Are these Focal headphones any good?

[bigfish786]

had them playing to themselves for a few hours today then took them on my daily walk this afternoon.. they are slowly sounding better... hopefully the improvements will continue. also ordered some leather ear pads for them, they look very easy to change, so i may buy some others for a bit of experimenting.
next up is a new portable player, as my ipod died a while back, so i'm surrently using a Panasonic portable cd player. (how very 1990's of me

 

[Friesiansam]

also ordered some leather ear pads for them

I will be interested to know how they affect the sound.

 

[bigfish786]

i've tried them on a few devices now, they sound terrible on my iphone, decent on my portable cd player, they need eq on the marantz amp, sound odd on the marantz cd output, and half decent on the laptop.
still a way to go till they have had 24 hours play, but the one thing i do know, they need a lot of volume to sound their best. more than my laptop, iphone and portable cd can produce.

 

[bigfish786]

Has anyone used an Astell & Kern player with these headphones? I’m considering buying one as I do a lot of walking with my headphones on. So I’ll get plenty of use from it.

 

[EvShrug]

Focal ELEGIA Audiophile Circum-Aural Closed-Back Over-Ear Headphones (Black/Silver): Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Free delivery and returns on eligible orders. Buy Focal ELEGIA Audiophile Circum-Aural Closed-Back Over-Ear Headphones (Black/Silver) at Amazon UK.

www.amazon.co.uk

if not what would you recommend?

I’m late to reply, but I got to demo the Elegia in-home for a few months, and I thought they were fun, warm headphones! Colored rather than neutral, so not everyone will like them, but some people prefer the emotional and weighty experience they offer. Drop.com also did a special edition of the Elear called the Elex which used different pads and maybe a few other tweaks to produce a more accurate sound… I think there’s a market for both.

 

[EvShrug]

Has anyone used an Astell & Kern player with these headphones? I’m considering buying one as I do a lot of walking with my headphones on. So I’ll get plenty of use from it.

Oh, they are full-sized headphones with plenty of thirst for amplifier power, and especially on walks you will need more power for bass. There are a few DAPs that supply an appropriate amount of power for a merely moderately sensitive headphone like the Elear (vs a Koss Porta Pro, for example, is high sensitivity, and a Fostex T50RP is remarkably low sensitivity, look for these on spec sheets as I find them a better indicator of power and amp needs than the Ω ohm impedance rating). The most appropriate Astell & Kern model would be one of the KANN models. You may be able to use a smaller Digital Audio Player (DAP) from Shanling, FiiO, or HiBy (I have a HiBy R6 Pro myself, does a decent job with an HD 650 or HD 800 but not as well as my desktop amp), but you would need a fairly large and powerful DAP.

Keeping in mind that the Elear was designed for home use, and thus is large and bulky, plus the open back cup design will seem to not have much bass at all if you are walking outdoors, you would probably be better off buying a closed-back headphone designed for on-the-go use. Maybe Check reviews for the new Focal Bathys? I use true wireless in-ear headphones.

 

[bigfish786]

Thanks for the reply.
I have the closed back Elegia, not the Elear,
Looking at the sr25 or mk2 , if the mk2 is worth the premium?

 

[Friesiansam]

I would not say Elegias are power hungry. My Pathos amp has quite a low output and drives them to high volume with ease and, even my little Fiio E10k can easily drive them loud too.

 

[EvShrug]

Thanks for the reply.
I have the closed back Elegia, not the Elear,
Looking at the sr25 or mk2 , if the mk2 is worth the premium?

I went looking for the SR25’s specs, but I was frustrated that A&K only disclosed the output voltage under no load… a headphone is a load, so I don’t find the 2V se/ 4V bal spec to be all that informative. I have reason to be skeptical, as my Sony NW-Z300 also offers around 20 hours of playback in a pocket friendly size, but it struggles to power my Sennheiser HD 650 in an organic and authoritative manner, with the bass response in particular sounding anemic, even though the mids and treble sounded loud enough (and strained) with some clicks of the volume wheel left to spare (I typically limit the ZX300 to my HD 660S and easier to drive headphones for this reason). BUT fortunately, I looked up a SR25 review I trusted that mentioned satisfaction while using the almost identically spec’d HD 600 at the 100 volume mark while using the balanced output. This is useful to know since the SR25 will probably satisfy for most headphones, with the exception of the usual outliers from HiFiman, Fostex (T50RP), and Stax (because electrostat).



