Over-Ear Open Headphones Reviews

Hi Tyll!

At first I would like to congratulate the review and wish you Merry Christmas!
I want ask you what u think about Focal Listen? I know that u like other models headphones Focal. In my opinion Focal Listen are really good headphones and are better than e.g. OPPO PM3 or cheaper Beyerdynamic DT150. Uff, this is revolution in portable sound and not only, because we can use Listen in home. They are easily to drive, sounds good... very good at this price... But still it's only my opinion. Can u talk me what u think about this model?

Best regards,
James

...Too small again for me though. I need at least a 40 mm X 70 mm opening.
I'm glad for for having my AKG K7XX, and Senn HD 600, and HD 380 Pro. I am not deprived at all. Nothing too wrong with the Amperior either.
I just wish everyone's fit could be addressed in these designs somehow.
AND I wish everyone here a Happy Christmas and Merry new Year!

Hi Tyll,

Could you let me know if I can get similar sound by putting the Clear pads on the Elear, or is it better to simply upgrade to the Clear?

Thanks in advance!

I've been a serious can guy for over a decade, Stax, Sennheiser, etc. I cannot get over how much I enjoy these Clears. They are so well balanced and the fit and quality is off the charts. They're an end game headphone for sure.

Honestly the target looks more like a DF tuning with a bass bump and treble shelf than your new target. It does have less 2-3kHz than DF though.

Here's a quick and dirty overlay between the Clear and your graph with the ID, DF and new targets:
https://i.imgur.com/bGwsQLf.jpg

And here's the same thing, but with the Harman target (different HATS, though). Harman target is similar to DF, but with a speaker target FR added:
https://i.imgur.com/DDMtoy1.jpg

Idk, but the midrange curve looks pretty similar to the DF tuning of Stax phones. At least on paper this looks like nothing new.

Color match to hair is obvious, who does color better than the French ?

Focal is ranging Color in their Loudspeakers too.

Arn't Aesthetics & ergonomics 'part and parcel' to "Luxury" ?

You're right, they're gorgeous and people will probably want to try them out, just based on appearances.

Even those Cables have that black/white repeating contrast that I see in the Five Star French Hotels like "The Mark" in NY,NY !

Geez, this stuff just keeps getting better.

21st Century Tony in Michigan

ps. Steve Guttenberg's YouTube is a "must", he's outdoing Herb Reichert & Paul McGowan at in-sighting.

Seems you're really enjoying them, aren't you Tyll?

Maybe isn't fair play due the price difference, but it would be great if you made a quick comparison between these and the LCD-2C.

As much as I really like what Audeze did for the price, I'm now tempted with the Clears... But the bass response, highs spikes taming and soundstage size are my main concerns, the LCD-2C simply nails it in those regards!

I ask because while it's nice knowing you can finally "unreservedly recommend" a $1000+ headphone, $1500 is still going to be a stretch for me. At $800, though, the Elex would be a good step up. I've never paid more than $400 or so for a headphone (the Oppo PM-3, and I bought the Sennheiser HD 650 for a hundred or so off at the time of purchase), so that would still be a step up to be sure -- although I guess the MrSpeakers Aeon would be the competition at that price point. Anyway, appreciate all you do!

Excellent review and spot on in all regards. This one is special.

Good to know there is a > kilobucks headphone without major flaws that earns the ticket without reservations!
I like them visually, but I don't like the light grey color scheme. Honestly it's too cold. Do you know if they will come out with a more appealing black version in the near future?
Thanks!

Tyll, I appreciate your efforts in creating this and other reviews. I can only imagine how much work is involved.
If I were to eat ramen for months and save up for this headphone and an amp, what amp do you recommend pairing this headphone with?

Forgive the probably noob-ish question, but why isn't the Clear a good match for high output impedance tube amps? And what constitutes "high" output impedance? I ask because I have a tube am, and I'm considering this headphone.

