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I just ordered some headphones Amir hated. The Focal Clears.

Helicopter

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I would be interested in Amir's impression of the MG, but I am not going to be the one to send them any time soon since I already have the original and the Utopia. I don't see myself buying the MG anyway, but I am curious. I suspect the new alloy choice in the MG and the plastic coating do improve performance slightly since Focal usually follows sound engineering. I like the M shaped driver cover and the honeycomb on the outer cups too. Seems likely these things will show up in upcoming releases. It was strange to me that the Celestee didn't have the m shaped cup covers.
 
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audioJon

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I went to canjam this weekend in southern California, my goal was to replace my ~10 year old AKG Q701 headphones



My target was headphones around a thousand or less, so I did not get crazy on listening sprees with the 4k headphones that were all over the place. I tried the Audeze LCD X and the Focal Clears, and I liked both but the latter drew me in. The ones that apparently Amir thought were not worth a damn !!!!!!!!!!




But I have to report, they sounded great to me, and a worthy upgrade to my current falling apart headphones.
Sammael, what else did you listen too that came close to the Clears? I went to CanJam (to replace my Stax Signatures) I didn't see the Clears (crap!) but my favorites by far were Meze Emperiums $3000 and Hifiman 1000se $3700. My budget is $1000 :(.
 

Skinner001

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Focal is overhyped in the audiophile community to no end. I sold mine.
For one, they look great, but the build is not all that amazing - they can creak a bit, they can be stiff a bit and it's nothing really special in terms of comfort.

I too have encountered mechanical clicking or clipping as have many including Amir - sure I like to listen loud, but not mind-blowingly loud. I found a level at which it does not happen but with which I was still happy, though I have never experienced anything similar with any other headphone.

As the Elex shows, reliability of Focal headphones is quite problematic (though Elex is Drop so don't know how much Focal is to blame).

I consider the Sennheiser 560S a better headphone, for a fraction of the price.
The audiofool language and arguments around "slam" and "punch" of the Focals is a mystery to me, flowery fairytale language without any backing.

@audioJon I haven't heard the Meze but if you have and they are your favorites then you seem to enjoy warmer headphones (looking at measurements of the Meze elsewhere - they seem pretty warm and lacking in the high end) so look for that signature without spending an arm and a leg. Of course, part of the price is the unique build and it is a luxury item - you are not paying for technical performance and sound quality at that point anyway.
 

Paperdragons

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I went to canjam this weekend in southern California, my goal was to replace my ~10 year old AKG Q701 headphones



My target was headphones around a thousand or less, so I did not get crazy on listening sprees with the 4k headphones that were all over the place. I tried the Audeze LCD X and the Focal Clears, and I liked both but the latter drew me in. The ones that apparently Amir thought were not worth a damn !!!!!!!!!!




But I have to report, they sounded great to me, and a worthy upgrade to my current falling apart headphones.

Focal headphone drivers struggle with bass clipping especially with subbass EQ. I prefer their speakers ESPECIALLY for staging and bass performance. They are pleasnt sounding and very comfy though. My wife plugs them into the ps5 controller all the time and really enjoys the sound sig and imaging.
 

JJB70

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The clipping might have quite a useful unintended benefit, for any Clear owners out there if you hear the clipping then FFS turn the volume down unless you want to lose your hearing.
 
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