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Focal Clear Review (headphone)

ShiZo

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It was annoying returning the clears until I got one that didn't clip. And I feel really bad for those that didn't have time or return policy to do so. But with focal, I learned that's why you have to pick your dealer carefully. www.headphones.com (no affiliation) allows a 365 day return policy and will give you replacements until you have a set that doesn't clip. Aside from that, they will replace up to three years. I like to believe that this issue only exists on earlier models and not the most recent ones. But I couldn't say with scientific certainty. I did reach out to focal and asked them to send another pair for a larger sample size. I mean who wants their headphone to get such a bad review?

Minus the distortion (which I believe doesn't exist on all) this thing would be the crown of non eq'd headphones IMO. I think another clear without the issue needs to be reviewed, but that's not really up to @amirm.
 
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Chuckv

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It was annoying returning the clears until I got one that didn't clip. And I feel really bad for those that didn't have time or return policy to do so. But with focal, I learned that's why you have to pick your dealer carefully. www.headphones.com (no affiliation) allows a 365 day return policy and will give you replacements until you have a set that doesn't clip. Aside from that, they will replace up to three years. I like to believe that this issue only exists on earlier models and not the most recent ones. But I couldn't say with scientific certainty. I did reach out to focal and asked them to send another pair for a larger sample size. I mean who wants their headphone to get such a bad review?

Minus the distortion (which I believe doesn't exist on all) this thing would be the crown of non eq'd headphones IMO. I think another clear without the issue needs to be reviewed, but that's not really up to @amirm.
Dear Focal. @amirm needs a Clear sent to him for review.
 

melowman

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Hi,

If anyone is interested.
based on the data from the first page, I did not go through the entire thread to check if the raw data was available...

Score no EQ: 73.3
Score with Amirm EQ: 77.5
Score with attached EQ: 100.2

Code:
Focal APO EQ Score 96000Hz
January122021-155015

Preamp: 0.0 dB

Filter 1: ON PK Fc 214.5 Hz Gain -6 dB Q 0.37
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 1283 Hz Gain -7.3 dB Q 1.18
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 3217 Hz Gain -4 dB Q 3
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 6000 Hz Gain -3.6 dB Q 8
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 11475 Hz Gain -7.2 dB Q 8

View attachment 105531
From the above, the only "legit" band for me is the 1.0-1.3kHz region, but nowhere near that much attenuation! -0.5 or -0.6dB at most is fine; but even then it is questionable because the headphone's hump in this region is not that pronounced, and it's quite difficult to tackle it with EQ -- I've tried but it doesn't seem to be only EQ-related.

I've never used APO EQ before, but it's not a good sounding EQ at all (it's pretty ugly if you ask me), I don't know how you guys can cope with it. I would definitely not recommend listening to music through it.

ATM the very best state-of-the-art EQ I would recommend is Crave EQ, in 'Transprent mode - 50 ms'. It's a VST though , but APO EQ seems to support VST so that should do it. That EQ is a GEM, it is as best as you can get.
 

mugbot

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From the above, the only "legit" band for me is the 1.0-1.3kHz region, but nowhere near that much attenuation! -0.5 or -0.6dB at most is fine; but even then it is questionable because the headphone's hump in this region is not that pronounced, and it's quite difficult to tackle it with EQ -- I've tried but it doesn't seem to be only EQ-related.

I've never used APO EQ before, but it's not a good sounding EQ at all (it's pretty ugly if you ask me), I don't know how you guys can cope with it. I would definitely not recommend listening to music through it.

ATM the very best state-of-the-art EQ I would recommend is Crave EQ, in 'Transprent mode - 50 ms'. It's a VST though , but APO EQ seems to support VST so that should do it. That EQ is a GEM, it is as best as you can get.

Can you expand on the differences between these two EQ solutions?
 

melowman

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If i understand well your question, you're asking the difference between APO EQ and Crave EQ: well what strikes right away is that the APO is resonating a lot, I just cannot listen to it. Just to mention that.
Also I should measure it properly but it's not possible to do so, but as the APO graph shows you: the highs are cramped when approaching Nyquist.
Overall, it's a pretty bad sounding EQ.
 

gatucho

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@ShiZo You and a few thousand other Clear owners.:) Yes. We're looking at you Focal. :mad:

As I have said I have owned several Focal HPs, (Elear, Clear and Elegia) and I have suffered from the driver issues in the Elear (my first Focal headphone). Overall, I found that the support I received was more dependent on the distributor than from Focal. In fact, at some point I felt completely left behind by Focal. Thankfully my distributor gave me a really good support and exchanged the Elears outside of warranty. Weren't it for their support I would have never thought of buying Focal again. And I still resent Focal quite a bit. Other issues are the ridiculous price of the replacement pads and the impossibility of replacing the headband (coupled with the fact that the "clear" color used in those gets dirty very easily!).

