[Allanmarcus]

Never thought I would say this about any McIntosh product, but seeing these Focals, the McIntosh headphones are starting to look affordable!

 

[LeMat]

Applause to Focal. What a great way to leverage the Utopia brand and trickle it down to the headphone market.... Utopia has always been premium but boy...at $3,990 they are certainly very premium ! I know their speaker line pretty well, pro and hifi, and I'm sure this pair delivers ! But the entry ticket is way too high for me
Elear...well I don't know... their release just make me confuse since I'll receive my new T1.2 today ! They seem quite different from what I've read anyway.

 

[Wayde]

Agree... I didn't even want to review the $4K model. It's just too much headphone for my taste.
 
Although... $2K, I can hang.

 

[grizzlybeast]

Did someone say suoer hd650????????

 

[warrenpchi]

Did someone say suoer hd650????????

 
I might have implied that.  

 

[RiddleyWalker]

Did someone say suoer hd650????????

Upper-mid dip and treble spike (+/- 18dB) looks kinda rough compared to HD650 charts I've seen, but hard to compare charts from different measurement rigs.  Safe to say the Elear certainly looks brighter overall.  Will be interesting to hear impressions.

 

[Vigrith]

Did someone say suoer hd650????????

 
You need to compare the Elear to the Vali as soon as you get the chance to listen to the Focal headphones, even if it's just from memory! From what I've read they extremely similar in pretty much every single front.

 

[Stillhart]

   
You need to compare the Elear to the Vali as soon as you get the chance to listen to the Focal headphones, even if it's just from memory! From what I've read they extremely similar in pretty much every single front.

 
The Vali will be making there way two me at some point on the tour and I'll have a chance too compare the to directly if you like.
 
Regarding the HD650 comparison, the Elear is indeed brighter on the top end.  But I personally consider that a plus.  It eliminates the Sennheiser Veil and makes it feel much less constricted and dark.  You still get those fantastic mids and big bass and smooth top end, but the bass is tighter and the top end is not rolled off.  (As always, ymmv, etc.)
 
EDIT - Grammar

 

[Vigrith]

  The Vali will be making there way to me at some point on the tour and I'll have a chance to compare the two directly if you like.
 
Regarding the HD650 comparison, the Elear is indeed brighter on the top end.  But I personally consider that a plus.  It eliminates the Sennheiser Veil and makes it feel much less constricted and dark.  You still get those fantastic mids and big bass and smooth top end, but the bass is tighter and the top end is not rolled off.  (As always, ymmv, etc.)

 
Absolutely, please do. They seem to fit my sound signature preferences nigh perfectly so I'd be very happy to hear your direct impressions - both look extremely elegant too, I'd just want to own both of them.

 

[grizzlybeast]

 

You need to compare the Elear to the Vali as soon as you get the chance to listen to the Focal headphones, even if it's just from memory! From what I've read they extremely similar in pretty much every single front.

The Vali will be making there way to me at some point on the tour and I'll have a chance to compare the two directly if you like.

Regarding the HD650 comparison, the Elear is indeed brighter on the top end.  But I personally consider that a plus.  It eliminates the Sennheiser Veil and makes it feel much less constricted and dark.  You still get those fantastic mids and big bass and smooth top end, but the bass is tighter and the top end is not rolled off.  (As always, ymmv, etc.)

Unfortunately, even though I absolutely love the Vali, I have a sense of your tastes and suspect the focal to win. Im a sucker for attack and snappiness so the Vali hits home but im betting the Elear has a faster decay in the midrange and has better microdetails. I usually guess right. I have funds on hold for the Vali's release but this is making it tough.

 

[grizzlybeast]

Did someone say suoer hd650????????

I might have implied that.  

I just wet my pants

 

[Stillhart]

Unfortunately, even though I absolutely love the Vali, I have a sense of your tastes and suspect the focal to win. Im a sucker for attack and snappiness so the Vali hits home but im betting the Elear has a faster decay in the midrange and has better microdetails. I usually guess right. I have funds on hold for the Vali's release but this is making it tough.

 
I don't know if you checked out my review yet, but I think the Elear micro-detail isn't its strong point.  It's not that it's not detailed, but it doesn't do micro-detail really well.  It's closer to something like the HE-560 or cherry Omni (specifically speaking of micro-detail resolution).  Of course, you could still be right if the Vali is worse by comparison... lol

 

[Deftone]

imagine the price of flagships in 5 years 
 
$8,000 - $10,000 

 

[grizzlybeast]

Unfortunately, even though I absolutely love the Vali, I have a sense of your tastes and suspect the focal to win. Im a sucker for attack and snappiness so the Vali hits home but im betting the Elear has a faster decay in the midrange and has better microdetails. I usually guess right. I have funds on hold for the Vali's release but this is making it tough.

I don't know if you checked out my review yet, but I think the Elear micro-detail isn't its strong point.  It's not that it's not detailed, but it doesn't do micro-detail really well.  It's closer to something like the HE-560 or cherry Omni.  Of course, you could still be right if the Vali is worse by comparison... lol

How is the Soundstage compared to the Ether(imo not that big) or LCDX (very deep, not wide) and bass compared to Omni?

 

[Vigrith]

Unfortunately, even though I absolutely love the Vali, I have a sense of your tastes and suspect the focal to win. Im a sucker for attack and snappiness so the Vali hits home but im betting the Elear has a faster decay in the midrange and has better microdetails. I usually guess right. I have funds on hold for the Vali's release but this is making it tough.

 
I can definitely see it being such a close call, hence I'm so excited and eagerly await a direct comparison - the price is basically the exact same too making it even closer of a call. Going to be a fun next couple days that's for certain once people who have reviewed/like the Vali have access to the Elear at the AV event.