Focal Lensys

[alchemical]

Great looking headphones, particularly loving the black Lensys. Really appreciating the impressions.

 

[Kevintj604]

My Norne Drausk arrives this week. Glad I pre-ordered. The stock cables leave a lot to be desired.

 

[rickydenim]

Great to read these impressions! I use the Clear OG in my studio for mixing and my Elegia (w/Dekoni Sheepskin pads) are my office close-backs. I was thinking on picking up some other close-backs for the studio for tracking vocals but not sure if the Lensys are justified over the Elegia. Very tempted!

 

[Skev]

OOOHHWEEE. On the Cayin HA-3A Medium Impedance these sing. Great warmth and note weight.

This is very much a studio mixing tool. Mids are brought a lot more forward compared to my DCA E3. It's more of a W-shaped experience. Bass has great body but it's focused in the sub bass mainly. Not a ton of mid bass and these don't struggle with the mud bath that the Z1R and Atticus suffer with.

Very energetic and more analytical of a listen compared to my Atrium Closed. They'd compliment each other actually.

I’m glad to see our impressions align! Glad i decided to keep mine. They definitely can be fun with electronic music etc, the subbass is pretty impressive for what they are, took me by surprise a bit.

 

[Kevintj604]

Vocals are a tad bit shouty on the Lensys compared to Hadenys. I think I prefer the Hadenys overall.

 

[yrstruly]

Vocals are a tad bit shouty on the Lensys compared to Hadenys. I think I prefer the Hadenys overall.

I actually tried the Lensys last week and found this too - was a bit unforgiving compared to most other Focals. Definitely a studio monitor rather than consumer tuning. Very good resolution for the price, and great aesthetics too.

 

[alchemical]

I actually tried the Lensys last week and found this too - was a bit unforgiving compared to most other Focals. Definitely a studio monitor rather than consumer tuning. Very good resolution for the price, and great aesthetics too.

Would you say more unforgiving than Azurys, which I seem to remember you have experience with?

 

[yrstruly]

Would you say more unforgiving than Azurys, which I seem to remember you have experience with?

Yes I'd say so. Seemed brighter and more transparent (which again fits with the studio monitor/pro usage).

 

[alchemical]

Yes I'd say so. Seemed brighter and more transparent (which again fits with the studio monitor/pro usage).

Exactly what I needed to know, and why Azurys is the better fit. Thanks for the insight

 

[Kevintj604]

I might run a 30 day return policy on the Lenys. I'm really on the fence about them.

@Skev Did you notice any changes to their brightness after burn-in?

 

[therealkey]

OOOHHWEEE. On the Cayin HA-3A Medium Impedance these sing. Great warmth and note weight.

This is very much a studio mixing tool. Mids are brought a lot more forward compared to my DCA E3. It's more of a W-shaped experience. Bass has great body but it's focused in the sub bass mainly. Not a ton of mid bass and these don't struggle with the mud bath that the Z1R and Atticus suffer with.

Very energetic and more analytical of a listen compared to my Atrium Closed. They'd compliment each other actually.

Curious about the Lensys vs DCA E3 comparison. I was under the impression based on some reviews that the E3 would actually be the best studio headphone for mixing/mastering given the fact that it was deemed fairly neutral as well, all while having a better image representation of even some open backs. I've read a few people describe them as "the closest thing to studio monitors in headphone format." If you think that the Lensys now beats the E3 for a studio use case that'd be pretty interesting and would also save me quite a bit of money!

 

[Skev]

I might run a 30 day return policy on the Lenys. I'm really on the fence about them.

@Skev Did you notice any changes to their brightness after burn-in?

Nah, I don’t really consider burn-in. There’s a bucket load of other factors that affect sound more so not willing to comment on that.

I still enjoy them greatly but I also do like mids and treble - can handle a bit of brightness at my age. I can happily listen to them for a few hours no problem.

I was looking for them to be a good beater/all-rounder set so for me they fit that bill perfectly.

 

[Kevintj604]

Curious about the Lensys vs DCA E3 comparison. I was under the impression based on some reviews that the E3 would actually be the best studio headphone for mixing/mastering given the fact that it was deemed fairly neutral as well, all while having a better image representation of even some open backs. I've read a few people describe them as "the closest thing to studio monitors in headphone format." If you think that the Lensys now beats the E3 for a studio use case that'd be pretty interesting and would also save me quite a bit of money!

E3 is a phenomenal sounding closed back and for most people could be their end game. For a studio environment it ticks a lot of boxes. It has class leading image separation and distinction. It's incredibly airy and open sounding and follows Harman super closely resulting in a very neutral and natural timbre. It's got the best dynamics out of any of the previous DCA headphones and it's bass quality is amazing.

