I got these last time. I don't think they sound particularly good, even for the discounted price, but they have their fans and I seem to be in the minority. They were supposedly discontinued in favor of the newer Celestee, so I'm surprised that Adorama still has stock. In any event, if you've been wanting to try these, I wouldn't expect that they will be available to purchase new for much longer, especially at this price.
Even though I strongly dislike these headphones, thank you for the post.
Everyone's ears are different, but to my ears the tonality seemed off. These are designed to be neutral headphones that don't emphasize one frequency range over another, which is fine, but they sounded unnatural and plasticky and made my favorite music (electronic, downtempo, jazz) sound tonally off from what I'm used to hearing, even in comparison to other neutral headphones. The tonality, combined with a rather lifeless character that made the music sound dull and unexciting, along with the worst headphone cable I've experienced on a headphone that costs north of $50, caused me to sell them off pretty quickly.
It's difficult to find a good closed-back headphone in the $400 price range, but I very much enjoy the various Fostex variants (TH610, TH-X00, TR-X00, E-MU Teak, etc.) and other biodynamic drivers (Denon AH-D5200) and think that most people will have a better experience with those even though they are V-shaped and far from neutral -- pretty much the complete opposite of the Elegia.
If you don't need a closed back headphone and are looking for a neutral sound, then a good option that sometimes can be had for close to $400 is the Beyerdynamic DT1990.
Again, everyone's ears are different -- this is just one person's opinion. There are many, many people who are perfectly happy with the Elegia. They are certainly nice to look at, too.
Zeo's? LOL.
Name 3 headphones he DIDN'T like.
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I like it OK. It gives me a little extra juice for the Elegia, and slightly adds some warmth. It's relatively inexpensive. As a bonus (that I admittedly don't have a lot of use for) it gives me the option to bass boost, but I'm not a huge fan of what it does to the overall sound of the music I tend to listen to, so I leave it off 95% of the time. It's travel friendly, easy to operate, and it sounds good enough to justify the cost for me. The battery life isn't great, but 4-6h is long enough for a continental flight and I usually have a means of charging it between listening sessions. It's nice that it fits inside the Elegia case along with the coat hanger*.
*Eghem, I mean wire.
4-6 hours has to be less than the official specs. I had a FiiO portable and the battery life fell to about 4 hours after 2 years of use from the stated 10-12 hours. Battery went bad. That's the problem with portables and why I'll never buy another one. These companies could use rechargable lithiums like DSLR cameras or other devices but they choose not to as form of planned obsolescene. That's my opinion.
The Sony headphones such as Z7, Z7M2 and Z1R work better for those genres you listed that the Focal is not ideal for..
This is the full review from What Hi-Fi? magazine, the same magazine which listed the headphones I have for 5 stars and the only recommended headphones for over 1 year after review.
Zeos is IMO overrated. (Some of the attacks will come from his followers, but it's ok)
It was very hard to watch some of his videos without having to skip through his rants and personal emotions mixed into his own subjective reviews.
Example:
Back when I was looking for an dac/amp, I stumbled upon some of his videos. Most of his reviews for the items come from users that send him the item that they want him to review (nothing wrong with that).
Now we can't get our hands on the equipment to test it out without having to actually order it and use it, return if undesirable and go through the rma process.
He's rated just fine. People like him bc it's obvious he's far from a shill. Can't say that about most reviewers. You can't improv insincerely without it being painfully obvious. Plenty of dislikes for a lot of the products and it's a plus that he's getting the items from fans vs. sponsors. He doesn't owe that person a biased review. Exact opposite is true. He can say whatever he wants about them vs. reviewers who need to keep a good relationship with these companies. Considering he has hundreds of audio products for reference, I would take him more seriously than these people who are just running reviews to get sponsored by the big companies.
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Even though I strongly dislike these headphones, thank you for the post.
It's difficult to find a good closed-back headphone in the $400 price range, but I very much enjoy the various Fostex variants (TH610, TH-X00, TR-X00, E-MU Teak, etc.) and other biodynamic drivers (Denon AH-D5200) and think that most people will have a better experience with those even though they are V-shaped and far from neutral -- pretty much the complete opposite of the Elegia.
If you don't need a closed back headphone and are looking for a neutral sound, then a good option that sometimes can be had for close to $400 is the Beyerdynamic DT1990.
Again, everyone's ears are different -- this is just one person's opinion. There are many, many people who are perfectly happy with the Elegia. They are certainly nice to look at, too.
Name 3 headphones he DIDN'T like.
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*Eghem, I mean wire.
4-6 hours has to be less than the official specs. I had a FiiO portable and the battery life fell to about 4 hours after 2 years of use from the stated 10-12 hours. Battery went bad. That's the problem with portables and why I'll never buy another one. These companies could use rechargable lithiums like DSLR cameras or other devices but they choose not to as form of planned obsolescene. That's my opinion.
The Sony headphones such as Z7, Z7M2 and Z1R work better for those genres you listed that the Focal is not ideal for..
https://www.whathifi.co
FOCAL
Elear vs Stellia vs Clear vs Utopia vs ELEGIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8...8&i
FOCAL
Elear vs Stellia vs Clear vs Utopia vs ELEGIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8...8&i
FOCAL
Elear vs Stellia vs Clear vs Utopia vs ELEGIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8...8&index=91 [youtube.com]
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It was very hard to watch some of his videos without having to skip through his rants and personal emotions mixed into his own subjective reviews.
Example:
Back when I was looking for an dac/amp, I stumbled upon some of his videos. Most of his reviews for the items come from users that send him the item that they want him to review (nothing wrong with that).
Now we can't get our hands on the equipment to test it out without having to actually order it and use it, return if undesirable and go through the rma process.