[waveSounds]

I was. Must have misunderstood you, but still, I want a closed Elear!

to have a closed version for people at work could be a smart offering. Not to mention I would love a closed Clear for gaming!!

Definitely! I really enjoy gaming (non-competitively) with the Elear, as well as general movie/series watching. However, my 1540 probably get more listening time at home because of the practicality of being closed.

 

[RatFarm]

Do you speak the same way about Audeze? I'm just curious because quite a few posters mention Audeze build issues too.

As far as I know Audeze acknowledged any issues and actually fixed defective units. Focal states the crackling issue is normal and will not fix it.

 

[styks]

How did you get your Elear replaced? I contacted Focal but they say I need to deal with Adorama.

I bought through Amazon, it simplifies things if there is a problem, just return it for a refund or replacement, I went for a refund as I wasn't sure I was going to try Elear again. I like to support UK companies, and it was from a UK company through fulfilled by Amazon UK.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

I was. Must have misunderstood you, but still, I want a closed Elear!



Definitely! I really enjoy gaming (non-competitively) with the Elear, as well as general movie/series watching. However, my 1540 probably get more listening time at home because of the practicality of being closed.

I hear ya! I love open headphones but as stupid as this is, the ceiling fan that was running all summer time made it annoying to listen late at night!!

In regards to gaming I also would like to crap off the outside world while I am trying to focus.

Btw I bet the Elear would be super awesome for movies... Films like Die Hard would be super intense!!

 

[AuditoryCanvas]

That’s better folks, yea!
My new Elears arrived this afternoon, quite a difference, I’m chuffed. 

First popped on L.P Into the Wild, Quite strong bass as the drummer would hope you’d hear it I’m sure. Her Voice a little recessed, could do with coming forward just a tad, improved a fraction with an increase in volume. No complaints, nowt to really bother me.

Steely Dan .. Gaslight Abbie. Strong crisp snare, vocal a little back to my ears, just a tad. It seems to me there’s a slight peak up top somewhere? Possibly pushes it back a tad. But nice no complaints

Burial .. Truant Something a little different here, heavish bass with static and tinkly chimes running through it. Good no problem it does well with this track, better by a good margin than the HD650. Again vocal a tad back in comparison, very good however.

Steve Earle .. Copperhead road. Rock in out a bit more here. Loved it, plenty of exciting “slam” when it come in. The bass could do with a slight bit more control I thought listening to this track. Earles' vocal is about where it should be to my ears, I feel the lower frequency male vocal is reproduced better, more prominent. Higher frequency female vocals I feel are a little recessed in comparison. Possibly due to that slight peak up top, maybe?

Robert Len .. Amoureuse Muted trumpet presented well, triangle nice and clear and where it should be IMO. Overall nicely balanced to my ears. Lovely.

London Grammar.. Hey Now Her Voice is deeper, nice no problem happy where that is. Elear handled the strong bass well when it came in. Nice liking it so far, my brains getting used to it now!

Fatoumata .. Kanou Her vocal just a tad back again, very nicely balanced here, Elear is doing great on this track.

Murray Perahia .. Goldberg variations BMV:988 ARIA. Now some piano, ..... ermm no quite so sure here, I think I’m so used to the HD650 being a bit warmer, it’s sounding natural but that peak? I don’t know.... Maybe just my brain complaining about the change, I might bother EQ’ing a bit with piano, don’t know yet.

Endless .. Melancholia Nice, Im just enjoying the music now, so nowt much to say.

Now to get brave 

Tom Raybold .. Bad Dreams OH YES! ..... That’s good, I be a happy chappie!

Max Richter .. War Anthem ditto, ditto, ditto that’s made me a HAPPY Elear owner now! I can get it to crack but NOW at a level that I very rarely go to. .... It will clip when the HD650 will not but I’ll take the more powerful much better presented and extended bass over the HD650 any day!

These are my first impressions, that is literally all I’ve listened to so far and I’m impressed. (I thought i would be) There is a very good chance, as long as all continues positively over the next couple of weeks, that I’ll be selling my HD650's. At the moment I feel I would keep them for piano, unfortunately I can’t afford to though. It could well be I have to get used to the Elear's a bit more, or EQ.

Soundstage is a little narrower than the HD650 to my ears but. that doesn’t bother me, I like intimacy. You are sort of in the middle somewhere, that’s fine for me.

I can now say with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY that there ARE some driver inconsistency issues. TAKE NOTE PLEASE FOCAL. .... It may be slight but obviously enough to show! .... IF YOU WANT TO BE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD ONE TRY “MAX RICHTER.. WAR ANTHEM” IT WILL SHOW IT UP. Especially if your DAC/amp is warm'ish. ....

Focal have done a great job here in my personal opinion. I hear, agree and like their approach, Dynamic ability over SPL every time. Tighten production/QC tolerances a tad and bang, you got it right!

The War Anthem track has some killer low frequency bass, the very low frequencies are not to be taken lightly. Bass at those frequencies can do you some damage without you knowing it! And this new/correctly functioning example of the Elear can get to that level I feel, just, before clipping and letting you know, certainly to a level that I would not personally listen at. The HD650 IMO cannot produce it, so actually less dangerous! Ha ha ha. ..... The Elear should have a health warning attached ! 

