Focal Elegia, new closed-back headphones from Focal!

They are going for $900 USD. So not horrible, I’m looking forward to hearing more about them, I need more closed backed headphones.

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I gave my son my AKG 550 mk2 headphones for gaming. But as usual he’s broken them within 3 months. Never again. So I don’t own any closed back headphones myself. Are you a big fan of closed backs or is it just that you have a need for them with regards isolation? And I know that you crave the HD820s.:grinning:

-Paul-

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More the need for isolation, I prefer open back for regular listening. With the new job I need to find good closed backs so I don’t annoy others in my space. The Cascades and Purple Hearts are currently there but they leak sound quite a bit(specifically the purple heart being semi open).

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but you have that mobius now dont you?

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We’ve got a pair coming to the office next week with our initial shipment, should be receive more very soon. It’s very hard to judge a pair of headphones at a show so it will be good to have them in a more controllable environment.

I will also most definitely be trying them out on Vancouver’s transit to test their isolation and sensitivity by driving them through a number of portable devices. We will definitely have much more elaborate impressions next week along with a few others.

Really excited for them though because they seem like one of the first actually portable (weight doesn’t kill you, easily driven) high-end closed-backs that I could see easily being end-game for a lot of people. As long as the sound is good when we get our hands on them.

Also, they only come with one cable but the cable is much, much shorter than what you get with the Elear and Utopia meaning that its actually manageable.

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Yes, but I picked that primarily for gaming… I may bring it into the office…maybe next week. I should do a review of it…

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I’m excited to learn more about these, I’ll be looking forward to hearing your guys impressions and opinions on isolation and sound.

I found a way to hit the limit with my Elex – as an academic exercise and to find out if it was a real world risk.

Song: “Why So Serious?” from The Dark Knight soundtrack
Position: around 3 mins and 30 seconds

I ran the Elex using with the Massdrop CTH. My standard listening position is about 8:30 to 9:00, and the drivers started clicking around 1:00 or 1:30. Test over. Issue not relevant to me…

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I bought my AEON Flow Closed just after the Focal closed announcement and just after the Massdrop X Mr.Speaker’s collaboration announcement. My purchase choice and timing was very conscious (as the other shoes had just dropped), and was based on available reviews of the AFC.

While I’m happy with the Elex, I personally wouldn’t want a second closed “Elex-ish” set of headphones. The Elear/Elex are physically large and heavy, and their audio profile is demanding/can exaggerate recording flaws. And so far, I’m extremely happy wrapped up in the precise buttery smoothness of the AFCs.

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Yea the driver excursion limit issue only seems to be caused by ~30Hz and lower and extremely loud volumes, or at least much louder than I care to listen to.

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Appreciate that mobile usage feedback. Thats how mine are always used.:blush:

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For better or worse I like my EDM right at 90 dB peaks an at an average of like 87ish dBs

Anything less than an hour of listening isn’t harmful and I usually don’t have a craving for that kind of audible experience for much more than 15-20 mins or so, that said I can usually get the drivers to clip pretty easily :confused: it also doesn’t help I’m eqing like +6-7 dBs around 40 mark [flat shelf] and eqing everything else down from there

I imagine the lows might get above 90 listening that way since everything else is de-emphasized so much

Still for my tastes a Focal would never be a good everything headphone just for that reason.

Non the less, I’m excited to see what @Torq has to say regarding how the Elegia compares to the HD820 an Eikon

You don’t have to wait on that … I posted a full review, with comparisons, a bit over a month ago.

There’s also a fairly healthy discussion, with several other users impressions, in the main discussion thread for the Elegia.

I’ve not read anything about the Elegia having the same driver-excursion limit as is observed (and acknowledged by Focal) in other Focal headphones . I’ve not been able to get them to exhibit that behavior myself. The driver design has some differences vs. the one used in the open-back models which may have eliminated it, or just make it require a lot more energy to trigger.

Either way, I would not personally go for the Elegia if I was going to use it with a lot of EDM style music, nor if I was a bass-head (closet, or otherwise). Unlike most closed-back cans, the Elegia does not have a big boost in its bass response - the tuning is more neutral, nor will it do slam like the better Fostex, Audeze, HiFiMAN models or even properly driven/setup HD8XX(S).

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@mshenay

I concur. When I’m in a bass-heavy mood I grab my Audeze LCD-2C these days. They provide easy and pleasant rumbling fun.

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Lol @Torq maybe forgets I have his old LCD 2, it is indeed my go to for bass heavy music!

But I’m happy to hear the drivers in this latest model, though neutral tuning is what I prefer in my bass heavy cans. In fact I like my HE 560 and HD 800 with EDM to, but I EQ down so as to get a “funner” sound

Nope, didn’t forget that you bought those!

I don’t keep track to know if you still had them though (I can barely keep track of my own gear).

At some point I’ll need to put the Elegia, AFC and LCD-2 Closed back to back. I’ll be doing that with the Elegia and the AFC in an upcoming review - which is likely about a week and a half out. Ahead of that, I can say that the AFC and Elegia are very different experiences.

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I don’t doubt it! Focals house sound differs from that of Mr Speakers, though Dans… headphones don’t really follow much of a house sound. At least not with the introduction of the Voche and Ether 2

Either way I liked the AFC and I’m curious how it to other stuff! Looking forward to that content when it’s ready

As for your LCD 2s I just got a 2K Copper cable from ZMF so I think I’m going to hang onto it for quite a while longer!

I know some people were asking about my Elegia EQ profile, so here’s the curve I’m working with right now. It’s always in the process of being refined slightly, so this isn’t definitive, just where I’m at with it right now.

The bass shelf isn’t necessary by any means if you’re not wearing glasses - but it might fit with a more common preference. Keep in mind that these are small intervals, so the amount of EQ is really subtle. I just find this brings it a bit closer to my preference. The treble shelf at 9khz could be introduced a bit lower down, but I’m a bit sensitive to the consonant range and the Elegia does that so well I don’t want to mess with it much.

Actual values
image

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Thanks! Can you post your actual (e.g. frequency, dB, Q) settings?

Updated for ya. You can obviously adjust more strongly with higher values in the lower treble, but that’s also more a matter of taste than ‘linearity’. It all depends what your ideal target is, and in my mind, this slight adjustment just normalizes the mids by contrast to the rest of the FR.

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