Focal Elegia

So I too have the Clear and Elegia.

I find the Clears sound best out of my PrimaLuna DiaLogue HP. When I want head shaking bass (Trentemøller Chameleon), they deliver. Maybe a tad much. But that’s the point of the track, to rattle my brains. Otherwise, acoustic, electric, and non synthesized/enhanced percussive bass sounds tight and balanced. Perfect to my ears.

The Elegias aren’t nearly as bass prominent on the same system. They go deep, but not “palpable”. Is this due to the 200hz suckout?

For shitz n giggles, I put the Clear pads on the Elegia, no significant difference to my ears.

Rtings rated the overall bass response on the Elegia as almost perfect. Better than the Stellia. FWIW

 

As to the character difference between the Elegia and Clear below say, 400hz, my personal working theory is that it is a combination of this "suckout" and the basic difference between open/closed.

 

Interesting theory. Your reasoning seems logical.

 

Another thing about about the Elegia just does not scale like the Clear. It does have the Focal driver qualities however and my main purpose for owning it is traveling, etc. Still, when the wife/kids are making noise I was hoping it would serve as a kind of 90% replacement for the Clear...it was not to be

 

I got a pair of these at the Adorama sale, and I’m honestly considering returning them. When they sound good, they sound really good. Tons of detail, good texture, this is the first headphone I’ve owned where the strum of a guitar sounds like individual strings in combination, and not just one sound. However sometimes they sound just plain weird. These have some serious slam, except when they don’t, and the vocals are sometimes way up in front or way recessed. It’s a toss up as to what kind of sound I’ll get every time I play a different song. And I don’t particularly need a closed back, although I do think Focal has worked really hard to mitigate the limitations of closed back headphones with these. I want to love them, and often I do, until I don’t, and then I really don’t.

 

Well damn.... I was on the fence to put this vs the 177X....

 

I haven't heard Elegia, but I'm hearing this with Stellia consistently across all tracks I've played. I think you need to step up to Tier 1

 

Yeah, I submitted my return request to Adorama. It’s a shame because on some tracks the Elegia absolutely slays, but I don’t love it enough to keep it. Now I need to find something with similarly excellent sub bass though.

 

Pinging @E_Schaaf? I kid you not the unmodded 900 has remarkable sub-bass slam relative to basically every headphone I've tried (have yet to get ears on a good HiFiMAN out of a big boy amp though, I hear loads of awe-inpsiring things about that)— if the tweaks to the phone fix the absolutely hellish treble and maintain the skull-shaking slam on them then those are immediate keepers and IMO endgame-worthy semi-closed cans if you prioritise bass extension and viscerality.

EDIT: clarifying I'm speaking to stock form and have never heard the modded version, I imagine that few people would enjoy the voicing of the original 900 but tweaking it for less fatigue at higher SPLs sounds it should well be worth investigating, esp with how sonic profile could be tailored to taste.

 

I bought a pair of Elegia's back in August with Adorama's sale price, and I'm finally posting some impressions.

These are by far the best pair of closed headphones I own, and the least closed sounding. I find them to for the most part sound clear, detailed, and impactful. They don't quite manage the air of space of open headphones though. Bass is strong, while mids and treble feel slightly emphasized but not overdone. They make a nice alternative for the HD650 when I want a change of pace from that more laid back sound, though I prefer the HD650 on the whole.

On the subject of the Elegia having occasionally "metallic" sound, I've only noticed this occasionally, and it seems to be both track and source dependent. On Tegan and Sara's Call It Off, for example, I hear a bit of a metallic edge to Tegan's voice right at the top where it frays when I listen from my FiiO X5 Mk3 (balanced) or my Asgard 2 (SE, fed from Bifrost Multibit). But when I listen on the Liquid Platinum, Lyr 3, or Bottlehead SEX that metallic edge isn't really there. Hard to say if that's more a tubes vs. solid state or simply available power thing.

I don't find the Elegia to be overly bright. I hear some emphasis on the highs, but it sounds articulate and controlled, and doesn't have sibilance or hissing issues, and doesn't cause me any noticeable fatigue.

Bass is relatively strong and controlled but can be a little flabby at times depending on the amp. I hear this more with the Asgard 2 or portable players than with the more powerful amps. Bass definitely depends on a good seal, but I haven't run into issues with it in practice.

There's a strong sense of the physical presence of instruments, especially with acoustic guitar, drums, cymbals, handclaps, and so on. Guitar strings feel weighty and resonant, and drums have a fairly convincing physical attack. This is probably my favorite part about these headphones. The drums and claps on Beirut's Gibraltar for example give a convincing impression of the physical strike of drumheads and hands. And I especially like this with tracks with clicky/clacky sounds, like Ratatat's Gettysburg or Shiller, which have great presence and nice sharp edges without sounding over-emphasized or false. The HD650 is less strong here though still good. In comparison the DT990 Premium is fairly weak, with little sense of physical presence even when played very loud, even though the sound is fairly detailed.

