[KarlMcK]

Very interesting, right of the box I like mine from the start. It's nice to know stuff like this. Makes me want to try Reference 4 and tune mine.

Indeed you definitely should try Ref 4 on yours. It costs a hundred bucks but you can download a fully functional trial and use it for free for 21 days. No CC or any other payment options info required; in my case the 21 days stretched into more than two months as I was telling them over and over that I was interested in purchasing the product (which was the truth) but that, unfortunately, I couldn't find enough time to get a real go at it yet (which was definitely not the truth) and each time they obliged and granted me an extra 21 days of free Ref 4 most of which I spent listening to the now exquisite Elear, bless them.

You gotta try it man, it won't cost you a penny and you may be blown away when you finally realize that the Elear has enormous concealed potential. Listening to Marcus Miller's bass on them is just divine. None of my other phones including several considerably more expensive ones, can render bass like the corrected Elear. It's tight, articulate and textured. It never bleeds into the now subdued (as they should be) low mids but goes wayyyy down until it softly rolls off nearing 16Hz at 6dB. 16Hz is pipe organ territory, that's how low they can reach. Last but not least, a few words with regards to the DAC V1. I know a few people who prefer listening to the Elear "au naturel" on that DAC/Amp designed by Focal's sister company Naim with Focal phones as reference. Contrary to what many people once including myself believe, the Elear is not an easy load to drive. Forget using it on an iPhone or small PDA unless you have proper amplification, such as the Firefly Cobalt, which is not cheap. Such a broad statement based solely on the not-so-low impedance of that can is misleading at best. It requires a robust SS amp and premium quality DAC. That is, if you choose not to purchase Ref 4, in which case you shell out $100 and voila, problems gone, bliss enters.

Another well suited solution is to use a restored vintage receiver that can swing the volts for an amp, with a good quality DAC placed between the receiver and your desktop. I use the V1's DAC for that purpose, bypassing its amp in the process, and in turn the DAC sends the analog signal straight to a mint-condition restored Pioneer SX-650 of '76 vintage. Almost every part has been replaced with value-matched quality parts ordered directly from Pioneer in Japan. Expensive avenue but well worth the investment. They even threw in schematics for free, and miracle! they are written in English. Measurements are all metrics but I prefer it that way, it's more accurate. The 650 is an exceptionally handsome unit, unlikely to raise WAF issues.

 

[diggygun]

I’ve been the proud owner of a pair of Focal Elears for about two weeks now, but I thought that I’d give a bit of a story of my auditioning experience.

We had a fantastic headphones auditioning session at the HiFi Lounge in Dunton and when we arrived, found out
that they have a massive selection to choose from. They even have a separate headphone auditioning room, which I haven’t seen before.

We had made an appointment due to Covid-19 and I had arranged to listen to the following open back models:
* Audeze LCD-2 (Shedua)
* Sennhesier HD 800S
* Focal Elear
* Focal Clear

Whilst there, I also tried the Focal Stelia Closed Back and a Stax model, but can’t remember which one.

We took my existing AKG KT-712 Pros along to act as the benchmark. After listening to them, I tried the Sennhesiers first and immediately found that I was now in a different league.

After two hours or so of listening I narrowed it down to the Focal Clear and Elear. The Sennhesier was too bright, the Audeze was too heavy and hot, (very sunny and hot day), the Focal Stelia was too harsh and I just didn’t like the Stax range.

The shootout was now between the two Focals and after more listening, I chose the Focal Elear as they seemed to suit my ears better.

I know that this is all subjective and others may have preferred other models, but I found the Focal Elear to be pleasing to listen to with a bit more detail in the top end as well as a good bass. I found them to be very comfortable as well. Additionally, the finish of the Focal range, I found aesthetically pleasing.

After all this time and having selected the Focal Elear, came the bad and good news;
* Bad news - Focal stopped making the Elear in April this year and there were none in stock with the distributor.
* Good news - This was their demonstration model and the only one they had. They then offered this to me at a good discounted price so I said, thank you very much.

