Focal Clear Mg - Open-Back Dynamic Driver Headphones - Official Thread

Am I the only one that thinks that this is the most gorgeous shade of brown I’ve ever seen

but it’s still BROWN :nauseated_face:

I can’t stop thinking about the '70s era Porsche 911s in brown

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I agree, the Clear Mg is gorgeous. But it’s interesting they went with brown, considering how divisive the color of the Stellia is. Personally, I love how the Stellia looks, but I do think the more muted color scheme of the Clear Mg is even sexier.

Sorry, not a fan of the Porsche brown. :frowning_face:

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Sorry, not a fan of either brown. Or any brown except real wood in the right places. YMMV

I guess Focal felt they needed to get away from the light grey pads that discolor so easily. I would have preferred a gun metal grey direction instead though. Actually I would have preferred just about anything but brown.

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Got it, I didn’t read your original post closely enough.

That’s fair enough, I can see it not being a popular color, given people’s reactions to the Stellia. I happen to like metallic brown but not the :poop: brown of the Porsche.

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Luxury products are routinely black, silver/chrome, leather, or wood. Brown is leather-ish and wood-ish. Products are typically market-tested for impression, perceived quality, etc. Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Hermes, etc.

Black is so common that it doesn’t stand out – relatively few throw down $1,500 for headphones. I’d also prefer gun metal gray or black, or maybe the Clear Pro MG too.

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I feel like I’ve been seeing more luxury cars in brown lately, and in the right shade it can be quite striking.

image

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The “Chestnut” shade of brown used by the Clear MG is reminiscent of the emoji you used… :grimacing:

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It definitely looks brown in most pictures, but perhaps we could get away with calling it “Copper.” :slight_smile:

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I’d be interested in seeing how the Clear MG’s sound signature compares with that of the original with either the Elex or Dekoni Hybrid pads. Apparently, both alternative pads made the headphones warmer and smoothed out the treble peaks. It would be good to see some graphs.

As for the color scheme, don’t call it the Focal Smear.

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I agree with Jude’s impressions. It’s very good, and a clear and definite upgrade to an already great headphone.

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A smoother, less peaky treble - the graphs look promising - that also manages to provide a bit more air? Sounds excellent. I’m looking forward to comparing it to my OG Clear!

The video also has great photos - the Clear MG really is attractive.

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Yeah. It was also nice for me to see that Jude’s impressions aligned with my own. It really is a very good headphone.

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The cables look like an improvement, too - at least insofar as they’re not the same as the previous ones. They look more rubbery. I hope that makes them less like pole-vaulting poles!

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Focal basically switched over to the ‘Pro’ style cables for their lineup. They’re the same as the previous Clear Professional.

They are better, imo.

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Some observations based on the reviews and details from the last 24 hours:

  • It’s interesting that most impressions are mentioning a bass boost, but they measure exactly the same as the OG Clear through those frequencies. As Jude mentioned, perhaps it’s simply the smoother treble that is getting misinterpreted as an increase in bass quantity. Perhaps a better seal on the head is also contributing.

  • It seems the MG driver is at least partly responsibly for the greater detail retrieval, perhaps in conjunction with the more extended treble response above 10K. More detail with less fatigue sounds like a move in the right direction to me!

  • I haven’t seen anyone really compare the soundstage of the MG to the OG Clear. Is it larger? I suspect not, but that sure would be a nice upgrade.

  • The cables appear to be noticeably nicer, but still not as nice as something from someone like Periapt.

I may end up picking this up for myself, as I never did purchase the original Clear, but if I did already own it I wouldn’t be running out to get in line for this one; seems they’re too similar to warrant it. To each their own, though.

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If it has more detail… it’s juuust by a hair. I’m not really sure it’s as meaningful as even the slight differences in FR. I think really what’s going on here is a boost to the upper ‘air’ frequencies, that then get perceived a certain way.

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The soundstage isn’t necessarily wider, but it is larger. The old Clear seemed to present things not only intimately, but also seemed small to me (maybe it’s my giant ears). The MG is still intimate in its staging, but has a larger sound stage/field/space if that makes sense.

I also think that the new magnesium driver is much faster, and more detailed. It’s kind of reminiscent of the Utopia’s speed minus the peaks that enhance the perception of detail. This is evident not only in micro details, but transients and harmonics, imo.

It’s a great headphone.

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The Clear OG had smaller sonic images, especially in comparison to the ZMF Eikon. It seems like you might be describing the same thing.

@Resolve has also referred to the perception of size of image in various reviews.

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Yeah, ZMF have a very nice, large soundstage. Focal, not so much. :grin:

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How difficult/easy is it to drive the new Clear MG? Does it scale well?