I run this sometimes for bold, precise, punchy, and clean but not overbearing:
Bifrost 2 → RebelAmp → OG Clear. The Clear leans bright, so I sometimes boost the bass with a Loki.
For a non-technical and heavy-harmonic timbre (but the stage is narrow):
Bifrost 2 → Lyr 3 → OG Clear
At the more reasonable end of the price scale I think the RNHP has good synergy with the Clear FWIW.
Though I’m not as gung-ho about it after the price increase.
I generally don’t like it paired with “lower priced” tube amps because they tend to cause some loss of Bass control and to me they upset the way the Focal’s tend to stage. Even amps at the level of the DNA Stratus are not ideal pairings for the Clear in my book.
But a lot of this is personal preference, I know people who LOVE the clears on tubes, they like the softer, bigger Bass presentation, it’s just not for me.
Higher priced amps with good synergy, ECP DSHA-3F - the F stands for Focal, I assume the T4 (though I haven’t personally heard it), generally I’d stick to Hybrid and SS designs for it with a few exceptions.
But again personal preference.
Spent an evening A/Bing with my Elex. The Clear has slightly better resolution and weightier bass punch (before EQ) at the cost of slight but audible sharper peaks in 10-20Khz and slightly more metallic timbre, while Elex sounds a bit more natural in tone (esp. for female vocals, before EQ). The differences between them are very subtle (+/- 5%), and the sharpness may improve with time (it’s a new pair vs my Elex used).
Here’s the EQ I made for the Clear, modified to be less intense-in-changes (especially in the treble region as measurements tend to have weirdness there) based on the parametric AutoEq profile of oratory1990’s measurements:
Channel: all
Preamp: -5 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 17 Hz Gain 4.29 dB Q 0.42
Filter 2: ON LS Fc 98 Hz Gain 0.83 dB
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 192 Hz Gain -1.47 dB Q 0.72
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1264 Hz Gain -4 dB Q 1.45
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1316 Hz Gain 1.1 dB Q 0.22
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 2245 Hz Gain 1.8 dB Q 2.95
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 3637 Hz Gain -2.3 dB Q 1.04
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 4461 Hz Gain 4.38 dB Q 3.52
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 8497 Hz Gain 3.5 dB Q 1.78
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 11506 Hz Gain 0.38 dB Q 0.68
Filter 11: ON PK Fc 19581 Hz Gain -7.2 dB Q 0.44
[Primary daily drivers:
Over-the-Ear Open-Back: Sennheiser HD800.
IEM: 64 Audio U12T.]
These are a NON-RETURNABLE FINAL SALE!
I recommend to AVOID PURCHASING THESE, unless one auditions them thoroughly first, sampling all of one’s preferred music genres and listening preferences, making sure, experientially, that this potentially deal-breaking issue, described below, indeed remains only a theoretical potential and, for oneself, never becomes an actualized experience.
There is much I could share about how good these headphones are in so many ways but none of the good that I could share here has not been shared by many already - my experience is in line with how these are raved about (though s more spacious soundstage would have been better).
Why the brutal rating? - This is the only thing I really want to share here - that, at least for me, the CLIPPING issue these have is an unbearable experience. It is such that it seemed obvious to me that these were simply defective… But, googling this quickly made me aware that this was not the case - this is a known condition that is not even considered to be as serious of a problem, being claimed by Focal that it is “intentionally so, by design, whenever the volume / bass is too high”.
My hearing is not impaired - it is absolutely normal, my lossless music library is just fine too, and in 95% of my listening time I would experience no clipping just because I would, naturally, not listen loud or want to boost the bass. But, sometimes, consciously so, I want to be able to listen loud enough to music which is more energetic and bass heavy (think Pixies, for example, or even tracks like some Billie Eilish’s songs, not that intense, which are recorded with a relatively high bass response to begin with) and just get wild for a little while (I do not want my hearing to become impaired either) - with these it is not always enabled… And I am not talking about some crazy powerful amp - plugging these into my little portable battery operated iFi Hip Dac, dialing it up all the way, yet still in the lower power mode, without even switching to the higher gain mode (the ‘PowerMatch’ button), it begins to kick in a little already; pressing the Bass Boost (‘XBass’ button) to somehow bypass the need to raise the volume of the whole, yet to increase it in the lower range for a stronger bass impact at an overall lower volume, and it is a full-on non-stop clipping which feels like an UNBEARABLE AUDIOPHILE’S HELL. Of all the headphones that I have had or listened to, I have never experienced anything as frustrating as this… Sure, many were flawed in one way or another, but this is on a whole different level.
