[gto88]

I heard the Elegia today. To me it's a disappointment. To be sure, the super noisy CANJAM room may be part of the reason, but the top end for the Elgia seems to have been chopped off. It sounds very very muddled. However, it isolates quite well and the low end and midrange are pretty decent. For what it's worth, I'm comparing it to the Utopia ... so take that very brief impression with a lot of salt.

Oops, might be because of the surrounding in CANJAM?

 

[mahesvara]

Yeah, it very well could be the surrounding. And oh, I forgot to say that the Woo Audio booth is the only other booth that has the Elegia. I compared the Elegia to the Sony Z1R using the same new WA11 portable amp. Suffice to say that the Z1R has more oomph in the low end and much more sparkle and clarity toward the high end. Anyone who's interested should head over to Woo's table. They also have the HD820 for comparison. The WA11 is very nice.

 

[gLer]

I heard the Elegia today. To me it's a disappointment. To be sure, the super noisy CANJAM room may be part of the reason, but the top end for the Elgia seems to have been chopped off. It sounds very very muddled. However, it isolates quite well and the low end and midrange are pretty decent. For what it's worth, I'm comparing it to the Utopia ... so take that very brief impression with a lot of salt.

I think comparing ANYTHING to a detail microscope like Utopia will be, well, very different. I kinda like the Elear’s chopped off (but airy) highs, so that’s my yardstick. What I’d want from a ‘closed Elear’ is absolute isolation, better sub bass extension, more bass kick without infringing on mids, and airy highs without any cup resonance or sibilance. If it ticks all those boxes, I’m interested.

 

[gLer]

Yeah, it very well could be the surrounding. And oh, I forgot to say that the Woo Audio booth is the only other booth that has the Elegia. I compared the Elegia to the Sony Z1R using the same new WA11 portable amp. Suffice to say that the Z1R has more oomph in the low end and much more sparkle and clarity toward the high end. Anyone who's interested should head over to Woo's table. They also have the HD820 for comparison. The WA11 is very nice.

Pity they’re not showcasing the Elegia with the solid state amps they’ll mainly be used with (as a portable-oriented design).

 

[mahesvara]

I think comparing ANYTHING to a detail microscope like Utopia will be, well, very different

You're very right about this of course. Judging by what you said though, I think you will like the Elegia. I really do like how it isolates way better than the Z1R and the HD820.

 

[gto88]

@mahesvara , thanks for the comparison impression with Z1R, as I happen to own it.
It is good to know that Z1R still holds it place.

 

[mahesvara]

Pity they’re not showcasing the Elegia with the solid state amps they’ll mainly be used with (as a portable-oriented design).

Not sure what you mean :O You can definitely ask Mike Liang or Jack Wu to let you plug the Elegia into the WA11 (this is the solid state one) and hear it.

 

[gLer]

Not sure what you mean :O You can definitely ask Mike Liang or Jack Wu to let you plug the Elegia into the WA11 (this is the solid state one) and hear it.

My bad, misread the amp as WA2! Yes that’s the new Woo SS. Pricey for sure, but that’s Woo.

 

[Phronesis]

I heard the Elegia today. To me it's a disappointment. To be sure, the super noisy CANJAM room may be part of the reason, but the top end for the Elgia seems to have been chopped off. It sounds very very muddled. However, it isolates quite well and the low end and midrange are pretty decent. For what it's worth, I'm comparing it to the Utopia ... so take that very brief impression with a lot of salt.

In my experience, really important to compare headphones back to back, in a quiet environment, listening to music I normally listen to, without being rushed. First time I tried the Elear, Clear, and Utopia in the shop, I didn't like any of them. Second time I tried, I still didn't like them. But the third time, I spent a lot more time trying them, both in the shop and at home, and I came to like all of them (and bought the Clear, since I like it slightly more than the Utopia).

 

[bidn]

Hi there,

my dealer wrote me yesterday that he had received the Elegia,
and I could manage to pay him a visit and to audition them driven from a Hugo 2 with my test tracks (mostly metal and some renaissance music).
For information: I listen at low volume levels.