I agree 100% with you, the Clears are something special.
However, a few nitpicks:
- I would like more room on the earpads, something like 70x50 mm instead of 60x50mm.
- A tad less midbass (to prevent the slight bleed into the mids), and a bit smoother treble, to get a more "even, liquid" sound.
- A bigger soundstage, the Clears (and also Elear and Utopia) have a small soundstage to my tastes.

That would make them just perfect for me.

I wonder whether Tyll can add numerical rating to his reviews. I think that will be even more representative and useful for people.

Something like, bass is 4.5, highs are 4.0, comfort is fantastic (5.0) etc...

Thank You.

Tyll,

which of these cans would you recommend for an audio professional that needs a reference pair of cans to mix / master on? Which of these cans expose flaws better in a piece of music?

The reason I'm comparing to the Aeon Closed is because in the Aeon Closed review you said "With a sound straight down the middle, both audio enthusiasts and professionals will find themselves pleased as punch with this high-value audio transducer. Tonal balance and transient response are extraordinary; imaging is very good for a sealed headphone; only some roughness and slight dynamic compression belie the fact that this is a sealed headphone and isn't going to deliver the finess, smoothness, and liquidity of some open headphones."

Thanks.

why just pull off the Stax 009? it stays there too long

Before you rip headphones off the wall, keep in mind that some headphones such as the HD800S play nice with a variety of amps.

Hi Tyll,

I appreciate your reviews. Based on your impression of the Elear I bought this can in March but missing a little bit clarity. Now I am very excited about your opinion of the Clear. I also owned and own Sennheiser HD6XX(S) and in my opinion the Elear is suoerior to them already. So on Head-Fi I found measurements comparing the Clear with all these and now the Massdrop Elex has been measured and compared with the Clear.

The Elex and Clear seem to be twins in their freqzency responses. The Elex with a little bit more energy above 10k and the Clear with a few dB more bass under 40Hz (should not be a big deal).

Ok, to shorten this...
Will you compare both directly, the Elex and the Clear?

Here is the link to the measurements
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/massdrop-x-focal-elex-review-measurement...

Best regards
Mark

really been pulled off

Still seeing a significant trough in the 6-8kHz region

Hi Tyll!

Great review as usual. I would be interested in your thoughts on the Sonarworks Reference 4 Systemwide calibration of the Focal Elear and how that compares to the stock Focal Clear. I have the Elear and the stock frequency response is not ideal IMO. Reference 4 Systemwide improves that greatly IMO. As the Clear is very neutral, I wonder how much technical or musicality improvements there are over the Elear once the frequency response issues are resolved (assuming Sonarworks in fact does that for the Elear. You would know more than me). Thanks!

You know what? I have been having beyerdynamics mmx300 gaming headphones (needed microphone with headphones) for 2 years and Focal Clear that u got a few days ago. I immediately felt the lack of midrange and bass which made me really upset! A few hours ago i put on mmx300 while gaming and after the game i put on my music and.... WOW! Here is my bass and my midrange... 300 dollar headphone just gives way more pleasure to listen with! Yes it may not have the clarity of Clear, less soundstage and less dynamics in a way blablabla... But hey, why the f... do i need Clear if i cant listen to music with appropriate bass that im supposed to listen by the musician who made music itself?! Jesus, im so confused! MMX300 is a closed headphone and man... let it be closed if the nature of closed headphones provides with such a deep tight bass comparing to more clear and detailed sound of an open headphone! For Jazz and Classic maybe great but for Electronic, Ambient, Psychill, Pop, Rap... any music that bass is involved.. stay away guys! Only closed headphones!

I'm using this headphones for 3 days and here what you guys should know!
Its true its so sharp and detailed. The highs are so super sharp... and Clear lacks bass. Its like you turn off bass and push the highs to the limit. After 1 hour you really can get tired cause its so fatiguing. 99% of people want to listen comfortably and long, not monitoring all the things going on. No open headphones have bass. They all lack it. For classical music, vocals, jazz its super but for music where u have bass... u dont have it. I dont need 2-3 headphones im not a sound freak. All focals lack bass. $4.000 utopia lacks bass too. Get closed headphones. The best ive heard was Fostex th900 mk2.

