betty boop Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 38 minutes ago, deafenears said: Congrats, if I were your daughter, I'd ask for a swap! haha ha ha ! 12 minutes ago, Martykt said: Definite short end of the stick !! Nothing wrong with borrowing Daddy's headphones is there ?? quite possibly going to happen I imagine 1
Martykt Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 1 hour ago, zxSwifty said: I don't believe there's a sound difference, I didn't look for one. I got the custom cable because the stock one is terribly stiff and breaks from feqeuent use. Thank you. The stock cable does seem to sound pretty good for a stock cable. Personally I haven't found the stiffness an issue for me. Did you have a set fail on you?
Swifty Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 11 minutes ago, Martykt said: Thank you. The stock cable does seem to sound pretty good for a stock cable. Personally I haven't found the stiffness an issue for me. Did you have a set fail on you? Yes, I had the stellia cable fail on me after about 3 weeks of use. Also bought someone's elegias and their cable failed on them too. 1
Bengineer Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 3 minutes ago, zxSwifty said: Yes, I had the stellia cable fail on me after about 3 weeks of use. Also bought someone's elegias and their cable failed on them too. The Elegia I bought had a cable fail too. 1
Martykt Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, betty boop said: Thanks Marty, yes have found the pairing VERY NATURAL. been listing most of afternoon into evening. These aren't bass monsters or over the top in treble or pushing in the mid range or anything. Clean detailed, expansive.... am quite impressed with the sound stage and detail in ability to place sound across the stage.What is pretty impressive is how composed they stay at different volume levels. not falling apart or going ragged at edges. my context is vs open headphones mainly owned over the years. first closed back of this sort of level have owned and doing very well have to say. I'll let them settle in then do some comparisons down track with the grado and senn open backs... Your impressions are very much in keeping with my findings. I also like how their not fussed about lesser quality recordings and let you get on and enjoy the music. No they're not bass monsters but the bass will improve as they run in and isn't a deal breaker for me. One slight disappointment with the SP1000 is despite looking quite impressive the inbuilt EQ seems to degrade the sound slightly and I found it preferable turned off. At the moment I'm streaming through Amazon Music Unlimited and am using the EQ in that to give the bass a very slight bump for music that needs more bass. Edited August 14, 2020 by Martykt
gwurb Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 My original Elegia cable is going strong. Maybe different batches have different quality? Congrats @betty boop. I love that colour. I couldn't justify the cost of Stellia so I have Elegia. Every time I put on my travel headphones I get a rude awakening. Elegia spoil me. I am sure Stellia takes it up a level or two. 2
BadSneakers83 Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 3 hours ago, Bengineer said: The Elegia I bought had a cable fail too. Yep, my Elegia cable failed too. A good mate had the same thing happen. Those cables are hot garbage. The ones Focal has replaced them with (the same black cable that came with my Clear Pro) is much, much better.
betty boop Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 32 minutes ago, gwurb said: Congrats @betty boop. I love that colour. I couldn't justify the cost of Stellia so I have Elegia. Every time I put on my travel headphones I get a rude awakening. Elegia spoil me. I am sure Stellia takes it up a level or two. thanks gwurb, focal do make these very nice ! definitely of the spoiling material yeah am quite taken by the colour combo on these .. .beats the standard black ! "chocolate" focal call it
gwurb Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 20 minutes ago, BadSneakers83 said: Yep, my Elegia cable failed too. A good mate had the same thing happen. Those cables are hot garbage. The ones Focal has replaced them with (the same black cable that came with my Clear Pro) is much, much better. Should I be hoping that my cable fails so I get a better replacement?
BadSneakers83 Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 40 minutes ago, gwurb said: Should I be hoping that my cable fails so I get a better replacement? Hah! Yeah, maybe! ATA were brilliant about quickly sending out a replacement. No questions asked.
deafenears Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 9 hours ago, betty boop said: "chocolate" focal call it "Full-grain leather, cognac and mocha finishes", get it right!
betty boop Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 1 minute ago, deafenears said: "Full-grain leather, cognac and mocha finishes", get it right! hahaha ... "Stellia Headphone - Chocolat" actually what it says on the external box 1
deafenears Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 9 minutes ago, betty boop said: hahaha ... "Stellia Headphone - Chocolat" actually what it says on the external box Ah, didn't notice that. I guess I was too excited when I got mine that I just too it out and packed away the box. Thanks for the correction. https://www.focal.com/headphones/stellia/ is where I got the cognac and mocha, and many mentions on it on other forums. FWIW. 1
betty boop Posted August 14, 2020 Posted August 14, 2020 33 minutes ago, deafenears said: Ah, didn't notice that. I guess I was too excited when I got mine that I just too it out and packed away the box. Thanks for the correction. https://www.focal.com/headphones/stellia/ is where I got the cognac and mocha, and many mentions on it on other forums. FWIW. I like both....
