Focal Elear and Utopia

Elear is anything but an HD650. Its sucked out upper mids literally changed the timbre of string instruments. It sounded all wrong to my ears and I really wanted it to be the HD650 on steroids. At the time the Utopia sitting next to it at Canjam London was not even considered.

I also doubt that Elear can be modded properly but that's not my thing. For EQ you may have to wait for Sonarworks as I don't think the results were great from established members as the gradient of the dip is too deep.

 

I actually have quite high hopes that the right pads can fix the midrange based on what @Hands showed us. The weird 1-2kHz emphasis coupled with the dip is what did it for me and pads seem to be able to fix that. The treble can probably not be fixed, though.

 

I respectfully disagree with the EQ and modding part. Angled HM5 pads and Equalizer APO have done wonders for mine, but it's all personal.

But yeah, whoever called the Elears 650s on steroids must have been listening to dubstep. They're more or less complements to eachother, not competitors.

 

Got Utopia a few weeks ago and I still like it. In fact I think it's the best headphone i've ever owned. It sounds... like a headphone. The tonality is a tad mid-centric, but seems right to me overall. The sound carries the typical beryllium domes with neodymium motors signature - very resolving, but a little tense, forced sound with metallic zing to the treble. In other words similar treble quality to $50K Focal speakers. Plugged into a high end rig and listening at normal volume level, these issues aren't anything to really complain about. The bass in the right channel is elevated by at least 1db compared to the left channel. There's also a peculiar phase mismatch in the mid to upper bass. This could be due to the perforated pads though, because the issue seems to be present over a fairly narrow frequency band. Despite all these issues, the Utopia is substantially better than HD800, Elear and HD650 and Nighthawk. These are the only headphones I have left, but I've also owned a lot more top of the line crappy headphones in the past. Also, the cable is horrible. Listed at 260 euros as a spare part... this is a joke. I kept the connectors, as they're worth 20 bucks in total, and threw the wire away.

If you are contemplating buying the Utopia... you're nuts. At 4K euros this is getting absurd now. The performance/money ratio is so much better in the speakers world, especially if you go DIY. I'd rather suggest spending 4K euros worth of shoes for your wife in return for allowing you to keep your speaker system in the living room

Cheers.

 

Well put!

 

I bought the Elear last Friday after a long period of comparisons and demo at a local dealer. I had initially heard the Elear a while back before becoming aware of any of this hype while I was demoing a DAC and I liked it as a phone I may be able to listen with. Later demo sessions were comparisons with phones I use such as HD800X and LCD-X, and at the dealer and with the music available there I found I preferred the Elear.

After getting them home I can't say I am quite as enamored with the Elear and indeed they have a lot of weird issues that present themselves with certain music. It's almost as if there are albums that cannot be played through them.

However the biggest issue is the high end inertia which can be really uncomfortable at times. Sounds such as snare rattle, finger snaps, handclaps etc stand out far far too much. It's not a sibilance but rather what seems to be a big contrast in volume. When you find the hi hat in Bob Marley's Jamming to be annoying, then something is very wrong. Portishead is excruciating via these. Dramatic passages such as the beginning of Amy Winehouse's "Me and Mr Jones" are illegible as compared to 800S.

As well there is a weird mid range hole that is quite dramatic at times. The vocals are almost gone from Dandy Warhols "Not your bottle". That was weird.

It's not all bad news. With certain styles of music these are the bees knees and have a spooky presence. Billy Holiday through the Elear is fantastic and her live Carnegie Hall recordings have you sitting in the front row. In general these sorts of vintage recordings and classic rock sound amazing via the Elear.

I'm going to try out a different amp today (Questyle CMA 800R) and see where that goes.

 

@gbeast Impressive work, thank you! I've recently had a chance to listen to Utopias with Pass HPA-1 and subjectively this was one grand combo.

 

I finally got to listen to these (Elear) when I was in NYC this week. I found them a little too sharp and bright. Glad I didn't buy them when they were the FOTM.

 

I feel like it depends on what you're going for. I've never seen speakers at only 4K even remotely close to the clarity and imaging "tightness" of Utopia. Speakers will eventually win but the only ones I've tried would be way way more. That said I'm not sure how much you can increase the quality by DIYing the speakers, maybe more than I'd expect for that much money.

Also in the U.S. at least paying the full 4K is just poor shopping... Not sure if we can say more on this forum...

What was wrong with the cable? It's placement is annoying but the quality of it seems fine to me... But I'm not much of a believer in 1,000 dollar cables for over ear headphones though.

