[supervisor]

tried max richter war anthem with my DT1990 and got crackling... so not sure if Focal is to blame entirely... however on my campfire vegas... the sub-bass on that track is rendered better than any of my other headphones

 

[abvolt]

Speaking of which, I sent my Elears for diagnosis / repair at the end of August. As of Sept 22, my dealer said Focal would be processing the claim in the next week. Anyone have experience with Focal and the turnaround for any warranty claims?

When the Elears worked, they sounded great; kinda miss them. Been getting re-acquainted with my HD600s in the meantime.

They've already been paid so why hurry, your going on two months wow that's slow, but unfortunately for us their dealing with many returns so we just have to wait our turn..

 

[styks]

That track crackles in every pair of cans I own, in exactly the same place. Sounds like the clipping is in the recording itself - that sounds exactly like digital clipping in the recording.

Can't remember the actual "the machine" track tbh. That "digital clipping" may be intentional?
If I remember correctly, one London Grammar track I have has intentional static in the mix, running through the bass.
I was more interested in how the Elear handles that bass.

 

[AuditoryCanvas]

I doubt it's intentional, analogue clipping can sound good, like extreme overdrive, digital clipping on the other hand sounds painful, the sound just breaks up.

Bit odd that a commercial soundtrack would have clipping, they're usually well mastered. Maybe something went wrong on the upload to the distributor/Streaming service. I Listened to it via Tidal hifi. I'd be curious if the original CD/digital had the same clipping.

Aside from the clipping, the bass itself sounded fine on the Elears to me.

 

[styks]

Oky doke thank you for the info.

 

[waveSounds]

I also had a listen using Tidal HiFi through a Mojo at double green (my usual listening levels on the Mojo with the Elear is double red) and no hint of driver cracking. Just deep, clean, pulsating bass.

 

[makne]

I also heard some digital clipping on the machine soundtrack, but nothing from the Elear. Played even at levels higher than what I'm normally comfortable with, and with the sonarworks calibration (+3dB extra bass) that brings out the subbass in extreme amounts. at the loudest, the intro on birth almost made me a little nauseous!
Just jumped through parts of different songs, not my usual genre so I didn't listen to the songs all the way through. There was definitely some digital artifacts in the bass on most/all of the songs I heard, but no crackling from the Elears drivers.

 

[FocalOfficial]

Dear all,

We have read your numerous comments about Elear headphones.
However, the issue described is actually not a quality issue.

Indeed, we have made a clear design choice on Elear and Utopia. Our headphones have been designed to favor the respect of the dynamic contained within the audio signal versus dynamic compression that would offer a higher SPL capability but less respect of the original audio signal. To cut a long story short, the choice was audio quality oriented rather than SPL oriented. This allows our products to work with full performances until the mechanical clipping is activated. This means that you jump directly from a very low distortion to a sound which could be heard as rattling / cracking noise. On very special tracks with only very low frequencies at very high level, you can thus hear some noises - as you will do on classic loudspeakers.

If we change your pair of Elear headphones, the new one will be designed similarly and it will also have a kind of cracking sound when you will be listening to music with high volume and a fair amount of bass.

Thank you for your understanding,

Best regards,
Marine, Community Manager Focal

 

[ribosradagast]

Dear all,

We have read your numerous comments about Elear headphones.
However, the issue described is actually not a quality issue.

Indeed, we have made a clear design choice on Elear and Utopia. Our headphones have been designed to favor the respect of the dynamic contained within the audio signal versus dynamic compression that would offer a higher SPL capability but less respect of the original audio signal. To cut a long story short, the choice was audio quality oriented rather than SPL oriented. This allows our products to work with full performances until the mechanical clipping is activated. This means that you jump directly from a very low distortion to a sound which could be heard as rattling / cracking noise. On very special tracks with only very low frequencies at very high level, you can thus hear some noises - as you will do on classic loudspeakers.

If we change your pair of Elear headphones, the new one will be designed similarly and it will also have a kind of cracking sound when you will be listening to music with high volume and a fair amount of bass.

