[jasonb]

I've only had mine since April 1st 2020, but they have been flawless so far. I baby my headphones though. I've used them almost every day since April 1st though. With the Clear pads these things are simply awesome. I have not a single complaint, and I don't use any EQ or anything on these.

 

[Pendel]

Okay, I bit and ordered the plate and pads. What glue did you use?

May I ask, what is the price point for making these plates?

 

[jasonb]

May I ask, what is the price point for making these plates?

Nevermind. I misunderstood

 

[regaet]

I've only had mine since April 1st 2020, but they have been flawless so far. I baby my headphones though. I've used them almost every day since April 1st though. With the Clear pads these things are simply awesome. I have not a single complaint, and I don't use any EQ or anything on these.

May I ask, what is the price point for making these plates?

$35.55

 

[Kopf]

Dear audio friends,

I am new to this forum and I am German, sorry for my bad English skills and sorry for my long first post .

I have some struggles and looking for help in this forum! My current set-up is an old Harman Kardon integrated amp and CD player, Dynaudio Contour, Focal Elear and an old Acer Multimedia Notebook I am using for streaming.

When I bought the Focal Elear three years ago I compared several other models (different models from Audeze, Hifiman, Beyerdynamic, Stax, Sennheiser, B&W…, and also the Focal Utopia). I tested the Elear with a Naim CD-Player (do not know the model), Marantz DAC and Hugo TT1. I was quite happy with the sound. Everything sounded well to my ears, deep punchy bass, clear mids and highs, no sibilance and even the negative reviews about narrow soundstage and incorrect female voices (because of upper mid (?) dip) I did not really recognize (but did not focus on that), even when I compared with the Sennheiser HD800s. At home: the Elear directly plugged into my more than 10 years old Acer Multimedia Computer, I very much appreciate and enjoy listening to music sometimes 4 hours in one go and listening to a wide range of music (pop, rock, classics, film music, covers, …), with nearly the qualities I enjoyed when testing the Elear in the Hifi shop. I am listening via Spotify and even via Youtube videos it sounds great. The Elear sounds also great when directly plugged into my old Samsung Galaxy S7, full bass, clear voices, good soundstage, no sibilance. With my old Harman Set-up: full, deep and punchy bass, good sound stage, clear voices but unfortunately slightly sibilant sometimes, especially with older recordings.

Because I do seldom listen to my old CDs nowadays, I am looking for a new set-up with streaming/download functionality, serving both, listening with my loudspeakers and headphone. On my short list was the Naim Uniti Nova which I have not heard yet but I experienced the Uniti Star (and Atom) intensively in several occasions. A friend bought the Unit Star and I auditioned it with a Lynn loudspeaker (which I disliked), with a Monitor Audio loudspeaker (which I disliked), Focal Kanta (which I disliked), Focal Sopra (great), T&A Talis (great) and Avantgarde Acoustic Zero and Fino. Finally he bought the Avantgarde Acoustic Zero.

Yesterday I visited my friend and plugged my Focal Elear into his Uniti Star for checking if I am happy with the sound for potentially bying the Naim Uniti Nova. The result was very shocking unfortunately! No deep bass, no punch, narrow soundstage, 2 dimensional, metallic, hard, sibilant. The complete spectrum simply sounded very bad. I recognize the same bad sound when I plug the Elear in my business notebook from HP, while the Elear strangly sounds nearly perfect with my old Acer Notebook. Is there any kind of special switch within the Star I need to apply?

So my question is: does someone have experience with Focal Elear/Clear/Utopia and

Uniti Atom/Star/Nova​

? It cannot be that a 1.000 EUR headphone and a very well-reviewed Naim product sounds that bad. Additionally, do these headphones sound great with other integrated amps like Supernait 3, McIntosh, Accuphase, others with headphone socket?

Thank you!
Best
Dirk

 

[Pendel]

I have only used my Elears with Mac devices (OS and OSX), and all sound about the same to me, with the newer phones and iPads sounding better than my older iPhone SE (with either direct connection or via the lightening adapter from Apple). My listening pattern is such that I cannot make good use of a desktop set-up. Has anyone come across a portable amp/dac that sounds significantly better than Apple dongle with the Elears?

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Dear audio friends,

I am new to this forum and I am German, sorry for my bad English skills and sorry for my long first post .

I have some struggles and looking for help in this forum! My current set-up is an old Harman Kardon integrated amp and CD player, Dynaudio Contour, Focal Elear and an old Acer Multimedia Notebook I am using for streaming.

When I bought the Focal Elear three years ago I compared several other models (different models from Audeze, Hifiman, Beyerdynamic, Stax, Sennheiser, B&W…, and also the Focal Utopia). I tested the Elear with a Naim CD-Player (do not know the model), Marantz DAC and Hugo TT1. I was quite happy with the sound. Everything sounded well to my ears, deep punchy bass, clear mids and highs, no sibilance and even the negative reviews about narrow soundstage and incorrect female voices (because of upper mid (?) dip) I did not really recognize (but did not focus on that), even when I compared with the Sennheiser HD800s. At home: the Elear directly plugged into my more than 10 years old Acer Multimedia Computer, I very much appreciate and enjoy listening to music sometimes 4 hours in one go and listening to a wide range of music (pop, rock, classics, film music, covers, …), with nearly the qualities I enjoyed when testing the Elear in the Hifi shop. I am listening via Spotify and even via Youtube videos it sounds great. The Elear sounds also great when directly plugged into my old Samsung Galaxy S7, full bass, clear voices, good soundstage, no sibilance. With my old Harman Set-up: full, deep and punchy bass, good sound stage, clear voices but unfortunately slightly sibilant sometimes, especially with older recordings.