And Utopia is the best headphone I've heard. To be fair I haven't tried SR-009s or LCD-4s but it beats the snot out of my modded HD800 for my tastes. (And the ZMF Atticus I had at the time)

Edit: I'll admit you had me freaking out about the bass for a second. Till I realized I had the headphones on off center lol. Pretty sure mine are very very close.

 

At first I though the Elears were what it should be about, but as I spent some time with them, I found that I spent more time with my 600s. I then bought a pair of 650s and found I spent less time with the 800s. I have since sold the Elears and don't miss them a bit. They weren't bad, they just felt like they were trying too hard if that makes sense to anyone.

It's one of those where a lot of people tell you how something is the shit, but after you get over the hipe, you are left with overpriced cans that don't hit the spot. Mine are gone.

EDIT: The guy I sold them to, is stoked on them and loves them, and reminds, me how he stole them from me every chance he gets.... it's all in the eye I suppose.

JT

 

Have you guys got any chance to try it out with the Metrum Acoustics Amethyst?

 

No, but since we are talking headphones, and specific to Focal, I don't see the relevance here. :O If you are going to talk about a DAC, it would seem a good idea to post it in a DAC thread.... just sayn.

Welcome to the forum, ya might want to do an intro.

JT

 

The perception of sound is mostly subjective and personal experience. I would differ to you though that the Utopia, or any other headphone for that matter, has better clarity or imaging "tightness" than any 4K speakers. Perhaps you are right with regards to speakers from mainstream brands. However, I personally love full range drivers exactly for these two qualities, and even the best ones (excluding sheetr exotics) cost about two fold less than the Utopia. On the other hand, when you factor in room acoustics, audio chains and the fact that people tend to push speakers harder, then I can see where you're coming from. IMO though, many paper cone full rangers with ferrite or cobalt magnets sound better than the Utopia. The clarity and imaging aside, I also prefer the unobtrusive, free flowing presentation of speakers. Headphones sort of force the music into my ears.

You may not believe in $1K cables, but the stock one is long and heavy, and delivers poor base and snappy treble. Differences may seem small in an A/B comparison, but I definitely wouldn't pick the stock one for a 2-3 hours listening session.

I agree with you though, the Utopia is the best headphone i've heard too. It really beats the "snot out" of the HD800, modded or not.

 

No, if you wanted a 650 on steroids, your best option would be a modified HD650. Elear sounds plain wonky. Most disappointing.

I wanted the Elear to be an upgrade, too. I would have pounced on one if it was anything like "650 or steroids" or "baby Utopia" as FOTM-ers claimed.

I'd suggest just modding the 650. Don't worry about screwing it up, they're super-easy to dismantle/reassemble, and if you accidentally set fire to a driver or something, spares are easily available for a sensible price.

 

In an effort to try and contribute some content, my most recent impressions of the Utopia are below. Note: I don't own the Utopia, but have heard it a few times, in lengthly auditions.




I went to my local headphone shop this morning to give the Focal Utopia another test listen. The last time I tried them was right around their release, about 11 months ago. I listened for longer this morning than I did last time, with a wider variety of music. Overall impressions? Very positive. I enjoyed them more than I remembered.

The first thing I would like to mention is the comfort of the headphones. They are so, so comfortable. If you wear glasses like I do, there is a tiny space for the glasses legs to pass through, which I haven’t experienced on any other headphone before. This is a tiny detail, and it might not be intentional, but I really did notice it and the extra comfort it brought to the table. The ear pads are sumptuous, not too thick, and not too thin. One thing I made sure to test was the creak test of the carbon fibre yolks. This pair didn’t creak at all! I tried everything I could think of to get them to creak, and they were dead silent. This was a pleasant surprise, given what I have read and heard in Tyll’s video review. The headband sits comfortably right over the middle of the head (at least it did on my head, your head may be different I suppose) and the length of the yolks/earpieces is adjusted very easily. Although it is a heavier headphone than some, I am used to the LCD-4 and Abyss, so I really didn’t notice the weight at all. Maybe I have a strong neck.

The build quality of the Utopia is fantastic. I said this in my initial impressions, and I still think so. Beautiful carbon fibre, leather, and metal. It feels very solid in the hands, and on your head. Again, no creaking at all. I suppose this is dependant on the pair? Or perhaps it goes away with use? I really don’t know. The stock cable is overly long, but seemed to be well built and durable.

Now, onto how they sound. As this was a longer test with a wider variety of music, my impressions may have changed a little bit.

Bass: I tried them initially in total stock tuning, with no EQ applied. I am a bit of a basshead, so I did find it a little bit lacking in the low end. However, after applying a bit of low end EQ, I really found the headphones transformed to my liking. The tight, fast and accurate bass was still present, but there was more of it. More sub bass and rumble. I thought the Utopias were not for me originally, but this session may have changed my opinion. After a bit of EQ application, there was more than enough bass for me. Punchy and direct, the Utopias bass was very satisfying, especially in comparison to the HD800S.