I ran a returnable set of Clears on my Oppo HA-1 dac/amp for 2 days and though impressed with the dynamics I was not impressed with the narrowness of sound stage, nor the way these felt on my head. I purchased them as a companion to my old HD800's, so the setting for me acoustically was biased towards very wide and deep sound stage. I listen to all sorts of music, but the binaural beat meditation music I dwell on at times (J.S. Epperson is a favorite composer) is shortchanged by the Clears. I knew the sound stage would be narrower, but it is just too narrow to get the full effect of all the acoustic mind bending and galactic space that the best meditation music does.
The real deal killer for was that these cans just felt annoying on the head and jaw. I found that almost immediately after donning them my jaw and neck would start to tighten up. The ear cups are too small and the foam pads too thin - the result is that the pads press into the tissue enough to be very annoying. I was distractedly tense from this the moment I put them on. It wasn't a matter of this being a problem with the long listening sessions. I began to suspect as well that these pressures were actually deforming my ear canal enough to affect listening. It was not an effect of caliper pressure though – it was just a combination of weight and cup size. The 800's are sublimely forgiving in this area, so having that old workhorse there to remind me of that just made me all the more irritated with the Clears.

I was impressed with how the Clears handled vocals. Diana Krall "Live in Paris" showed me a little more detail than the HD800's, but every time the audience applauded it sounded like a tin can full of pebbles, and there just wasn't the sense of the performance taking place in a "hall" which the 800's do so well.
Greg Brown's "One More Goodnight Kiss" album on the Clears again had more forward and delineated vocals than the 800's, and the instruments were somewhat snappier and better delineated, but here again that Greg brown romantic space with a tad of acoustic reflection always present making you feel his cosmic cowboyness was just not there with the Clears.
I am not the kind of buyer who likes to return things. Returning the admittedly pretty and elegant looking Clears was like saying sayonara to a beautiful woman with halitosis. I want to like you honey, but I can’t put up with you day in day out.

I ran a returnable set of Clears on my Oppo HA-1 dac/amp for 2 days and though impressed with the dynamics I was not impressed with the narrowness of sound stage, nor the way these felt on my head. I purchased them as a companion to my old HD800's, so the setting for me acoustically was biased towards very wide and deep sound stage. I listen to all sorts of music, but the mostly FLAC binaural beat meditation music I dwell on at times (J.S. Epperson is a favorite composer) is shortchanged by the Clears. I knew the sound stage would be narrower, but it is just too narrow to get the full effect of all the acoustic mind bending and galactic space that the best meditation music does.
The real deal killer for was that these cans just felt annoying on the head and jaw. I found that almost immediately after donning them my jaw and neck would start to tighten up. The ear cups are too small and the foam pads too thin - the result is that the pads press into the tissue enough to be very annoying. I was distractedly tense from this the moment I put them on. It wasn't a matter of this being a problem with the long listening sessions. I began to suspect as well that these pressures were actually deforming my ear canal enough to affect listening. It was not an effect of caliper pressure though – it was just a combination of weight and cup size. The 800's are sublimely forgiving in this area, so having that old workhorse there to remind me of that just made me all the more irritated with the Clears.

I was impressed with how the Clears handled vocals. Diana Krall "Live in Paris" showed me a little more detail than the HD800's, but every time the audience applauded it sounded like a tin can full of pebbles, and there just wasn't the sense of the performance taking place in a "hall" which the 800's do so well.
Greg Brown's "One More Goodnight Kiss" album on the Clears again had more forward and delineated vocals than the 800's, and the instruments were somewhat snappier and better delineated, but here again that Greg Brown romantic space with a tad of acoustic reflection always present making you feel his cosmic hitchiking was just not there with the Clears.
I am not the kind of buyer who likes to return things. Returning the admittedly pretty and elegant looking Clears was like saying sayonara to a beautiful woman with halitosis. I want to like you honey, but I can’t put up with you until that business with the breath gets resolved.

Focal strikes me as a company with very honorable intentions but without the venerable headphone knowledge base that outfits like Sennheiser has. Focal is getting a lot of it right, but not yet enough right for me anyway.