I can second Corpse Cables. Travis goes pretty above and beyond for their customers and is very responsive and easy to work with. It’s where I send most of our customers if they are looking for aftermarket cables that aren’t jewelry.
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On top of the great suggestions from @PaisleyUnderground is:
Periapt Cables
which put out some good stuff. That said, I’m definitely getting my upgraded cables for my Clears from Hart Audio Cables.
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I have used Periapt Cables once and it was a good experience and fair price.
Alex
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Thanks for your suggestions guys! I will check all of those out.
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If you go to Hart’s site, have a look at their custom page. They have hundreds of different colors, so you could get something that complements the Clear, if you’re so inclined. Or if you like red, they can deliver a red set straight away.
They only charge $2 extra per cable for a custom color, so it was a no brainer for me. I was able to get a set of Focal cables with both 3.5mm and 1/4 inch connectors for $80 and assuming they sound good, I will be able to switch out the Focal connectors and replace them with ZMF connectors or IEM connectors down the road by purchasing just the components, not a whole new set of cables. Similarly, if I ever get a balanced amp or DAP, I can switch out the 1/4 inch for balanced.
The flexibility of their modular system made me think this would be perfect for traveling. Unfortunately I miscalculated on how long it would take for them to make a custom set (about 2-3 weeks) and I didn’t get them in time before I left for my vacation.
Anyway, I will post some thoughts on sound and microphonics when I get back home in a week. Hopefully my new Arctic cables (which were much more expensive as they were what @taronlissimore would quite accurately call a jewelry purchase!) will also be waiting at home for me too.
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I use a XLR Periapt cable with my Clear Pro and it’s great. It’s a bit stiff and the splitter is really big, if either of those are an issue for you. If not, I can easily recommend Periapt.
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I see a few people here recommending Lyr 3 with the Clears; do you get any hum with it or is it nonexistant in low gain?
I have an original Lyr (purchased used) since it was a lot cheaper than Lyr 2 or 3 here in Canada, since those latter two still go for quite a bit more here it seems. However, since the original Lyr doesn’t have a gain switch, I can hear hum - especially in the Clears since they are low impedance and so sensitive. I can hear it in my HD600’s as well; though it’s typically below any noise floor in recordings. I tend to hear it with nothing playing or the source turned far down.
I try to ignore it and often don’t notice, but compared to the black background/noiseless solid states it’s definitely there. Just curious as to the comparison…
Just thought I’d chime in on this too as no one else brought it up; but Focal confirmed on their headphones.com live stream that the “magic” of the Arche is actually impedance matching for each of the Focal models. What impedance exactly for which model still remains a secret, unfortunately. If it wasn’t it would certainly help more of us in our selection of amps though!
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Anybody tried the clears with any burson audio headphone amps? I’m looking at the new burson soloist 3x as an upgrade to the 789 paired with an rme. Any insights appreciated!
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Would love to hear your impressions on these cables! Especially microphonics, etc.
Hart recently posted on their Instagram that they have a new stock color as well, it looks to be black or dark charcoal with lighter grey sort of bits of pin stripe. You’ll have to take a look to see, but they look like an excellent match for the Clears!
I got very close to picking up a bunch of Hart cables but my headphone & amp lineup has changed a bit so I didn’t get to pull the trigger. That and I was going with all balanced but added the single ended Lyr so I’d need to add an adaptor. But if the dust has indeed settled I may get them to update a quote and finally get some pretty cables in my life!
Just another note about them: They were a bit slow to respond (understandable, they just keep getting busier!) but when they did they were detailed, accommodating and very nice about everything. I had asked for custom colors and lengths, even a special splitter - and they quoted everything very concisely. I feel bad I haven’t had the chance to respond and finally order some yet. But hoping to soon!
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I use Hart cables. I opted for the 18 in headphone cables for my ZMF and Senn, partly to avoid having the bulky Y splitter that comes with the standard 4.5 ft cable. I have 3 or 4 ft interconnects for 1/4, 3.5, and XLR, and a 4 ft extension. I opted for a custom cable color. The headphone cables that make contact with your person are softer and thinner to the touch (favorable) compared to the interconnects and extension cable which are thicker and more durable feeling which is appropriate. The modularity is a plus when switching between sources and doing A/B comparisons. James can get jammed up and not reply ASAP, but he is thorough and addressed all my questions and requests. I perceive no noticeable microphonics. Sometimes the cables can rotate off center when you’re wearing them and moving around in the normal course during the day and you have to make a concerted effort to reset if that bothers you (similar to walking out a garden hose). I’m happy with my Hart cables as a modular upgrade from stock cables.