Soundwise they seemed closer to the Clear than to the other Focal flagships.
Not only do they have all the things I love about the Focal sound,
(dynamics, speed, details, SNR, imaging, although of course not at the level of the Utopia)
but they also combine this with a great passive isolation which I was not expecting at all,
even though I wear glasses.
It was a busy time, saturday morning, the dealer would talk with another client or on the phone,
and the Elegia would really attenuate a lot their voices, to the point that it would move them to an undisturbing background,
this although I listen at a very low level, making it easy for voice to becoming very disturbing.
What was not so well attenuated were highs, like the loud ringing from the shop phone. I guess highs may be difficult to attenuate.
For me the soundstage felt great, I mean just right, I guess maybe because of a combination of Focal's performance at imaging (= musical sound sources separated and positioned at their place) and of the ambient isolation?

So you are getting it ... it was love at the first sight...
I was lucky the dealer had one in stock, so that was the fastest decision ever for me to buy headphones...
as they cost me only € 899 incl. the carrying case.

In the meantime, I tried the Elegia with my Samsung Galaxy Note 9.
I don't have a good opinion of the amp section of Samsung's headphones,
even for me it unfortunately way too weak and doesn't succeed in driving in a appropriate manner (I mean: not in an engaging manner) even many IEMs.
And here second surprise, even much bigger: the Elegia (I have to mention again that I listen at very low levels)
sounded great out of my Note 9! Good enough to spare the avoid daily carrying an external amp or a DAP!

My congratulations to Focal for the Elegia, I had never heard closed headphones this good,
and for improving their distribution, so that I didn't have to wait months for its availability like with the other models.

So I purchased the Elegia, and also the RHA CL2 (a nice planar IEM costing me €799, great but not as convincing for me as the Elegia).
Feeling happy about purchasing these and about having such a great dealer not far from me,
and wishing you all a nice weekend or a nice time at RMAF,
bidn

 

[kennylim]

Hi there,

my dealer wrote me yesterday that he had received the Elegia,
and I could manage to pay him a visit and to audition them driven from a Hugo 2 with my test tracks (mostly metal and some renaissance music).
For information: I listen at low volume levels.

Soundwise they seemed closer to the Clear than to the other Focal flagships.
Not only do they have all the things I love about the Focal sound,
(dynamics, speed, details, SNR, imaging, although of course not at the level of the Utopia)
but they also combine this with a great passive isolation which I was not expecting at all,
even though I wear glasses.
It was a busy time, saturday morning, the dealer would talk with another client or on the phone,
and the Elegia would really attenuate a lot their voices, to the point that it would move them to an undisturbing background,
this although I listen at a very low level, making it easy for voice to becoming very disturbing.
What was not so well attenuated were highs, like the loud ringing from the shop phone. I guess highs may be difficult to attenuate.
For me the soundstage felt great, I mean just right, I guess maybe because of a combination of Focal's performance at imaging (= musical sound sources separated and positioned at their place) and of the ambient isolation?

So you are getting it ... it was love at the first sight...
I was lucky the dealer had one in stock, so that was the fastest decision ever for me to buy headphones...
as they cost me only € 899 incl. the carrying case.

In the meantime, I tried the Elegia with my Samsung Galaxy Note 9.
I don't have a good opinion of the amp section of Samsung's headphones,
even for me it unfortunately way too weak and doesn't succeed in driving in a appropriate manner (I mean: not in an engaging manner) even many IEMs.
And here second surprise, even much bigger: the Elegia (I have to mention again that I listen at very low levels)
sounded great out of my Note 9! Good enough to spare the avoid daily carrying an external amp or a DAP!

My congratulations to Focal for the Elegia, I had never heard closed headphones this good,
and for improving their distribution, so that I didn't have to wait months for its availability like with the other models.

So I purchased the Elegia, and also the RHA CL2 (a nice planar IEM costing me €799, great but not as convincing for me as the Elegia).
Feeling happy about purchasing these and about having such a great dealer not far from me,
and wishing you all a nice weekend or a nice time at RMAF,
bidn

hey, you mind sharing where you bought it from. I can see you are in EU but which country and which distributor/dealer?

