[xenoVa]

I finally had a chance to demo Elegia and Stellia, of course with a high end source gear. Comfort and isolation wise they are identifical.

They both sound very good, Stellia is better as excepted but the difference is very small for the $900-3000 price margin. I know that sonic performance doesn't scale linearly with price but still, I can't justify the $2100 or 233% price difference. Buying Elegia is a smarter choice unless money is no object.

What do you think ?

 

[Doctordoom16]

Buy a pioneer SEM5 on sale for $499 or $699 when they pop up. Save your money and buy a HIBy r6pro and use the balanced 4.4 w tidal MQA
The pairing is amazing. Holographic. Sold my chord mojo and my elegia after hearing this pairing .

 

[teknorob23]

So is it V-shaped?

not really, i'd say pretty close to neutral, well to my untrained ear at least, because i cant really hear any noticeable dips of peaks apart from ever so slightly in the upper treble (at least compared to the elegia). At 24 hrs the bass was on the light side of neutral which in turn was making the whole presentation feel a little thin. Its worth mentioning most of my listening has been done with Feliks Euforia, in front of Hugo2/ auralic aries. This tends to remove any fatiguing edges from Focal HPs and add some much needed wetness to the H2.

As i write this I'm listening to a 192/24 version of joy Divisions Unknown Pleasures, which is nearly all mid bass and distant, discordant scratchy guitars, and the Stellias arent adding anything much in, but the textures in what bass that is there are lovely, plus all the details i can now here delivered with real pace and energy, is really infectious... sorry, that makes sense in my dyslexic head

i suppose at a push you might call it a shallow "w" shape

 

[up late]

deleted

 

[teqshea]

I finally had a chance to demo Elegia and Stellia, of course with a high end source gear. Comfort and isolation wise they are identifical.

They both sound very good, Stellia is better as excepted but the difference is very small for the $900-3000 price margin. I know that sonic performance doesn't scale linearly with price but still, I can't justify the $2100 or 233% price difference. Buying Elegia is a smarter choice unless money is no object.

What do you think ?

I have a pair of Elegia's and like them very much. I would like to have a pair of Stellia's but am not (now) willing to spend that much ------ but .......

 

[up late]

I finally had a chance to demo Elegia and Stellia, of course with a high end source gear. Comfort and isolation wise they are identifical.

They both sound very good, Stellia is better as excepted but the difference is very small for the $900-3000 price margin. I know that sonic performance doesn't scale linearly with price but still, I can't justify the $2100 or 233% price difference. Buying Elegia is a smarter choice unless money is no object.

What do you think ?

i agree with @jude's reply to you in the stellia thread: "I think the sonic difference between the two is substantial -- far greater than very small -- and I have a strong preference for the Stellia's signature." i also found the stellia more comfortable due to its soft leather covered ear pads and head band. i suspect that the level of isolation from outside noise would be similar for both cans but i can't say for sure without comparing them directly.

 

[louderup]

I've had a properly functioning pair of these for almost a week now I think? I predicted a honeymoon period after which I'd be less enthusiastic, but the opposite is happening. I'm appreciating them even more. Perfect lows, rich mids, and crisp highs. And God damn, the dynamics are so, so good. I'm past my honeymoon period with my first high end planars and the punch and impact on these cans are just so damn satisfying. Think I just prefer a high end dynamic driver over a high end planar.

Or I just prefer Focal over Audeze in the same-ish closed back price range. Either way, I expected to continue to love the LCD-XCs but have found the high end "pinch" (sounds like a steep narrow boost followed immediately by a steep narrow dip) to be problematic, while these have no glaring flaws imo, at least not *yet.*

 

[teknorob23]

I've had a properly functioning pair of these for almost a week now I think? I predicted a honeymoon period after which I'd be less enthusiastic, but the opposite is happening. I'm appreciating them even more. Perfect lows, rich mids, and crisp highs. And God damn, the dynamics are so, so good. I'm past my honeymoon period with my first high end planars and the punch and impact on these cans are just so damn satisfying. Think I just prefer a high end dynamic driver over a high end planar.

Or I just prefer Focal over Audeze in the same-ish closed back price range. Either way, I expected to continue to love the LCD-XCs but have found the high end "pinch" (sounds like a steep narrow boost followed immediately by a steep narrow dip) to be problematic, while these have no glaring flaws imo, at least not *yet.*

It’s bad form to say I told you so, so i won’t do that then

 

[Beagle]

I've had a properly functioning pair of these for almost a week now I think? I predicted a honeymoon period after which I'd be less enthusiastic, but the opposite is happening. I'm appreciating them even more. Perfect lows, rich mids, and crisp highs. And God damn, the dynamics are so, so good. I'm past my honeymoon period with my first high end planars and the punch and impact on these cans are just so damn satisfying. Think I just prefer a high end dynamic driver over a high end planar.

Or I just prefer Focal over Audeze in the same-ish closed back price range. Either way, I expected to continue to love the LCD-XCs but have found the high end "pinch" (sounds like a steep narrow boost followed immediately by a steep narrow dip) to be problematic, while these have no glaring flaws imo, at least not *yet.*

I feel about the same. There's nothing I'd really want to change regarding the sound of these.

 

[teknorob23]

i agree with @jude's reply to you in the stellia thread: "I think the sonic difference between the two is substantial -- far greater than very small -- and I have a strong preference for the Stellia's signature." i also found the stellia more comfortable due to its soft leather covered ear pads and head band. i suspect that the level of isolation from outside noise would be similar for both cans but i can't say for sure without comparing them directly.

