Focal Clear headphones
Oct 6, 2017 at 9:27 PM Post #153 of 12,500
Really awesome that Focal listened to the complaints about the Elear/Utopia cable and provided multiple high quality cables and even a carrying case!

I really want one of the carrying cases for my Utopia.
 
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Oct 6, 2017 at 10:01 PM Post #154 of 12,500
Oct 6, 2017 at 10:12 PM Post #155 of 12,500
The Utopia pads are designed for the beryllium drivers, which has a different raw response from the alu-mg drivers in the Elear and Clear. I've read some people say the tonal balance doesn't feels right with the Elear with Utopia pads.

The Clear pads on the other hand, are designed for a driver very similar to the Elear driver. I think they might have identical raw response aside from the highest octave. If that's the case, the Clear pads could really be a tonal upgrade for the Elear without breaking the tonal balance.
Do you know all this for fact or are you just speculating?
 
Oct 7, 2017 at 12:38 AM Post #156 of 12,500
Do you know all this for fact or are you just speculating?

Tyll has measured the FR curve of Utopia pads on the Elear and it doesn't look good, the 10k peak gets tames down a bit but the presence region dip doesn't improve at all, in addition to that the Utopia pad introduce a hump at 1k.

Aornic also has a video regarding the effect of pad swapping between Utopia and Elear and he prefers them both with stock pads.

Regarding the raw response of the Clear and Elear driver being similar, I'm just speculating but I think it's quite possible considering the only thing that has changed is the voice coil.
 
Oct 7, 2017 at 12:53 AM Post #158 of 12,500
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Oct 7, 2017 at 1:30 AM Post #160 of 12,500
Really awesome that Focal listened to the complaints about the Elear/Utopia cable and provided multiple high quality cables and even a carrying case!

I really want one of the carrying cases for my Utopia.

So the Clear gets a carrying case and multiple high quality cables. And the $4000 Focal Utopia gets none. Hahahaha.
 
Oct 7, 2017 at 1:31 AM Post #161 of 12,500
This review talks about it: https://www.techhive.com/article/32...-money-can-buy-and-youll-need-lots-of-it.html
"Clear excels at reproducing a recording’s spacial characteristics. Spacious recordings have a relaxed presentation with a deep,and wide soundstage that's beyond what you'd expect from a headphone."

Any headphone with matched drivers can do this. It's all on the recording, not in the headphones.

Isn't this a bit of an exaggeration, Beagle? If I took you literally, then that would mean that any headphone with matched drivers should sound as spacious as an HD800. Yes, a well mastered spacious recording is THE prerequisite in order to have any chance at being able to hear a nice spacious soundstage via headphones. But the headphones matter also. Certain headphones, like the HD800, are undeniably better than others at reproducing the "space" in a well recorded track.
 
Oct 7, 2017 at 1:45 AM Post #162 of 12,500
Isn't this a bit of an exaggeration, Beagle? If I took you literally, then that would mean that any headphone with matched drivers should sound as spacious as an HD800. Yes, a well mastered spacious recording is THE prerequisite in order to have any chance at being able to hear a nice spacious soundstage via headphones. But the headphones matter also. Certain headphones, like the HD800, are undeniably better than others at reproducing the "space" in a well recorded track.

But that spaciousness is exaggerated and not accurate. If you go a live performance of jazz for example, you hear the band playing in front of you. You won't hear someone hitting the snare -90 left next to your ear in real life.

So for me, the HD 800 is worse than the Focal Utopia in reproducing space as live jazz performances do not sound like that as the instruments are too seperated and all over the place.
 
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Oct 7, 2017 at 2:02 AM Post #163 of 12,500
So the Clear gets a carrying case and multiple high quality cables. And the $4000 Focal Utopia gets none. Hahahaha.

Mm...well the Utopia does come with a high-quality presentation box. So do most totl headphones. Mid-tier headphones usually have carrying cases as presentation “box.” I can’t recall of any headphones with both high-quality presentation box and a carring case in one package. The stock cables of the Utopia looks ordinary but looks can be deceiving.

I’m glad Focal listened to headfiers regarding a shorter-run headphone cable.

In the future, I do hope that headphone companies will offer as standard for their totl headphones: a carrying case, a short and long-run headphone cables, a presentation box and a headphone stand.
 
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Oct 7, 2017 at 3:32 AM Post #165 of 12,500
is that carrying case standard with the clear? i was under the impression that it was a separate purchase...but i may have misunderstood...
 

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