I’ve run them in for about 100 hours, although they were very good from the box, probably because they were ex-demo. There were no marks at all on the headphones, although there was a repair to the cable. Not too much of a problem as I can get this tidied up. However, I have ordered a replacement cable from CableCans as I do prefer a braided finish to the stock rubber finish.

When they arrive, I’ll run them in also and see how we go from there.

For information I use them from a Naim Headline headphone amp.

 

[judomaniak57]

i thought out of the box the elears sounded terrible, burned them in for over 100 hrs and they sound great

Elear... what a trial those have been to me. Right out of the box I hated them with a vengeance. Dark and screamers at once, mercilessly assaulted my eardrums when least expected it, clipped at low volume, mids vanishing where most needed... how could headphones that looked so good, were so well built, could sound that horrible? They were a gift from my ex (who wasn't "ex" yet) so had to pretend to like them, you just don't spit on a $1,000 gift. I felt trapped. When she caught me listening to other headphones of mine she would always frown... I knew that look, it was bad news. I decided (hoped) that something was wrong with them and returned them to the brick-and-mortar store where she she had purchased them. They gave me another pair, sounded just as godawful. Went as far as to purchase the DAC/amp that was supposed to have been designed for such cans, the DAC V1, quickest way to turn a $1,000 headphone into a $3,500 headphone. Did it make it sound better? Oh yeah, it sure did, but it was far from satisfying to me.

Fast forward two years, ex has become ex for good so I stashed the Elear out of sight and listened to other cans from my collection, mostly Sundara and LCD-4. The latter sounded awesome but man was it ever uncomfortable. So uncomfortable it drained the pleasure from music after a while pushing down on your head. Sundara was better comfort-wise but a little too crystalline and lacked the LCD's bass. Then I had the opportunity to buy the Focal Clear for less than $600, it was an open-box demo and the balanced cable was missing. Could care less about the cable. I had read so many good things about the Clear that I just had to have it. Hooked it to the V1 and was pleased with it but not overwhelmed, in fact they sounded a lot like the Sundara which costs 5 times less, but they had the sub-bass that the Sundara lacked. Not Elear bass, but pretty good. However after a while I started to be slightly annoyed by the Clears' mids, they were a little too forward for my taste. Tried swapping pads with the retired Elear: no dice, the improvement, if there was one, was bordering on imaginary. HE1000 V2 entered my life and I stuck with them for almost a year, now that's a great headphone, it just feels cheap, but sounds rich. Handle with care. Missed the sturdy Focals and their unrivaled comfort a bit.

Some time later I heard about a software called Reference 4 Headphone edition by Sonarworks. It is now well-known but was a novelty at the time. I thought maybe this could tame the Clears mids? Downloaded the trial but it didn't do much for the Clears which are already pretty neutral to begin with. There was no preset for the Sundara unfortunately. But there was one for the Elear and curiosity got the best of me. Plugged them in and turned on ref 4. What happened next I still can't believe. The despicable Elear was instantly transformed into a completely different headphone, and a very good one at that. Sound was cleaned, clear and accurate. mids were even all over the spectrum. Deep bass was still there but much better controlled. Gone were the wild dynamics, gone was the clipping even at high volume. They still packed punch but it was civilized and predictable. I thought "this is exactly how Focal should have tuned it to begin with" and why they hadn't remains a mystery to me. Now they finally sounded like they looked: awesome. To this day it remains a favourite of mine, even if there's no lack of competition in the abode.

 

[KarlMcK]

i thought out of the box the elears sounded terrible, burned them in for over 100 hrs and they sound great

The Elear has a knack for eliciting strong reactions good or bad but hardly ever neutral. The majority of Elear owners like them, it's easy to tell. Reviewers liked them as well, they were a commercial success despite the hefty original price tag. To my ears, in the nude I really don't like their wonky dynamics, the wince factor is way too high for my calm disposition, I don't appreciate their unexpected suddenness in response, made me jumpy. But driven through their own DSP preset on Ref 4 they are simply to die for, they sound like $2K phones at half the original launch price. Now they are a blatant steal that won't be in stock for very long so those of you who are considering this model better rush and grab one while you still have access.

