I wanted to share my thoughts on the Focal Elegia, as I too jumped on the weekend sale from Adorama for $429....
A little background on me first seems appropriate...
I have been involved in the audio gear world for over 10 years now, but only a member of Head-Fi since 2017. I honestly had no idea this was a 'thing' until I was invited by a friend of mine to go to a local Head-Fi meetup in 2017. That was an eye opening experience for me and it's been a hell of a ride since that day. I have learned over the years that I value dynamics and soundstage above all other characteristics in a headphone. I have owned, or demoed many headphones over the years and my first real purchase was a pair of Focal Elear in 2017. I absolutely loved the dynamics of that headphone and their brutally visceral impact. Sadly I got caught with the upgrade bug and the feeling of trying to catch that first listen I had with the Elear. It's a hell of a thing going from a pair of HD600 (that I still own to this day and purchased in 2010), to the dynamics of a Focal driver. I was hooked. Over the years I have been extremely fortunate to have owned a number of headphones over the years, but not until recently did I discover that dynamics and soundstage was what I was craving. Two of the most notable headphones, to me, over the years have been the OG Abyss 1266... still regret selling that one, and the Focal Elear (I also regret selling that). Today, as I look over my gear I am currently using an HD600 (2010), HD800 (2014), Audeze LCD-X (2019) and now the Focal Elegia (2020). My source at home is an AudioGD R-28 and my amps consist of a 789 and a CTH.
I hope that at least helps you all to understand a little bit more about me and what I look for in a headphone.
Enter the Focal Elegia.... Now, I have read through ever single post on this thread, so I had leveled my expectations quite a bit and when I saw the Adorama sale for $429 I had to jump at the chance.
My very first impressions on the Elegia were that they had the same great level of build quality to the Elear (minus that ridiculous box), and the newer cable, albeit quite stiff, are significantly better than their older, heavy, vacuum cleaner style cables. I have yet to use the cable, and probably never will as I already had a Hart Audio Cable that was setup with 3.5mm mono jacks. I love the ability to be able to switch between XLR/4.4mm/etc... with this cable, and all of my headphones are outfitted with Hart cables.
Like with so many of you I couldn't resist immediately listening to the Elegia minutes after unboxing it. I shouldn't have done that. While the stage and imaging were spectacular, the overall sound signature was very lean...even when compared to my HD800. I was initially shocked... how could Focal create a headphone that was this limp in the dynamics department. I decided to just hang them up and let them play music... and so they did for 3 straight days. Mind you, I am not a believer in burn-in making a huge difference in headphones, but I can comment on how burn-in works for speakers, as I am also a 2 channel person. I first experienced burn-in when I auditioned a pair of Magnepan LRS at a local audio dealer and just how incredible they sounded. I had purchased a pair for myself immediately after that audition from the dealer. Fast forward about 4 months and they arrived at my house. I cannot tell you how truly horrible they sounded right out of the box, but after about 10 days of non-stop sweeps THANK GOD they sounded like they did when I heard them so many months before. Now, the LRS is essentially a planar speaker, but Focal designs their drivers in a similar fashion to their loudspeakers, so I thought maybe, just maybe they would be impacted by some careful burning in of the driver.
So... what happened in 3 days? Thankfully I wrote down what songs I had used on that very first day along with what I was hearing in the mix. To my surprise the Elegia had actually changed in that timeframe enough that I was able to read/hear a difference with my earlier notes.
