Focal Elear and Utopia

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by SingSing, Jun 14, 2016.

  1. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    Since no one has, as of yet, produced a totally neutral transducer, it's less about "mistakes" and more about the realities of audio reproduction.

    You're much better off applying EQ to address preferences or deviations from ideal than you are fannying around trying to match components to address those same concerns. Not only is it much more precise, it's way less expensive and much easier to do.
     
  2. FallingObjects

    FallingObjects Pay It Forward

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    Wot?

    Not entirely sure I understand the point you're trying to make here. I don't think many manufacturers are attempting to deliberately 'make' mistakes in their equipment, nor do I think anybody is ballsy enough to suggest that there is an objectively 'correct' version of sound to achieve. One's reference is another person's warm. See; the decade long debate between HD650 and 600.
     
  3. DaveB

    DaveB Acquaintance

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    Not sure what's so hard to understand. A spike at 6-8kHz that needs EQ is a mistake in design or execution and it's always going to be there unless you do something about it. I say this in the context of people indicating that a problem can be 'fixed with EQ'. Sure you can, but the first piece of music that is lacking in that particular range will now sound like crap, so you have to undo what you did. If you have to EQ or mod a headphone, maybe it's not the right headphone for you.
     
  4. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    I understood your preference about EQ until you got to the part where you need to undo it for a particular song. The point of EQ is like a bandage, it's not a perfect fix, but will make the headphone listenable for 99% of music. I also don't like EQing and prefer to physically mod headphones, but there are limitations even there.

    It's funny how people bitch and moan about EQing headphones, yet most speakers require extensive DSP and or EQ to sound decent in the vast majority of rooms they're placed in.

    I can also say that no headphone has the perfect frequency response for everyone. Some really like the Elears in stock form, just go over to Head-Fi. Choices are great!
     
  5. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    Well you don't seem to understand how it works.

    If the headphone has a spike at 6-8KHz then that spike is always going to be there regardless of what frequency content any given piece of music exhibits. You're either using EQ to correct that, to the extent that it can be corrected, or you're not. Varying your EQ by song has nothing to do with adjusting for a constant in the headphone (as @cskippy has already said).

    And it's not a "mistake" in either design or execution that would mean it was an inadvertent error ... and the response curves of headphones are generally specifically engineered to be the way they are. Not withstanding that a headphone that was entirely neutral would sound terrible vs. a totally neutral speaker (if you don't understand why, start reading up on how the ear, and hearing, work ... as a whole), and in these cases it's about design trade-offs and target response curves. Absent compensation for every individual ear/pinnae it's not even possible to design a headphone that would sound neutral to a variety of listeners anyway.

    I don't, personally, find it necessary to either mod or EQ my headphones ... but then I have different units for different types of music and specific moods/preferences.
     
  6. Rthomas

    Rthomas Friend

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    I have asked Tyll and Jason Lord on IF and HF Focals policy about second hand Utopia repair as well as about driver replacement cost.

    If they actually don't repair second hand units and charge crazy amounts for driver replacement the used values should rightfully crash.

    Let's see how quickly they respond and how open they are with this information.

    This seems.to be a delicate headphone....
     
  7. Mshenay

    Mshenay Barred from loaner program. DON'T SEND ME GEAR.

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    Part of what makes this hobby fun is the inconvenience, I dislike using EQ it's too easy to boring, it's much more fun to roll tubes into my Ember II to get the corrections I could get with Eq OR make mods! Plus, I enjoy the flaws that each headphone in my collection has, makes each one unique. An mods change a headphone for ever and impart part of the personality of whom ever is modding it. That to me is what I like about this hobby, listening to not only the Music, and hearing the personality of the musicians and recording staff, but also hearing the personality of the manufacturers, modders and engineers who build the hard ware we use to listen to. My only exception to that rule is EDM,

    That being said, I've got a week with the Focal Elear, and right off the bat I really do like it out of my Ember II, running a Jan-Chs 6sn7w chrome dome short bottle,

    I'll have a comparison against my HE 4 later this week, but for first impressions, I can say the Elear has a nicer Timbre than my HE 4. Really beautiful, though it lacks the HE 4s tactility.

    Listening to the to the trumpet in that first quarter of So What with the Elear got the hairs on my neck standing up! Breathtakingly beautiful tone, I can see why there's so much buzz around these.
     