 

[Rei7]

Indeed you definitely should try Ref 4 on yours. It costs a hundred bucks but you can download a fully functional trial and use it for free for 21 days. No CC or any other payment options info required; in my case the 21 days stretched into more than two months as I was telling them over and over that I was interested in purchasing the product (which was the truth) but that, unfortunately, I couldn't find enough time to get a real go at it yet (which was definitely not the truth) and each time they obliged and granted me an extra 21 days of free Ref 4 most of which I spent listening to the now exquisite Elear, bless them.

You gotta try it man, it won't cost you a penny and you may be blown away when you finally realize that the Elear has enormous concealed potential. Listening to Marcus Miller's bass on them is just divine. None of my other phones including several considerably more expensive ones, can render bass like the corrected Elear. It's tight, articulate and textured. It never bleeds into the now subdued (as they should be) low mids but goes wayyyy down until it softly rolls off nearing 16Hz at 6dB. 16Hz is pipe organ territory, that's how low they can reach. Last but not least, a few words with regards to the DAC V1. I know a few people who prefer listening to the Elear "au naturel" on that DAC/Amp designed by Focal's sister company Naim with Focal phones as reference. Contrary to what many people once including myself believe, the Elear is not an easy load to drive. Forget using it on an iPhone or small PDA unless you have proper amplification, such as the Firefly Cobalt, which is not cheap. Such a broad statement based solely on the not-so-low impedance of that can is misleading at best. It requires a robust SS amp and premium quality DAC. That is, if you choose not to purchase Ref 4, in which case you shell out $100 and voila, problems gone, bliss enters.

Another well suited solution is to use a restored vintage receiver that can swing the volts for an amp, with a good quality DAC placed between the receiver and your desktop. I use the V1's DAC for that purpose, bypassing its amp in the process, and in turn the DAC sends the analog signal straight to a mint-condition restored Pioneer SX-650 of '76 vintage. Almost every part has been replaced with value-matched quality parts ordered directly from Pioneer in Japan. Expensive avenue but well worth the investment. They even threw in schematics for free, and miracle! they are written in English. Measurements are all metrics but I prefer it that way, it's more accurate. The 650 is an exceptionally handsome unit, unlikely to raise WAF issues.

I tested it out. It does sounds rather more toned down if you asked me. Like the dynamic and punchiness of the Elear is gone with the Ref 4 software with the profile. I think it depends what type of sound you want to hear with the headphone. The Ref 4 is definitely good if you want to tame the Elear more. I think if you're into more relaxed music like jazz and etc it's definitely good with the Ref 4. Lets say I want to hear songs from Daft Punk like Get Lucky for example, where it's pretty electro and all over the place, I find it nicer without the Ref 4, it just sounded better to my ears, because of the nature of the music. With the Ref 4 the song sounds less exciting to me, but still enjoyable. Lets say it is more toned down, more neutral in a way which is what the Ref 4 is trying to do, being dead flat in the frequency response curve. It's true tho the Ref 4 does make the Elear sound better for certain type of genre for me especially.

I prefer without it for pop, electro type of song, but prefer with the Ref 4 for songs like jazz and etc. I think the Ref 4 does what it is suppose to do, if you're into those flat frequency curve, it's definitely a must have. For me I'm still not sure. I do enjoy my Elear because of the punchiness and dynamic it has, so using the Ref 4 makes my Elear rather tame. I didn't buy it for it to be less dynamic either. So it really depends what you're looking for in a headphone.

I also found out that turning off the Sonarworks SR on makes a difference sure, and let me explain further. It definitely sounds better with it on, but being off doesn't really represents what your headphone sounds like. You have to close the software and only then you'll know how it really sounds like with the Ref 4 off. Somewhat misleading to me, how when it is turned off, it just sounds meh, and when you turn it on it just sounds better in the software. I guess that's how they try to sell the software.

