Thanks for the reply. Right now I have them connected direct to my Apple IPhone until I get my Ayon Triton amp set up. I bought them from Headphones.com and because they were sold as “on sale” they won’t take them back. Do you think once I run it thru the amp things will be different?
Like vastly different, I should think. Right now you are plugging them into a headphone jack on an older iPhone? Stay with it – they will sound great once you get even the slightest bit more power behind them. The Clear is not hard to drive, but if you are running out of volume using the slider on your phone, more juice will take care of that.
But take care of your hearing!
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I’m hoping so…It’s a like a IPhone 15 Pro using a USB-C to 3.5mm to the Clears…the slider is maxed with little additional volume to be had.
On the subject of folks who wear hearing aids, any idea if it’s normal to remove them when listening with headphones on?
Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.
I don’t know, unfortunately, sorry. If I were to guess – and you should not rely on my guess – I would think that leaving hearing aids in is less common with over-ear headphones, but regardless, you should take care not to exceed safe listening levels – SPL at the eardrum is what matters (and I would not assume that diminished sensitivity makes any particular level more safe; the opposite could be true). It’s a very good question for your audiologist, and perhaps they have a Q&A portal you can use even if you don’t have an appointment. Good luck and enjoy the Clear!
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Just an update on the hearing aid question - Don’t wear hearing aids with headphones. Hearing aids are tuned primarily for speech, not music. It can also cause whistling, compression or distortion and feedback. This answer was via AI (ChatGPT). Sorry I should have researched before asking a question. Thanks!!
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You need an actual amp for them, night and day difference! What you’re trying now powering with iPhone is like trying to tow a good size boat or camper with a VW bug!
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Well said! I appreciate the feedback…TY
I ran my Clear Mg’s through an Audioquest Dragonfly Red , dismal. When I used my Naim Uniti Atom HE - night and day !!
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Hey Mike - Thanks for the input! My plan is to run the Clears through my Ayon Triton and CD player ultimately. The Naim Atom looks very interesting though.. Just starting the research on it now. Where do you recommend purchasing it from? Looks like they run 3800.
Michael
I’m in South Africa so not much use for shopping. It is a superb amp and so compact it’s literally a power cable an ethernet cable and headphones. I use it with Roon and Tidal but it will stream just about anything.
The marketing blurb reckns it’s matched to Focal Headphones indeed the Focal Powered By Naim shops use them to demo all their headphones
Hi Mike - Thank you.
AudioQuest DragonFly Red delivered very little power and had significant harmonic distortions even at normal listening levels, so no wonder it was night and day. But I wouldn’t say you need a $3800 Naim Focal-approved amp to power the Clears well. Anything in the range from the CrinEar Protocol dongle to the JDS Labs Element or Feliks Audio Elise (for tube lovers) should be sufficient.
I bought a Clear OG in the summer of 2025 and they’ve become the dark horse of my collection, the summer sleeper, pick your bad metaphor. With all of the planars I have around, here, they’re not the shiniest object, but they just do so many things right. I like to mix and match my small collection of DACS and amps and when an album isn’t clicking on other synergistic combos, 9/10 when I pull these guys out, they put a smile on my face. I’m learning to never count them out!
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Thanks for the input! I took your advice. Just placed my order for the JDS Labs Element IV. I’ll let you know how it works out….you ROCK!
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