Focal Elear Around-Ear Open-Back Stereo Headphone review

[dalethorn]

Here's the Elear - for my purposes, the best sound I've heard, but your mileage may vary according to your treble preferences and which amp you use. Due to the large impedance spike around 40-50 hz, the power demand could weaken the deep bass somewhat, if your amp isn't up to it. The $1000 price is a lot, but the build quality and sound quality make it a keeper for me.
http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/community/threads/focal-elear-around-ear-open-back-stereo-headphone-review.4415/

 

[MajorFubar]

Great review Dale, exactly what we have come to expect from you. Thanks for sharing.

 

[dalethorn]

Great review Dale, exactly what we have come to expect from you. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for reading - it's always amazing to me to be able to discover new things, in this case a sound I haven't heard the likes of before.

 

[NigelF]

Here's the Elear - for my purposes, the best sound I've heard, but your mileage may vary according to your treble preferences and which amp you use. Due to the large impedance spike around 40-50 hz, the power demand could weaken the deep bass somewhat, if your amp isn't up to it. The $1000 price is a lot, but the build quality and sound quality make it a keeper for me.

http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/community/threads/focal-elear-around-ear-open-back-stereo-headphone-review.4415/

Hi Dale, great review and fully agree with you to get the best out of Elear you need to feed it with good dac and amplifications, with my Chord Mojo and LH Labs Xfi it sounds great.

I am looking for advice on closedback headphones for late night listening and office, I am getting a good offer on both Beyerdynamoc t5P first generation and B&W P9 almost same price but P9 bit more. how would you rate the T5P with Elear and P9 or P7, I have tried Oppo PM3 and found them boring and Audeze El-8 Titanium which were great punchy but bit bright in treble.

 

[dalethorn]

Here's the Elear - for my purposes, the best sound I've heard, but your mileage may vary according to your treble preferences and which amp you use. Due to the large impedance spike around 40-50 hz, the power demand could weaken the deep bass somewhat, if your amp isn't up to it. The $1000 price is a lot, but the build quality and sound quality make it a keeper for me.

http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/community/threads/focal-elear-around-ear-open-back-stereo-headphone-review.4415/

Hi Dale, great review and fully agree with you to get the best out of Elear you need to feed it with good dac and amplifications, with my Chord Mojo and LH Labs Xfi it sounds great.

I am looking for advice on closedback headphones for late night listening and office, I am getting a good offer on both Beyerdynamoc t5P first generation and B&W P9 almost same price but P9 bit more. how would you rate the T5P with Elear and P9 or P7, I have tried Oppo PM3 and found them boring and Audeze El-8 Titanium which were great punchy but bit bright in treble.

I've wanted a T5p, but never got around to it. My T1 and T90 were bright and peaky, and the T70p unlistenable without major EQ. I assume the T5p might be similar to the DT1770, but probably peakier. The P9 looks very interesting, and I'd like to try it sometime. The P7 is just too colored. If I could get another Shure SRH1540, it might make a good comparison to the DT1770 Pro.

 

[expat_mike]

Interesting review Dale.

I have been considering the Elear as my next headphone upgrade, but first I need my wallet to recover after just buying a pair of AK T8Ie Mk2 for Christmas.

In an ideal world I would prefer the Utopia (the frequency response graphs seem slightly better for the Utopia), but they cost four times the price of the Elears, for maybe only a marginal gain.

 

[dalethorn]

Interesting review Dale.

I have been considering the Elear as my next headphone upgrade, but first I need my wallet to recover after just buying a pair of AK T8Ie Mk2 for Christmas.

In an ideal world I would prefer the Utopia (the frequency response graphs seem slightly better for the Utopia), but they cost four times the price of the Elears, for maybe only a marginal gain.

Hard to say how the weaker treble might affect others. Some users may accomodate it OK, I dunno. But it also tanks between ~10 khz to 13-14 khz, so for certain music that can be an issue. It's still going to take time to fully evaluate it.