At the moment tho I kinda prefer not using Ref 4 all together. But using the Ref 4 does make some of the music I like sounding nicer to my ears. So I'll be using it on and off to see if I'm gonna buy it or not. I'm using my Focal Elear with my Chord Mojo and listening through Tidal in Master format for most of my testing. Only did like a 2 hour of sound testing tho, so things might change, how I feel about it. Might give an update on my opinion, if it does change after a few weeks of using on and off.

 

[fokta]

at Last that Sheep skin pad arrived...
almost 3 months... but cant blame, since the current situation...

my previous Pleather pad already worn out... although I like the sound it make combine with Elear

 

[gazzington]

I’m considering getting a set of these. Would they be pretty good for metal music?

 

[fokta]

I’m considering getting a set of these. Would they be pretty good for metal music?

for my taste, Elear Bass is not tight enough for metal music...
any possible to Demo?
IMO, Clear / Elex will be suit for ur type of music..

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

^Nonsense. There is literally no difference between the bass of the Elear and the Elex..they’re the same headphones in different colour schemes and slightly different pads. If you want the Elex sound, and bass, then you buy a set of Elex pads
Between the Clear and Elear bass..quality wise? No real audible differences other than tuning imho. Stick a pair of Clear pads on the Elear and a blindfold and I’ll bet a bag of beets that no one will be able to tell which is which. I know because we were about 10 the last time I tried this and no one could tell the difference.

 

[cel4145]

I’m considering getting a set of these. Would they be pretty good for metal music?

For metal, I prefer my Elegia with Dekoni sheepskin leather pads over my Elear. Without the pads the Elegia have more forward mids, which I think works great for the guitar. The pads had a touch of warmth and more bass emphasis, While only toning down the mids a little.

 

[gazzington]

For metal, I prefer my Elegia with Dekoni sheepskin leather pads over my Elear. Without the pads the Elegia have more forward mids, which I think works great for the guitar. The pads had a touch of warmth and more bass emphasis, Why only toning down the mids a little.

I was also going to ask. I've heard that elegia can sound weak in bass if you wear glasses. Is this problem eliminated with dekoni pads?

 

[cel4145]

I was also going to ask. I've heard that elegia can sound weak in bass if you wear glasses. Is this problem eliminated with dekoni pads?

I find the Elegia slightly light on bass without the pads where I would add 2db to the bass frequencies. The pads definitely improve the bass response.

I wear glasses. Doesn't seem to matter whether or not I wear them.

We all have different shaped heads and ears. The temples on the glasses we buy vary in thickness and where they wrap around our ears (or not). So I wouldn't put a lot of stock in what one person says about having a problem, unless that person is your twin wearing the same glasses

 

[volly]

I’m considering getting a set of these. Would they be pretty good for metal music?

Personally, these bring out the good stuff in Rock/Metal/instrumental type music. The Elears are fast and clean enough to keep the music going and the imaging is on par with the Beyer's. However, if it is produced/recorded horribly, then you will definitely hear it! The Elears to me, do not smear or smooth the music like say the HD650. They can be a smooth headphone but it will come down to your audio chain, i.e. amp/dac.

If I was going to headbang to some Rock/Metal then the Elears are definitely an option. My planars can do all this but won't smack you as hard down low where the drummers kick drum is driving the beat!

Sorry, if this is all over the place but I haven't had my morning coffee yet!

 

[Snikibiki]

Hi ! Can you compare in terms of sound the elear and elegia headphones?

 

[1TrickPony]

Hi ! Can you compare the elear and elegia headphones?

Auditioned them both. For the price I liked the elear. The other felt too closed in. Exactly what I liked about the elear? Open back cum fun, heavy ass bass. Nice and quick as well.

Edit. That my sorry ass attempt at Latin.