Fortunately for you, the Focal Elegia (pardon my earlier mistake) is even higher sensitivity and seems designed for portable use; you should have no problem with powering it from the SR25 or SR25 mkII:

I would personally invest in the improved sound quality and 4.4mm output jack of the SR25 mk II, and then keep enjoying it for years until the battery wears out. Reviews here and elsewhere do speak highly of the performance! While I’ve heard some amazing and powerful gear that is “just” single ended, I have obtained 4.4mm terminated cables for all of my most used headphones and IEMs… it’s simply a durable (I don’t trust 2.5mm diameter barrels to survive being plugged into a device in my pocket, I had to fix and scrap enough smartphones with 3.5mm plugs broken off inside in a previous tech support job) yet compact and versatile connection that can be adapted for any type of jack you come across, and with the SR25 mk II for example the 3.5mm single ended output only uses half of the amp circuit in the device.

 

[bigfish786]

Thanks for all that info. Very helpful.

 

[bigfish786]

try as i might, i could not get these headphones to sound right.
gave them plenty of run in time. but the noise remained noise, not music. which is a big shame, so i'm sad to say they are going back. not sure what to get instead. im tempted to try some beyerdynamic again. i had previously owned some DT331 open back ones which were really quite good.
are there any other suggestions roughly around £3-400 mark which are good for outdoor use, closed back, and go loud. ?

 

[Gray]

are there any other suggestions roughly around £3-400 mark which are good for outdoor use, closed back, and go loud. ?

Maybe not ideal for outside Fashionistas, but I reckon you might do a lot worse than the DT700 Pro X for some of your criteria - at a sensible price.

 

[bigfish786]

cheers Gray, i will have a look.

 

[EvShrug]

Did you get the Astell & Kern DAP yet? What setup were you using with the Elegia?

Kind of hard to guess what you didn't like about the Elegia, but it can be difficult describing sound attributes so it's understandable. I wish I could provide some insight based off the Elegia's signature and your enjoyment of the DT 331, but I actually haven't heard the Elegia myself, and I haven't even heard of the DT331 before . I will caution you however: open back headphones inherently have a different sound from closed-backs', usually a better separation of distances and less notes bleeding over each other. Beyerdynamics typically have a bright, higher-frequency emphasized sound, so maybe more upper mids and treble are the spice you're looking for, but there are outliers like the DT 1350 which are pleasant lo-fi fun with a warm tonal emphasis. I would also be curious if you might enjoy the Elegia's more with the AK SR25, streaming hi-res music (Apple Music, Qobuz, Tidal Master, purchases from HD Tracks or high quality CD rips).

I wish Sennheiser would merge the HD 660S with the closed-back techniques of the HD 820. But, sadly, it doesn't exist.

 

[bigfish786]

Hi, yeah I got the AK Jr on Saturday and used it quite a lot, but the headphones still sounded harsh,
I tried the equaliser on the AK, and while it helped they still sound “off” to me.

 

[EvShrug]

Ah, the Elegia sounded harsh... hmm, not sure I would recommend Beyer then. Did you get the AK Jr instead of the SR25?

Did you see this recent thread, where someone was happy with the AKG K371? https://forums.whathifi.com/threads...rld-audiophile-headphones.123645/post-1263979

 

[Al ears]

Try Shure SRH1540??

 

[bigfish786]

Ah, the Elegia sounded harsh... hmm, not sure I would recommend Beyer then. Did you get the AK Jr instead of the SR25?

Did you see this recent thread, where someone was happy with the AKG K371? https://forums.whathifi.com/threads...rld-audiophile-headphones.123645/post-1263979

yeah, the wife saw the price of the AK SR25 lol. so yeah, i got an AK jr.
i've just dug a box of Beyerdynamic DTX 102 buds out. i had bought them a few years ago for £7 on amazon, i bought the wife some for use at the gym, so i thought i'd buy a back-up pair in case hers expired .
obviously, they do music in a different way to the Focal Elegia, but they sound balanced right out of the box. i can listen to them without eq, for a tiny little inner ear jobby they sound decent. decent enough to put me on till i decide which headphones to get to replace the elegia.