Thank you for your understanding,

Best regards,
Marine, Community Manager Focal

Thanks for the update Marine, though I expect that a lot of the people here won't be happy about the answer. I for one have never experienced that issue. The one that I consistently run into (now on my third pair of Elear) is that the right side of the headband develops a loud, annoying "creak" or "squeak" when moving the head or adjusting its position. Are there any plans that you know of to fix this?

 

[Ampeezy]

In my experience I have been lucky enough not to hear this crackling, even on bass heavy tracks, but I have heard a slight bit of distortion on really really bass heavy tracks at moderately high volume. I personally dont consider it a design flaw, because the Dynamic performance is well worth it for me.

Also very possible the 4k dip might have folks turning the volume up. 3db EQ at 4k is a much better experience at lower volumes. The elear drivers shouldn't be clipping as much then

 

[styks]

Dear all,

We have read your numerous comments about Elear headphones.
However, the issue described is actually not a quality issue.

Indeed, we have made a clear design choice on Elear and Utopia. Our headphones have been designed to favor the respect of the dynamic contained within the audio signal versus dynamic compression that would offer a higher SPL capability but less respect of the original audio signal. To cut a long story short, the choice was audio quality oriented rather than SPL oriented. This allows our products to work with full performances until the mechanical clipping is activated. This means that you jump directly from a very low distortion to a sound which could be heard as rattling / cracking noise. On very special tracks with only very low frequencies at very high level, you can thus hear some noises - as you will do on classic loudspeakers.

If we change your pair of Elear headphones, the new one will be designed similarly and it will also have a kind of cracking sound when you will be listening to music with high volume and a fair amount of bass.

Thank you for your understanding,

Best regards,
Marine, Community Manager Focal

Thank you Marine.
I have read this response from you before. Unfortunately it does not answer the question of why, as in makne's post above, does he not experience the same when listening to the same track "at higher levels" than he would normally?
..... I most certainly listen at levels that are perfectly reasonable. I listen to the same levels with my HD650, and since this experience, I've even turned up above comfortable levels trying produce the similar from the HD650. I can not, plus the bass has held up well on with no distortions from HD650.

So again I must ask, why Is there a difference between Makne's Elear and mine?
Why does my Elear clip/crack when maknes Elear does not?

And, also Zengentleman is having no problems/issues listening to the same track?

If you can put me right on what I'm doing wrong, ...... I'll buy again and try again.

I loved the sound other than this issue. Generally when you get quite a few noticing the same, it is either a problem or something so different from the norm it stands out and is perceived as a problem.

 

[styks]

That is a very cool soundtrack that sounded amazing through my Elears. I listened to "Birth," "Opening," and "The Machine" with no issues.

Great stuff Zengentleman. ..... I've been switching backwards and forwards trying to decide whether I should try again with the Elear's.
I'm certainly willing to admit it was my fault and hold my hands up if it was. I'm an honest chap!
However if I find the same again, lookout, the keyboard will be hot and not only on here.
If I find no issue with the new ones under the same conditions I'll pop on here again with thumbs up, and confirm there are differences between units.

 

[waveSounds]

What amp did you run the Elear through when you had them, styks?

 

[styks]

I also had a listen using Tidal HiFi through a Mojo at double green (my usual listening levels on the Mojo with the Elear is double red) and no hint of driver cracking. Just deep, clean, pulsating bass.

Good the positives are mounting up, thanks waveSounds..
I'll keep watch a tad longer before I drop me dosh for the second time.

 

[styks]

What amp did you run the Elear through when you had them, styks?

Only the one, my major disappointment emotion took over and I through them back in the box.

My main setup is i7 laptop, into a Regen, then into my Marantz PM7005 DAC
That drives either headphones or my Q3050 FS's. .... Source direct no EQ.
I never tried out of my Tablet / Mojo combo.
Most of my files are CD 16bit 44.1 on Qobuz. ... Purchased Albums from same or HD Music 24bit 96k / 192k .... A few DSD 2.8 and 5.6mhz just to see what that was about.