MASSDROP X Focal ELEX Review (headphone)

[Nabooh]

Thanks for the review, it cames at the right time as I am about to buy an Elear!

So I have to ask...

Has the Elex been tuned differently from the Elear, or is it just the pads which change the sound?

Some people says Elex = Elear with clear pads, other says Drop tuned it...

 

[solderdude]

Elex = Elear with clear pads and because of the pads it sounds better (closer to the Clear)
The Elear has some weirdness in the upper mids the Clear/Elex doesn't have.
Elear/Elex drivers appear to have a higher chance of failure then newer drivers.
An Elear + separate Clear pads is much more expensive than the Elex.

 

[Nabooh]

Elex = Elear with clear pads and because of the pads it sounds better (closer to the Clear)
The Elear has some weirdness in the upper mids the Clear/Elex doesn't have.
Elear/Elex drivers appear to have a higher chance of failure then newer drivers.
An Elear + separate Clear pads is much more expensive than the Elex.

Thanks for the answer!

Actually, I could get an Elear with brand new drivers for 300e, coming straight back from Focal repair service. Even if they are not under warranty, apparently Focal change it for free because the drivers failure are a well known issue.

I had the Elex, which I liked a lot, unfortunately I sell them quickly, because the Massdrop warranty does not apply in France, and it was exactly when the massive drivers failures topics started to pop.

I think I will get the Elear for 300e, then get the Clear pads later!

 

[PeteL]

It also should include age related hearing loss. With age not only treble starts to roll-off but also sensitivity lowers.
When playing music loud my son already covers his ears yet for me it is comfortably loud.
So for 20 y.o. (not used to disco's and concerts) what is considered loud may not be so for older audiophiles.

True, but I'm 47 years old, not 20, having had more than my share of loud concerts, still this thing happens at a level too loud for me. Age Indeed is a factor but beside, really it also varies with individual, I do know for a fact that audition varies a fair amount between humans, Even youngsters, I think it varies more than we may think, I'd like wider studies on the subject, we often talk here about "audibility" but may it be possible that this notion is more arbitrary than we think. Like why would that be so much different than vision? We do give glasses to teenagers, because arguably, for your safety, for your learning, Seeing well is more important than hearing perfectly. It doesn't mean the kid is blind, or handicapped, just that he sees less than the average. Why wouldn't it be the same for audition?

 

[Zensō]

Hmm. I have the HD6xx, aka the HD650, and I find the Elex to be much better. Mids are are similar, but the Elex has better treble, and resolves much more detail. The Elex is also less harsh on imperfections.

I prefer the 660S to the 650, which I find overly dark. When EQ’d, I find the 660S competes well with the Elex. For me, the Elex is fatiguing after an hour or so, whereas I can listen to the 660S all day. Some portion of this might also have to do with the difference in weight and comfort, which is a major factor in the enjoyment of headphones.

 

[solderdude]

The 'hard clipping' (which basically is what's happening) is driver dependent. It is not at the same level for each headphone it seems.
It looks like either the cone is hitting the magnet or the honeycomb in front of the driver or the rubber surround is fully stretched.
This may not happen at the same level for each driver.

 

[ReaderZ]

Indeed. The assertion of casual readers and haters is that Amir actually listens/evaluates the sound of headphones at 114dB average levels.
He does no such thing. I suspect he 'listens' to the sweeps while on the test rig while sweeping at 114dB (as do I but at max 100dB).
When he evaluates he will probably listen at 'normal' levels, maybe around 80-85dB average and louder to check for shaking earlobes but momentarily. Just like a lot of people like to turn up music loud if they really enjoy it or evaluate something.

In the explanatory video he could show scope images while describing the sound level (as in my article) and calculate SPL based on the measured voltages. This really is the only correct way to show actual power and SPL levels and correlate to perceived levels.

I fully understand Amir doesn't listen to music at 114db, but are you sure even for brief time he listen to do sweep at 114db won't damage his hearing, since he does it not once but for every review. It's not worth risking your hearing for headphone reviews IMHO.

 

[solderdude]

I don't think you need to have them on your head when sweeping to hear nasties.

 

[PeteL]

What I am curious about, I know it's not the same scale, nor the same smoothing but the Bass rollof is far from being has steep on these measurments. I know full well it's not a Sub Bass monster, but I still find this a bit odd. To my ears, there is not a bit of a doubt that it extend deeper than a HD650, it is very clear and obvious than the lowest octave is not there on a 650, on these, sure there could be more, but I feel everything is there. ASR Measurments show almost the same exact Rolloff than the Senns, which don't match what I'm hearing, wondering how that could be, what am I missing? Are those Head-fi measurments the oddball or are the ones here?

 

[ReaderZ]

What I am curious about, I know it's not the same scale, nor the same smoothing but the Bass rollof is far from being has steep on these measurments. I know full well it's not a Sub Bass monster, but I still find this a bit odd. To my ears, there is not a bit of a doubt that it extend deeper than a HD650, it is very clear and obvious than the lowest octave is not there on a 650, on these, sure there could be more, but I feel everything is there. ASR Measurments show almost the same exact Rolloff than the Senns, which don't match what I'm hearing, wondering how that could be, what am I missing? Are those Head-fi measurments the oddball or are the ones here?
View attachment 123665

This looks too good to me, -0db at 20hz? I really don't think the sub-bass is anywhere near that good.