Because I do seldom listen to my old CDs nowadays, I am looking for a new set-up with streaming/download functionality, serving both, listening with my loudspeakers and headphone. On my short list was the Naim Uniti Nova which I have not heard yet but I experienced the Uniti Star (and Atom) intensively in several occasions. A friend bought the Unit Star and I auditioned it with a Lynn loudspeaker (which I disliked), with a Monitor Audio loudspeaker (which I disliked), Focal Kanta (which I disliked), Focal Sopra (great), T&A Talis (great) and Avantgarde Acoustic Zero and Fino. Finally he bought the Avantgarde Acoustic Zero.

Yesterday I visited my friend and plugged my Focal Elear into his Uniti Star for checking if I am happy with the sound for potentially bying the Naim Uniti Nova. The result was very shocking unfortunately! No deep bass, no punch, narrow soundstage, 2 dimensional, metallic, hard, sibilant. The complete spectrum simply sounded very bad. I recognize the same bad sound when I plug the Elear in my business notebook from HP, while the Elear strangly sounds nearly perfect with my old Acer Notebook. Is there any kind of special switch within the Star I need to apply?

So my question is: does someone have experience with Focal Elear/Clear/Utopia and
Uniti Atom/Star/Nova
? It cannot be that a 1.000 EUR headphone and a very well-reviewed Naim product sounds that bad. Additionally, do these headphones sound great with other integrated amps like Supernait 3, McIntosh, Accuphase, others with headphone socket?

Thank you!
Best
Dirk

I think this sounds like impedance mismatching..but I couldn’t find the output impedance of the headphone jack anywhere on Naim’s own page.
Anyhoo these Focal headphones tend to be very sensitive to high output impedance and can very well end up sounding ‘wrong’ if hooked up to the wrong kind of amp.
Best always to remember the golden rule: the output impedance of the amp should (at the very least) be 1/8 of your headphones’ damping factor. So with your 80 ohm Elear you’ll want to keep the output impedance of the amp below 10 ohm.
It can be a little tricky though as especially higher end gear manufacturers often “forget” to mention this little piece of vital information

 

[volly]

Dear audio friends,

I am new to this forum and I am German, sorry for my bad English skills and sorry for my long first post .

I have some struggles and looking for help in this forum! My current set-up is an old Harman Kardon integrated amp and CD player, Dynaudio Contour, Focal Elear and an old Acer Multimedia Notebook I am using for streaming.

When I bought the Focal Elear three years ago I compared several other models (different models from Audeze, Hifiman, Beyerdynamic, Stax, Sennheiser, B&W…, and also the Focal Utopia). I tested the Elear with a Naim CD-Player (do not know the model), Marantz DAC and Hugo TT1. I was quite happy with the sound. Everything sounded well to my ears, deep punchy bass, clear mids and highs, no sibilance and even the negative reviews about narrow soundstage and incorrect female voices (because of upper mid (?) dip) I did not really recognize (but did not focus on that), even when I compared with the Sennheiser HD800s. At home: the Elear directly plugged into my more than 10 years old Acer Multimedia Computer, I very much appreciate and enjoy listening to music sometimes 4 hours in one go and listening to a wide range of music (pop, rock, classics, film music, covers, …), with nearly the qualities I enjoyed when testing the Elear in the Hifi shop. I am listening via Spotify and even via Youtube videos it sounds great. The Elear sounds also great when directly plugged into my old Samsung Galaxy S7, full bass, clear voices, good soundstage, no sibilance. With my old Harman Set-up: full, deep and punchy bass, good sound stage, clear voices but unfortunately slightly sibilant sometimes, especially with older recordings.

Because I do seldom listen to my old CDs nowadays, I am looking for a new set-up with streaming/download functionality, serving both, listening with my loudspeakers and headphone. On my short list was the Naim Uniti Nova which I have not heard yet but I experienced the Uniti Star (and Atom) intensively in several occasions. A friend bought the Unit Star and I auditioned it with a Lynn loudspeaker (which I disliked), with a Monitor Audio loudspeaker (which I disliked), Focal Kanta (which I disliked), Focal Sopra (great), T&A Talis (great) and Avantgarde Acoustic Zero and Fino. Finally he bought the Avantgarde Acoustic Zero.

Yesterday I visited my friend and plugged my Focal Elear into his Uniti Star for checking if I am happy with the sound for potentially bying the Naim Uniti Nova. The result was very shocking unfortunately! No deep bass, no punch, narrow soundstage, 2 dimensional, metallic, hard, sibilant. The complete spectrum simply sounded very bad. I recognize the same bad sound when I plug the Elear in my business notebook from HP, while the Elear strangly sounds nearly perfect with my old Acer Notebook. Is there any kind of special switch within the Star I need to apply?

