First impressions after an hour listening. MORE bass than the Clear, I think people who said it had less bass, probably did not have the pads clicked in correctly. It's not a subtle amount more. Can't understand people who say it is thin sounding. I tested against the AFO and that one is thin sounding in comparison. Also tested against my Z7, and obviously that has more bass (i.e. too much), but the Elegia' s bass quality is much better. If you switch from the Elegia, the Z7 sounds as if you put a loudspeaker into a bathtub. Very discombobulated vs the Elegia. For me the Elegia has the right amount of bass for many genres. For others I prefer the slighty more tamed bass of the Clear.
Is it better than the Clear? Absolutely not, but then that could not be expected, given price point and construction. The Clear is better defined in all frequencies, and resolves better. But the Elegia comes closer that I thought. Same tonal balance, except more bass (very textured and deep, only minimal bleed into mids with some songs) and a bit less resolving. Distortions due to reflections in the closed cup are there, but much, much less than with most other headphones. Soundstage is just slightly smaller then the Clear (if that's your first priority, you should not look to Focal anyway). The dynamism is the same as the Clear has. Very punchy.
Do I keep it? Hell yeah. It hasn't even burned in yet, but it is by far the best closed headphone I have listened to to date. Contenders are the HD820, although I believe it won't be for me. Other than that, the new AH-D9200, that got a lot of praise. Curious if it can beat the Elegia.
Sold my AFC. Great headphone, better highs than Elegia, but bottomline, it can't compete with it.