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I’ve been using my new Hart cables all week. As @bpcarb said, they are very soft and thin, much thinner than they look on Hart’s website - that’s a good thing. They are very flexible and don’t get tangled.
If the Focal stock cable is a 10 for stiffness and microphonics (where 10 is bad), then I’d say the Hart is a 2. I didn’t notice any microphonics unless I was deliberately rubbing the chord to see if I could feel it.
I’m using them on a Stellia, plugged into a Lyr 3 amp and Bifrost 2 DAC and have been enjoying listening to music all week. I switched back to the stock cable just now and noticed that the stock was just a touch brighter.
I spent the last 20 minutes going back and forth using different music (Radiohead’s OK Computer, Grimes Art Angels, Sol Gabetta playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto, Ivan Fischer conducting Mahler’s 1st Symphony) and I could tell the difference, but only because I was looking for it. They are very very similar.
I don’t know which one is correct - is the stock cable slightly emphasizing the treble or is the Hart smoothing a peak? Is the stock just uncovering more detail than the Hart? I honestly don’t know, but I will say I preferred the the Hart’s sonic signature, so I’m keeping it.
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Thanks for adding color and details. I haven’t focused on comparing to the stock cables (yet). Glad you’re also enjoying your Hart cables.
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I experienced something similar as well. I have the periapt cable for my clears and I noticed something was off about them. Thought they were the pads at first but tried to go back to the stock cable and the treble came back. It was pretty noticeable, I didn’t have to look for it. I do prefer the stock cable sound vs the periapt.
Makes me wonder what kind of material focal uses in their cables…
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Cable price can be unrelated to performance for a given function. Back in the CD era I had a cheap, thin, flimsy RCA interconnect that somehow worked better than anything else I tried. It played louder, it played with more range, and it reduced low volume channel imbalance. This proved true for three different amps. I tried half a dozen different cables that surely looked better – ranging from give-aways to expensive ones – and nothing else came close.
At the time I didn’t own a multimeter, but it may have had different electrical characteristics. Still, listen with your ears and judge with your ears.
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Just to add to what I said above, it wasn’t a night and day difference between the 2 cables and for a lot of my A-B testing, I would have said they sounded the same. It was only on bright recordings like the Radiohead and Grimes CDs that I noticed a difference, and it was very subtle.
I enjoyed listening with the Focal stock cable for many weeks without noticing any glaring peaks, took 2 weeks off for vacation, went straight into listening with the Hart and enjoyed that all week without noticing anything being heightened or rolled off. So I know that I could live with both from a sound perspective.
The only substantial difference is that the Hart cable looks gorgeous with it’s custom sleeving and feels soft and luxurious. The custom sleeves only cost an additional $2 extra per cable so unless you’re in a hurry and can’t wait the additional 4-5 weeks, I suggest you look at their custom colors.
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The Clears are still outstanding weeks after they arrived. Focal has really nailed a sense of pristine, punchy dynamics presenting music full of emotion while managing to not over bloat the tuning. I love the way these sound, and am looking forward to seeing how they keep scaling up over time when new gear comes in maybe this year or later. I’m not good at reviewing headphones, but it is going to be a joy writing about all the positive aspects of these.
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My new Arctic Cuprum cable recently arrived. I haven’t had the time to do a proper A-B but I have done enough of a comparison that I can definitely hear more treble (but non-fatiguing treble) on the Arctic. So that leads me to the conclusion that maybe the Hart was very slightly rolling off some of the treble.
Also, it could be all in my mind, but guitars and classical string instruments seem to have more texture, like I can feel them when they’re played. I didn’t notice that with either the Hart or stock Focal, but I will do an A-B at some point to see if I’m imagining it.
Anyway, the Arctic does seem more revealing and I’ve enjoyed listening with it for the last couple of days. It is 3 times the cost of the Hart cable, so even though I do like it a little more, it’s not 3 times as good. On the other hand, in my eyes at least, it does look even “blingier” than the Hart and really complements the Stellia’s color scheme. (Sorry to be talking about the Stellia on the Clear thread, but I thought it was OK since we’re talking about cables for Focals, and the conversation about cables started here).
At this point, I would say if you want to take the edge off any brightness, the Hart cable would probably do that, or if you want to reveal everything, then the Artic cable is the one.
Too lazy/tired to take a photo at 1am, so here’s a photo from Arctic’s website.
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Looking forward to your review. The Clears are a fantastic set of headphones IMHO.
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That’s an awesome looking cable. Curious what about the Furutech termination makes it worth an additional $45.
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