Initially, I was struggling to just believe that this is actually how it is formally excused - a $1K headphones justified to be so - ‘by design’ - it felt to me completely unacceptable… I contacted Focal and received a long and detailed reply:
“There is no ‘Design Flaw’ but rather Design Choices, made by music maniacs who wanted to improve on the poor state of the current offerings in headphones.
You would never accept to have high end home speakers that would compress the dynamics of your music and yet you appear to accept that from headphones ?
What you are experiencing is quite normal for Focal headphones.
The Clears were developed to attain something that very few if any other brands try to do with headphones : getting the widest possible dynamic range, in respect with the emotion of music.
Most other brands use compression, meaning that there is less difference in volume between the quietest and the loudest passages.
They just make their units play as loud as they can.
Focal opted to go for full dynamics instead, just like a normal loudspeaker, so the quieter passages are quieter on a Focal than they usually are on other brands, but they will ‘explode’ to higher volumes extremely rapidly, following the dynamics of music.
If you listen to a lot of music that uses little or no compression, like Classical for instance, you will note a huge variation in volume.
Having been previously used to other types of headphones, you may tend to push the volume louder at first, in order to hear the quieter passages more easily, but when a solid Bass impact suddenly shows up, it may overload the unit.
… I encourage you to use them in the manner that they were designed for… You will find that they are capable of extraordinary ‘real’ performance.”
I found this explanation to be revealing and helpful - it did change the way I perceive this condition - and yes, for some listeners, under some circumstances (limited volume and bass shelf), this might be a positive design choice by a manufacturer and a satisfactory experience for a listener (the Clear is indeed outstanding in its dynamic range, the sense of speakers-like physicality and the feeling enabled by that).
I believe that Focal’s choice is a legitimate one, but there is ONE MAJOR PROBLEM which remains unchanged - not all listeners fall into this category… And as Focal was proud to claim - theirs is the ‘abnormal’ (statistically speaking) choice - there is no reason to expect even an audiophile with a decades long experience with many headphones, to anticipate ending up hearing these clipping noises - in this regard, it is literally unlike virtually all other non-Focal headphones one might have experienced, and naturally unpredictable.
I still believe that IT IS NOT RIGHT to have it offered for sale, WITHOUT AN EXPLICIT FACTUAL DISCLAIMER, in order to enable a potential customer, in the process of purchasing, the so-called right of an ‘informed consent’ (again, for the good and for the bad, this experience seems to be unique to Focal - I have never had it with any other brand/model before, and it cannot be predicted by customers). Otherwise, we end up in a potentially unpleasant situation, which is a hassle for all involved - Focal as the manufacturer, Headphones.com as the dealer, and obviously some customers, for whom there is also a significant financial loss involved.
This review is motivated by a wish to inform those readers for whom these headphones might not be the right choice, so that they do not need to end up in a situation similar to the one I am in.
I have no doubt you are having some sort of issue with your setup, but I’m skeptical that the cause is a design limitation of your Focal Clear. There are many people, myself included, that listen to music through the Clear quite loud and with boosted bass without clipping.
The Focal rep’s reply doesn’t make much sense to me. “Most other brands use compression”. WAT? SPL increases linearly with amplifier output. Your perception of how loud it is might differ based on the headphone’s frequency response though. Maybe that is what they are referring to.
It could be your amplifier is clipping. Does it happen when you play the same song at a similar volume with the hip-dac set to high gain?
I don’t know if you bought them through headphones.com, but if you did the warranty still applies. I’m sure you can at least send them in for repair or possibly exchange them.
Hope this helps
Never had a issue with any focal clipping. You’d have to really crank it on a heavy, low bass track. Something like 2049 OST.
