I was looking for leather ear pads for my Focal Elegia. The original ear pads are expensive on the one hand, and on the other hand the material is not very resistant to impurities, especially in summer when you sweat. On my AKG K701, leather ear pads have proven to be the way to go in summer.
Recently I came across an interesting article on a German website https://www.miniklangwunder.de/kopfhoerer/dynamisch/focal-pad-wechsel-2021-elegia-celestee-und-clear-pro-interessante-ebeispiele/. Since I own both Focal Elegia and Focal Clear, I found the tester’s experiances interesting. Another plus was that I could buy the ear pads directly in Germany.
Before I describe my impressions with the DEKONI Limited Edition Focal Stellia Ear Pads, I would like to describe how I feel about the Elegia in its original configuration.
The Elegia shines more through its technical performances than through its overall tonality. I personally find the tonality to be average, with the tendency to reproduce voices nasally. The tonality can easily be described as slightly potty with reduced bass intensity. Nothing really bad but nothing to write home about. On the technical side, there are a lot more positive things to tell. For a closed headphone, the Elegia has a beautiful open sound. The stage is not very wide, but the instruments are easy to locate. The bass has a lot of attack. The overall macro dynamics are very good. Detail reproduction is good to very good in all areas. Last but not least, the Elegia can be easily adjusted in terms of tonality with a little use of an equalizer and is then presents itself a similar way to a Focal Clear. Below is my current EQ profile, which I also use in my RME ADI-2 DAC. Unlike in my older profiles, I am now of the opinion that fewer filters is more.
(EQ APO version)
Preamp: -6 dB
Filter 2: ON LSC Fc 75 Hz Gain 5 dB Q 0.5
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 350 Hz Gain -2.2 dB Q 0.8
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 1800 Hz Gain -2 dB Q 3
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 2161 Hz Gain 3.8 dB Q 3.8
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 4170 Hz Gain 6 dB Q 2.82
Now to the DEKONI Limited Edition Focal Stellia Ear Pads. The ear pads come in a sturdy cardboard box that is closed with magnets. As far as I can tell, they are superbly processed. And, very important, they only smell like new leather. I’ve experianced that differently, with other brands. Some leather pads really stank and had to spend two weeks in the fresh air before using them. Here it is unpack, assemble, listen.
The inner dimensions of the pads are a bit smaller than the original pads. I measure 55mm in height and 48mm in width. The original Focal pads are 65mm high and 50mm wide. Anyone who has problems with the original pads will not be happy here. What I also noticed is that the pads are not made entirely of leather. They have a fabric zone at the inner side facing the transducers. This strip of fabric takes up about 40% of the height of the pad. The assembly of the pads is easy. Remove the original pads, attach new pads and off you go.
The first impression is. WOW that’s bass and hey, the problems with the nasal, slightly potty tonality is also largely disappeared. The Elegia immediately gets a darker, bass-heavy sound. For my personal taste it is at times too much of bass. Voices also sound better than they do with the original pads. Still, I’m missing something. More on that later. Nevertheless. For the first time I would recommend the Elegia without EQ. It’s really fun to listen to music like that.
But now in detail:
Comfort:
As mentioned earlier, larger ears can cause problems as the space inside has shrunk. The pads are a little thicker and a little stiffer. This means that the headphones apply a little more clamping force overall. I don’t like it that much because I have become very sensitive on the left side of my head after a surgery. But I can still take it. I think most people don’t have a problem with that. One advantage of the pads is a perfect seal. Noise from outside is keped out far more than with the original pads.
Bass:
As already mentioned, the pads give the Elegia a significantly higher bass presence. The precision and the slam are retained. Unfortunately, the bass bleeds a little in the middle tones. Here the Elegia remains true to itself. This is nothing dramatic, but I would set an EQ in the 350Hz range, as with the original pads, in order to achieve a better separation of bass and mids.
Midrange:
The mids are good and there is little to complain about compared to the original pads. The nasal is largely gone and gives way to a velvety voice presentation. In the range above 2kHz, the Elegia with the DEKONI pads behaves similarly to the original ones. It’s taken back, but benefits from the fact that it has a little more energy in the upper mids than with the originals.
Trebble:
There is little to report here. With the DEKONI pads, the Elegia has sufficient energy in the high frequency range. It doesn’t sound overemphasized, but neither does it sound withdrawn. It is nice that there is no tendency to simbilants. The “focal glare” is also not noticable to me.
Technical performance:
Here comes the only downside that I can attest to the pads. Where is my stage? If the Elegia sounded more like open headphones with the original pads, the stage is noticeably limited with the DEKONI pads. Too bad if he kept his stage I would say that the pads are perfect. Don’t get me wrong there is stage, but is is not as wide as it was bevore. The rest of the technical performance of the Elegia is still there. Macro dynamics, position and locatability of the instruments on the stage, everything available in the usual measure or a little better than with the original pads. The position on the shrunken stage is very precisely and I think I hear a little more details. The depth of the stage is definitely better than with the original pads.
Conclusion:
The DEKONI Limited Edition Focal Stellia Ear Pads are a great alternative to the original pads. Anyone looking for a Celestee or a Radiance should consider these pads. Likewise, if you want to play around with the tonality of the Elegia consider this too.
I am seriously considering getting a second pair in order to have a replacement in the future.