Focal Clear

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by The Alchemist, Nov 15, 2017.

  1. ipm

    ipm Acquaintance

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  2. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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  3. Colgin

    Colgin Friend

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  4. TonyNewman

    TonyNewman Validated by Tyll removing Utopia from WOF

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    Tyll has updated WOF. Clear is there and the Aeon, and the LCD-4, Elear and Utopia are GONE. As is the SR-009.

    Hats off to Tyll for not tolerating 4K (or more) headphones with such issues. Big balls indeed. I bet Audeze are squealing like stuck pigs.
     
  5. Rthomas

    Rthomas Friend

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    Wow! That is an extreme clean up. Tyll does right by the headphone enthusiast again. IF WOF is becoming almost as exclusive as the Golden Schlong. A move in the right direction. Sick of all the end of year 'best audio gear' lists with 25 entrees.
     
  6. 9suns

    9suns [insert unearned title here]

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    Admirable job by Tyll!

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    I very much doubt that. Elasticity of demand means that there is a bigger prize to be had following a nice writeup of the more mass market LCD2c.
     
  8. TonyNewman

    TonyNewman Validated by Tyll removing Utopia from WOF

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    Maybe. I don't know what sort of market impact the Inner Fidelity WOF has. I suspect significant, but I really don't know.

    Can't be pleasant for them to see their flagship can dumped after a rather brief stay?
     
  9. roscoeiii

    roscoeiii Acquaintance

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    His apology about the Utopia was also very notable. Wonder if he'll be more wary about reviewing pre-production models after that experience.
     
  10. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    Doubt it. It's not on him to be suspicious of anything. Getting Tyll to review headphones as early as possible is good for everyone involved as long as they're legitimately ready and the manufacturer isn't being irresponsible or dishonest.
     
  11. ipm

    ipm Acquaintance

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    Note that he mentions the Klipsch I asked about. This says a lot.

    "Klipsch Heritage HP-3
    I did get a sample in and found the having too much bass and zazzy treble. Beautiful headphone, but at $1199 it's got to have better tonal balance."
     
  12. TonyNewman

    TonyNewman Validated by Tyll removing Utopia from WOF

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    From Tyll's article regarding the recent WOF changes:

    "From now on I expect tonal balance from a $1000+ headphone. If it doesn't have it, it ain't going up on the WoF anymore."

    Brilliant. Looks like the Focal Clear is the key driver in this new standard.
     
  13. Azteca

    Azteca Friend

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    [​IMG]
     
  14. Soups

    Soups Sadomasochistic cat

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    Wow, quite the purge and likely not one that most saw coming. I hope Tyll is a true needle mover, because this feels like a line in the sand (drawn with the middle finger) sort of moment.

    Glad it's aimed in part at some true "TOTL" offerings - an acronym that sometimes refers to rare quality or innovation, but is often deployed by makers as a marketing/pricing mind-trick preying on rich/poor alike.

    I really hope these companies get the hint that their old tricks aren't gonna work as well as they used to (at least among this particular growing audio dork demographic). I appreciate this move/statement by Tyll who seems to have been waiting for something like the Clears to push for more of a balance between reasonably high quality products and a fair profit for the makers...
     
  15. Aeron

    Aeron Facebook Friend

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  16. Besnia

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    I am sincerely baffled by Tyll's decision to remove the SR-009 from the WOF... Objectively it's not tonally balanced, however subjectively it's a very special headphone. I wonder if he actually has a unit with him driven by a proper amp, or he simply decided to scrap it based on past impressions.

    I can definitely understand why LCD4 has no place on the WOF, but I'm not so sure about the Utopia. Resolution-wise it's on a different level to Focal Clear.
    The 6K is not objectionable when used with a high quality rig. Yes, the upper mids are a tad too pronounced, but Focal's Utopia speakers are tuned somewhat similarly (+ heavy hitting bass), and even though I personally don't fancy the tonality, I can't see why it's such a big deal. Utopia is also notably clearer sounding than Clear, which should matter a lot, if you're eager to spend $1000+ on some headphones. Probably he scrapped it because of the 4K MSRP tag, even though it can be bought for 2.5K now.
     
  17. Besnia

    Besnia Facebook Friend

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    The question is how can you achieve this? How can you tone down the upper midrange while keeping the upper treble intact in terms of amplitude? the upper mids and treble are in the same frequency neighbourhood, it's tough to adjust one w/o affecting the other.
     
  18. songmic

    songmic Gear cycler East Asia edition

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    The SR-009 is a tonally f*cked headphone and it's high time it got kicked out of the WoF. The best electrostatic headphone IMO is SR-007 MK1 and I would take it over the SR-009 any day regardless of how much more transparent or resolving the latter is (the difference isn't significant btw). However, WoF doesn't allow the entry of discontinued or modded headphones. If they were allowed, the likes of modded HD650, Code-X, PMx2 would definitely deserve their spots as headphones that got their tonality right.
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2017
  19. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    I'd def take a Utopia used over a new Clear especially at the prices they have been going for.
     
  20. TonyNewman

    TonyNewman Validated by Tyll removing Utopia from WOF

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    Tyll keeps the review unit if the headphone makes the WOF, presumably returning it if/when the headphone drops off the WOF. So it isn't audio memory (which would be very unreliable).
     

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