Same here, never a single instance of clipping, and I’ve driven them to pretty high levels with some slammin’ bass tracks. I have Schiit Lyr 3 and Jot 2, I have to set either to lo gain because the Clears are so efficient. Both amps are quite powerful, with gobs of peak output capability. Nonetheless, you want plenty of dynamic headroom for any headphone to sound its best. (Looking at you, DCA Aeons and Stealth)
I’m also inclined to think that either the amp is clipping, or the person got a defective pair of headphones. 
I concur with the other replies about this particular case being either another setup issue or defective headphones. I could force my old Elex to clip by turning the volume up far beyond listening volume on a bass-heavy track, but never ever have had my Clear clip.
Regarding Focal’s reply, their design does indeed better present or preserve dynamic range. What they mean is that other headphone designs often flatten dynamics so all sounds have about the same volume. I heard major differences with back-to-back comparisons of the Clear/Elex to all my Sennheiser (let alone Dan Clark) headphones. The volume differences between instruments seemed extreme with the Elex, and that’s one reason I upgraded to the Clear. The Utopia also generates large perceived dynamic differences.
Yes in OP’s case the Clears were tested and would not start clipping until they were over 100db which aligns with the disclaimer on our website on the Clear page.
(Originally a reply to AudioTool’s but also to those following it)
Thank you for your wish to help!
Yes, ‘compression’ is not the best way to describe headphones, though I guessed he just wanted to emphasize others’ more limited dynamic range vs. Focal’s.
The amp was not the source of the clipping.
I wish it were an issue with my setup but, as I wrote in the review, it is as simple as can be:
(Smartphone / Laptop ->) LOCAL FLAC (-> Poweramp / USB Player PRO App) → IFI HIP DAC → FOCAL CLEAR.
I did purchase it through Headphones.com and I did send them for testing (they had no proper measurement rig for the testing (being understaffed) at the time, so the readings were discolored to be not super consistent, and the testing was done through a comparison with a second pair of Clear).
The conclusion that was reached was that the unit was normal.
(“Both units got to clip under similar volume levels…
Both were subjected to the same iFi Hip Dac, test tracks and volumes and both were mirroring each other.
With xBass and PowerMatch, they clip at the same place, but the xBass on the iFi Hip Dac is a pretty noticeable bass EQ that is pushing the Clear headphones past their physical limit…
The volume and xBass especially is physically pushing the Clear past their physical limit…
The xBass was super consistent at getting the units to clip. Adding several db of a bass shelf without pre-amp compensation is probably by far the easiest way to push the drivers past its limits.
It seems like what you want to use with the Hip Dac settings will be incompatible with the Clears”.)
Hey Taron,
Thank you for replying… to Rhodey’s reply to my post.
I had sent you a much more softly written email, similar to this one in content, but I received no reply - nothing; now I try the forum.
It is good that there is explicit reference by Headphones.com to the clipping / cracking issue, as you pointed out, but where it was chosen to be placed - FAQ - makes it primarily an after sale explanation for those buyers who experience it already and actively scramble to understand what’s going on… THIS IS NOT A DISCLAIMER… An honest disclaimer is addressed to potential buyers who go through all the text of the product’s description, before placing the order, just like all other features and specifications of the model, and where also Headphones.com’s bold recommendation of it as the #1 Headphone under $1K is made sure to be seen (it is not accidental that a disclaimer is always placed at the opening of the text, not on the footnotes or FAQ for that matter).
Just as Headphones.com is amazing for enabling its employed professional reviewers to freely criticize headphones that are being sold on the very same platform - a choice that is, in a business world as ours, probably a rare one, making it even more appreciated, and makes me truly love your website and the way you do things, I, personally, believe that there is room for improvement in this case, as explained above… Yes, maybe a few less will choose to buy it, but those who will would be honestly informed, know what to expect, and most importantly be expected to be responsible for their choice, with Headphones.com otherwise great practices remaining untainted.
