Every headphone model gets one thread in the Headphone Model Discussion Category.
This is an area for talking about every aspect of a headphone model including impressions, troubleshooting, complaints, pictures, suggestions and more. If you want to add a new model, send me a message.
I just received a set of Sennheiser HD25 headphones. A thread on these might be good.
Well I don’t see a thread about the Focal Elear in this “old conversation” so how about one? 
I was a bit surprised there wasn’t a thread. I recently grabbed these on the HF.ca site sale and what a deal for such an amazing set of headphones. I was a gun-shy but now having them the correct music sounds amazing. Now I want a pair of Elegia for those more private sessions.
Basically, if the recording has the range the Elear will reproduce it. These headphones are best used with music that has a broad dynamic range (read: not metal or most hard rock with compressed dynamic range).
Well thanks to you we finally have a thread, which is a good thing since there is a lot to say about the Elear, good bad and neutral. I purchased mine when it came out and it was about $1,300 CDN ($1,000 USD). As is usual for me I did not read the reviews until after the purchase, inexplicably I derive some pleasure from finding out if my favourite reviewers agree with me. And for this one they did. One in particular promptly put it on his famous “Wall” and bluntly commented if anyone wants to know what a thousand-dollar can should sound like well look no further, the Elear was it. If recall well he called it “meaty”.
Difficult not to agree because the substance is definitely there but of course “meaty” is perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea if err… delicate delivery is what one is after. Symphony, yes, chamber music not so much, Hard rock yes (if it’s consistent) because the sudden dynamic blooms (the “l” belongs there) can take the listener by surprise with this generally dark-ish phone. Sudden sound explosions in the middle of quiet passages used to take me by surprise because the high mids and treble are somewhat recessed… most of the time but they can detonate with unexpected vigor in crescendo mode, Not THD though, that’s not the issue, it’s the wince factor triggered by the unexpected punch. If you want to listen loud on those better stick with music you know well and avoid high-output impedance amps. They sound cool if you have a good SS DAC with RCA outs coupled to a mellow-ish vintage receiver in perfect working order. True-Fi EQ on these is unusually beneficial, best match for True-Fi I have come across so far provided you have worthy sources. The Elear isn’t exactly the perfect match to a smartphone, let’s put that out of the way. 
I haven’t tried yet, but I’ve been very happy using my various headphones to my iPhone using a Dragonfly Cobalt. Drives my DT 990 Pro 600ohm just fine along with LCD, Senns. I’m sure it’ll do well for Elear.
Currently using Elear with Schiit Bifrost and the recent SMSL SP200 THX amp and the sound is extremely engaging. Once I do a tube replacement on my Valhalla I’ll give that go as well.
As far as I’m concerned, the Elear are extremely engaging and really puts the music front and center. I just find myself quite enveloped when I put these on.
For people wondering about bass, it’s there and tight. But your recording really needs to have it present and represented well. For example, Trentemoller’s Chameleon has all it’s bass represented.
I agree on the high-mids and treble but for once I would call these smooth. People tend to suggest HD650 is smooth but I find highs more recessed than smooth, and thus a darker headphone than i like.
For most headphones I still keep profiles saved using PC Equalizer (paired with APO) so you can easily adjust the Elear to taste.
OK bro, you got me curious enough to try out the beast out of a smartphone. using a miniplug to USB adapter. The phone was the the trusty old phone but audio enthusiasts favourite iPhone 6s, which was the last to come with a miniplug jack making it the most versatile iPhone audio-wise or so i was told. Apparently its DAC has soething others don’t but don’t ask me what. First I ran a test run wit the Hifiman Sundara to see how the phone performed with ULI and it worked much better than I thought but the Sundara (another interesting can btw) is only 37-ohm and the Elear is twice that and dynamic rather than planar, would it make a tremendous difference? Not really, although it seem to me that it was a tiny bit slower to react (trailing LF?) but that’s really splitting hairs and since I only use a Senn on-ear Momentum when I wear phones outdoors or in public paces (not often) I am hardly an expert when it comes to iOs audio. Also I don’t like Bluetooth phones, way too many interference in public space it get annoying,
In every day listening both the Focal Elear and Clear are my favourites even though with True-Fi set on the difference between the to models is not dramatic, Not that surpising because once you remove the $400 worth of accessories including with the Clear you end up with a price difference of less than $100 between the Clear and Elear, peanuts for high-end phones. Both use the same drivers, just tuned differently and the Clear has more fancy trim, nice phone but I can’t stand the color when I look in the mirror so when I use the Clear I don’t look in the mirror lol, But this thread is about the Elear not the Clear so let’s move on.
