Nice review! What I found interesting is the pads on your Elex look really nice and full like the Clear, whereas my Elex from last year had less padding material than my new Clear Pro. I swapped the Clear pads onto the Elex recently, and that made the treble air better than I was expecting. I then put the more compressed Elex pads on the Clear, and there was a reduction in treble air as well. I didn’t know the pads could make this difference, but I suppose it’s not too surprising. It would be interesting to see measurements of swapping pads between the two. Overall though, I still prefer the extra air of the Clear even with the pad swap. I’m with @generic in that I do hear some glare and resonance with some songs and instruments, yet with less air than the Clear. But like you said, unit variance and pad condition are possible factors.
In your view, is the improvement in Focal Elex from a newer run of headphones, or is it a quality control thing?
So, I don’t want to be spreading rumours or anything - because I simply don’t know this to be true - but someone mentioned that when they had to RMA their Elex, the one they got in return came in a Focal box, rather than a Massdrop one. Maybe this indicates some SKU variation, or maybe a different run, I’m not sure. Keep in mind, unit variation can happen for a multitude of reasons, not least of which is material differences for pads. So really, your guess is as good as mine on this.
It occurs to me that the Elex and Clear (and Elear with Clear pads) are a rare opportunity to blind compare headphones. Has anyone done this?
Over the next few days I’m sight-comparing my Elex (purchased 2018), my Clear (purchased 2020), and the Utopia (loaner 2020). They are different. Findings preview:
- Utopia extends from relatively deep bass to high treble, and the background is very black. Nuance master. Its main issue is piercing treble and glare with female voices, brass, and lead guitar. EQ or tubes essential for extended use, as it is fatiguing for me with multiple solid state amps.
- Clear cuts off the top and low ends relative to Utopia and ‘grays out’ the definition. There’s a bit of grain/texture to everything, and it sometimes elevates background ‘air’ frequencies vs. anything else I own. However, it’s easily the lowest fatigue option of the three and only rarely becomes piercing.
- Elex couples the piercing treble and glare of the Utopia with worse grain than the Clear. I respectfully but strongly disagree with @Resolve in saying it’s 99% of the Clear. My Elex, no. Simply no. Testing today made me want to sell the Elex outright. It lasted for 10 minutes on my head. Will check again later with other amps.
I’m honestly wondering if you received a silent upgrade to the Elex or a mis-labeled Clear (e.g., wrong drivers in the chassis). My Elex, many other Elex reviews, and my demo of the Elear were quite unlike the Clear.
It’s definitely not the Clear drivers. This is the same 80 ohm driver that’s in the other Elex’s and Elears. But I do think there’s unit variation and some differences with the pads. Because the first one I evaluated was a lot like what you’ve described.
The differences between Clear and Elex pads are major. Clear pads are much more plush giving you a sense of a thicker material pressing against your head. More mid bass presence. Elex pads are also wonderful for different reasons. Less of a bottom end emphasis in favor of the treble opening up. The two units I have are separate worlds of tuning not sounding at all like the other. Certain amps really accentuate the ways the drivers can spring to life. It’d be difficult to let either go being honest.
Yeah maybe they did change something with the pads, because this one I have here measures almost identically to the Clear as well - with a few exceptions I mentioned in the review.
Following my recent back-to-back testing, I find it very hard to believe this follows from the pads alone. My Elex has random, piercing treble (especially on single-ended). Icepicks in the ear piercing. For tolerable use I must put it on a tube amp or (per use with SS amps) aggressively turn down treble and/or upper mid range via EQ. My ears are quite sensitive in the 12K to 13K range, so YMMV. I don’t always hear a specific tone per se, but routinely feel very uncomfortable pain sensations or hiss with >8K noise.
My Clear has a very hard time being piercing on any amp (again, single-ended are worse) – its potential issues include grain, edginess, flat dynamics, and fuzziness rather than icepicks. The issues are the opposite of the Elex, and as if the drivers flex too much or move randomly with dirty input.
My Elex is very dynamic and tuned more like the Utopia than the Clear, but with much less precise control than either the Utopia or Clear. Some time back I concluded the Elex drivers sounded physically ‘heavier’ than the Clear drivers. Once they start moving they don’t stop, and they tend to collapse treble frequencies into narrow bands.
They were extremely metallic for the first 20-30 hours (search old posts on this site), and still retain a trumpet-like character with similar overtones. Furthermore, the volume differences between s-o-f-t and L-O-U-D sounds were comical at first. Compare this to the snapping feel of pushing on the ‘pop-up’ vacuum safety top on a jar – with a little electrical input the Elex generated little sound and then with more input they suddenly generated a lot of sound. My Clear was never remotely like this.
Perhaps Focal reduced the moving mass or stiffness of the Elex drivers but kept the same coil and electrical properties?
Ugh these silent revisions like the Hifiman Sundara are super annoying. Frankly I don’t know why any update to a headphone wouldn’t be made well known unless it is a cost savings measure.
This is a perfect example of why I’m so interested in comparing the measurements using the same Gras unit from oratory1990, headphones.com, Crinacle, etc. It’s the only way to any insight to silent revisions. And even if there aren’t revisions in a headphone the level of unit variation should be a consideration before purchasing, whether you are subjectivist or objectivist.
While there is a difference in the voice coil (maybe this has an effect), with regards to the piercing treble, it’s actually amazing how much of a difference pads can make. The other explanation is definitely unit variation, because this unit I have here is actually slightly more smooth in the lower treble than the Clear, even though they both show the same issues at 6khz and 8khz.
It could also be due to hearing differences, anatomy, or even tolerances to different peaks or hz lol … but also unit variance 
You know darn well everyone hears everything the same 100% of the time!
The latter is absolutely possible - although, the peaks on these two were in exactly the same spot. It could be that he has a unicorn Clear, or this is a unicorn Elex (or the opposite haha).
Hearing differences became a key take-away from my Utopia loaner demo. I’ll write a review, but also work on a test method proposal. It’ll build on perception research of just noticeable differences (JNDs). This research method is 100+ years old and literally spans the gap between objectivity and subjectivity. So much data and so many methods are there for the taking. It’s old hat.
Standard audio charts and test rig performance is but a fraction of the story. Valid perception data requires calibration to the potential and discriminatory capabilities of a given person with a specific set of equipment. As we know, hardware ‘synergy’ does matter. JNDs are a direct way to quantify how and why.
I was mostly joking haha.
Yeah, sorry that was a bit of a inside joke poke @Resolve we have these discussions every so often ha!
Wow, things got a little emotional here. 
My Elex sounds like what Resolve described and it’s over a year old. If it sounded like what generic described, I would have sent it back for a refund. There are many people who think the Clear and Elex sound a lot alike, and also many who say they don’t. Tis the world of audio reproduction I suppose. As I always say, to each their own.
If there’s anyone in Arizona that would like to get together and do a blind comparison of the Elex and Clear, let me know. I have the Clear, so all of the risk is on my side. But I’m willing to make the sacrifice for science.
Just DM me
That’s a really great idea and righteousness offer. Wish I lived near ya!
It’ll be fun. I’m a very curious person.