Which brings me to another problem of a somewhat similar nature… My submitted review of the Clear on the product’s purchasing page, and here in the forum, were initially not approved, with the valid explanation that it would be misleading in case the unit I received was defective… I submitted both anew after it was tested - thankfully, this time, it was approved here in the forum, but the product’s actual review on the product’s page was not, and it is needed there much more than here, if potential buyers are cared for - it is there that sales take place and reviews might be read before deciding to purchase (another review complaining about clipping at 90dB was approved but it gave more ‘stars’ than I did. I wonder how many other similar reviews have been censored to keep that perfect 5 star product review and to prevent the potential clipping issue standing in the way of sales). This obviously feels like anything but right and together with the ‘disclaimer’ placement, feels just bad.
No human and no business is or can be perfect… Mistakes are inevitable… Greatness is in being humbly open to their reflection and in the ongoing wish to improve… Both can be acknowledged and corrected - that is exactly what would make “We love audiophiles and audiophiles love us” a living felt experience, as I have truly innocently felt (and prevent it from becoming an empty marketing slogan).
It is still not too late (ever), and now is a good time…
I love what Headphones.com is all about and I want this feeling to stay (but I also care for fellow audiophiles and there shouldn’t be a contradiction between the two).
My review on the product’s page was just approved now, not before it was released together with a reply by Headphones.com, adding that:
"two key things missing from your review which may be misleading to people reading your review:
To that I wish to share:
I am not some internet troll (read the review I wrote about you on Trustpilot and on Google)… Whatever change I suggested to maybe improve is out of a good intention, Headphones.com’s in the long run included, independently of whether such a change is bottom line determined right or wrong, agreed to or not… You need not agree, but if you love audiophiles, be open to feedback and bother to respond.
It is still not too late… to suspend the reactive defense, to pause and to just contemplate the way this Headphones.com’s exclusive Clear is presented (and the rest that followed) - to feel… - How does it feel to point to the last FAQ and claim that “there is a disclaimer”? - Does it feel wholesome?.. How does it feel to address things only after they are made public? - Does it feel good?.. No time is as good as now.
I’m not going to weigh in on the rest of this, because it probably belongs in a private discussion, but this part benefits from some technical information.
I recently did some measurements on the Clear Mg that indicates the clipping threshold is somewhere between 105dB and 110dB (normalized at 1khz), with calibrated industry standard measurement equipment. The regular Clear behaves in much the same way, as the driver structure is essentially the same (just different material). This probably merits an additional video, but the regular Clear also shows normal behavior under 100dB.
‘Clipping’ is essentially just the driver excursion limit. You can see the effects of that as high order harmonic distortion (purple = 7th for example). Here’s a visualization of that:
To put it bluntly, these are highly dangerous listening levels. Prolonged exposure will cause serious hearing damage over a relatively short period of listening time (a few hours). Anyone listening at 110dB will also likely find that to be quite painful, although if the volume is gradually increased over time, this might not be felt as strongly. So be very careful with how long you listen and by how much you increase the volume.
Here’s the same headphone at much more normal listening levels (even slightly on the loud side). This level would only cause hearing damage if the listener were exposed to it over a long period of time, and should be considered still within the safe range. Notice, no high order harmonics showing up, and no clipping.
Now, the problem you’ve uncovered is that when you’re using the xBass function on certain iFi devices (at a certain volume level), that bass boost means you’re also reaching the driver excursion limit. It’s as if it’s being played at the 105 to 110dB (at 1khz) level, just only in the bass, which is where the excursion limit is going to show up. It’s bound to not be as painful, because it’s just the bass, so it might not be as noticeable for an overall volume increase as it would be if that same level was being played back over the rest of the frequency range.
This is also one of the key reasons why you have to be careful when EQing headphones, and there’s more information on that in this video here:
TL;DR - objective data verifies that these headphones clip at a particular threshold that’s far louder than humans should listen for prolonged periods of time (over 100dB at 1khz). However, when using any kind of adjustment to increase the bass, like using EQ, an analog function like xBass, or a high output impedance source, the volume threshold for clipping is bound to be much lower (at 1khz).
EDIT:
I found an old Focal Clear measurement at 95dB that I took before moving to the new studio, and sure enough it shows no clipping, but I’ll get another one in shortly and update this to find the exact threshold for it.
