Focal Clear MG Headphone Review & Comments

@yorkshire rose, yes and no

Bluetooth headphones have their own built in DAC and can pair with any Bluetooth device. So an external DAC / amp does not matter

Apple devices top out at AAC Bluetooth codec. The Sony headphones supports LDAC codec, which on paper allows higher data rates = higher sound quality

Wired headphones require a DAC and headphone amp sources. At this level of headphone cost for the Focal Clear, you'd want something cleaner and more resolving than your computer motherboard or smartphone built in headphone jack 😎
 
@yorkshire rose Ultimately it comes down to your priorities, what you wish to get out of your headphone set.

I am using both kinds on everyday basis, but in different situations. How and when are you going to be using your headphones? It comes down to convenience over reliability and quality.
 
So just pulled the trigger on a pair of Stellias! :clap:

I think closed back was the only option given use for travel.

judt need to decide on portable amp/dac now. Anyone got any good suggestions?
 
I personally love the chord Mojo for portable use. Its pretty well regarded and both a Dac and Amp in one.
 
new to headphones, and spent many ££ trying to achieve the perfect stereo speaker setup. (neighbours can testify) However just discovered the benefit of headphones (generally listen to music on my own ) would these work with the ifi zen dac, or do you need something a lot more powerful to get the best out of them.
thanks
Hi

I am using a pair of Focal Clear headphones with a Zen DAC and it works perfectly. The Zen DAC will easily power the Focal Clear MG headphones. you will be surprised what the Zen DAC is capable of. I have used the following headphones with the Zen DAC with great results.

Focal Elegia, Elex and Clear
Sennheiser HD598 CS, HD599, HD560S and HD660S
Hifiman Sundara
GoldPlanar GL2000 double sided magnet
 
:clap:



C7C4A23D-DC6F-4455-92DF-0F0D03E1EA2C.jpeg
 
Hi

I am using a pair of Focal Clear headphones with a Zen DAC and it works perfectly. The Zen DAC will easily power the Focal Clear MG headphones. you will be surprised what the Zen DAC is capable of. I have used the following headphones with the Zen DAC with great results.

Focal Elegia, Elex and Clear
Sennheiser HD598 CS, HD599, HD560S and HD660S
Hifiman Sundara
GoldPlanar GL2000 double sided magnet
That's really helpful to know - although my bank manager would rather I didn't have that information!
 
I’ve ended up with chord Mojo and Poly as Roon endpoint - superb!
 
Hi

I am using a pair of Focal Clear headphones with a Zen DAC and it works perfectly. The Zen DAC will easily power the Focal Clear MG headphones. you will be surprised what the Zen DAC is capable of. I have used the following headphones with the Zen DAC with great results.

Focal Elegia, Elex and Clear
Sennheiser HD598 CS, HD599, HD560S and HD660S
Hifiman Sundara
GoldPlanar GL2000 double sided magnet
Respect! You have a really decent headphone collection. Do you have any favourites?
 
Hi, did a few testing's of various headphones and settled on the the fostex 909th (got a good price ) and a ifi diablo dsd, will let you know how i get on .

thanks for all your input.
 
Respect! You have a really decent headphone collection. Do you have any favourites?

Hi

I have just added the Focal Celestee and a Hip DAC to the collection. I have cleared out the Elex, Elegia, Sundara, HD660S, HD598 and GL2000

The Celestee and the Hip DAC look great together with their colours complimenting each other.

At the moment I am favouring the Focal Clear with the Zen DAC with bass on. The sound is lovely and open and has plenty of dynamism.

If I can ask one thing of iFi Audio it would be to NEVER get rid of the bass boost function! I like the Diablo but will probably not buy it as it does not have the bass boost feature. I have tried many headphone amps but I always come back to iFi products for their slightly warmer more natural sound.

Cheers
 
Hi

I have just added the Focal Celestee and a Hip DAC to the collection. I have cleared out the Elex, Elegia, Sundara, HD660S, HD598 and GL2000

The Celestee and the Hip DAC look great together with their colours complimenting each other.

At the moment I am favouring the Focal Clear with the Zen DAC with bass on. The sound is lovely and open and has plenty of dynamism.

If I can ask one thing of iFi Audio it would be to NEVER get rid of the bass boost function! I like the Diablo but will probably not buy it as it does not have the bass boost feature. I have tried many headphone amps but I always come back to iFi products for their slightly warmer more natural sound.

Cheers
Really tempted by the Clears to go with my Zen DAC, so it's very helpful / unwife friendly to hear they a good pairing!
 
Hi

I have just added the Focal Celestee and a Hip DAC to the collection. I have cleared out the Elex, Elegia, Sundara, HD660S, HD598 and GL2000

The Celestee and the Hip DAC look great together with their colours complimenting each other.

At the moment I am favouring the Focal Clear with the Zen DAC with bass on. The sound is lovely and open and has plenty of dynamism.

If I can ask one thing of iFi Audio it would be to NEVER get rid of the bass boost function! I like the Diablo but will probably not buy it as it does not have the bass boost feature. I have tried many headphone amps but I always come back to iFi products for their slightly warmer more natural sound.

Cheers
Thanks for your suggestion @Bass junky . We had plenty of requests for a purist dac, hence the Diablo. However, the underlying principle of iFi is to let the customer decide. That is why we kept the bass boost option in most of the products. We can have it on or off, but if it's taken away, then the decision is already made.
 
Really tempted by the Clears to go with my Zen DAC, so it's very helpful / unwife friendly to hear they a good pairing!
Sorry about that

I work from home at the moment so the Zen DAC and Clear combo is in use all day. A word of caution though you will pay more attention to your music than work or anything else you are doing with this combo.

Cheers
 
@Pogg Focal Clear MG is a great choice, especially with the Diablo. The AAC Bluetooth codec works very well with the Go Blu. If you are interested, it also decodes different file formats (some of them capable of transmitting up to 24-bit/96kHz) such as:

aptX Adaptive and aptX HD
regular aptX and aptX Low Latency
LDAC
HWA/LHDC
SBC
 
@Pogg Focal Clear MG is a great choice, especially with the Diablo. The AAC Bluetooth codec works very well with the Go Blu. If you are interested, it also decodes different file formats (some of them capable of transmitting up to 24-bit/96kHz) such as:

aptX Adaptive and aptX HD
regular aptX and aptX Low Latency
LDAC
HWA/LHDC
SBC
Thank you.
I am only interested in Apple AAC via iOS and TVOS. How is video audio latency via AppleTV4k (TVOS 15)?
 
And others are firmly of the opinion that all headphones require EQ in order to play back the sound as the mastering engineer intended. I don't know where this anti-EQ thing came from, perhaps someone can enlighten me? EQ is used throughout the recording and mastering process, so why not during playback to account for the variances in the transducer, in the same way that a TV needs calibrating to a standard? And it's becoming increasingly accepted that we need to EQ our speakers to our room unless we go to town on room treatments, which most of us can't do. Perhaps in hifi EQ at the playback end somehow indicates that a piece of hifi isn't perfect, or heaven forbid, that it should adhere to standards that are thankfully now accepted in video playback but seem to be resisted in the hifi world. Interesting that there is also a Clear MG model as part of the Pro range. No idea what the difference is, apart from the Pro appear to be a bit cheaper! The Pro range includes well-respected studio monitors, which of course have in-built EQ controls.
Very late to the party, but looking looking at a pair of cans above my 660s.

I have never seen a bad review of any Schiit tone control. The Schiit Mani phono stage punches way above it’s weight so have total confidence in getting one of their tone control units
 

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