 

[ctaxxxx]

Hi there,

my dealer wrote me yesterday that he had received the Elegia,
and I could manage to pay him a visit and to audition them driven from a Hugo 2 with my test tracks (mostly metal and some renaissance music).
For information: I listen at low volume levels.

Soundwise they seemed closer to the Clear than to the other Focal flagships.
Not only do they have all the things I love about the Focal sound,
(dynamics, speed, details, SNR, imaging, although of course not at the level of the Utopia)
but they also combine this with a great passive isolation which I was not expecting at all,
even though I wear glasses.
It was a busy time, saturday morning, the dealer would talk with another client or on the phone,
and the Elegia would really attenuate a lot their voices, to the point that it would move them to an undisturbing background,
this although I listen at a very low level, making it easy for voice to becoming very disturbing.
What was not so well attenuated were highs, like the loud ringing from the shop phone. I guess highs may be difficult to attenuate.
For me the soundstage felt great, I mean just right, I guess maybe because of a combination of Focal's performance at imaging (= musical sound sources separated and positioned at their place) and of the ambient isolation?

So you are getting it ... it was love at the first sight...
I was lucky the dealer had one in stock, so that was the fastest decision ever for me to buy headphones...
as they cost me only € 899 incl. the carrying case.

In the meantime, I tried the Elegia with my Samsung Galaxy Note 9.
I don't have a good opinion of the amp section of Samsung's headphones,
even for me it unfortunately way too weak and doesn't succeed in driving in a appropriate manner (I mean: not in an engaging manner) even many IEMs.
And here second surprise, even much bigger: the Elegia (I have to mention again that I listen at very low levels)
sounded great out of my Note 9! Good enough to spare the avoid daily carrying an external amp or a DAP!

My congratulations to Focal for the Elegia, I had never heard closed headphones this good,
and for improving their distribution, so that I didn't have to wait months for its availability like with the other models.

So I purchased the Elegia, and also the RHA CL2 (a nice planar IEM costing me €799, great but not as convincing for me as the Elegia).
Feeling happy about purchasing these and about having such a great dealer not far from me,
and wishing you all a nice weekend or a nice time at RMAF,
bidn

Appreciate the impressions. I'm REALLY close to ordering these!! Really wish I was able to hear the Clear, but seeing that these are close in sound signature and have great isolation is a huge plus. Price and lack of isolation really held me back on the Clears. (Wish my apartment and A/C wasn't so noisy...)

Nice to see you listened to these with metal! I find my Z1R not very synergistic with this genre imo. What kind of metal did you listen with? Is it quick enough in the bass to keep up with faster songs? Do guitars have enough bite to them without sounding harsh? etc?...

 

[TSAVAlan]

@TSAVAlan, would you say the Elegia would be a good complement to the Elear (i.e. would it be different enough in enough areas, rather than an overlap)? What would you say it does better than the Elear (isolation aside)? Also, how does it respond to pad swaps (what does it sound like with Clear pads, for example)?

I would say it would be a good compliment with the Elear and Elegia. I think there is enough different between the two you would be happy having both for different occasions. I liked the tonal balance on the Elegia more than the Elear and I think that will be one its big selling points.

Don't have our pair just yet, looks like next week Wednesday is when we are finally getting the first part of our shipment and I can try out the different ear pad swaps. Just give me quick reminder to try it out!

 

[bidn]

Appreciate the impressions. I'm REALLY close to ordering these!! Really wish I was able to hear the Clear, but seeing that these are close in sound signature and have great isolation is a huge plus. Price and lack of isolation really held me back on the Clears. (Wish my apartment and A/C wasn't so noisy...)

Nice to see you listened to these with metal! I find my Z1R not very synergistic with this genre imo. What kind of metal did you listen with? Is it quick enough in the bass to keep up with faster songs? Do guitars have enough bite to them without sounding harsh? etc?...

Hi ctaxxxx,

Thank you for your nice words.

