[CyberAthlete]

Recently picked up this beauty. Had a terrible experience of listening to them through my Sony STR-DH740 receiver as that receiver is not friendly with low impedance headphones.

Any way, some of the friendly members here have made some recommendations for them in the Focal Clear thread, and I really appreciate it but I don't want to take the thread off topic too much so decided to make a post here:

Have been given some good suggestions and I believe I have narrowed it down to the following.
PS: Need to be able to hook it up the Sony receiver as well (RCA Outs on the DAC) so i can continue to use my speakers as well. My listening time is 90% speakers, 10% headphones (used to be the opposite in the older house as my home office shared a wall with my bedroom on the top floor)

Choices (in no particular order) and sticking with budget of $800 tops

• Audio-GD NFB-11.28
• Audio-GD R2R 11 (what's the difference from the one listed above)
• Topping DX7S
• Massdrop CTH+ (Amp/DAC)
• Massdrop CTH and another DAC
• Chord Mojo (will have to go through Windows to switch from headphones to speakers. Not a deal breaker)
• Anything Schiit that synergizes well with them? And what are the different DAC options such as Multibit on their site?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Paulo Abreu]

Recently picked up this beauty. Had a terrible experience of listening to them through my Sony STR-DH740 receiver as that receiver is not friendly with low impedance headphones.

Any way, some of the friendly members here have made some recommendations for them in the Focal Clear thread, and I really appreciate it but I don't want to take the thread off topic too much so decided to make a post here:

Have been given some good suggestions and I believe I have narrowed it down to the following.
PS: Need to be able to hook it up the Sony receiver as well (RCA Outs on the DAC) so i can continue to use my speakers as well. My listening time is 90% speakers, 10% headphones (used to be the opposite in the older house as my home office shared a wall with my bedroom on the top floor)

Choices (in no particular order) and sticking with budget of $800 tops

• Audio-GD NFB-11.28
• Audio-GD R2R 11 (what's the difference from the one listed above)
• Topping DX7S
• Massdrop CTH+ (Amp/DAC)
• Massdrop CTH and another DAC
• Chord Mojo (will have to go through Windows to switch from headphones to speakers. Not a deal breaker)
• Anything Schiit that synergizes well with them? And what are the different DAC options such as Multibit on their site?

Thank you in advance!

Hi, take a look also at Questyle CMA400i, its inside your budget and sounds beautifully with Clear
My 2 cents

 

[CyberAthlete]

Thank you! Will look it up

 

[spacequeen7]

• Audio-GD NFB-11.28
• Audio-GD R2R 11 (what's the difference from the one listed above)

NFB-11.28 is Sabre based unit (Delta-sigma )=> slightly dry and analitical,high detail
R2R11 is NOS (no filters and no opamp )=> musical .warmer sound ,more coherent,more low end extension

Edit; I'm debating on Clear myself but must resist so I can finally get my Stax set up

 

[Rhamnetin]

The Questyle CMA400i looks nice, only downside is you'd be stuck with that DAC for as long as you want to use its amp, since it has no analog inputs. Lots of other all in one units are like that. But since you mostly use speakers and it has analog outputs, it's not a bad choice.

Edit; I'm debating on Clear myself but must resist so I can finally get my Stax set up

Yeah I was thinking of trying the Clear myself, but having listened to the Utopia I decided it'd be best to just skip it and all other dynamic headphones and go straight for Stax.

 

[CyberAthlete]

What are your guys' thoughts on the Cayin iDAC-6 and iHA-6: A Dynamic Duo?

I have been reading about the Massdrop CTH and from what I have gathered they work really well with high impedance and especially Sennheiser HD 650, and considered a good budget amp for HD 800. Clears are different from HD 650 so may steer away from CTH just because it seems tailored for higher impedance.