So my question is: does someone have experience with Focal Elear/Clear/Utopia and
Uniti Atom/Star/Nova
? It cannot be that a 1.000 EUR headphone and a very well-reviewed Naim product sounds that bad. Additionally, do these headphones sound great with other integrated amps like Supernait 3, McIntosh, Accuphase, others with headphone socket?

Thank you!
Best
Dirk

https://www.naimaudio.com/sites/def...ds/files/NAIM_UNITI_BROCHURE_EN_Digital_0.pdf <--- The PDF, maybe have a read through there!

I love market BS " Front panel 3.5mm headphone jack with new upgraded headphone amplifier with significantly improved bass extension "

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Gotta say..for a good while now I’ve been scratching my head whenever visiting the Crinacle site and looking at the frequency response of the Elear. It did not look like the headphone I was listening to...not at all in fact....but then again I had the same experience looking at the “differences” between the HD600 and 650..which was something of a WHAT?!?!! moment. They looked identical...and well anyone who’s ever heard the two damn well knows the 650 is the darker and more ‘romantic-sounding’ coconut. C’mon!
My confusion came from the fact that pretty much every other headphone I own or indeed had owned looked exactly like I heard them on the chart....so what gives?
Pads. Yup, they do make a big difference and are probably the most effective way of modding/changing the sound of one’s headphones. They’re basically the equivalent of the room in which the loudspeakers are placed.
Anyhoo..seems like they figured this out for themselves and have now updated the charts with a fresh pad take on all the above mentioned coconuts...and woe and behold..everything suddenly makes sense:
The 650 is the warmer can. Bingo! The Elear is not rolled off in the bass and sure as eggs also the more linear tuned headphone compared to it’s pricier big bro. Double-up on the b-i-n-g-o.
So yeah...if you bought a second-hand Elear and find it to exhibit weaksauce bass and distant uppermids. You need new pads...and they are sadly pricey as hell!

 

[Pendel]

So yeah...if you bought a second-hand Elear and find it to exhibit weaksauce bass and distant uppermids. You need new pads...and they are sadly pricey as hell!

I would go straight for Dekoni fenestrated Elite lambskins. Even with new velours, Elears do not sound as good as with the Dekonis. Of course Clear pads may be even better, but they are much more expensive.

 

[jasonb]

I would go straight for Dekoni fenestrated Elite lambskins. Even with new velours, Elears do not sound as good as with the Dekonis. Of course Clear pads may be even better, but they are much more expensive.

Clear pads are the way to go. Spend the money

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Luckily I’m not at a place (yet) where I need to change the pads
..but when the time comes I’ll probably investigate the many different options available out there, preferably by way of frequency response beforehand so as I can easier grok which ones to go for...but I definitely want something that sounds like stock or perhaps something with an improvement in the higher frequencies (I could always do with a smoother Sennie-like top). I’ve tried the Clear pads which made it sound like my old Elex...which was pretty damn good, but not as good as stock imo. The Elex is more in-ya-face compared to the Elear..just like the Clear actually. It’s the pads that add some energy right around 1k and gives off that crystal ‘clear’ sound. I can certainly dig it but ultimately feel the stock pads sound smoother and more realistic.

Edith: for lingo brain fart.

 

[jasonb]

Luckily I’m not a place (yet) where I need to change pads
..but when the time comes I’ll probably investigate the many different options available out there, preferably by way of frequency response beforehand so as I can easier grok which ones to go for...but I definitely want something that sounds like stock or perhaps even an improvement in the higher frequencies (I could do with a smoother Sennie-like top tbh). I’ve tried the Clear pads which made it sound like my old Elex...which was pretty damn good, but not as good as stock imo. The Elex is more in-ya-face compared to the Elear..just like the Clear actually. It’s the pads that add some energy right around 1k and gives off that crystal ‘clear’ sound. I can certainly dig it but ultimately feel the stock pads sound smoother and more realistic.

Edith: for lingo brain fart.

I've never actually even used my stock Elear pads. I went straight to the Utopia pads and then the Clear pads. Going by what I've read and the graphs I've seen, the Clear or Utopia pads will suit my wants better. With the Clear or Utopia pads they sound similar enough to an HD650, but with slightly less warmth, more sub-bass, more top end and more top end extension, and much better dynamics.

 

[Sqmeyer]

At some point I need to just bite the bullet an order a few pads to try them out. I’ve been so happy with the sound of the headphone with its stock cable and pads, I haven’t really felt the need to play around. And I’m also a little reticent to start playing with it. I just recently swapped out all of my tube gear for solid state specifically because of my tendency to go down rabbit holes with tube rolling.

 

[Pendel]

Wish there was a way to try the pads and to return the ones that I do not like... hard to spring for $200 pads on the cans that cost me $400, without hearing whether the difference between these and the pads that are a third of the price is significant and is to my liking. Alas, I live in the middle of a sparsely populated state and these days this may not be such a bad thing...