You can’t talk about the Elear without mentioning its tight, yet deep and well controlled bass that never bleeds into the low-mids, Of all headphones I ever owned and tried never did I encounter anything like this, It wraps your head ins a heavy but civilized, punchy, lively, present and never muddy low end unless material is poor, Like all high-end cans Elear doesn’t like bad recordings and will let you know mercilessly, consider yourself warned lol. Low mids and mids are neutral and relatively clear, wile high mids and treble are slighly recessed, giving it a darkie nature. This vanishes wit True-Fi though, and other ESP like jlnunoob mentions above. These will yield a clean, linear response from top to bottom delivering first-class sound very few phones including much pricier ones can match (steadying for flak).
Construction wise the Elear is the same basic design as all high-end Focals: everthing is metal, adjustment click-stops are hidden under the headband which is lined with real soft leather making for a very comfy fit despite the weight of the phones (1 lb) not counting the 9-feet long, havy 18AWG cable terminated with a large high-quality a neutrik 6,35mm standard plug. The Y cable allows for the use of thrird-party cables however but unless you want a balanced cable the standard one is calibrated exclusively for these cans and impedance-matched according to literature. The enormous display box covered in faux leather is perfect for storing or displaying. It contains some literature, the phones and the cable. That’s it. It’s pretty obvious that Focal had seen the likes of Hifiman coming and done its best to offer a superior performing phone without going over$1,000, a veritable Tour De Force that worked so well it forced other manufacturer to lower their prices before HFM would have caused them to. But nevertheless even Focal was taken abash when Hifinan released the now legendary Sundara. More on that on the Sundara forum. Last but nout lease the 89-0hn load is easy to drive on all but but high-impedance output. Lamp amps are a gamble at low impedance, try before you buy. Personally I went “brand-loyal” when I bought my DAC. Naim belongs to Focal so I went with the recommended but not cheap NAIM V1 DAC which works wonders but costs twice the twice of the phones. Considering I mostly use the DAC in bridge mode this was too expensive for the benefit. A $400 Micromega would have accomplished the same for a lot less.
At today’s price of qround $700 USD the Elaer is a steal, but remember that proper DSP is require for optimal performance. highly recommended, 4.5 stars out of 5 Categorie: audiophile headphone.
Hello!
Im looking to buy the DT770 80ohm and where I am buying them, there are two options
I was wondering if anyone knows if there is a big sound quality difference in these two, from what I could gather on the internet the main difference is that the Ms are tighter and provide more noise isolation. So if anyone has these two or knows what main differences there are I would appreciate it…
Also im not dead set on getting the 80ohm version over the 250ohm. I will use these headphones to record vocals, make beats(hiphop), and try to mix and master (hiphop).
So please let me know
Thanks in advance!
I have a lot of headphones some very expensive. but i have really been captured by these HarmonicDyne Helios headphone. I prefer these 180$ headphones to nearly everything i have. can we get a Helios thread please?
Can we get an official thread for the Hifiman HE1000 Stealth Magnets Version?
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 Ohm
i have an issue were on several frequencies the imbalance of left and right is huge, I have screenshots of my tests to prove it. i placed a microphone between the earcups and ran some tests with an online tone generator recording in Audacity. each time I did the recording in mono, with the mic in the middle. testing the left and right speakers. I’m returning this headphone for a new one.