This is a review and detailed measurements of the Focal Elegia closed back headphone. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $543 on Amazon including Prime shipping.
Focal nails the luxury look and feel of their headphones:
It is a heavy headphone at 420 grams but felt quite comfortable on my head:
Drivers are angled so there is quite a lot of depth in the cup on that side (62 mm x 54 mm x 32 mm: height x width x depth).
By far the worst aspect of this headphone is the super stiff and short cable that I received with it. Yes, it is sturdy but if the idea is portable use, who wants to carry a stiff rod in their backpack or purse? It is also microphonic. Fortunately it terminates in mono 3.5 mm connectors so you can make or buy a replacement easily.
Note: The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. Headphone measurements by definition are approximate and variable so don't be surprised if other measurements even if performed with the same fixtures as mine, differ in end results. Protocols vary such as headband pressure and averaging (which I don't do). As you will see, I confirm the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers mostly in bass and above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests. If you think you have an exact idea of a headphone performance, you are likely wrong!
Fitment on the fixture was good.
Focal Elegia Measurements
Let's start with our usual frequency response:
This is a very wavy response. It is one thing to decide to have flat response in bass and midrange but why the ups and downs? I am also not used to seeing the sharp drops so low in frequency. Macro level picture is obvious with lack of bass to go with lack of lower treble:
Is it me or every Focal headphone I have tested has a different response?
Distortion measurements are good but not exceptional:
Since we need to boost the bass, I expect audible issues there at elevated playback levels.
Group delay says something is amiss at three frequencies that we had troughs in frequency response:
Zoomed version of our impedance measurement tells the same story:
Likely there is an out of phase resonance that causes cancellation at the upper two frequencies.
This is a very sensitive headphone despite its low impedance:
So you should be able to get good dynamics out of it even with low powered sources. Keep this in mind however as you do any AB tests against much less sensitive headphones. These may seem less dynamic without equalizing levels.
Focal Elegia Listening Tests
Per my past experience, lack of energy in a few areas translates to an uninteresting but non-offensive sound. The lower treble energy made my female vocals much less enjoyable. So I dialed in a few parametric filters in my Roon Player to compensate:
The difference as expected was dramatic. The sound opens up with very nice spatial effects. Deep bass is now easily heard and even felt at elevated levels. Alas, if you crank it up, the bass notes start to produce static. It is soft tone though and doesn't ever fall apart like Focal Clear did in my review. Turn the levels down a bit though and the deep bass is there without much of any distortion.
EQ combined with the comfort this headphone provides, allowed for very enjoyable experience.
Conclusions
The wild west of headphone design continues with the Elegia presenting yet another frequency response. I hope the industry starts to rally behind something -- anything is better than each headphone producing its own response gambling for some adoption. Fortunately equalization is incredibly beneficial on this headphone, elevating not only its tonality but also its spatial qualities.
I can't recommend the Focal Elegia without equalization. With EQ, it becomes very good to superb if you don't turn it up too high and cause static in the drivers.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Focal nails the luxury look and feel of their headphones:
It is a heavy headphone at 420 grams but felt quite comfortable on my head:
Drivers are angled so there is quite a lot of depth in the cup on that side (62 mm x 54 mm x 32 mm: height x width x depth).
By far the worst aspect of this headphone is the super stiff and short cable that I received with it. Yes, it is sturdy but if the idea is portable use, who wants to carry a stiff rod in their backpack or purse? It is also microphonic. Fortunately it terminates in mono 3.5 mm connectors so you can make or buy a replacement easily.
Note: The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. Headphone measurements by definition are approximate and variable so don't be surprised if other measurements even if performed with the same fixtures as mine, differ in end results. Protocols vary such as headband pressure and averaging (which I don't do). As you will see, I confirm the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers mostly in bass and above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests. If you think you have an exact idea of a headphone performance, you are likely wrong!
Fitment on the fixture was good.
Focal Elegia Measurements
Let's start with our usual frequency response:
This is a very wavy response. It is one thing to decide to have flat response in bass and midrange but why the ups and downs? I am also not used to seeing the sharp drops so low in frequency. Macro level picture is obvious with lack of bass to go with lack of lower treble:
Is it me or every Focal headphone I have tested has a different response?
Distortion measurements are good but not exceptional:
Since we need to boost the bass, I expect audible issues there at elevated playback levels.
Group delay says something is amiss at three frequencies that we had troughs in frequency response:
Zoomed version of our impedance measurement tells the same story:
Likely there is an out of phase resonance that causes cancellation at the upper two frequencies.
This is a very sensitive headphone despite its low impedance:
So you should be able to get good dynamics out of it even with low powered sources. Keep this in mind however as you do any AB tests against much less sensitive headphones. These may seem less dynamic without equalizing levels.
Focal Elegia Listening Tests
Per my past experience, lack of energy in a few areas translates to an uninteresting but non-offensive sound. The lower treble energy made my female vocals much less enjoyable. So I dialed in a few parametric filters in my Roon Player to compensate:
The difference as expected was dramatic. The sound opens up with very nice spatial effects. Deep bass is now easily heard and even felt at elevated levels. Alas, if you crank it up, the bass notes start to produce static. It is soft tone though and doesn't ever fall apart like Focal Clear did in my review. Turn the levels down a bit though and the deep bass is there without much of any distortion.
EQ combined with the comfort this headphone provides, allowed for very enjoyable experience.
Conclusions
The wild west of headphone design continues with the Elegia presenting yet another frequency response. I hope the industry starts to rally behind something -- anything is better than each headphone producing its own response gambling for some adoption. Fortunately equalization is incredibly beneficial on this headphone, elevating not only its tonality but also its spatial qualities.
I can't recommend the Focal Elegia without equalization. With EQ, it becomes very good to superb if you don't turn it up too high and cause static in the drivers.
----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