  8. Mshenay

    Mshenay Barred from loaner program. DON'T SEND ME GEAR.

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    Even more fun is hearing an echo for the first time! Grat's to Focal, pulled something out of my music that I've never heard before!

    4:41 seconds listening to Shortest Straw, you can hear Jame's voice echo very quietly JUST before he repeats the song's title! But that forwardness in the mid's is also masking the "dancing man" or the odd shuffling noise I can hear throughout all of Igor Levit's Goldberg Variations,

    still :D I'm pretty impressed, love hearing new details for the first time. Especially with my Project Ember II driving the Elear

    Though I did compare the Elear to my HE 4 last night... and honestly I felt it lacked some bite and presence, or to quote Marv

     
    Last edited: May 25, 2017
  9. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    Short time lurker, and now first time poster. I have had the Elear for a couple of day's now (running it off a Jotunheim). I like it - the "dynamic" qualities really grab a hold of my eardrums saying "take this, and this!" ;) This aspect certainly lives up to the reputation and is a nice contrast to the often "reluctant" qualities of the usual planars. However, as most have observed here the FR is "interesting", to say the least. I can't recall a HP causing me to reach for the EQ as fast as this one.

    What is everyone's favorite EQ curve(s) for this HP? My apologies if there is another thread about this very thing that I have overlooked.
     
  10. Galm

    Galm Still looking for Little Red Riding Hood

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    [Removed]
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2017
  11. MrButchi

    MrButchi Gear Master Europe

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    @Galm : look up this thread - plenty of recos to look for.
     
  12. Dabore84

    Dabore84 New

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    Got the Elear last week. And yes I did noticed the flaws, but the rest of the sound signature made up for it. Anyway everything good until yesterday when I noticed subtle impulsive cracking at normal listening levels. Then I did bass shaker test at audiocheck.net at higher volume and the cracking was more prolonged and heavier all the way up to 50Hz to 70Hz (pot at 1 clock). I did the same test with my old headphones he400s and they passed with flying colors even at very high sound level (pot at 5 clock).

    The weird thing is that after some time I didn't hear any cracking and the bass shaker test confirmed it (pot at 3 clock). I went to listen to some track at normal levels and after an hour or so I could hear the cracks again.

    I called my dealer and he told me to send it back, which I will.

    Have some of you experienced the same thing with your elear? It doesn't sound like a broken driver to me, but more like it's resonating into some other part of the headphone.
     
  13. neogeosnk

    neogeosnk Friend

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    I just started to experience the same symptoms using the iCan Pro. Unfortunately I bought them used (from here) so who knows how I can get them fixed...
     
  14. FallingObjects

    FallingObjects Pay It Forward

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    Might be a loose hair stuck in there?
     
  15. Dabore84

    Dabore84 New

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    I did the bass shaker test again, with the headphones in 90 deg position to the right, cracking on the right not in left.
    Then 90 deg on the left, cracking on the left and not right. So definitely some parts touching each other.
     
  16. FallingObjects

    FallingObjects Pay It Forward

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    Try taking the pads off and see if the cracking continues. If it's the inserts (little prong thingies that keep em inserted) for the pads vibrating, you could try padding them somewhere to see if it fixes that.

    If not, then your dealer might be able to get you some replacements (or you could just order some HM5 pads or something).
     
  17. Dabore84

    Dabore84 New

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    Good advice, but unfortunately it didn't work. Cracking as always:(
     
  18. Galm

    Galm Still looking for Little Red Riding Hood

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    I'll have the Utopia's tomorrow from TheCableCompany. Anything I should look out for as someone interested in owning it?

    Recommended tracks? Anyone want me to try a track for them? I have an HD800SDR to compare it to. I'm pretty excited! It'll be interesting to see what I think of it vs the praise and criticism here.

    Edit: They're here!
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2017
  19. Galm

    Galm Still looking for Little Red Riding Hood

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    First time I've ever been able to directly compare high end cans on my own rig... And boy are these Utopias resolving. Soundstage is like crazy accurate compared to HD800, but obviously yes indeed smaller.

    I always love trying on new headphones because my initial impression is always like "ew" until I give them some time and realize I'm just too used to my own stuff.

    http://imgur.com/a/hRvDs
     
  20. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    Probably not a good idea to leave the beryllium headphones on top of a tube amp.
     

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