I want to talk specifically about the song Dusty Trails by the group Lucius. My Day 1 notes said that the initial acoustic guitar sounded metallic... almost like a steel guitar. I had also written down that the ladies voices sounded shallow and thin like they were singing in to a long metal tube that had a mic at the end. I had also commented that you could hear the space of the room, but the vocals seemed to be layered on top of the room rather than coming from it. I was quite shocked that when I went back an listened to that song after the 3 days that everything seemed to change... for the better. The initial acoustic guitar now had added body in the lower midrange that allowed it to sound like a strummed acoustic guitar, and that the ladies singing had now been placed in the room correctly with the added lower midrange to make them sound natural and full. I cannot express to you just how much I was surprised by this, as I had always thought that burning in a headphone would show some minor changes, but never changes like what I experienced. While this was a great thing to experience the Elegia still lacked in some areas of the frequency response for me.... mainly, the bass. The Elegia are dynamic, no doubt, but they lack that impact in the bass region that I had experienced with the Elear. I am not saying that these do not have bass, they do, but they are very polite and fast with their delivery.
You many have noticed from the picture that I am running them from the ifi Zen DAC. There's a reason for that. I don't think there is another company out there that handles the implementation of an analog bass boost as well as ifi does. I am certain that the Zen DAC doesn't measure well (ASC confirms this in his review), but who the hell cares about accuracy when all we are doing (hopefully) is enjoying the playback of music. What the Zen DAC does with the Elegia with the bass boost is magical to my ears. It fills in all of the lower midrange/upper bass areas where the Elegia is a bit thin and allows vocals/instruments to sound natural and full. For the $129 price point for the Zen DAC that has a 4.4mm balanced connection, just yes. Also, the Zen DAC offers a 4.4mm output that can be either variable or fixed for your usage with a dedicated amplifier. Does the DAC sound good? Yes, yes it does, but I am a fan of how the Burr-Brown chips sound, YMMV. Is this little USB powered AMP/DAC going to replace my R-28/789/CTH setup at my desk? No, not at all, but it's the best companion to my office environment. When I am at home I do not need to use closed-backs, but the Elegia, for me, is the ideal headphone to use at my office.
The Elegia are, without a doubt in my mind, one of the most revealing set of closed-back headphones that I have ever had the pleasure of owning. I am sure there are others out there that do a better job, but for the $429 that I paid for them... no, I think not. Are they perfect? No, of course not. That's a pretty stupid question to have in the first place.... there is no such thing as a 'perfect' headphone.
I am quite pleased with how the Elegia have turned out, especially with the pairing featuring the Zen DAC. I am looking forward to as many years with the Elegia as I have left on this earth, and that's a lot coming from someone that has owned/sold so many headphones over the years that I cannot remember them all. I had lost the love for music over the years, as the collection and 'upgrading' of equipment was all I had cared about.... for many years. The Elegia has been one of the very few headphones that has made me remember why I love music. I cannot recommend these enough to anyone looking for a closed, wide and dynamic (with boost) pair of headphones.
. Awesome impressions, once you completely adjust to what the Elegia can do, you'll see how good the Elegia can really be. Play some fast paced music that has dynamics and the Elegia can really slam with speed, clarity and great low end. You also said that there are better headphones.... I can say yes... maybe.... but at what cost? The ZMF Eikon and Atticus for me are great headphones but the Focal Elegia does things that the other two simply can not do. Dynamics, speed, clarity and detail to me are better on the Elegia. Soundstage maybe goes to the other two headphones but I find depth on the Elegia and overall sense of space to be better on the Elegia. Warmth goes to the Eikon and Atticus but with some EQ or a swap to Dekoni Sheepskin earpads I found the Elegia to sound very similar to the Eikon and Atticus, it's right between the two. But it has better clarity, speed, dynamics, details and since the earpad swap, low end is a touch less than the two, but extension to my ears is better, tighter, faster and I feel more texture. The mid range gains warmth while having better clarity, treble has more extension while having a bit more air. To me it's simple, the Elegia is the better headphone compared to the other two because it can give what the other two can't and gives what the other two give in a similar way.....And it's the cheaper of the three... Truly an amazing headphone and for the price it's going for now. BARGAIN 
. I have never found the Elegia to sound thin or light, Tool Fear Inoculum proved to me that the Elegia has amazing low end and insane dynamics. Love them and it's great to know you are loving them to 