You asked about which kind of metal I listened with, here are my test tracks (tracks I know by heart, having listened to them for years, even almost daily during some periods):
- Amon Amarth, [from studio EP Under the Influence] track = Burning Anvil of Steel (viking melodic death metal)
- Manowar, [from studio album Warriors of the World] track = Call to War (so-called "true" heavy metal)
- Eluveitie, [from studio album Everything remains as it never was] tracks = Otherworld, Everything remains (Celtic folk metal)
- Summoning [from studio album Oath Bound] track = Bauglir (Tolkien epic atmospheric black metal)
- Summoning [from studio album Summoning. Old Mornings Dawn] track = Flammifer (Tolkien epic atmospheric black metal)
- Majesty, studio album = Hellforces, track = Hellforces (so-called "true" epic power metal).

I listened to other tracks which are not purely metal,
like some tracks by the band Elffor (which band I classify in a genre which I see as a hybrid between on one side symphonic black metal and on the other side dark ambient).

I fully understand your point re. the Z1R and metal.
For me metal is a musical genre involving a complex combination of several musical sources aggressively played at full speed:
aggressive drums at full speed, one or more aggressive electric guitar at full speed, aggressive singing-shouting-growling... at full speed, and often further instruments
all of which acoustically recorded (unlike contemporary electronic music which is created and recorded "in silico").
For me almost all headphones are way too slow to properly render metal
(but some people amy prefer a relaxed presentation for long listening sessions, even if not the real thing).

While not hyper-fast like the Utopia, the Elegia is still super fast like the Elear and the Clear,
including its bass which I find easily quick enough for metal (by contrast to the bassof some expensive flagships like the Susvara, LCD-4 and LCD-4z whose bass I find too slow for metal, this is fun as it gives the bass drum an extended duration allowing its impact to be felt longer, but this is not the real thing in my opinion).
I find it renders also the electric guitars of metal great.

Compared to the Clear the Elegia has more sub-bass, making it even more suitable for dark ambient (this is one of the few genres of electronic music I listen to -- I usually don't listen to beat-based electronic genres).

If you want to order the Elegia, I can advise to be very quick while the shops still have some in their inventory which they received ahead of the RMAF announcement,
before they are sold out (= the case at my dealer).
With the other Focals, it was very difficult in Europe to buy them during the first 6 months after their announcement as there was too much demand, dealers could not get hold of them or they would be immediately sold out after the reception of each new shipment.
I expect that there might even be a stronger demand for the Elegia given that it performs very well in spite of being closed (unlike what I am used to hear with closed headphones), is great fun, has a carrying case and a nice pricing.

I heard the Elegia today. To me it's a disappointment. To be sure, the super noisy CANJAM room may be part of the reason, but the top end for the Elgia seems to have been chopped off. It sounds very very muddled. However, it isolates quite well and the low end and midrange are pretty decent. For what it's worth, I'm comparing it to the Utopia ... so take that very brief impression with a lot of salt.

While the Elegia is not the Utopia, it really should not sound like what you heard. I have good news about this:
- the (demo model) Elegia at my dealer absolutely didn't sound muddled at all but rather the opposite, nor did it have its extension cut off, out of a Chord Hugo 2 and out of my Samsung Galaxy Note 9
- it is the same with the model I purchased, paired with my gear at home.

If I understand correctly you auditioned the Elegia during the show out of a Woo (tube) amp?
Many people here at head-fi have reported experiences according to which the preceding Focals (Utopia, Elar, Clear), being very easy to drive, would not pair well with many tube amps (which are usually made for headphones difficult to drive like the HD 800 or some planars) (although there were exceptions reported). The Elegia has even a lower impedance of only 35 ohms, and given how well it paired with my Samsung phone, I would expect it to be even more picky for pairing with tube amps. If so, I assume this could explain why it sounded so badly when you heard it?

Have a nice weekend and enjoy your music,
bidn

 

[gLer]

I would say it would be a good compliment with the Elear and Elegia. I think there is enough different between the two you would be happy having both for different occasions. I liked the tonal balance on the Elegia more than the Elear and I think that will be one its big selling points.

Don't have our pair just yet, looks like next week Wednesday is when we are finally getting the first part of our shipment and I can try out the different ear pad swaps. Just give me quick reminder to try it out!

Thanks Alan, I'll do so for sure!