Earbones
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2013
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Totally, I get personal preferences and all, but most pro reviewers will still generally correctly assess a headphone’s brightness, darkness, bass response etc. After which, they may comment on it, with regards to their own tastes. “There a pronounced mid-bump bass here, which some might find distracting, but I felt lended the mids a touch of richness without affecting the detail too much”, for example. But with the Elegia... I mean you can read two pro reviews where the base characteristics of the Elegia are described in ways nearly as dissimilar as, say, the Z1R and the HD800.Some people have different levels of Bass enjoyment. I think that's the most probable answer. I think, also, people go into closed cans, thinking it'll have more bass, but this one does not, unlike the norm.
Some people also think the HD800S is completely anemic in bass, and some think its perfect.
If you're interested in seeing how the Clear/Elex and Elegia match up, with measurements, take a look here: https://www.headphone.com/blogs/news/focal-elegia-closed-back-dynamic-headphone-review
To be clear, I’m not attacking the Elegia. I like it. I don’t know if I’ll keep it or go with the Clear, but I don’t think it’s a bad headphone. Mine in particular, at least. I’m just flummoxed by the wildly differing opinions out there regarding it’s basic characteristics.
I actually read that comparison. That was one of the reviews that pushed me towards the Elegia over the Clear in the first place... The numbers showed less bass, but the reviewer felt the Elegia had slightly more than the Clear in practice. That said, he also thought there was slight bass bloom in Trentemøller’s “Chameleon”... While with my pair, most of the track was nearly inaudible, the bass was pushed back to such a low volume. Far from being affected by bloom, the mids and treble stood out like hard diamonds on black velvet background, the bass was reproduced at such a low volume. I know bloom on that track, believe me. My Z1R and P9 have plenty of it when listening to it. With the Elegia... I dunno. Obviously no bloom is nice, but take the rounded bass line that starts around the .32 mark... There should be definition, space, and air around those notes. It was so low and pushed back on my Elegia, no real definition could be heard.
My interest in the Clear stems from the fact that while that reviewer thought the Elegia had more bass, others felt the Clear had punchier, deeper extending bass. Moreover, my listening, at least with Trentemøller, didn’t jibe...
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