Noise cancellation is pretty much identical. Comfort-wise the stellia feel lighter and initially more comfortable but the leather pads make my ears hot after a while which isnt an issue with the Elegia. I guess fit is quite a personal thing but for me the Elegia slightly edge it for comfort when it comes to long listening sessions. Sonic differences are far more pronounced and are becoming more so with every extra day of burn in (75hrs on the Stellias).

I'd have nothing to complain about with the Elegia, if i hadnt done any back to back listening and i still dont in terms of value for money. They would be my preference over every other CB until you get to the Stellias. As ive mentioned in previous posts i wasnt convinced listening at 24hrs, that the stellias were the complete deal. They had great seperation, more detail width and air from the off, but lack some of the body and the dynamism of the elegia. Things at the lowend improved greatly at 50hrs and now at 75hrs they just keep getting better, plus theres now more body throughout the presentation but no loss of seperation and texture. The price difference cant be ignored and as to whether they're worth the 2k premium, for me, i'd say yes definitely. In an audiophile world of diminishing returns i would say they offer a way better proportional return on investment, than similar step ups which ive made and been happy with in 2 channel hifi.

Its very big talk, but i think Focal have achieved something similar here with the Elegia and stellia's closed back tech as to what Rob Watts and chord did in DACs when they introduced the Mojo and the Hugo1, both of which were just so far ahead of any of their direct competitors or from many price tiers above.

Obviously there might be a bit of new toy bias rose tinting my opinion

 

[teknorob23]

Noise cancellation is pretty much identical. Comfort-wise the stellia feel lighter and initially more comfortable but the leather pads make my ears hot after a while which isnt an issue with the Elegia. I guess fit is quite a personal thing but for me the Elegia slightly edge it for comfort when it comes to long listening sessions. Sonic differences are far more pronounced and are becoming more so with every extra day of burn in (75hrs on the Stellias).

I'd have nothing to complain about with the Elegia, if i hadnt done any back to back listening and i still dont in terms of value for money. They would be my preference over every other CB until you get to the Stellias. As ive mentioned in previous posts i wasnt convinced listening at 24hrs, that the stellias were the complete deal. They had great seperation, more detail width and air from the off, but lack some of the body and the dynamism of the elegia. Things at the lowend improved greatly at 50hrs and now at 75hrs they just keep getting better, plus theres now more body throughout the presentation but no loss of seperation and texture. The price difference cant be ignored and as to whether they're worth the 2k premium, for me, i'd say yes definitely. In an audiophile world of diminishing returns i would say they offer a way better proportional return on investment, than similar step ups which ive made and been happy with in 2 channel hifi.

Its very big talk, but i think Focal have achieved something similar here with the Elegia and stellia's closed back tech as to what Rob Watts and chord did in DACs when they introduced the Mojo and the Hugo1, both of which were just so far ahead of any of their direct competitors or from many price tiers above.

Obviously there might be a bit of new toy bias rose tinting my opinion

I've just tried the Elegia pads on the stellias make them considerably more comfortable. They are thicker and definitely feel lighter less pressured on the head and no immediately noticeable change to the sound. Vice versa the Elegia are less comfortable with the Stellia pads... Not sure what that proves based on a sample of one but there you go.

 

[wje]

I feel pretty strongly that the stock Elegia pads are just not very good. I changed to Dekoni velour and the seal, comfort and bass all improved. I have the Elex and the pads are awesome and I felt that the Dekoni replacements felt very similar and now like the Elegias much better.

I've been able to apply about 48 hours of more burn-in time on my Elegias. I also have the Dekoni velour pads. To my ears and fit comfort of the Dekoni pads, I can't really tell any difference in the sound between the stock vs. Dekoni pads. Also, the comfort, to my ears, feels equally on par. I think with each individual, the results will vary - depending on the width of their head, how the headphones fit for them, etc. I do realize though that the Dekoni pads have a slightly firmer version of memory foam compared to the stock Focal pads. However, I am currently using the Dekoni pads for even more listening and have nothing negative to say about them. At $49.99, they are a steal when compared to the $99.00 replacement pad cost that Focal wants for the Elear - I'm assuming that once they start offering replacement pads for the Elegia, the price would be in the $99 range too.

I don't feel the same about the Dekoni sheepskin fenestrated pads when compared to the stock Focal Utopia pads. The stock Focal Utopia pads just ooze luxury - much softer sheepskin is used for the pad material. Again, just a buttery feeling compared to a soft leather feeling on the Dekoki fenestrated sheepskin pads. Then again, in that situation, the Dekoni pads are $99 and the Focal Utopia replacement pads are $249.

 

[emrelights1973]

6 months or a year latter we might see a 1000$-1200$ Focal - mass drop closed back, Cloex

 

[xenoVa]

I opened a discussion thread for Aeon Flow Closed - Focal Elegia, the best sub $1k closed back cans, comparison. Your opinions are welcome
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/aeon-flow-closed-vs-focal-elegia-discussion.901394/

 

[up late]

I've just tried the Elegia pads on the stellias make them considerably more comfortable. They are thicker and definitely feel lighter less pressured on the head and no immediately noticeable change to the sound. Vice versa the Elegia are less comfortable with the Stellia pads... Not sure what that proves based on a sample of one but there you go.

headphone comfort is a personal thing as you've said. the stellia felt luxurious and supremely comfortable on my head - even more comfortable than the utopia, which i have no complaints about and definitely more comfortable than the elegia.