[CrisW]

Mmh.
I got an Elegia on loan from my go to shop over the weekend.
It took me some critical listening time to notice that my stereo image is kinda fu...ed off. There is a noticeable channel imbalance in favor to the left driver. I then took a noise generator and played white noise. Perfectly centered...
What

Ok, took a sine wave generator and played sine waves. It showed pretty severe imbalance under about 400 Hz, which made the bass lines and male voices to come from the left, female voices remained pretty centered. (Didn’t play Tina Turner though)
For example Glory Box from Portishead.
The bass should be dead center, on my Elegias it’s coming from like 10 o clock.

I like the overall sound signature and I love the dynamics, but I’ll be cautios when buying my own cans.

Regards

 

[Venture Guy]

Mmh.
I got an Elegia on loan from my go to shop over the weekend.
It took me some critical listening time to notice that my stereo image is kinda fu...ed off. There is a noticeable channel imbalance in favor to the left driver. I then took a noise generator and played white noise. Perfectly centered...
What

Ok, took a sine wave generator and played sine waves. It showed pretty severe imbalance under about 400 Hz, which made the bass lines and male voices to come from the left, female voices remained pretty centered. (Didn’t play Tina Turner though)
For example Glory Box from Portishead.
The bass should be dead center, on my Elegias it’s coming from like 10 o clock.

I like the overall sound signature and I love the dynamics, but I’ll be cautios when buying my own cans.

Regards

Sehr interessant! One thing to consider is that they might not be fully broken in. My experience with the Elex is that they sounded pretty bad until they were broken in. You might try playing something with lots of bass transients... loud. After about six hours of this treatment my Elex sounded much improved.[/QUOTE]

 

[Beagle]

Sehr interessant! One thing to consider is that they might not be fully broken in. My experience with the Elex is that they sounded pretty bad until they were broken in. You might try playing something with lots of bass transients... loud. After about six hours of this treatment my Elex sounded much improved.

IMO if they sounded 'pretty bad' prior to 'break-in', they could realistically only get to 'not quite as bad' afterwards. 'Break-in' cannot change a sows ear into a silk purse. I owned the Elear and Clear and noticed little (if any) sonic difference after many hours of use. If there is a huge change it is likely because you adjusted to and/or accepted the sound.

I'm thinking it's possible that the Elegia that @CrisW has may not have one of the pads correctly in place? An improper seal on a closed headphone will wreak havoc with the bass

 

[Ellendar]

I am really thinking stepping up from my Audioquest Nighthawk to a Sony Z1R but now these beauties are here and I really can not decide.
How would you compare those two, aside from probably a very different sound signature which would you prefer?

 

[CrisW]

I'm thinking it's possible that the Elegia that @CrisW has may not have one of the pads correctly in place? An improper seal on a closed headphone will wreak havoc with the bass

First thing I checked...
I think it’s a faulty set. They’re running drum n bass on high right now, gonna check later if it changes the imbalance. But when I go and pick up my set, first thing I’ll do is run a sine wave...

Cris

 

[Beagle]

OK good. Did you also try reversing the cable, switching L/R plugs into the headphone? If the imbalance switches sides, it's likely cable or source. If the problem stays on the same side, it's a driver.

 

[CrisW]

OK good. Did you also try reversing the cable, switching L/R plugs into the headphone? If the imbalance switches sides, it's likely cable or source. If the problem stays on the same side, it's a driver.

Yep, even listened to it the wrong way around to check if it’s me who’s faulty.

 

[TSAVJason]

Yep, even listened to it the wrong way around to check if it’s me who’s faulty.

Hahahaha that’s funny

 

[Preachy1]

Now try them standing on your head. {chuckle}

 

[CrisW]

Now try them standing on your head. {chuckle}

That fixes it?

 

[CrisW]

Nope, didn't work

 

[Preachy1]

Hahaha, glad you have a sense of humor, my kinda guy!!!

This is a cool site. The binaural test freaked me out!!!

https://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php

 

[John Blackshear]

I received the Elegia last week and already had a T5p cable and a Whiplash Audio silver/copper hybrid cable I had bought for the T5p. They are single ended I've used both with the Elegia and a Hugo 2. Both are excellent. The T5p cable is less expensive, equals the hybrid cable to my ears and has no microphonics. Light and flexible.

T5 cable came in and the sound improvement is incredible. Thanks for the tip!!

 

[Mkoll]

Comfort: Ok. The clamp force is high and I get a bit of a hot spot on my head after not too long. The clamp force might lessen with use or some manipulation.

Isolation: Isolation is great. Slightly less isolation to perhaps equally isolating as the Aeon Flow Closed (AFC), from my memory. And the AFC was the most isolating closed back I’ve yet heard.

Tonality: Overall, it’s pretty balanced for a closed back. Bass sounds neutral and mids and treble sound slightly elevated. The treble is very present; it’s not sibilant but I could see it be fatiguing for some. I find them better for classical and other genres that don't rely on bass as much. For EDM, there is just enough bass for listening but not enough to give them that oomph these genres really need. Overall, all the frequencies mesh well and give a delightful and cohesive sound. No doubt it gets better with burn-in.

Details/Resolution/Dynamics: Very detailed with quick attack and decay. Great separation between sounds and instruments. Sounds spring from a black background. Low distortion. I hear details that I don’t hear with lower resolution headphones. Without question, these are high resolution. If you’re looking for a closed-back with that dynamic Focal sound, this is it.

Soundstage: Great for closed headphones. They are one of the more open-sounding closed backs I’ve heard. I think part of this is due to their high resolution and detail retrieval.

Conclusion: Overall, a very good pair of headphones that quickly grow on you to become great. They are a bit hard to pin down. Sometimes I find myself lost in the music with them, other times I’m critical. More and more often the former. If they were $400-$500, they would be easy to recommend but at $900…give them a listen and decide their value for yourself. If you have Focals already, these probably aren’t worth it unless you need the isolation of a closed-back. Anyway, the Elegia is one of the better closed backs on the market at any price and fulfill their role as a legitimate Focal closed-back.

Chain is PC > Tidal Lossless or CD-ripped FLAC > Eitr > CMA400i > SE out to stock cable > Elegia.

IMO, YMMV, etc.

 

[SCBob]

If anyone has listened to both the Elegia and Ether C Flow (especially the 1.1 mod) I would appreciate your impressions. I am wondering if they are tonally different and, if so, in what respects? I am enjoying the Elegia a great deal but am always wondering what else is out there. Thanks.