[gardibolt]

People complaining about the Elear having recessed mids should try the Beyerdynamic T1. No mids at all, just top and bottom. Weirdest sound signature I've ever heard.

 

[dontfeedphils]

People complaining about the Elear having recessed mids should try the Beyerdynamic T1. No mids at all, just top and bottom. Weirdest sound signature I've ever heard.

You can still think the mids on the Elear are recessed, maybe not as bad as the set you mentioned, but compared to many sets it is.

 

[Doneko]

I don't know anything better than the Mojo for the Elear at this price range. If you had demanding, difficult to drive headphones, then a iFi product with more power such as the iFi iDSD micro would be an improvement. But in the case of the Elear you don't need this power and the tiny Mojo make them already sound wonderful. Just keep ad enjoy your Mojo being satisfied with it

I'm also driving my Elear with a Mojo and I love what I'm hearing! You might be the right person to talk me out off getting a Lyr3+Multibit The convenience of the Mojo cannot be beaten, I use it with my laptop all around the house... But the warm glow of a vacuum tube, the non-mass produced pride of a Moffat multibit DAC, the crazy power of a desktop amp and the ubercool Schiit brand makes me want to buy one... I'm just not sure I need one! Do I?

 

[makne]

I'm also driving my Elear with a Mojo and I love what I'm hearing! You might be the right person to talk me out off getting a Lyr3+Multibit The convenience of the Mojo cannot be beaten, I use it with my laptop all around the house... But the warm glow of a vacuum tube, the non-mass produced pride of a Moffat multibit DAC, the crazy power of a desktop amp and the ubercool Schiit brand makes me want to buy one... I'm just not sure I need one! Do I?

Haven't heard the Lyr3 yet but judging from what I've heard of the other Schiit dacs and amps, you should be fine. The Mojo is a fine piece of gear.
If you enjoy the portability and want even better sound, I think the Elear + Hugo pairing sounds amazing. You can get a 1st generation Hugo for not too much these days. Hugo2 should be even better.
Although IMO the Clear + Mojo will sound better than a non-eq'd Elear + Hugo. With eq however, Elear + Hugo is amazing

 

[DavidA]

People complaining about the Elear having recessed mids should try the Beyerdynamic T1. No mids at all, just top and bottom. Weirdest sound signature I've ever heard.

While I've sold my T1 gen1 the mids while not forward like a HD6 series was fairly balanced to me if comparing to HD800 and HD700, both which have slightly recessed mids IMO. It might also be the amp that was used since the T1 like the HD800 is somewhat picky with amps that pair well with them, usually a decent OTL amp (Elise, BH Crack, WA3, etc) is what they tend to pair well with. I've only heard a Elear for a few minutes but the slightly recessed mids was easy to notice since I was listening to a HD650 and RS2e right before.

 

[gLer]

Hey guys, considering joining the Focal family and wondering if anyone’s tried the Dekoni sheepskin or fenestated sheepskin pads on the Elear and can comment on how these affect the sound? Thanks.

 

[nahpungnome]

Hey guys, considering joining the Focal family and wondering if anyone’s tried the Dekoni sheepskin or fenestated sheepskin pads on the Elear and can comment on how these affect the sound? Thanks.

I have the fenestrated sheepskin pads. I enjoy them better than the stock ones. They bring the mids forward quite a bit. Songs that I immediately thought sounded weird with the stock pads don't sound weird anymore. This was mainly vocals, male and female. Boyz II Men: II, Janet Jackson: Rhythm Nation, and Toad the Wet Sprocket: New Constellation was where I first thought my Elears sounded very weird with vocals.

With the Dekoni pads, the mids don't sound as off to me. They're still not as good as my HD6xx, but it's a whole lot better and I no longer feel the need to swap headphones when I want better sounding vocals. The bass seems unaffected. EDM still hits hard, as does hip hop so I'm very happy with the Dekoni set. The treble seems a bit smoothed out also, but at the same time I don't get as much "sparkle" for lack of a better description. The sound stage also seems to have widened up, but I think it's because there's more material so that the drivers are a little bit farther from your ears....This actually helps my big ears not touch the grille, which I REALLY found to be a nice side effect of the pad swap.

I got mine from digitalDJGear on ebay, they were great to work with. I also had some communication with Tal at Dekoni and he was great also.

I did have an issue with my set because of the way they packaged them...they were stacked on top of each other so the posts on the top were on the pad side of the bottom...hard dented pads on one side really bummed me out, but I contacted digitalDJGear and they took care of me. Tal also said the dents would go away after a while, but that he'd gladly replace my dented side...both great companies to deal with.

If you do decide to buy the pads, ask to see if they can open the box up and give you two non dented ones and place them so they won't dent the pad side.

 

[gLer]

I have the fenestrated sheepskin pads. I enjoy them better than the stock ones. They bring the mids forward quite a bit. Songs that I immediately thought sounded weird with the stock pads don't sound weird anymore. This was mainly vocals, male and female. Boyz II Men: II, Janet Jackson: Rhythm Nation, and Toad the Wet Sprocket: New Constellation was where I first thought my Elears sounded very weird with vocals.