What I haven't heard myself are the claims that the phones have multiple personalities or sound flat out weird. It's entirely possible that I'm not listening to the right music to showcase this though. If anyone has a few tracks to recommend that highlight this I'd appreciate it.

Comfort is pretty good. They are a little heavy, but the band is comfortable and the headphones don't seem to have hotspots on my head. They clamp pretty hard though I do occasionally get a little tired of wearing them for long periods. They don't sound overly closed, but they feel like closed phones on my head.

The low impedance and decent sensitivity are nice because I can use them with my portable players, but does mean I can hear some background hum with a couple of my desktop amps (Asgard 2 or Lyr 3 in high gain, and Bottlehead SEX). This isn't usually an issue, but sometimes with the Bottlehead amp I use my iEMatch to kill the noise and get a little more room on the potentiometer.

 

(years later)

Accessories4less is blowing these out new-in-box for $320 and I've been looking for a decent pair of closed-back dynamics, so I took the plunge. Five minutes out of the box I was ready to pack them back up and write them off with the HE-R9 as cursèd cans, but I decided to give the drivers a chance to break in before I gave up on them. After a few hours it seemed like they'd already loosened up a bit, and I ended up leaving them playing some pretty full-range material at medium-high volume all night with the Zen Can's bass boost engaged. I'm not planning on sending them back anymore. They're still a little bass shy but not terribly so and hopefully they'll continue to open up over the next week or so of use. Staging and imaging is phenomenal and honestly quite good even without the "for a closed back" tacked on to that evaluation. Comfort is every bit as good as I'd hoped - the Aeons are light and comfortable for a planar but they still get awfully hot after a while, whereas the micro-suede pads on the Elegia breathe much better. It's not quite at the level of the HD58X/6XX that disappear on my head, but not super fatiguing either. They'll definitely find a place in the rotation.

 

I bought my Elegia's about a year before the headband broke. Look up "Focal headband break" before you purchase a Focal headphone.

I did like the audio quality for a closed headphone. The mids and upper bass were nice, but there was no soundstage (as expected). It's just too bad it just made it to a year before the headband broke.

 

That sucks, I'm sorry to hear it. You sometimes see old Focals, typically with dead drivers, go on sale on fleabay for parts. There's an Elex with problems for sale right now but the dude wants $300 although his description states that he'd be up for negotiating. If you can switch out the headband I guess it might be worth offering him $50? I don't know, though, if the gimbals can be detached with a specialist tool.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235259959636?epid=11032705178&hash=item36c6961954:g:dvMAAOSwtQllMM64&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA0OwfisaVOaSl49Zd/P8UKfogYF//7/XUq41+2vZ/DBRln8qagldauOT7WF0MjTBF5Wg0Flq3PaKuDx023TTzYz2qpsRliI5TE/ZTFDHYJX2br1IXFWhrQxaUc6heJiuFwYoMhESDUb+3tzSKKKPcwl/SMeMyaaNkBMZAKRPsuADnvuxBAWTELsg9zJqeGgyvKbuCIo7FWalPLbRJ97++9RTSgf4Fe9pdEGa8Os1J4fbym0UGr1mu5LDaeN8cL3QlemXJRqEIOQOvN3Hzm2UM+ug=|tkp:Bk9SR-b05f_7Yg

[edit: just saw the photo of the pads, lol, $300 - hahaarghahaha)

 

Oof. Focal's reputation for spotty build quality is what kept me from them for the longest time. This was _just_ at the threshold where I was willing to take a bit of a risk. I'll be extra mindful of how I put them on and take them off now that I've been warned.

Out of curiosity, the Focal warranty is two years. Did you try to warranty it? Plenty of stories out there claiming that they don't honor their warranty, but it's one of those things where the satisfied customers probably don't post about it.

 

I believe the Focal warranty is 1 year from authorized dealers. And time flies by quickly... so I was a few weeks past the 1 year warranty.

 

As this thread has resurfaced: If Europeans among you are interested in this headphone, it’s currently on sale at SG Akustik in Germany:

B stock for € 299: https://www.sg-akustik.de/shop/focal-elegia-b-ware
New for € 488, or € 390,40 if you trade in your old headphone: https://www.sg-akustik.de/shop/focal-elegia

 

The bass is still a bit shy on the Elegia and it was still a bit thin so I pulled out my favorite EQ for dynamic headphones. It's kind of a bass monster now but it's fun until I get tired of it.



I get the impression that it's yet another headphone designed for use with an integrated amp and which everyone is reviewing with 0.0001µΩ closed loop output impedance chip amps.