The fact that with a bad first experience I still got the Clears and latter the Elegia is a testament of how good I think they are to me (even when I have several other $1K+ headphones). Still, the fact that someone as trusted as @amirm has highlighted the problem is really positive for us consumers. We shouldn't be required to basically bet when buying such an expensive product.

FWIW neither my clears nor my elegia clips with any of the tracks suggested in this forum. My first Elears surely would have (I dont have the replacements any more, but they were fine).
 
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mugbot

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If i understand well your question, you're asking the difference between APO EQ and Crave EQ: well what strikes right away is that the APO is resonating a lot, I just cannot listen to it. Just to mention that.
Also I should measure it properly but it's not possible to do so, but as the APO graph shows you: the highs are cramped when approaching Nyquist.
Overall, it's a pretty bad sounding EQ.

Interesting - that should be easily measurable, perhaps someone on this forum would care to do some testing? I don't have the right equipment unfortunately. If it's a severe enough effect, it should be audible on a recording which would make testing fairly simple.
 

ShiZo

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As I have said I have owned several Focal HPs, (Elear, Clear and Elegia) and I have suffered from the driver issues in the Elear (my first Focal headphone). Overall, I found that the support I received was more dependent on the distributor than from Focal. In fact, at some point I felt completely left behind by Focal. Thankfully my distributor gave me a really good support and exchanged the Elears outside of warranty. Weren't it for their support I would have never thought of buying Focal again. And I still resent Focal quite a bit. Other issues are the ridiculous price of the replacement pads and the impossibility of replacing the headband (coupled with the fact that the "clear" color used in those gets dirty very easily!).

The fact that with a bad first experience I still got the Clears and latter the Elegia is a testament of how good I think they are to me (even when I have several other $1K+ headphones). Still, the fact that someone as trusted as @amirm has highlighted the problem is really positive for us consumers. We shouldn't be required to basically bet when buying such an expensive product.

FWIW neither my clears nor my elegia clips with any of the tracks suggested in this forum. My first Elears surely would have (I dont have the replacements any more, but they where fine).
Same here. I couldn't help but love my clears and my elegia. And you're right, the way focal warranty is set up is really distributor dependent.

Got the ether cx on the way to compare with my elegia though :D.

My first elegia clipped but the second did not. But the clears I went through a bit to get a pair that didn't.
 

Jimbob54

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I've been spending more time with my Clear Pro (bought second hand but good condition) and there is a noticeable L/R imbalance definitely skewing to the left. I dont believe its my hearing as other phone's arent noticeably skewed . A 2db reduction on the L brings it far more back into balance but if I'm right that my hearing isnt impaired on the R this either means:

1. My used set have had some work done - a repair/ swap of drivers so no longer matching or;
2. My set left the factory with an imbalance which would definitely be a QC issue in my book- for any phones nevermind ones with this RRP.

Be interested to hear other users' experience . I note @amirm charts show a noticeable divergence especially in the lows so perhaps this is a QC issue for the model.
 

JIW

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I've been spending more time with my Clear Pro (bought second hand but good condition) and there is a noticeable L/R imbalance definitely skewing to the left. I dont believe its my hearing as other phone's arent noticeably skewed . A 2db reduction on the L brings it far more back into balance but if I'm right that my hearing isnt impaired on the R this either means:

1. My used set have had some work done - a repair/ swap of drivers so no longer matching or;
2. My set left the factory with an imbalance which would definitely be a QC issue in my book- for any phones nevermind ones with this RRP.

Be interested to hear other users' experience . I note @amirm charts show a noticeable divergence especially in the lows so perhaps this is a QC issue for the model.

Have you tried putting them on with left and right reversed, i.e. the left driver on your right ear and vice versa? Have you tried listening to correlated pink noise? If there is no driver mismatch, it should all be perfectly centered.

Also, when @solderdude tested them in 2017, there was a significant driver mismatch.
fr-clear.png

Source: https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/focal/clear/

Anyways, you could also try running a slow frequency sweep and see how the sound moves to get an idea of the mismatch, e.g. using this tool: https://onlinetonegenerator.com/frequency-sweep-generator.html. Keep in mind, however, the relatively low hearing sensitivity at low and high frequencies.
 

