I've gone back to the stock cable for use with my work computer, since the NewFantasia cable I bought is a little too long at 6.6'. I rearranged my desk a while back so the shorter cable, while stiff as all hell, still gives me enough room to move around at my desk.
Nevermind this. I figured it out. Replaced the damn stupid stock cable with something else and bam the sound is perfect. I can't believe how Focal includes this sub-par thing in such wonderful headphone package. Almost gave me a heart attack for a brand-new pair with channel imbalance.
Also, I happily confirm that my pairing with the IFI iDSD BL and Kann Cube was a success. The bass boost gives the elegia additional punch and I am loving the sound so far. So resolving and surprisingly wide (for a closed can). Lovely and refined mids (more so than my Senn HD660s). Will listen more in the coming weeks, but I can't wait to finally bring it to my office. So glad I skipped over the AK Beyerdynamic T5P for the Elegia!
I haven’t had any imbalance issues...even with the stock cable, but I’m glad you got it sorted out. Focal’s headphones are all good to great, so it does seem strange that they put so much thought into the design of their headphones, and yet put seemingly very little thought into the design and functionality of the cables that they ship with those headphones.
I’m still evaluating my Elegia, but I’m impressed enough to have already decided that they’re keepers. That being said, I want to thank @TaronL of headphones.com for all of his help. He was quick to respond to my questions via email, and even quicker over IM on their website.
He answered all of my questions, gave me good advice based on his experience with the headphones I was considering, and also sold them to me at a very good price. They offer a 365 day return period, which is insane. They’ve also built a very nice community in a relatively short period of time.
Has anyone had any experience using Dekoni Audio Elite Velour or sheepskin ear pads on the Elegia? I’m looking for replacement pads to keep the stock ones from wearing out, since Focal charges an arm and a leg for stock replacement pads. But, I don’t want the stock sound changed much, if at all.
Good question. Probably something to do with isolation and air pressure calibration. There was an immediate sensiation of ear clogging up when putting on the headphones with sound.
I’m still evaluating my Elegia, but I’m impressed enough to have already decided that they’re keepers. That being said, I want to thank @TaronL of headphones.com for all of his help. He was quick to respond to my questions via email, and even quicker over IM on their website.
He answered all of my questions, gave me good advice based on his experience with the headphones I was considering, and also sold them to me at a very good price. They offer a 365 day return period, which is insane. They’ve also built a very nice community in a relatively short period of time.
I had an epiphany last night. I typically use USB Audio Player Pro on my OnePlus 7 Pro to stream Tidal HiFi and plug into my Mojo to drive my lower impedance headphones. Since I was initially a bit underwhelmed by the amount of upper bass that the Elegia offered, I had used the parametric EQ that comes with USB Audio Player Pro to boost the 100-200 Hz range by 2.5db. The only issue is that to use the EQ, I had to disable bit perfect mode...which also disabled MQA (master quality album?) playback. I didn’t think that would make much, if any, noticeable difference...and I was happier with the bass.
And so I had used, and had been enjoying the Elegia like this for a week. But, it didn’t seem to be capable of more detail retrieval than my B&W P9, and also didn’t seem to image any better or sound much more open...which isn’t bad per say, but was a bit disappointing. Then, the thought occurred to me to try the Elegia again without EQ, since I’ve probably run it in for a good 40 hours by now by letting it playback music over night. That allowed me to enable bit perfect streaming again...which also allowed me to listen to the extremely high quality MQA tracks again.
MIND BLOWN. I can’t believe how much of a difference this made for me. It seems like I wasn’t feeding the Elegia high enough quality audio files for it to be able to show off what it can really do. This is what I was expecting to hear after reading all of the reviews and feedback prior to purchasing them. I know it’s cliche, but I am truly hearing tiny details in my music that I’ve never noticed before...and the imaging and perception of openness for a closed headphone is unreal. The low end has also filled in nicely. I no longer feel like it needs a bit of EQ.
I am beyond happy with the Elegia now. I would’ve been happy with it even if I’d paid the original $899 MSRP. But, for the less than $700 that I paid for it brand new....well, it feels like a steal. As long as you’re not looking for a basshead can, there can’t be a better closed headphone value out there right now.