With the Dekoni pads, the mids don't sound as off to me. They're still not as good as my HD6xx, but it's a whole lot better and I no longer feel the need to swap headphones when I want better sounding vocals. The bass seems unaffected. EDM still hits hard, as does hip hop so I'm very happy with the Dekoni set. The treble seems a bit smoothed out also, but at the same time I don't get as much "sparkle" for lack of a better description. The sound stage also seems to have widened up, but I think it's because there's more material so that the drivers are a little bit farther from your ears....This actually helps my big ears not touch the grille, which I REALLY found to be a nice side effect of the pad swap.

I got mine from digitalDJGear on ebay, they were great to work with. I also had some communication with Tal at Dekoni and he was great also.

I did have an issue with my set because of the way they packaged them...they were stacked on top of each other so the posts on the top were on the pad side of the bottom...hard dented pads on one side really bummed me out, but I contacted digitalDJGear and they took care of me. Tal also said the dents would go away after a while, but that he'd gladly replace my dented side...both great companies to deal with.

If you do decide to buy the pads, ask to see if they can open the box up and give you two non dented ones and place them so they won't dent the pad side.

Thank you, this is exactly the type of feedback I was after! And also the pads I would have considered for the Elear. Another thing I’d like to get someone to try is put the Elear pads on an Elex. If the Elex then sounds much closer to the Elear, at least we know the two are basically the same headphones, just tuned differently with a pad swap. Of course, we’d then have to convince Massdrop/Focal to start selling the Elex pads separately so Elear owners could have a choice of sound signature for a small fee, along with fresh pads...

 

[TSAVJason]

Thank you, this is exactly the type of feedback I was after! And also the pads I would have considered for the Elear. Another thing I’d like to get someone to try is put the Elear pads on an Elex. If the Elex then sounds much closer to the Elear, at least we know the two are basically the same headphones, just tuned differently with a pad swap. Of course, we’d then have to convince Massdrop/Focal to start selling the Elex pads separately so Elear owners could have a choice of sound signature for a small fee, along with fresh pads...

That would be entirely a Massdrop thing having little or nothing to do with Focal. So if it’s important to you, you should be contact Massdrop to see what their plans are. That relationship is very struggled as I understand it so I think you should be leaning on Massdrop for alternate or replacement pads. One thing to be sure of, the pad from the Elex is not the Clear pad as some believe. It’s a look alike only.

 

[Blueshound24]

To anyone regarding the supposedly mild resessed mids on the Elear, is that just another way of saying V shaped signature?

 

[gLer]

That would be entirely a Massdrop thing having little or nothing to do with Focal. So if it’s important to you, you should be contact Massdrop to see what their plans are. That relationship is very struggled as I understand it so I think you should be leaning on Massdrop for alternate or replacement pads. One thing to be sure of, the pad from the Elex is not the Clear pad as some believe. It’s a look alike only.

That’s very interesting, thanks for the feedback. I wonder how open Massdrop would be to supplying Elex pads. I honestly doubt Focal would let them do it, and even if they would, they’d probably harm future Elex sales by doing so. May give it a go anyway.

 

[TSAVJason]

That’s very interesting, thanks for the feedback. I wonder how open Massdrop would be to supplying Elex pads. I honestly doubt Focal would let them do it, and even if they would, they’d probably harm future Elex sales by doing so. May give it a go anyway.

Nah! You’re assuming way too much. It’s a Massdrop product. Focal wants nothing to do with it. It’s all on Massdrop at this point.

 

[gLer]

Nah! You’re assuming way too much. It’s a Massdrop product. Focal wants nothing to do with it. It’s all on Massdrop at this point.

Ok then, let’s see what Massdrop have to say

 

[TSAVJason]

Ok then, let’s see what Massdrop have to say

Now you’re cooking with gas!

 

[TSAVJason]

Hello Utopia/Elear/Clear lovers and potential Utopia/Elear/Clear lovers. I’ve received an extra ordinary amount of PM’s, emails and calls about certain online sales claiming warranty is included. Let me take a moment to tell exactly what is and isn’t.

Audiogon = not allowed no warranty
eBay = not allowed no warranty
Or any selling platform of this type is definitely not allowed.
Online on amazon that shows a discount, not allowed unless during a factory authorized sale

If any of the previous types of purchases are made, FocalNA has the right to deny warranty service. It is considered used immediately even if the box is factory sealed.

Allowed is easier to get. An authorized dealer is allowed to sell online ONLY on the dealers own website or on Amazon with the approval/permission of Focal. FocalNA does not allow online discount price advertising of any kind unless it’s a factory authorized sale.

I put this out in the hope that you all have a good purchase and to clear my days answering this question so often lately.

Edit: this is not a warranty discussion as much as it is a warning that these sellers are not authorized and could cause you to go through some serious heartache at their profit and your expense.