Jimbob54

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Have you tried putting them on with left and right reversed, i.e. the left driver on your right ear and vice versa? Have you tried listening to correlated pink noise? If there is no driver mismatch, it should all be perfectly centered.

Also, when @solderdude tested them in 2017, there was a significant driver mismatch.
fr-clear.png

Source: https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/focal/clear/

Anyways, you could also try running a slow frequency sweep and see how the sound moves to get an idea of the mismatch, e.g. using this tool: https://onlinetonegenerator.com/frequency-sweep-generator.html. Keep in mind, however, the relatively low hearing sensitivity at low and high frequencies.

I did swap ears - same issue (well, opposite issue)
Not pink noise but my RME DAC lets me put the signal in mono and still skewed. Not proposing to do anything else tbh as the offset I applied in Roon gets me to the point where I dont notice in normal listening and , as second hand unit, there is no point progressing further with manuf. etc.

Its the vocal range that is most obvious- when you know it should be centred but its off to the left in the sound image on most tracks which would correlate with the FR charts of both solderdude and Amirs measurements showing a mismatch
 

melowman

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This album under the Focal Clear (I combine it with the ADI-2 DAC - 'Slow' DA filter) is pure eargasm...
to consume without any moderation

edit: the end of the "MAD" track reminds a little bit of the 'clipping' sound of the Clear lol :-D
 

Aerith Gainsborough

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Eeh, not really my cup of tea. I do know what you mean when you describe the feelings of arousal.
I get those too.

I especially like acoustic guitars on my Clear. They sound so real as if my dad would sit in front of me any play his guitar.
 

DivineCurrent

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Eeh, not really my cup of tea. I do know what you mean when you describe the feelings of arousal.
I get those too.

I especially like acoustic guitars on my Clear. They sound so real as if my dad would sit in front of me any play his guitar.
I agree, there’s something this design of driver does that allows the full dynamics of acoustic instruments and especially piano and percussion, to come through in such a realistic way.

We can talk all day about the frequency response being a little off target and whatnot, but really what matters the most is subjective impressions, and the Clears just do something my other headphones cannot do. I use some EQ to tone things down in the treble at 6 and 10.5 kHz, and so it basically sounds as smooth as the HD650 to me with the added benefit of more bass extension and wider soundstage. And also greater perceived dynamics.
 

Daaadou

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That is what I noticed about them when I went to the auditorium to try different set of headphones. This impressive reproduction of the music dynamics.
 

tommyst

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I bought mine focal clear for 950 Euro last summer. For this price I don't think you can get better headphones. I don't EQ mine, because for me they sound great out of the box. They are driven with SMSL SP200+M500. I'm listening with it up to very loud listening levels, but not crazy loud. I never had any clipping problems and I tried here all suggested problematic songs as well. The bass is really good for an open back headphones. But probably these are not the right headphones for bassheads? Maybe you exspect too much if you boost the bass and listening on very high levels? One of the strongest points of the focal clear is the punchy high dynamic driver. In this category probably the clears are much better then most others brands. I wonder if the measurements can reproduce dynamics of headphones as well?
 
N

nhatlam96

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I bought mine focal clear for 950 Euro last summer. For this price I don't think you can get better headphones. I don't EQ mine, because for me they sound great out of the box. They are driven with SMSL SP200+M500. I'm listening with it up to very loud listening levels, but not crazy loud. I never had any clipping problems and I tried here all suggested problematic songs as well. The bass is really good for an open back headphones. But probably these are not the right headphones for bassheads? Maybe you exspect too much if you boost the bass and listening on very high levels? One of the strongest points of the focal clear is the punchy high dynamic driver. In this category probably the clears are much better then most others brands. I wonder if the measurements can reproduce dynamics of headphones as well?

If you only plan to use the Focal Clear, you can sell the SP200 and just use the M500 amplifier, sound-wise no difference.
I'm using autoEQ on the Clear and so far I have not encountered any clipping on any volume or song.
 

tommyst

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If you only plan to use the Focal Clear, you can sell the SP200 and just use the M500 amplifier, sound-wise no difference.
I'm using autoEQ on the Clear and so far I have not encountered any clipping on any volume or song.
I tested the clears with and without SP200 and for me it sounds significantly better with the THX amplifier.
 
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