Esoterica Posted August 15, 2020 Posted August 15, 2020 9 hours ago, BadSneakers83 said: Hah! Yeah, maybe! ATA were brilliant about quickly sending out a replacement. No questions asked. Hmm, glad you had a good experience. I had quite a fight getting them to reimburse me for return shipping and insurance, for a faulty product I had to send back. I was sick of going back and forth, so settled on them reimbursing the postage cost only. I’m out of pocket $10 which I can live with. I didn’t spend anything on fuel etc to visit one of their stores afterall.
SenorToucan Posted August 15, 2020 Posted August 15, 2020 Was thinking of picking up the Elex in the next Drop shipment but the recent earpads debacle is causing some hesitation. Does anyone know of some good third-party replacements?
mugwampjism Posted August 16, 2020 Posted August 16, 2020 8 hours ago, SenorToucan said: Was thinking of picking up the Elex in the next Drop shipment but the recent earpads debacle is causing some hesitation. Does anyone know of some good third-party replacements? I believe the pads are what makes Elex Elex. If they can't reproduce them faithfully then the sound will be different. I wonder if Dekoni pads and some plasti-dip on the chrome would see you right? Dekoni is the best replacement generally, don't know specifically for Elex though.. Otherwise maybe Elegia pads from Focal would be the go, if the drop efforts fall short. I feel that the true Elex ship has sailed. A NOS pair would be ideal. There is a post somewhere online where someone pad rolls between all the focal lineup. quite interesting reading. If you had the money, and were so inclined, you could develop your Focal headphones to suit your tastes quite well. I'll look for it hold on.. Here 'tis!
Munce31 Posted August 17, 2020 Posted August 17, 2020 Just picked up some Focal Clears from a forum member. Overall impression is excellent: great impact and clear (excuse the pun) airy sound. 3
mugwampjism Posted August 17, 2020 Posted August 17, 2020 8 hours ago, Munce31 said: excuse the pun I think that is no pun, that is Focal's bold contention! 1
BadSneakers83 Posted August 17, 2020 Posted August 17, 2020 9 hours ago, Munce31 said: Just picked up some Focal Clears from a forum member. Overall impression is excellent: great impact and clear (excuse the pun) airy sound. Enjoy. I’ve got the Clear Pro. I found that they really improved after 50-100 hours as well. I have mates with the Utopia, and while the Clear doesn’t have their insane resolution, it gets quite a way there for a pretty huge discount. What are you driving them with? I’m using a Chord Qutest into a Schiit Jotunheim. It’s an unbelievably clean and three dimensional experience.
mugwampjism Posted August 17, 2020 Posted August 17, 2020 What are the Clear like from your worst source? From your phone or computer etc on Spotify? Still mostly good?
BadSneakers83 Posted August 17, 2020 Posted August 17, 2020 Good question. I haven’t tried them on anything else. I might give that a go tonight.
Munce31 Posted August 18, 2020 Posted August 18, 2020 10 hours ago, BadSneakers83 said: Enjoy. I’ve got the Clear Pro. Whats the difference between the Clear and Clear Pro? Is it just the colour? 10 hours ago, BadSneakers83 said: I found that they really improved after 50-100 hours as well. I've been actually doing the same for most of yesterday and today but running music through them continuously. 10 hours ago, BadSneakers83 said: What are you driving them with? I'm driving them with a Topping A90. The source is a Matrix Audio X-Sabre Pro MQA(couldn't care less about that) DAC. I'm getting the same results - clean and positional audio is well represented. The A90 seems to be adequately powered. However, I'm tempted to buy a Schiit Ragnarok 2 (thinking of driving bookshelf speakers down the line), which should have an immense amount of power and electrical dampening.
BadSneakers83 Posted August 18, 2020 Posted August 18, 2020 As far as I know there’s no difference. The Clear Pro comes with different cables and looks different. It’s the same headphone with the same drivers.
mbd Posted August 19, 2020 Posted August 19, 2020 (edited) I've just agreed to buy some Focal headphones, and I'd like to get a balanced 2.5mm TRRS to dual mono 3.5mm cable to connect them into an A&K DAP. I've spent a good hour or two hunting around the Internet (and in these forums), and can see a range of options from eBay, to Meze, to Moon. Just thought I'd check if there's possibly a local (Melbourne, or if not Melbourne, Australian based) business that I could support instead, and possibly have the added benefit of not needing to rely on overseas shipping delays? I'm not fussed between a custom made cable vs a pre-made one. Unsure that my old-ish ears would detect the difference between wire made out of unobtanium vs other more earthly metals. But also not interested in false economy. Open to suggestions . * And obviously upon posting the above, I almost immediately found another potential option from this Australian based-eBay seller: Would love to know if the rough $100 cost on these seems reasonable?: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Custom-Headphone-Cable-Focal-Elex-Hifiman-Ananda-Arya-3-5mm-Basic-Balanced-XLR/392818020612 Edited August 19, 2020 by mbd
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