I had an epiphany last night. I typically use USB Audio Player Pro on my OnePlus 7 Pro to stream Tidal HiFi and plug into my Mojo to drive my lower impedance headphones. Since I was initially a bit underwhelmed by the amount of upper bass that the Elegia offered, I had used the parametric EQ that comes with USB Audio Player Pro to boost the 100-200 Hz range by 2.5db. The only issue is that to use the EQ, I had to disable bit perfect mode...which also disabled MQA (master quality album?) playback. I didn’t think that would make much, if any, noticeable difference...and I was happier with the bass.
And so I had used, and had been enjoying the Elegia like this for a week. But, it didn’t seem to be capable of more detail retrieval than my B&W P9, and also didn’t seem to image any better or sound much more open...which isn’t bad per say, but was a bit disappointing. Then, the thought occurred to me to try the Elegia again without EQ, since I’ve probably run it in for a good 40 hours by now by letting it playback music over night. That allowed me to enable bit perfect streaming again...which also allowed me to listen to the extremely high quality MQA tracks again.
MIND BLOWN. I can’t believe how much of a difference this made for me. It seems like I wasn’t feeding the Elegia high enough quality audio files for it to be able to show off what it can really do. This is what I was expecting to hear after reading all of the reviews and feedback prior to purchasing them. I know it’s cliche, but I am truly hearing tiny details in my music that I’ve never noticed before...and the imaging and perception of openness for a closed headphone is unreal. The low end has also filled in nicely. I no longer feel like it needs a bit of EQ.
I am beyond happy with the Elegia now. I would’ve been happy with it even if I’d paid the original $899 MSRP. But, for the less than $700 that I paid for it brand new....well, it feels like a steal. As long as you’re not looking for a bass head can, there can’t be a better closed headphone value out there right now.
String music sounds quite ethereal with Elegia. My acoustic albums also shine so much on it. The detail retrieval is crazy. My next step would probably be something with a better bass extension (thinking of Audeze or ZMF), but the Elegia will certainly stay with me for now.
String music sounds quite ethereal with Elegia. My acoustic albums also shine so much on it. The detail retrieval is crazy. My next step would probably be something with a better bass extension (thinking of Audeze or ZMF), but the Elegia will certainly stay with me for now.
I’d recommend the ZMF Eikon. It’s just a tiny bit less resolving than the Elegia, but with a more versatile tonality. I’ve only heard it once and only for a few minutes, but it seemed to sound great with practically everything. It’s also beautifully handcrafted. It is on the heavy side though...but I still found it comfortable.
I would buy one, but it’s just above the $1,000 line in the sand that the wife has drawn (after working on her for years...when we first met, she thought I was crazy for spending $300 on the V-Moda M100’s back in the day).
String music sounds quite ethereal with Elegia. My acoustic albums also shine so much on it. The detail retrieval is crazy. My next step would probably be something with a better bass extension (thinking of Audeze or ZMF), but the Elegia will certainly stay with me for now.
It might seem a little odd, but I've really liked the Elegia with tube amps -- it doesn't sound like a closed phone at all, and the imaging is spectacular.
Has anyone had any experience using Dekoni Audio Elite Velour or sheepskin ear pads on the Elegia? I’m looking for replacement pads to keep the stock ones from wearing out, since Focal charges an arm and a leg for stock replacement pads. But, I don’t want the stock sound changed much, if at all.
I've used the fenestrated sheepskin ones - they tend to close in the sound a little more, but they're cool and comfortable. Maybe there is a little more bass, but I haven't found them unpleasant at all. Maybe a little less soundstage, but just a little less. Isolation is still very good!
I've used the fenestrated sheepskin ones - they tend to close in the sound a little more, but they're cool and comfortable. Maybe there is a little more bass, but I haven't found them unpleasant at all. Maybe a little less soundstage, but just a little less. Isolation is still very good!
From my understanding, using fenestrated pads on the Elegia kills the bass. The headphones.com forums have a post with graphs showing the effects that pad swapping Focal pads amongst the Focal headphones has. All the fenestrated pads were terrible on the Elegia, including the Utopia pads, which are also fenestrated sheepskin pads.
The Elegia is highly dependent on having a tight seal in order to be able to reproduce bass. Hence why I was asking if anyone has experience with the Dekoni Elite Velour or sheepskin pads...since those are the only 2 Dekoni pads for Focal headphones that are not fenestrated.
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