I like Focal Headphones and have the Elear. But find their cables too thick and heavy.
DG…
I like Focal Headphones and have the Elear. But find their cables too thick and heavy.
DG…
Is that newspeak for …in the name of profit.
ok… here they are: Yamaha YH-5000 SE. Exceptionally clear sound. Comparing to my other headphones Focal Utopia (1st generation), a very different sound signature. Both great but I prefer the Yamaha, particularly for accoustic music. Jazz sounds sublime.
Probably a design improvement. The cabling for the production of the first Clear was so delicate,many like my pair simply snapped.
There was much ranting on the headphone forums but if your purchase was over the nominal year then Focal turned their face away from both customer and brand decency.
I could have persued Signals but felt that relationship too valuable to strain.
Mark Grant Cables.
Headphone extension cable. Length of your choice. But no pansy colour braiding. Black. If you want xlr speak to Mark.
As I have said before contains enough copper to ensure the lights don’t go out in Coventry.
I read the head fi review as this was to me a new beast. They look wonderfully ……industrial.
Christmas is coming.
As a gay male, I find your reference to pansy offensive. Maybe I am missing something, living in NYC, and if that is the case I apologize in advance. I lived and worked in Scotland and Belfast, so I have some familiarity with language nuance.
I assume there that where Nick refers to “pansy” colour braising he’s referring to the flowers and their wide variety of bi-colours.
I apologise for any offence unwittingly caused. It is sometimes difficult to navigate the English language without unsuspectingly upsetting someone or some grouping.
Pansy in local dialect would have indicated colourful or flowery. I was not aware of any sexual innuendo.
So in the market for some new high end headphones to go with my Linn Selekt DSM. I currently have some Sennheiser HD 800 but they are now quite old. Tried some Audeze headphones, nice but they broke just after a year, a problem with the type of drivers I believe.
Haven’t heard a Focal headphone I like yet, but I do like my cheapish Meze 99 Classics for tone and comfort, maybe try some Empyreans. Any other suggestions that would work with the Linn?
Cheers
Tim
Budget?
Headphones vary hugely in musical presentation, and also comfort. If you like the Sennheiser ‘house’ sound then 820s is probably the obvious if it fits your budget. If you’re after something warmer then maybe ZMF or Grado. I have had several from each brand. For the price of the Empyrean the ZMF Verite is an option, in open or closed styles. Love mine
Focal are popular but the Stellia didn’t float my boat. Haven’t tried others in their range.
Cannot emphasise too much try before you buy, on comfort reasons as well as sound.
Bruce
Thanks, budget would be £2 to £3 thousand.
How about the Sennheiser HD800S? They are according to most reviewers an improvement on the original HD800. I really enjoy mine, along with a pair of Beyerdynamic T2Ver cans that do not leak sound like sieve like the open back HD800S.
Timbo, demo, demo, demo at that level.
I found the close back sennheiser 820 just sounded off bass wise.
The Meze were beautifully made but sounded a little dark
Everytime I listen to focal I preferred the hd800,
In the end I settled for some HiFi man edition xs - I found they had the right balance of comfort and sound - quite mid level but they work for me.
Take your time and do the rounds.
Nice budget for a set of cans.
When I was looking for some new cans, we went to the Audio Barn in Harlow, Essex. They had a dedicated demo room for headphones in their nice location.
We spent an enjoyable morning there listening to a number of headphones and had narrowed it down to models from Audeze, Focal and Sennheiser. In the end, I chose the Focal Elear as to me they sounded the best and fitted better on me.
I didn’t really like the sound or looks of the Sennheisers and the Audeze, although sounded good, were too heavy and hot. It was a warm day and after taking them off, my ears were all hot and sweaty.
They also do Meze headphones, so could be used for comparison. My cans at the time were AKG K712, which we took for comparison and to be honest, all the ones I tried were better.
Hope that you get something sorted.
DG…
Headphones stay current for ages though. My HD600 are from 1995: still current. My HD800 have been replaced by the S model but otherwise still current. I think if you regularly take care of the perishable pads, a decent pair of headphones should last half a lifetime. Whether you prefer another item on the market is another matter entirely though.
Yes I’ll take my time as comfort is very important and so crucial to try before I buy.
Tim
I know you said that you hadn’t found any Focal headphones that you have liked but have you tried the Clear Mg’s? I recently bought a pair for my 222 and am absolutely blown away by them plus they are by far and away the most comfortable cans I have ever used. ATB
Thanks, will add them to my list.
Tim