My Clears arrived today. No regrets!

I love the PXs for use during my commute. But they won't replace my wired headphones for listening at home.

I caved, too. They should arrive on Monday.

It’s not a huge roll-off in the upper treble, and many headphones have similar behavior. Yes, there is a lot to like in the Clear. I like them far more than the Elear. They aren’t perfect, but they are damned good.

I use a Teac UD-301 DAC with my old Mac Pro tower (USB, TOSLINK, and Coax inputs). It has a headphone amp (not very powerful), and it can also can function as a pre-amp.

I came across this excellent video about digital encoding that dispels many myths about digital.

The Sennheiser HD800 S rolls off even more in the upper treble fundamentals. https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD800S.pdf The highest fundamental on a piano is at about 4k. Yes, pipe organ goes a bit higher, but I don't listen much to organ music. So you're really talking about...

I didn't hear any disconnect either. The Clear ware, in my mind, far more detailed than were the Elears, and the mid-range is better balanced. And the transitions from mid-range to treble sounded fine.

Great price. I'm in the market for the Clear, too. Could you point me in the right direction?

The post you replied to listed the conditions under which Amps sound identical. But you seem intent on insisting that they don’r sound identical. That is true only if they are clipping, distorting, or have a non-flat frequency response.

Perhaps you should listen to it first. You may prefer the Clear.

You seem to have ignored the long list of qualifier, such as low distortion, no clipping, and flat frequency response. Don't believe it? Then set up ABX tests with volume levels matched to 0.1 dB.

Are noise levels so high that balanced operation is needed? I wouldn't expect that with the Clear because of its high efficiency.

It's so nice to see manufacturers responding to concerns about high prices. The Audio Note Kondo Kagura Mono is on sale now! And it still contains 10 KG of silver wire!! https://www.higherfi.com/amplifiers/audio-note-kondo-kagura-mono

Have you tried these?

I personally have no issue with some use of plastic or glass/nylon in headphones, as long as they are durable. That isn't what bothered me about the Bose and Sony ANC phones. It was the sound that I didn't like.

There's something about the warm glow of tubes that is appealing.

That's how we ended up with people in the 1990's claiming that painting the edges of CDs green and spreading little magical wooden discs about the listening room improved sound. So, no, I'm always a little skeptical of what I think I hear.

No stress here. I was seriously considering pairing the Clear with the Woo Audio WA6. Happy to learn that it's been done, and that it works well. I'm new to this tube stuff . . .

I went from the Sennheiser HD600 to the AKG K702. I preferred the AKG because they had greater resolution. But now I'm eyeing the Focal Clear . . .

Perfect. Thank you for the advice.

Thank you for the update! I'd rather not spring for the WA6SE if the WA6 has enough power to drive the Clears.

I recently bought my first set of tubes for my Lyr 1. I'd gone with the stock GE's up until now. So what have I learned? Mostly that I'm not all that happy with my AKG K702 earphones! Neither the GE's nor the Gold Lions make my K702's sound like the Focal Clears! So I'll not buy any more...

I'm becoming worried about the company that I keep. My life is going to get even more expensive!