July 19, 20169 yr On 7/18/2016 at 1:06 AM, TMoney said: Heard the Focal Duo at the SF HF meet yesterday on my rig. My impressions of the Focal Utopia: The $4k price is unfortunate. This is a headphone that needs to cost $2k at most for it to be a good value. My impressions of the Focal Elear: Priced at a grand, it is nice to see a step in the right direction on price. Should be $600, but at least its not $1,500.Between Utopia and Elear I lean very strongly towards Utopia. Give Sonic electronics a call once they're out a month or so. They offered a buddy of mine 3.15k for a brand new LCD 4.
July 19, 20169 yr Tyll published a short post on InnerFidelity yesterday and appears to be very impressed by the Elear. http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/disruption-headphone-world There are also measurements of the Elear, Utopia, and pre-prdocution Mr. Speaker Flow in the post.
July 19, 20169 yr Impressions from Wikia regarding the Focal line: Focal Elear (out of Eddie Current BW SC): Really well built Solid feel and very comfortable I have to say I did feel like this was a cleaner HD650 and slightly more detailed Would probably describe it as having the best of both worlds between the HD600 and the HD650 Best part about it is you don't need an expensive custom tube amp to remove the HD650's veiled sound At a $999 price point however I feel like another entry into upper mid-fi will hold this headphone back Focal Utopia (out of Eddie Current BW SC): Another really well built headphone Solid feel and very comfortable Very clear and detailed with a decently wide sound stage Bass is a bit lacking for me but overall good tonal balance Sometimes I felt however that there was the same hyper realness that I don't like with the Stax 009 present. Most impressed though with the golden headphone case @jude had these housed in. Unfortunately at $4k I really feel this headphone is overpriced especially against the next headphone I am going to mention. Sorry for any Stax 009 fans didn't mean to insult but just not my bag. I'm a 007 MK1 fan
July 25, 20169 yr about the Elear/Utopia, looks like I heard it differently than most people at the SF meet. I should mention that I did spend a *lot* of time with both headphones, particularly the Utopia as there was something amiss with the Utopia I was trying to put my finger on. Briefly, copying velvetx format: Focal Elear (out of Cavalli Carbon and Crimson) lots of energy (punchy bass) and speed (transient reproduction). Warmish tone, closer to HD600 than HD650. Very clean mids and extended highs. Good, deep soundstage. In summary, the Elear reminded me more of the HE500 than the HD6x0, with a cleaner, more transparent sound. Focal Utopia (same amps, plus Questyle dual mono stack) Tight, detailed bass. There is a bloom in the mids that made it sound gorgeous, but a touch artificial. Even after one hour, I was listening to the Utopia, not to the music being played. Soundstage was very "enveloping", for lack of a better word. It was wide and deep, but lacking in focus (compared to the HD800 I had in tow, but also to the Elear) In summary, I think Focal tried to go for the HE-90 sound and in the process lost ultimate transparency. Not worth $4K to me. Even at $2K they would face stiff competition from HE1K and Ether Flow.
July 26, 20169 yr 11 hours ago, calaf said: (snip) Focal Elear (out of Cavalli Carbon and Crimson) First problem delineated. Focal Utopia (same amps, plus Questyle dual mono stack) second problem delineated. Edited July 26, 20169 yr by wink
July 28, 20169 yr Great review, @Tyll Hertsens! http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/enter-next-generation-focal-elear-headphone#oLrVYB1qTyI1gpvE.97 It must be nice to have the full line-up form the wall of fame to use in comparative reviews! Edited July 28, 20169 yr by TMoney
August 1, 20169 yr On July 28, 2016 at 11:18 AM, TMoney said: Great review, @Tyll Hertsens! http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/enter-next-generation-focal-elear-headphone#oLrVYB1qTyI1gpvE.97 It must be nice to have the full line-up form the wall of fame to use in comparative reviews! The PR people cry when I tell them I have to keep them....and then they laugh and giggle.
August 1, 20169 yr 21 minutes ago, Tyll Hertsens said: The PR people cry when I tell them I have to keep them....and then they laugh and giggle. Huh, you'd think they would see the logic in it. If their product is a real winner it will be brought back up in your reviews over and over again as it gets compared to the latest product under review.
August 2, 20169 yr 7 hours ago, TMoney said: Huh, you'd think they would see the logic in it. If their product is a real winner it will be brought back up in your reviews over and over again as it gets compared to the latest product under review. Thats why they laugh.
August 9, 20169 yr Tyll just declared the Utopia as "World Best Headphones". Has anyone of us actually heard them beside Tyll? Thoughts? Edited August 9, 20169 yr by purk
August 9, 20169 yr 22 minutes ago, purk said: Tyll just declared the Utopia as "World Best Headphones". Has anyone of us actually heard them beside Tyll? Thoughts? Might get shredded for saying this. I take anything Tyll says with a large grain of salt after he labeled the dreadful 430HA as a "reference amp". That unit is veiled, slow and lacking in dynamics. I get more transparent and impactful performance from my 300B tube amp. Reference SQ the 430HA is NOT. Warm and musical yes. Transparent or "reference grade" - no.
August 9, 20169 yr You're more likely to get shredded for that stupid name. Tyll is well respected here, but you're allowed to disagree.
August 9, 20169 yr Just now, swt61 said: You're more likely to get shredded for that stupid name. Tyll is well respected here, but you're allowed to disagree. I was going to use "Tony" but that was taken, so DonkeyBalls was sure to be free. I was mildly drunk at the time. That shouldn't be a surprise.
August 9, 20169 yr Just now, DonkeyBalls said: I was mildly drunk at the time. You may fit in after all.
August 10, 20169 yr Mike Mercer disliked the Utopia (called them sterile sounding), judging by his tastes in audio equipment (Cavalli and +1k headphone cables), Utopia might be the best headphones ever. Really, I didn't care about them but now I want to hear them.
August 10, 20169 yr Everyone can be inadvertantly right sometimes. Just ignore Mercer and move on. happenstances happen.
August 10, 20169 yr I'd love to try the Focal phones but given how much I hate their speakers I'm not optimistic. Like so many other speaker manufacturers they just try way to hard to impress people and end up with a lackluster product. Still I really want to try the headphones.
August 10, 20169 yr 33 minutes ago, spritzer said: Still I really want to try the headphones. Based on their specs, what amp would you use for them?
August 10, 20169 yr The specs will tell me very little about their requirements. Goes to show how useless they are but I'd start with the PureBipolar and work from there
August 10, 20169 yr 3 hours ago, spritzer said: I'd love to try the Focal phones but given how much I hate their speakers I'm not optimistic. Like so many other speaker manufacturers they just try way to hard to impress people and end up with a lackluster product. Still I really want to try the headphones. I am in total agreement with you on this. Last year, while looking for a decent floor-standing 2 channel speaker system, I auditioned several speaker systems at various stores and to my surprise I didn't like a single Focal system, but with other manufacturers I at-least liked one out of all the systems I auditioned like KEF, Klipsch,B&O. Ended up buying the Polk Audio RTI A5.
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