 

[Nautrachkfriend]

I actually really liked my former Clear's with my former Schiit Magni 3 with the Schiit Modi Multibit. The Magni 3 is a surprisingly good amp for the price, really nothing more is needed. It's clean sounding, has excellent bass characteristics, plenty of power, pretty cheap, etc. But of course I got paranoid with the Magni 3 when I upgraded to the Utopia so I went for a Jotunheim to hold me over until I can get a very nice high tier amp. I actually sold the Magni 3 to a friend of mine and recently did try it with the Utopia and I can safely say that it still holds it's own even when running cans 40x it's own price. I also definitely have to recommend Schiit Multibit dacs. The Modi Multibit in my opinion is one of the best deals in dacs under $250. The general tonality of the Modi Multibit is the same as the Yggy, just obviously not quite as clean, but damn good still. I could easily live with a Modi Multibit forever and be perfectly happy. It's impressive what can be accomplished in that little box.

Another option that you might want to consider is the B-Stock Jotunheim with the Multibit card in it. Schiit has a few of these available on their website for a slight discount. I'm not familiar with the Multibit card sound characteristics, but I do enjoy my Utopia's with the Jotunheim.

Lastly I had a friend of mine on the Forums here who had the R2R 11 from Audio GD and he really enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a very solid economical price.

So to sum it up I'm recommending:

Schiit Magni 3 + Modi Multbit
Schiit Jotunheim + Modi Multibit
Schiit Jotunheim with Multibit card
Audio GD R2R 11

 

[CyberAthlete]

Ordered a Schiit Jotunheim with Multibit. Let's see how it matches with the Focal Clear. I am hopeful the setting will be very nice.

 

[CyberAthlete]

Can someone help explain where the gain switch should be for the Clear (55 ohm impedance headphone)

 

[Nautrachkfriend]

Can someone help explain where the gain switch should be for the Clear (55 ohm impedance headphone)

Congrats on your Jotunheim, I think you'll enjoy it!

I personally use the low gain switch for the 80 ohm Utopia. I would also think that the low gain switch would be most optimal for the Clear as well. But it's a matter of preference to be completely honest. When you get your Jotunheim try both gain settings and use whichever setting you like more.

 

[CyberAthlete]

Nice to know someone who owns a Utopia pairs it with the Jot and is happy with it. This is looking very promising!

 

[PopZeus]

With the Clears, I'd save and spring for the R-28 combo or an R2R-1(or R2R-2) with a basic, but solid amp. The expressiveness of Audio-gd's R-2R DACs is worth the extra $200-300 you might pay, because the Focal headphones can really deliver all the detail. But that's just me. I'm obsessed with mine currently.

 

[CyberAthlete]

With the Clears, I'd save and spring for the R-28 combo or an R2R-1(or R2R-2) with a basic, but solid amp. The expressiveness of Audio-gd's R-2R DACs is worth the extra $200-300 you might pay, because the Focal headphones can really deliver all the detail. But that's just me. I'm obsessed with mine currently.

Which exact model of the Audio-GD are you referring too. Thank you.

 

[PopZeus]

Which exact model of the Audio-GD are you referring too. Thank you.

If I were you, I’d save up and get the R-28 combo. The Clear can scale up and so it’s totally worth the price increase to get the performance, imho. If space is a concern and you want a smaller footprint, try the R2R-1 for balanced outs (or R2R-2 if you know you’re going to stay SE) and pick up a cheap head amp. Plenty of those to choose from across manufacturers, but Audio-gd has a few viable options. I’d say though, that you want as close to “wire with gain” to amp these DACs. They’re that good and you don’t need anything coloring the sound, unless you find the house sound a bit boring. (I don’t.) A couple of options include the CTH, or LCX. Emotiva A-100. Schiit has a bunch of options as well. Tbh, though, I’m not super familiar with them.

 

[catscratch]

I'll also toss in the Headamp Gilmore Lite mk2. A simple basic amp but one that performs. Sounds really smooth and resolved with the Clear.

Also, you can further improve the Clear's resolution with EQ. I posted a bit about it in the Clear thread. The highs have some peaks to them, and if you EQ those peaks down and get the sound smoothed out, the resolution and imaging improves. Probably the best tweak you could do to them, and the best part is that it's free, cause there are plenty of decent free plugins. I use APO but I'm sure there are others that work just as well.