Having waffled on for a while now. Source was PC, Qobuz, CD quality, apart from London Grammar 24/192. Into Regen through to Marantz PM7005 DAC. It may be that this DAC is heavy on bass, (warmer than my Mojo,) which could be turning the killer War Anthem track into a real Elear killer!
I’ll be plugging into my Mojo soon, I’ll let you know how that goes. But don’t worry that post will not be so drawn out!

Thank you all, I’m glad I was persuaded to try again, cheers!

After that very quick listen to the first example, (before hearing the clipping at a much too low level)
I knew I’d like it if the replacement was good, and it is! .... ...... Lighter cable now and that’s my lot.

Stoked that you got a good pair, and that you're now enjoying them!

 

[AuditoryCanvas]

I was. Must have misunderstood you, but still, I want a closed Elear!



Definitely! I really enjoy gaming (non-competitively) with the Elear, as well as general movie/series watching. However, my 1540 probably get more listening time at home because of the practicality of being closed.

I feel you, I like closed cans for a lot of purposes.

 

[Jkane101]

well crap, with all this War Anthem talk I decided to listen myself. I get crackles at various times throughout the entire 6:56 and this happens at a very low volume level. Now I'm bummed...

 

[DivaFonda]

As far as I know Audeze acknowledged any issues and actually fixed defective units. Focal states the crackling issue is normal and will not fix it.

So your dislike of Focal is mainly based on the questionable CS? Fair enough. I don't like bad CS either. I really do hope that changes. It's pretty clear to me that there are driver differences so it's a quality control(or maybe assembly irregularities) issue they won't admit to. I can't say it's bad design because not every pair has this issue.

One thing about Audeze though. I have not had a chance to deal with their CS but they have had some interesting problems with their current mobile line-up(Sine, iSine). Then someone mentioned they demanded $500 to replace a driver or something because the poster was a second hand buyer, even though he would have been within the warranty period. $500? I guess he really liked the set because he paid it but that would take some wind out of my sails. No one is perfect I guess. Except for the true smaller guys.

 

[DivaFonda]

well crap, with all this War Anthem talk I decided to listen myself. I get crackles at various times throughout the entire 6:56 and this happens at a very low volume level. Now I'm bummed...

I didn't get any crackling but I used Youtube which has a lower quality file. It was all I could find using online search. The album didn't seem to show up on Tidal, only his other albums. Were these crackles on high quality tracks?

 

[DivaFonda]

Closed Elear? I don't know if it's a fluke or not but my pair performs more like a semi-open. Or maybe I just think so because my Grados are so open, they can be on the desk used as laptop speakers LOL. But the Elear are not as loud with leaking sound, nor can I hear my roommate when he calls me. I can with the Grado though, very easily. I actually like my pair the way it is.

 

[Memento24]

I didn't get any crackling but I used Youtube which has a lower quality file. It was all I could find using online search. The album didn't seem to show up on Tidal, only his other albums. Were these crackles on high quality tracks?

In Tidal, you can find war anthem under : Richter: Three Worlds: Music From Woolf Works / Mrs Dalloway - III. Mrs Dalloway: War Anthem

 

[tuan2195]

I didn't get any crackling but I used Youtube which has a lower quality file. It was all I could find using online search. The album didn't seem to show up on Tidal, only his other albums. Were these crackles on high quality tracks?

If you have Spotify you can find it here: I listened to it with Spotify premium, not sure if it will make a difference

 

[Memento24]

Just got my pair to crackle, but it was at a way higher volume than what I am used to.

One interesting thing to note: If I listen to the track in Hifi mode, the cracking noise can be audible but just barely, you really have to know its there.
Same track, same volume, same time (around 4:30) but the MASTER version : big pop from the left channel.

Elear - Balanced to Oppo Ha-1

 

[DivaFonda]

I have a low end amp for my laptop and mobile(FiiO Q1). I was using Boom 2 equalizer and can still use it but then bass gets too boomy on the Elear with Q1 on. So I have to use one or the other. But neither showed any crackling. Thanks for the links, going to test on Tidal because I have a long free trial. I suspended my Spotify Premium due to that. I'm going to pull out my Grado too, to see what happens. But to me that track isn't that bass heavy. I think when I listened to the whole album, it had some heavy bass but no crackling. That was on the low res YT version though.

EDIT: My mistake. I was thinking of The Machine on YT, now that album is bass heavy! I still didn't get any crackling, but I didn't crank it either.

Just tried War Anthem and am not getting anything.

EDIT 2: Accidentally blasted my ears out with something else, still no crackle. But to be fair, I did turn it down right away. I cannot really listen at too high of a volume for very long.

 

[thecrow]

So let me see if ive got this right.

The concerns about the crackling is that if you play a very heavy bass song and you play it louder than you would be comfortable to listen to it for a while then tue crackling appears.

And focal tells us this is a design attribute like speakers so as to prevent damage to the headphone.

Is that right?
That’s the issue?

(Perhaps headphones that don’t have the crackle are the imperfect ones?)

I guess i’ll hear mine when they arrive

I did demo a pair with the burson conductor and heard no crackling. Perhaps my tracks were not heave enough or the headphone was not played loud enough but i did turn it up louder than usual at a volume i would not ever really listen at