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Focal Clear Professional Review

Rate this headphone:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 51 25.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 97 48.3%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 29 14.4%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 24 11.9%

  • Total voters
    201

Hubentus

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AFAIK it is hitting the chassis/magnet, so basically hard clipping on one side of the signal.
The suspension is very supple so large excursions (lowest frequencies) can easily occur. There seems to be some product tolerances as well or people are driving it louder than they think they are.
There's definitely some people driving them to high volume! It must be a feature of the headphone community.
 

solderdude

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People are sometimes easily hitting >115 dB peaks (in the bass) without realizing it.
116dB SPL is reached even when driving it from a phone (1V).
Amir noticed the clipping at 114dB already.
Boosting the low bass will get you there quickly. I don't think it needs much bass boost anyway.
 

Hubentus

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People are sometimes easily hitting >115 dB peaks (in the bass) without realizing it.
116dB SPL is reached even when driving it from a phone (1V).
Amir noticed the clipping at 114dB already.
Boosting the low bass will get you there quickly. I don't think it needs much bass boost anyway.
I'm not sure how this works in practice. I listen to the Clears at about -20dB on a Topping DX5 at Lo Gain thru APO/PEACE and Windows sound mixer at 100%. If I put on a track with torture testing sub bass I don't turn up the volume to try and blast the headphones. So if my normal SPL is about 80-85dB with full spectrum music, then I do the same with the sub bass tracks mentioned on these forums. So how would I get to 115dB?
 

solderdude

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I'm not sure how this works in practice. I listen to the Clears at about -20dB on a Topping DX5 at Lo Gain thru APO/PEACE and Windows sound mixer at 100%. If I put on a track with torture testing sub bass I don't turn up the volume to try and blast the headphones. So if my normal SPL is about 80-85dB with full spectrum music, then I do the same with the sub bass tracks mentioned on these forums. So how would I get to 115dB?

Topping DX5 0dBFS is 8.5V in the bass for Clear.
At -20dB it will reach 0.85V = 114.5dB peaks.
 
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Hubentus

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Topping DX5 0dBFS is 8.5V in the bass for Clear.
At -20dB it will reach 0.85V = 114.5dB peaks.
So it looks like you are reaching at least 114dB peaks without realizing it.
Thanks for your replies. Is that Lo Gain on Topping DX5?
 

solderdude

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Low gain = 2.1V out max. so at -20dB in low gain mode peak SPL is 102dB
 

solderdude

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Just realized SE and balanced is the same output... XLR is for convenience only.
 

Hubentus

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Low gain = 2.1V out max. so at -20dB in low gain mode peak SPL is 102dB
Thanks for that. I also realised that much of my listening is with Windows sound mixer at around 75% as well. So that's Topping DX5 Lo Gain, -20dB, Windows 75%. What does the 75% do to the 102dB at 100%?
 

solderdude

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-2.5dB so 99.5dB peaks and somewhere between 75dB and 85dB average depending on the recording. These are comfortable to comfortable loud listening levels.
The driver should never crackle at these levels.
 

mr.at

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Yes, TBH I think it's a fail-safe to avoid diaphragm de-shaping. I've never hit clipping levels, and I'm a loud listener. People must be really pushing these beyond expected levels. It's a fool-proof. I think they ought to be glad it's there.
 

Bow_Wazoo

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I have the clear mg here for the third time. oddly, this time I have almost no mechanical clipping from the driver at all. it is possible that the amplifier has an influence on how quickly the coil leaves the magnet?

last year, with the A90, I was clipping pretty quickly on certain tracks. this time with the LYR+, I can practically crank said tracks up as much as I want.
 
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Robbo99999

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I have the clear mg here for the third time. oddly, this time I have almost no mechanical clipping from the driver at all. it is possible that the amplifier has an influence on how quickly the coil leaves the magnet?

last year, with the A90, I was clipping pretty quickly on certain tracks. this time with the LYR+, I can practically crank said tracks up as much as I want.
Assuming you're getting the headphone up to the same volumes then it's probably something to do with unit to unit variation rather than anything to do with the amp. That's what would make sense to me.
 

solderdude

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I have the clear mg here for the third time. oddly, this time I have almost no mechanical clipping from the driver at all. it is possible that the amplifier has an influence on how quickly the coil leaves the magnet?

No.

The clipping is hard clipping and is caused by the driver hitting a 'max excursion' limiter.
The point where this happens is not the same on all copies.
 

Aerith Gainsborough

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it is possible that the amplifier has an influence on how quickly the coil leaves the magnet?
Yes and no.

Every amplifier has an output impedance.
Clear has a resonance in the bass area (around 55 ish Hz).

A high output impedance results in the resonance being more pronounced, ie: these frequencies will be played louder. This is the common effect that audiophiles describe as "amp matching" because the result will be a "warmer" sonic signature.

So if you compare a high output impedance amp to a low output impedance one, the "clipping" (driver hitting maximum allowed excursion) will occur earlier on the one with higher output impedance. For me: on my AVR it was much easier to hit Xmax compared to my RME, where the treble would kill my ears long before the bass got loud enough. :'D

Amp vs. amp with the same output impedance should not make any difference.

That being said: the A90 most likely has a lower output impedance than the Lyr (IIRC, it's a tube based amp), so this cannot be explained that way.

As Solderdude already stated: Unit to unit variation in regards to the "clipping" is pretty extreme in Focals lineup. So it might be that.
 

Bow_Wazoo

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I now have the fourth MG here. It seems to behave similar to number 3. Again I have the impression that the MG clips later on the LYR+, than on the A90.

Screenshot_20230404_085721_Gallery.jpg
 

Phoney

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I now have the fourth MG here. It seems to behave similar to number 3. Again I have the impression that the MG clips later on the LYR+, than on the A90.

View attachment 276991

Interestingly I've seen some people experiencing clipping with HE6se on the A90 aswell, despite the fact that it has way more power than what should be required.
 

Blorg

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Interestingly I've seen some people experiencing clipping with HE6se on the A90 aswell, despite the fact that it has way more power than what should be required.
The clipping with the Clear is a physical thing in the headphone, it's not the amp clipping. It's extremely easy to drive.

I have the HE6SEV2 and A90 and no issues. It seems to have very variable construction though, maybe some people have a bad one. Stuck drivers are a common issue.
 
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