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I just wanted to write some of my impressions from demoing a few headphones.
The Focal Clear was very impressive and good value. Pretty similar to the Utopia, except with a smaller sound stage and not as good treble or bass. The Elear compared to the Clear was pretty muddy sounding in the midrange and had an even smaller soundstage. The Utopia was the best of the three, but I would have been happy with the Clear as well, especially considering the price.
Comparing the Utopia to the LCD4 (200 Ohm version), the LCD4 had better bass extension and more bass. All the detail was there, it just had less treble presence. The Utopia has a lot more treble compared to bass and reminded me of how the Sennheiser HD600 sounds. The soundstage on the Utopia while large, wasn't as large as the LCD4. The treble seemed a little hot to me on the Utopia and maybe a little peaky. The LCD4 sounded smooth with exceptional bass impact when called for, while somehow sounding fairly transparent like the Utopia. I would put the transparency of both behind the HD800/S, but they were pretty good, far better than the Elear. I had no issue with the LCD4's weight and the earpads were very comfortable, though they start to get warm after a little while. The transparency of the Clears was pretty good, but a little behind the Utopia and LCD4.
I ended up buying a LCD4 to go with my Violectric V281
There have been driver failures with some of the Audeze LCD series and this was seemingly due to pressure causing the drivers to rupture. Since then, some sort of driver change was made, going from 100 to 200 Ohm, as well as the addition of a felt-like material behind the earpads to vent the earcups. As far as I know, with these changes there have been no more driver failures.
Regarding ability to drive these headphones, I remember the Clear and Elear being about the same, the Utopia needing a bit more power, and the LCD4 needing the most power, maybe 25% more than the Utopia.
All listening was done on a McIntosh MHA150. The LCD4 required a volume level at around 38%.
The Focal Clear was very impressive and good value. Pretty similar to the Utopia, except with a smaller sound stage and not as good treble or bass. The Elear compared to the Clear was pretty muddy sounding in the midrange and had an even smaller soundstage. The Utopia was the best of the three, but I would have been happy with the Clear as well, especially considering the price.
Comparing the Utopia to the LCD4 (200 Ohm version), the LCD4 had better bass extension and more bass. All the detail was there, it just had less treble presence. The Utopia has a lot more treble compared to bass and reminded me of how the Sennheiser HD600 sounds. The soundstage on the Utopia while large, wasn't as large as the LCD4. The treble seemed a little hot to me on the Utopia and maybe a little peaky. The LCD4 sounded smooth with exceptional bass impact when called for, while somehow sounding fairly transparent like the Utopia. I would put the transparency of both behind the HD800/S, but they were pretty good, far better than the Elear. I had no issue with the LCD4's weight and the earpads were very comfortable, though they start to get warm after a little while. The transparency of the Clears was pretty good, but a little behind the Utopia and LCD4.
I ended up buying a LCD4 to go with my Violectric V281
There have been driver failures with some of the Audeze LCD series and this was seemingly due to pressure causing the drivers to rupture. Since then, some sort of driver change was made, going from 100 to 200 Ohm, as well as the addition of a felt-like material behind the earpads to vent the earcups. As far as I know, with these changes there have been no more driver failures.
Regarding ability to drive these headphones, I remember the Clear and Elear being about the same, the Utopia needing a bit more power, and the LCD4 needing the most power, maybe 25% more than the Utopia.
All listening was done on a McIntosh MHA150. The LCD4 required a volume level at around 38%.
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