To frame the risks involved, permanent hearing damage can occur within minutes at these levels.
| Noise Source | Decibel Level (dB) | How long can you listen without protection? |
|---|---|---|
| Jet take off | 130 | 0 minutes |
| Ambulance siren | 109 | Less than 2 minutes |
| Personal music player at maximum volume | 106 | 3.75 minutes |
| Pop/Rock concert | 103 | 7.5 minutes |
| Riding a motorcycle | 97 | 30 minutes |
| Using an electric drill | 94 | 1 hour |
[Source] Decibels and Damage - HEARsmart
Also see the CDC and NIH for similar information and risk summary tables.
If this has been a regular listening practice, then hearing loss likely occurred long, long ago. I’ve also read that hearing damage increased with the rise of headphones and IEMs. One source said many people aged in their 20s today hear much like people aged in their 70s did in the past.
Under normal operating conditions, the Clear doesn’t clip until reaching listening thresholds that will damage human hearing; the disclaimer on the headphones.com website is sufficient enough in explaining this. If the user is then introducing EQ or an EQ function that boosts a frequency, that individual is then responsible for driving the headphone outside it’s normal operating specs; it’s not a fault in the headphone design or operation, but rather how it’s being used.
But I digress…
My Elex have clipped as described twice, both times due to an increase in volume when innattentively changing between sources with totally different output settings without reducing my amp volume level or muting. Thankfully neither time were they on my head, but I could still hear it from 4-5 feet away while scrambling for the knob. Not a volume at which I would ever intentionally listen. And no resulting damage, except to my pride.
The issue the previous user experienced is likely related to the use of the iFi HipDAC xBass function. To demonstrate this, let me show you what that function does. I’ve currently got an Elear that I’m testing for the clipping threshold, which is right at around 106dB (at 1khz) for this unit. Below 106dB it doesn’t clip at all, but as soon as I reach that it clips.
The test methodology for this was to use low frequency tones below 10hz, increase the volume until it clipped, and then run the sweep. Why 10hz and below? While that’s below human hearing, the driver excursion is going to be more significant the lower you go. This means that while you won’t hear those tones, the excursion limit will be reached at those tones first - and you’ll still hear the clipping once that threshold is reached.
Now the trick here is that the xBass function dramatically changes that threshold, since it boosts the bass, as mentioned earlier. Here’s the visualization that shows the clipping threshold for both the xBass on and off, so you get a sense of the relative volume differences.
So what might seem like normal listening levels for most of the FR (admittedly 93dB is still quite loud), it reaches the same threshold with the xBass function turned on as if it were being played at 106dB (at 1khz).
Now what’s very interesting about this is that the clipping goes away entirely as soon as you use tones above 23hz, which means the volume threshold within the audible band is higher. In order to incur the excursion limit at 23hz, I had to increase the volume to 109.4dB at 1khz. Of course, you can’t really control that in practice, but it’s still interesting to note.
I’ll test the Clear as well tomorrow, but for the Elear, the bottom line is that nobody should ever be listening so loud that they get clipping when no EQ or bass boost function is applied. With EQ or a bass boost function, however, (or a high output impedance source), you may run into issues depending on how significant the boost is in the ultra low frequencies. The xBass function on the HipDAC is just over 10dB of bass boost at the strongest end, which is an unadvisable adjustment to have on these headphones when played at loud volumes.
That amount of bass boost would seem inadvisable on any headphone. If the headphone seems to need that much boost, it can’t actually reproduce sound at those frequencies anyway. Just saying…
Thanks for your in depth analysis here, actual use cases with the Clear indicate clipping won’t/shouldn’t be an issue when “used as recommended” 
Any headphone can be driven to clipping through inadvertence if over-driven. You’ll damage or destroy the driver at that point if you continue.
Considering that these SPL levels are typically in dBA (A-weighted), the bass boost is apparently around +10dB, the bass is causing the clipping, and that it only takes a momentary peak above around 110dB for clipping to occur, is it a bit presumptive to conclude that @Saat is damaging their hearing? 