 

[PeteL]

This looks too good to me, -0db at 20hz? I really don't think the sub-bass is anywhere near that good.

which would still be about 5 dB less than what could be considered Neutral according to the Harman Curve. Do you own the Elex?

 

[solderdude]

ASR Measurments show almost the same exact Rolloff than the Senns, which don't match what I'm hearing, wondering how that could be, what am I missing? Are those Head-fi measurments the oddball or are the ones here?

The reason is the used target.
Jude used diffuse field (for the shown plot), Amir uses Harman.
There is a 5dB difference between these targets in the lows

 

[PeteL]

The reason is the used target. Jude uses diffuse field, Amir uses Harman.

Not sure I understand right, Isn't the first FR graph, uncompensated? It shows a clear rollof, regardless of the preference curve. What would be the point of putting the Target and the measured response superposed on the same graph is it was a compensated response? What about the one I posted, is it a FR graph or a deviation graph?
Edit, from the Head-fi, it seams to suggest that this graph is uncompensated, but I may be missing something. I agree that we should compare apples to apple.

 

[cursive]

Not sure I understand right, Isn't the first FR graph, uncompensated? It shows a clear rollof, regardless of the preference curve. What would be the point of putting the Target and the measured response superposed on the same graph is it was a compensated response? What about the one I posted, is it a FR graph or a deviation graph?
Edit, from the Head-fi, it seams to suggest that this graph is uncompensated, but I may be missing something. I agree that we should compare apples to apple.

The head-fi graph says diffuse field correction applied and 1/9 smoothing, so I definitely don't think that it's raw or uncompensated. I'm not sure what exactly their diffuse field correction looks like though, so not exactly sure how it effects it.

EDIT: it's pretty spot on with Oratory 1990's measurements.

 

[PeteL]

The head-fi graph says diffuse field correction applied and 1/9 smoothing, so I definitely don't think that it's raw or uncompensated. I'm not sure what exactly their diffuse field correction looks like though, so not exactly sure how it effects it.

EDIT: it's pretty spot on with Oratory 1990's measurements. View attachment 123693

I think you are right, I found the raw one, It is still flatter, I find it hard to compare graph tough, we can't rely on the numbers on the scale, they are not normalised at the same way. Wonder why don't anybody agree for the 0 dB to be at 1 kHz, this would help already. The target response cross 0 at 1 kHZ. In all cases, as you see it's not the preference curve that's responsible for this difference, for a roll off to become flat under target compensation, would mean that the target would be rolled off, which don't make sense, OK not everybody agree of this bass shelving by Harman research, but nobody targets a roll off, rolloffs are a limitation, not a goal.

 

[amirm]

I post the measurements of a second sample of Focal Elex just now: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/massdrop-x-focal-elex-measurement-2.22425/

 

[Music1969]

As with the Focal Clear, the non-equalized response was fine but nothing to get excited about. Similar equalization (created from scratch here rather than copied from Clear), resulted in major improvement:

I may be biased by distortion measurements but I constantly went "oh that note is clean!" This happened across the board in many tracks. Quiet notes were especially a delight with the Elex.

It was not long though before I got horrified with the crackling sound. Oh man is this thing scary. The only audio gear that I am scared of is my 1000 watt power amplifier which has enough juice to send a speaker to Mars! The Elex headphone had me in the same spot where I had to have my hand on the volume control. I could not enjoy any track at high volume as I kept worrying about the crackle.

So I turned the volume down and got busy with another review. A couple of hours later, I realized how comfortable this headphone was and how nice its sound was at low volumes.

Hi @amirm , when you get crackling / clipping with EQ profile in Roon, is that even with added 'headroom management' in Roon's DSP?

How much headroom do you add to roon for your EQ profile here?

 

[parimento1]

I simple do not understand how you can say that a driver breaking up at 114db for a headphone is even remotely a problem. Anything over 70 decibels for an extended period of time will leave you deaf and with tinnitus. If you play your headphones even close to 114db you will be in a world of hurt. I don't understand the logic of pushing these headphones to the extremes where no sane person would?

 

[snowsurfer]

I simple do not understand how you can say that a driver breaking up at 114db for a headphone is even remotely a problem. Anything over 70 decibels for an extended period of time will leave you deaf and with tinnitus. If you play your headphones even close to 114db you will be in a world of hurt. I don't understand the logic of pushing these headphones to the extremes where no sane person would?

I think you need to watch the video Amir just uploaded on the ASR YouTube channel....

 

[Robbo99999]

I simple do not understand how you can say that a driver breaking up at 114db for a headphone is even remotely a problem. Anything over 70 decibels for an extended period of time will leave you deaf and with tinnitus. If you play your headphones even close to 114db you will be in a world of hurt. I don't understand the logic of pushing these headphones to the extremes where no sane person would?

It can matter if you EQ up the bass and listen at lower more normal levels, the 114dB measurement can indicate what kind of bass distortion you'd get when for example EQ'ing the bass up to Harman levels or beyond. I don't think the 114dB distortion measurement is relevant north of 100Hz though, because I agree people wouldn't listen at 114dB in the mids & treble. It's often been discussed before though.....these points.

Another point to remember is that these levels would be peak levels (0 dBFS signal) and not average levels, so could be short-lived peaks in your music, so even the 114dB isn't as drastic as it sounds, combine this thinking with the previous paragraph too.