šŸ”¶ Focal Clear Mg

I will get the JDS Labs Element II for the time being as itā€™s the fastest to ship here and then later down the line I will be upgrading to something more serious. Was gonna get the Schiit Modius and Magnius stack but theyā€™d take 6-8 weeks to ship meanwhile I can have the Element II here within the next week max.

I was going to recommend the Element II and you might even decide to stick with it. :slight_smile:

I have a fairly new set of MG Clear Proā€™s that I will be parting withā€¦anyone interested send me a PM.
Very good headphones, I just have too many set of cans hereā€¦need to thin the heard!

Alex

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Be sure to list in the buy/sell thread!

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Zach started out modding some Fostex planars (see ZMF Blackwoods), hence people used to refer ZMF as ā€œZachā€™s Modded Fostex.ā€

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Linking some of the Clear MG chats from RikudouGokuā€™s thread over to here in case we want to continue the conversation:

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Cheers. Since you already have the RNHP and BF2 Iā€™d suggest (if you havenā€™t) giving the OG Clear a go (open box can be found for around 890USD) as it really has very good synergy for a 1k setup

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Didnā€™t know that, thanks. I know Dan Clark used to make the Mad Dogs though

Been dwelling on bringing up this topic since I love the sound of these headphones, but I definitely have an issue.
I have been getting skin irritation from wearing these around my ears where the pads touch. I thought for a while it was because I had not worn velour pads beforeā€¦and I had to adjust. I do have finicky oily skin so I know thatā€™s part of it.

Iā€™ve seeked out on here about how to clean the pads because the oils from my skin have definitely darkened up the red on the MG Pros. Iā€™ve also noticed that the cups bleed some of the red dye from the pads. Iā€™ll have a slight ring around my ears after wearing them a few hours. So odd.

So Iā€™m finally going to clean them with slight detergent and see how these come out. Iā€™ve got the 2nd set of pads if I F something up. Worst case scenario would be I end up getting elex pads if nothing gets better.

Iā€™ve seen things pop up about ā€œpad-gateā€ and whatnot on these HPs and now I do have to wonder. Very strange for the dye to bleed like it does and it very well could be the dye and not the pad itself that Iā€™m getting irritation from.

No way I would get rid of these for as good as they sound, but I also shouldnā€™t have to be compromising my discomfort. Go figure, all the cheap HPs Iā€™ve ever used never did this to me, just sounded like poo. :joy:

Iā€™ve been reading this thread with a lot of interest and following these quite closely, so Iā€™d like to lean in for a bit of advice. My daily driver for the past 4 years has been the ZMF Eikons (needed a closed back), which I like a lot for their physicality, timbre and general tone. Using a Singxer SA-1 and Ares II.

I was looking for an alternative open back though and blind bought Aryas, which I really didnā€™t enjoy for their plasticky timbre/sibilance, distant mids and lack of physicality compared to Eikons, so they got sent back. But still being interested (and thinking if I had bought Clear OGs, Iā€™d have kept them), Iā€™ve been keeping an eye on the MGs and am looking at booking a demo.

Overall I guess my questions are if I didnā€™t like the Aryas for reasons outlined, how might I find the MGs? I have tried and actually reasonably enjoyed the Utopias/Clears before (albeit briefly and years ago). Iā€™m of course a big fan of the 6X0 line too.

The red color is not as bright as the pictures. It is more like a dark red wine.

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So I got the JDS Element 2 and my Clears are definitely faulty. Considering I bought them on ebay Iā€™m definitely screwed on warranty and whatnot. The Focal website requires you to list a dealer/store in order for them to contact Focal and send the headphone to fix it. Considering how there are no stores in my country I donā€™t know what to do, I mean Iā€™m willing to pay to repair them of course but Iā€™m kinda lost here.

Sorry about your headphones, that really sucks. I poked around their website for a bit and it looks like this generic contact form lets you send them a message without needing to list a dealer. Might be worth a try?

https://www.focal.com/en/contact-support

Definitely file a complaint asap on Ebay. Like now.

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eBay should cover you for 30 days after receiving the headphones. Try to contact the seller and if it canā€™t be resolved between you you can raise a complaint to eBay

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The seller told me to return it fortunately, letā€™s see what happens now. Man what an endless journey this has been.

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Guys what is a good amp dac pairing with the clear MG?

So far I have read:

  • Bf2+jot2
  • Bf2+RNHP

I am running mine with the Bf2+RNHP. I have 5h with them so far.

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Opinions seem to vary based on what you want from the music. There are indeed several of us that like them with both the ones you mentioned. But if you want the DAC and amp to get out of the way and not color the sound, @Resolution loves the D90SE+A90 pairing. He also has another amp he enjoys them with that Iā€™m too lazy to scroll back up to find, lol. But they should also scale similarly to the OG Clears with higher end gear, so checking out the OG Clear thread might be worth your while.

Continuing though, a Soekris 2451+Violectric V281 might be good? But I could also see that pushing it a bit too warm for some people. Now if you want to stay with the Bf2, a Burson Soloist 3XP might me a good choice. Or even a Conductor+Soloist stack might work. But Iā€™m not sure if anyone here has tried that? But again, back to the Bf2, a while back M0N pointed these out to me:

Of course, this is all dependent on what your budget is. Beyond that, Iā€™m pretty much at a loss for advise to give, lol.

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There was also a recommendation of Little Labs Monotor + BF2 for the Clear MG as well.

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For anyone wondering about my DACs & ampsā€¦

Here are some photos of my personal DAC amp setups I have experience with in combination of the OG FOCAL Clear & FOCAL Clear MG. I no longer own the OG Clear and only have the Clear MG Pro on hand currently.





(My Darkvoice is heavily MODDED)

Hope these are helpful to anyone trying to recall any amps or dacs I might have been referencing in my discussions. :slight_smile:

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