Focal Elear and Utopia Impressions at Source AV

They seem to be too damn busy trying to crack the Beats market with the Urbanite XXXL or whatever the hell its called.....

Give them another 5 years.

It did take them 7 years to update the HD800....with a resonator!

 

A HD650S! (basically nothing but a HD650m with fancy colors) and it's at $700! What a bargain!

 

We did do one better .... HD 650SBAF. But this is way OT. Sorry.

 

Screw HD650S, give me HD1000, damn it!

 

They already released the HD1000

 

Just googled it and you are right! Wow. You learn something new everyday.

I guess we need HD1000S!

 

Hehe yeah, let's hope they do more then a resonator

 

I'm not suggesting an hd650 with a paint job would be a good value at $700.

Since a modded hd-650 is a chosen end game headphone for many posters here and the Elear has been described as a "super hd-650" that sells for $1000... I figure an additional $300US for a net of about $700 in exchange for improved materials, updated aesthetics and mods straight from the factory would make a very compelling "hd650S" offering. The PM-2 retails for $700 and I can't think of too many others in this price range; the hd650s would presumably destroy the PM-2.

 

700$ Sennheiser with updated aesthetics and construction... I think you mean the HD700.

To be honest an HD750 would be a lot more interesting.
Make it grey/black, fix the cable and the treble and you have a nice headphone.

The HD650 has it's place in the 300€ range. Updating that ancient design a forth (or is it fith?) time Imho is completely overkill.

 

Miata Is Always The Answer... never mind, that was off topic and the wrong forum
HD650 Is Always The Answer... never mind, still off topic... I will do everyone a favor and stop bringing up the HD650 here.

Back to the Elear, like some others I really do prefer it's aesthetics over the Utopia. Its what I'd imagine an updated hd-650 would look like. DOHHH!

 

The HD 600/650 are better overall than all 700 dollar headphones. The HD 700 is a piece of f'ing shit that should be thrown away as Sennheiser does by offering discounts of well over 50%. The entire design is absolute dog shit in every single way from the drivers to the pads to the housing. It's an ersatz HD 6XX + an ersatz HD 800 marketed toward Grado lovers, DT 990 fans, and Middle Eastern and Japanese "treble heads" as a cut rate HD 800 who assume brightness = detail as "different countries prefer different sounds." See if you make only one, overwhelmingly bright expensive product people might not buy it but if you make two, people might buy the cheaper one as they think they're getting a deal despite it being a slapped together piece of shit with an even higher markup. Then if you discount the piece of shit below your actually good, cheaper products people may still buy it even if they own the cheaper, better performing ones as they think they're getting an upgrade.

Sennheiser's modern reputation is built on selling headphones that sound better than the competitions to do the ton of R&D they did on the Orpheus, Orpheus JR, and HD 580 which all share similar housing back in the late 80s. That's how they drove AKG and Beyer to the ground. Beyer hasn't innovated positively at all in the past 30 years while Sennheiser built the HD 800 ring drivers and made a flawed but interesting new housing for it.

 

Your "ancient design" also happens to be one of the best designs of its time and our time in terms of adjustability, options (removable EVERYTHING), fit (quite good except for not deep enough earcups and headband clamp force), sound (cleanest CSD at the pricepoint, better than 90% above pricepoint), and weight. You can update the design all you want, but if your "new and improved" design somehow puts an effing peak in the treble than it belongs in the trashbin. I didn't want to say this but the Elear and Utopia's design looks EXACTLY like someone took the best parts of the HD800 (material) and combined it with the HD6x0 design.

 

I said it's ancient, I didn't say it wasn't beautiful.
What I meant is that the HD650 seems to be at it's limit. I highly wonder what you people think the design could be improved upon without making it an HD700 with different sound signature.

I disagree.
The headphone is technologically competent and a clear improvement over the HD650. If you think otherwise please elaborate.
The problem is as you pointed out the marketing. The way it's aimed at audiosnobs and audiosnobs only is what killed it (for me).
580/600/650 and to a lesser degree HD800 all seemed to be an option for enthusiats while the 700 is more like a headphone for semi-rich people who need a über-detailed/edgy sounding headphone to accompany their overpriced stereo.

I think the 700 could sound alot if it weren't for that. Everything from the bass distortion to the treble peak seemed to have been willfully incorperated to give the headphone a certain coloration.
The sonical features/flaws look too predictable and simple, not like they were inherent to the design itself.

But I digress. Sennheiser missed their opportunity and Focal is taking it now.

 

So another foretelling, I said the Elear would be WOF....just like I said the meze would.

I really believe... With all my heart...

...There will be a genuine super HD650 one day. I predict it to come from Sennheiser as well.

I hope it will slay price to performance standards.

 

Why can't Elear by the new super 650? Just asking.

 

The HD 700 is a piece of shit. It's not a piece of shit as it's marketed toward rich people, it's just a piece of shit in general. If you spray paint a turd of dog shit you picked up in the park gold and eat it Pink Flamingos style, you're still eating a piece of maggot-ridden shit. Your own waste will just sparkle a bit.

The marketing and heavy discounting is as it's a piece of shit. If Grados were actually f'ing good like the HP1000 was in the 70s, Grado wouldn't need to sell them as hand-crafted, wooden, MADE IN THE USA Americana to hipster Donald Trump supporters to sell them. If Sennheisers Urbanite was actually great and the people who buy "fashion" headphones actually cared about sound, they wouldn't need to market it but they do as those people won't buy the god damn hd 25 for the same price and have it last foreever as tough industrial plastic and steel doesn't convey "Judy Jetson's easy bake oven" shiny pastel plastic style to idiots who copy uneducated, codeine swilling rappers who aren't even particularly lyrical. They market the Urbanite and Momentum as it earns them money and profit is profit. If they didn't, they wouldn't be able to stick their hands in any idiots' pockets, not just some idiots. The HD 700 is that for the delusional "mor TREBLE = MORE DETAILZ" crowd who are also bargain shoppers but aren't particularly discerning audiophiles. Tons of people buy luxury cars that drive like total shit so why the hell wouldn't you give them what they want? Fecalphiliacs are people too and fecalphiliacs are tough to convince to stop playing around with shit.

 

It can be for sure.

But how does it do with OTL amps and tubes?
What about the midrande balance of the Elear that is reported to be still not as ideally balanced as the 650.

What about the weight for guys like you who like em light.

Also, though the Elear is affordable in the context of high end, the 650 is in another, lower, category. I still believe an hd650 mkII can be done for those who cant spend over 500 for a headphone.

 

Yeah...I'll go along with that.

 

It'd be alright if Sennheiser would release a modest HD870.