Focal Clear

I cannot find anywhere where Focal says they have a more airy or open sound from the white Clears. Focal reps on other boards have said they are identical, except for color and accessories. They come with different cables and an extra set of pads, which explains the price difference, plus the name "pro" on the box.

Look, an entire post with no emojis or exclamation points!

damn, almost.

 

Let me just leave this small discussion starter here: https://dekoniaudio.com/product-category/brands/focal/

 

I don't want to make a long post about much I enjoy having the Clears on my setup (purr1n's impressions on the Measurements and Impressions tread is almost the same on my end), but I did noticed that the Clears presentation will change depending on what amp you are using.

Of course this isn't a big surprise to some people, but it's very strange to me when the highs aren't treble heavy knife piecing on my Ayre Codex (while keeping the highs on a balance level aka no tilting to a certain range to my ears) while testing the Clears on my Fiio A5 Portable Amp was like having knifes stabbing my ear drums (the highs were focused too much to the point I had to take my pair off my head). Running the Clears to the Magni 3 did mad the highs be on the warm on my end.

I said the following above since my LCD2C pair didn't change too much on the sound presentation when swamping amps. Since it's a LCD2C, moar power please.

If curious, the amps I tried for both the Clear and LCD2C were the Ayre Codex running Balanced, the Fiio A5 Portable Amp with the Fiio X5 3rd Gen as my source, the Woo Audio WA6-SE Tube Amp, Magni 3, and for shits and giggles the internal amp of the Marantz HD-CD1 (which honestly isn't bad if you have basic headphones). The HD-CD1 was the source using it's internal DAC (except for the A5 and Codex), which to be honest I found it to sound close to a Biforst Multibit.

 

Fiio A5 is tilted toward the treble end (or too far the other way with bass boost engaged), not neutral. Didn't keep that one for long.

 

I'm gonna be destroyed but:
https://imgur.com/a/7IgqC
Kind of the same peaks and valleys with a few Hz of displacement and many dBs difference. (measurements from Innerfidelity)

I was listening to my Clears and I kind of felt that they are like a super refined version much warmer T1s. BTW I'm one of those who still like the old T1s (albeit with a really warming BHCrack and also I'm kind of HF deaf I guess).

Anyway, I always felt that T1s had a compact but very precise instrument location that no other HP would convey. For instance the HD800 have a wider sound stage but somehow the T1s would give me a more "there" sensation, particularly in strings and cymbals. Well I believe that the Clears are similar in this respect, with a much better overall balance and tightness. This, for me: Clears=Uber T1s

 

FWIW, I have a similar problem with my Clears that @nachocheese70 had with his Utopias. The left driver seems partially damaged. Treble seems to come through fine but mids are muted and bass is non-existent. Right side is perfectly fine. Tried a combination of things (different amp, DAC, cable, headphones) to narrow it down to the driver itself.

This is about 4 months after I purchased the Clears - conveniently after Amazon's 90-day return policy. Technically I bought it through Amazon from audiolab.com, whom I'm currently working with to go through the return process.

 

I was amazed of how much i didn't lke these as much as i thought i would. My girlfriend actually, in her "audio is a strange and expensive hobby" ways, looked at me after hearing 2 songs and said "they are really fatiguing to my ears". I felt the same, it has so many good things about it but the fatigue listening to them was so fast that i got really surprised. Unfortunately the sources and amps were not something i would choose to try them with but they were the setups already made.

Looking forward to try them with another system.

 

I would love to pickup a pair of these if not for the weight. Just too heavy for me. As much as the description seems to fit exactly what I'm looking for...

 

What were they?

 

Elekit Tu 8200
Burson Conductor
Marantz HD-DAC1
Sony TA- ZH1ES
Denon DA-300USB

So nothing i am used to or have tried before and that made it harder for me.

 

My experience with the Focal Clear and Utopia at the NYC meet this January lead me to understand how different they are in the nature of their forwardness: the Clears are more directly, perhaps event bluntly forward in the sense that it hits your ears hard from the get go, while the Utopia's forwardness is a lot more subtle on first listen, like theres something odd thats hard to pinpoint, but causes fatigue even faster. A good analogy would be getting stabbed by a kitchen knife vs a thousand cuts with a scalpel, mind my exaggeration. I'm guessing this has something to do with the 20-something khz breakup of the Clear vs the 35-40-something khz breakup of the Utopia being fatiguing in different ways.

 

I will definitely agree about the forwardness and that bluntness didn't go well with my (and hers) ears, at all. These were the headphones we liked the least from that particular table and i was surprised by it considering all the good reviews.

 

I enjoy mine and have had no issues with fatigue but do wish it was a little less forward. Getting the Massdrop Elex sometime next week and want to see how they compare.

 

Would be thankful for that comparison.

 

For anyone who thinks the treble can be a slight bit of sharpness and wish they had just a bit more fullness to their clears I ordered some MrSpeakers foam inserts and they fit nearly perfectly into the Clears and added just the right amount of warmth, maybe 1db up in the bass and 1-2db down in the treble. I wish I had measuring equipment to confirm this but now i'm super happy with these. I had gotten some Utopias to home demo for a bit and I'm not the biggest detail head so I may keep the Clears.

https://www.mrspeakers.com/ether-and-ether-c-1-1-upgrade-foam.html

Also interestingly I prefer these from my iFi Micro iDSD to my Liquid Carbon X, the LCX is more neutral and forward/sharp than the iFi so I'm looking into a tube amp pairing now and my Metrum Pavane Level 3 should be here next week as well

 

Ah awesome! Yeah I want to try it on the Utopia and Elear now and see how it comes out

 

I apologize if I missed it in this thread or another one, but has anyone upgraded (sidegraded?) from an EQed Elear to a Clear? Right now I am running EQ (JRiver with EQ plugin or Roon) to a Schiitt Jot to an Elear, and I am good to go with the tonality/FR balance of the Elear EQed (not perfect I know). I suspect that a Clear would not get me much more, especially considering the price. Just wondering if anyone has gone down this road.

 

I have an Elear and use EQ on it myself. I have also auditioned Elear side-by-side with Clear, though not using EQ on either. As much as EQ does help with Elear, I would say it is still a step below Clear. It is hard to describe, but I think Elear has just so much roughness to the tonal balance that EQ helps and gets it 90% of the way, but it can't completely fix all the issues. Using EQ on the upper mids brings them more forward in the mix but it still feels a little hazy or muffled. Clear fixes all the issues and does it sounding more detailed, effortless. and natural. But whether or not that is worth the asking price of Clear is a personal decision. I bought my Elear used and can sell it without losing money so I'm planning on doing so and getting a Clear in the near future. But had I paid full price for Elear brand new and would take a massive hit on resale value, I don't think the upgrade is worth it.

 

It'd be curious to see how a measured and specifically tuned EQ like Sonarworks + the Elear compares to a similar setup with the Clear. I somehow doubt that both running Sonarworks would result in the Clear being worth the premium (Especially if you're looking at used stuff), but hey, maybe balanced profiles aren't your thing.