparison, thanks!
Recently I went through a similar process of comparing Elear to other potential candidates for my primary hp and I have to agree that your findings are in line with mine; I found Elear the most musical in my system.


Considering it’s my first post and credibility is gained, here are few details related to my hp pick. The Elear were selected against HD-700 (kinda midway between 650 and 800, fullness/details wise) along with AKG700? and HiFiman 400i. All hp were evaluated with my own tunes (dfs format) on unknown but common Brooklyn DAC/hp amp.


AKG had an excessive amount of detail with rather flat performance and they were hard to drive in my and store’s demo systems. I suspect their balance could be less flat if their dynamics and punch were not suppressed by lack of adequate amp. Off with AKGs.

Music on HD-700 sounded fairly elevated in upper mids comparing to Focals and 400i. That could be good for my all tube based system, but I felt the transmission between mids and highs was too pronounced and too noticeable to be sonically ignored.


At the end I picked up Ealer, burned them in for a while, changed cable to a shorter silver plated set then compared them to my friend’s Nighthawks and newly acquired Denon 7200. It became more interesting to have few sets in a familiar environment with decades know source (mostly 45-RPM remastered LPs on higher end analog playback) of classical and acoustic jazz music with some high-rez DAC audio for low-end punch.


I could go into details (and should if specific comparison is requested) for the sake of mentioned posting credibility, but to cut it short I found Ealers very musical and musically engaging. Yes, we all evaluate perspective gear based on sonic merits but at the end we end up with hardware for a long term musical pleasure, non-fatiguing reproduction rather than frequency dips/peaks testing impressions. Decisions are harder to make when $$$ come into play, but I encourage you to consider Elear as potentially perfectly balanced hp set for all sort of music. You will end up listening to music rather than frequency range, and as once George Cardas who visited our shop said; ‘if you talk about music in terms of frequencies, there is something very wrong with our system’




PS.

Hard not to mention, but Ealer are very well built and sooo sexy!

 

[JaKo]

More images

 

[TSAVJason]

How well do the Elears scale with higher quality amplification? I'm considering a Mjolinir, but keep reading stellar reviews about the Wells Audio Milo. I know, big price difference.

Price not a sensitivity, I really love the Elear on the Cavalli LAu ......it really takes the Elear to impressive level of tonality for me with sometimes massive punch. LAu is 4xthe Elear price. It's not all that unusual for a good headphone to sound exceptional on a really good amp. IMHO

 

[meomap]

More images

Full Frame Nikon or Canon? Model?
Lens?

 

[JaKo]

Full Frame Nikon or Canon? Model?
Lens?

Sensor stack modded A7R or A7RM2 with Leica Summilux-M 50/1.4 asph; 8 shots @f/8 focus stack edited with Silver Efex-Pro2. Hope it helps.


[iPhone shot] Cabling approach to sound clarity...

 

[meomap]

Sensor stack modded A7R or A7RM2 with Leica Summilux-M 50/1.4 asph; 8 shots @f/8 focus stack edited with Silver Efex-Pro2. Hope it helps.


[iPhone shot] Cabling approach to sound clarity...

Nice. Thanks.

I should get my Nikon Df out again with 50mm/1.2 manual focus to shoot some pictures.