With all that being said in a practical sense I don't have any idea how the E3 would be used in a real world studio environment. It's price point alone is way past where most facilities would want to spend on monitoring. It needs BOATLOADS of power. Most facilities don't have amps with enough power or current to drive them properly. Mixing and mastering engineers along with editors want a portable solution so they can mix in a hotel room or on location where studio monitors aren't available. They want their kit to be small, tight and highly portable so they aren't carrying something like an Enleum HPA-23rmh with cables to hook into a laptop to drive an E3.

Lensys ticks every box for what a working professional needs in the field to get their job done. They need virtually no power to sound good. Plug and play into any source equipment that a studio environment would have or any laptop. Their midrange is brought a lot more forward compared to E3 so Lensys is an excellent vocal mixing headphone. Imaging and spatial cues are very natural and lifelike so they're great for tracking. They have a very pleasing tonality overall and are definitely the best headphone in their class for a closed back with studio neutral tuning. Unless Audeze updates their MM line with a closed back I can't recommend the Lensys enough and honestly can't think of another closed back at any price point that gets so many things right.

 

[therealkey]

E3 is a phenomenal sounding closed back and for most people could be their end game. For a studio environment it ticks a lot of boxes. It has class leading image separation and distinction. It's incredibly airy and open sounding and follows Harman super closely resulting in a very neutral and natural timbre. It's got the best dynamics out of any of the previous DCA headphones and it's bass quality is amazing.

With all that being said in a practical sense I don't have any idea how the E3 would be used in a real world studio environment. It's price point alone is way past where most facilities would want to spend on monitoring. It needs BOATLOADS of power. Most facilities don't have amps with enough power or current to drive them properly. Mixing and mastering engineers along with editors want a portable solution so they can mix in a hotel room or on location where studio monitors aren't available. They want their kit to be small, tight and highly portable so they aren't carrying something like an Enleum HPA-23rmh with cables to hook into a laptop to drive an E3.

Lensys ticks every box for what a working professional needs in the field to get their job done. They need virtually no power to sound good. Plug and play into any source equipment that a studio environment would have or any laptop. Their midrange is brought a lot more forward compared to E3 so Lensys is an excellent vocal mixing headphone. Imaging and spatial cues are very natural and lifelike so they're great for tracking. They have a very pleasing tonality overall and are definitely the best headphone in their class for a closed back with studio neutral tuning. Unless Audeze updates their MM line with a closed back I can't recommend the Lensys enough and honestly can't think of another closed back at any price point that gets so many things right.

Thanks for the insight. I'm currently using Audeze LCD-XC 2021s which sound pretty good to me (I'd imagine closer to what the Lensys would sound like moreso than the E3 based on their respective graphs); however they are not the best for tracking or long sessions due to the weight. I then tried high end IEMs with the U12T which also sound great, but I find that any jaw movement can often loosen the seal and change the sound of the IEMs (already tried a number of different ear tips). Not to mention the fact that IEMs make you perform differently when tracking compared to headphones for some reason. I could probably mix on either device, but I still prefer mixing on studio monitors, so getting as close to that experience as possible in headphone format would still be appreciated. These things are what led me to the DCA E3 initially. For my portable tracking rig, I plan to buy a Neumann MT48; Apollo X4 Gen 2 (Upgraded DA and Headphone Amp compared to Gen 1), RME Babyface Pro FS, or RME UCX II so I'm not sure if power would be an issue for the E3 (let me know if you disagree). That being said, if power was not an issue and I didn't mind spending the $1500-ish used price tag, would you say that the E3s would then be worth the extra cash for tracking/mixing/mastering or does the Lensys still beat/come close enough the E3 for that use case? Nowhere to try these two headphones out in my area so your responses are much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Kevintj604]

These things are what led me to the DCA E3 initially. For my portable tracking rig, I plan to buy a Neumann MT48; Apollo X4 Gen 2 (Upgraded DA and Headphone Amp compared to Gen 1), RME Babyface Pro FS, or RME UCX II so I'm not sure if power would be an issue for the E3 (let me know if you disagree). That being said, if power was not an issue and I didn't mind spending the $1500-ish used price tag, would you say that the E3s would then be worth the extra cash for tracking/mixing/mastering or does the Lensys still beat/come close enough the E3 for that use case? Nowhere to try these two headphones out in my area so your responses are much appreciated. Thanks!

Power and more importantly current is a problem. E3 isn't worth the extra money just for a mixing professional use headphone. It's got a smoother presentation but with your source gear and more importantly use case the Lensys is probably a better fit.