Mids: The mids were as I remembered them. They are not lush and warm like the LCD-4, there is a clarity present that you don’t get with the Audezes. I tend to favour warmer and dark sound signatures, but I did really enjoy the Utopias mids. They aren’t scooped out sounding, and aren’t overbearing. I found they just sat right where they should, and sounded very cohesive.

Treble: Very good. No sibilance that I could notice. There is a beautiful clarity and naturalness to the Treble of the Utopias. It isn’t harsh, or overemphasized. It is just really good and smooth sounding.

Soundstage: I am a fan of a big soundstage, which the Utopias don’t have. They are a more closed in sounding headphone. However, compared to my initial listening session months ago, the depth of the soundstage surprised me. Instruments seemed to layer within the soundstage very well. I think I need another listen to really get a handle on the soundstage of the Utopias, as it isn’t big like I usually prefer. Could I live with it? After my initial listen, I didn’t think I could. After today……I think I really might be able to.

Imaging: Pin point precision. Everything is where it should be. You can pick out each instrument easily.

The Utopias were a delight to listen to this morning. They really did impress me more than they did on the first go round months ago. The slight boost of the low end with EQ brought a fullness to the body of the headphones that I hadn’t heard before. They are a very nice neutral sounding headphone. I didn’t find them bright, or dark, or warm, or cold. They just sort of sit in the middle of all those descriptions. I enjoyed the soundstage a lot more than I did on the initial listen, to the point where I could see myself selling stuff to be able to own these headphones. The build quality is impressive, and the construction materials are even more so. All in all, if you can get your hands on a pair of Utopias to give them a listen, go for it. They may not be for you, but I think you will find at least one thing you like about them.

 

Not sure why I've never tried this before, but I put the Elear pads on the Utopia. It's surprising how much energy the Utopia pads suck out from about 400-500hz downward. As a result of the lift down low with the Elear pads, the sound becomes a bit thick and muffled. On the flip side though this lift de-emphasizes the upper mids and treble, which I liked. I remembered (and actually went and reread) Bob Katz's shootout article on Utopia vs LCD-4. I don't know what equipment he's mastering on, but the Utopia has proper treble. LCD-X and LCD-3F did not. When I was contemplating a year or two ago whether to sell the X or HD800, I didn't contemplate for long and the X was gone. Despite the fact the X was better tonally balanced and had better resolution in the sub-1khz spectrum, the treble was appalling. Later on I made a leap of faith and got the LCD-3F. Only kept it for about 3-4 days before putting up for sale. Judging by the feedback of others, it seems the 4 has similar characteristics. Yes, the Utopia's treble is a little tense and strident, but it sounds right. I'm really wondering what "sound model" Katz has constructed or gotten used to in his mind. Whatever it is, it seems he doesn't value much treble quality. Which is fine, but it's also interesting food for thought.

Elear with Utopia pads - dry and coarse sound. Not cool. Sounds a la K701 and I'm not digging it one bit.

 

On the Bob Katz bit: the treble quality on the LCD-4 is pretty great as far as I'm concerned.I actually prefer it to the utopia which I owned for about four months. I think the utopia had a slightly "same-y" quality when it comes to cymbals, for example. I don't know if that's the Be driver sound or what. For me, the 4s have a better timbre. Differing tastes!

 

Interesting. I will have to find a shop where it's offered and go for a session. I'm deducing my conclusion about Katz from his detailed review of the LCD-X. I liked that headphone too, apart from the treble and the lack of dynamics.

Not sure what you mean by "same-y"?

 

A slightly dry sound regardless of recording.

 

I don't know all that much about DIY speakers, so I'm sure you're right there. I have JBL LSR 4328p speakers and I think headphones way way less than their 1600 dollar asking price sounded significantly clearer. That's my only real experience as far as speakers go though. When I finally have more room I'll research putting together my own as I'm not like closed off to the idea.

For me Utopia was a significant percent above HD800. The cable thing I'd be willing to like try (thecablecompany is a great resource for that probably) but I just feel like it's maybe a percent change instead of the much larger change I felt going to Utopia. Granted I haven't cable "rolled" with Utopia, but I have on some cheaper headphones (which I guess had worse cables, only one was silver instead of copper).

Cool thoughts! Sounds similar to my initial relationship the first couple times I heard it (literally hated it). Was a learn to love kind of sound for me. Though I loved Utopia instantly haha.

You don't happen to remember those EQ settings/software do you? I'd be interested to try the settings that satisfied a "basshead" like you.