Thanks for this. Interesting. Andrew at Headphones.com has said he prefers the original Clear. It seems like some people are going to prefer the even-more-neutral tuning and some arenāt. Hard to improve on such good headphones.
Iāve got to say, I think the new design is totally awesome. I love how they look. Iām going to have to try them for myself. Maybe if CanJam London goes ahead.
Agreed. Black is my thing personally, but the more toned down Stellia color is growing on me. I do wish the cup honeycomb pattern piece was chrome on the Pro as it appears on the basic Clear. Either way, FOCAL have done a great job with this headphone, both sound and appearance.
Beware, very controversial opinion 
ā Focal did it again! ā 
Since 2016, with the Elear & Utopia models, Focal has been bringing headphones onto the market with a certain degree of regularity that are āopticallyā at least miles ahead of all other competitors. This has also been the case in the past few months with the latest design series.
French and design, a symbiosis that has undoubtedly always been a perfect match. 
BUT, now comes an argument that I noticed when I was at school and that Iāve personally questioned again and again ever since. Experience has shown that the most visually attractive person has always been the āmagnetā to which many others have attached themselves without really questioning their human as well as intellectual abilities.
It was assumed that ālooks good, has to be follow it to be good āand if enough participate, it has to be right.
In my opinion, this argument also applies to Focal headphones.
ā I; Music lover with hat size XXL or 65 in Europe who likes to relax and enjoy the āacoustic artā in his wing chair with a glass of wine and closed eyes and not sit analytically at the PC and every āsource of errorā in the recording to penetrate. ā
So I; have a problem with Focal headphones, i.e. all models in the series. Of course, the following criticism is related to the called price! 
So what is objectively being offered?
It starts with unpacking, what is offered there so āshiny and nobleā is, in my opinion, a total āblenderā, because actually I have to buy an after market cable for every headphone, because even if I use these cables regularly even after 2 years of intensive use, they are still as bulky as an Andalusian mule.
Then I put these headphones on my āskullā and realize that even when the headband is fully expanded, it presses me hard in the middle of my head, 
it pulls the earlobes inside the auricles upwards and the auricle is whole rather designed for smaller ears.
Now I can widen the headphones, for example by putting them over a couple of books, but then Iām missing a few centimeters in the depth to the ears.
Difficult! 
ā Then the sound so highly praised by many ā 
When you listen to music, as it is my habit, you inevitably ask yourself very quickly, why do I feel every time I close my eyes as if the musical performance is being performed in an modern industrial plant.
I really donāt know any other headphones whose sound is presented so āmechanicallyā. And by that I really mean all Focal models, with slight cuts in the Stellia, which comes across as reasonably āmusicallyā.
Now one could argue that the synergy to the sound chain could play a role, everything from Chord Dave, to the Cayin HA-6, Feliks Audio Euforia MK2, Focal Arche to the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt, the sound image was steadily āmechanicalā every time there was a lack of ānaturalnessā that every voice and every musical instrument has 
These headphones undoubtedly have their ātechnicalā qualities and, if you like, also ādreamlikeā frequency curves 
.
Although I also find the highly praised detail representation in many songs with Clear, at best, average.
If someone wants to know, I can immediately tell them at least 2 dozen songs in which even a Koss KPH30i provides more details in the higher and middle pitches than the Clear.
PS: Iām not claiming that these are technically better than the Clear, god forbid!
In addition, few headphones tend to audio clipping as quickly as these focal drivers, you have to be very careful not to overdrive them in terms of input power and volume 
.
So if a pair of headphones was overrated for around ā¬ 1500, then it was the Focal Clear.
I got mine for ā¬ 899 at an anniversary promotion, which seemed like a reasonable offer to me.
However, it is still one of the least used headphones in my portfolio, because it is not really a musical āenjoymentā, at least for me.
ā I very much hope that all of these problems will improve significantly with the latest model series, especially with regard to the prices shown.
And this time Focal does not focus mainly on the visual appearance of these headphones. ā
So, now āfire openā, beat me for my opinion, but I stand by it.
ArrivƩe!
Prettiest headphones Iāve ever laid eyes on. Canāt wait to test them out.
They got here before my Bifrost2 + Jot2 did.
Awesome.
Iām trying not to make a joke about how appropriate it is to drive a brown headphone with a pile of Schiitā¦
Dammit
so is it Champagne and Silver?
Focal call it āChestnutā.
Yeah I mean, itās definitely brown. As another commenter said, normally Iām not big into this color scheme but it definitely āworks.ā
Very, VERY initial impressions (20min):
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Gorgeous.
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Very comfortable. I had the Elegia before and you would think that theyād be the same level of comfort but I donāt remember them being this comfortable. I will have to go through several 4-6 hour listening sessions with them on to make a judgement but initial comfort is very nice.
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Even with a relatively budget source (SDAC ā Liquid Carbon X), the change in detail and sound signature is VERY interesting and enjoyable. I am very sensitive to harsh treble, so I have outright avoided ābrightā headphones. These are interesting to me because they are noticeably brighter than my other headphones (HP-3, 6XX, TYGR 300, Meze 99) and so I instantly hear more detail, but itās done so well that I donāt hear fatigue (at least not yet). Excited to hear them on better source DAC and amp (Bifrost2 + Jot2 coming).
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One of my favorite tracks to listen to is Seven Lions - Worlds Apart with Kerli - YouTube - the detail is really coming out of these.
Okay, Iāll hold off on any additional thoughts until I can listen to these for several days and give a more honest opinion, but suffice to say Iām EXCITED for these! Did I mention how good they look?
Seeing as I just got through placing my order for said brown headphones and will be running them off a Modius+Jot2, that is exactly what I will be doing. And I can assure you that joke is entirely appropriate and necessary. 
Lol. Thanks for the support!
And enjoy your Schitt-brown signal chain!
I hope to! This is my first real foray into this never-ending black hole of audio. Before I got my Schiit stack last month I just had my 6XX plugged straight into my computer and didnāt know any better. Now I canāt wait to see what kind of difference I get going from the 6XX to the Clear Mg.
Silly question, is there a difference between the Clear MG and Clear MG Pro aside from color, cable and extra pads?
There does not appear to be any sonic differences between them. Same new MG drivers.
Wow. What a glowing review of the MG, even above and beyond the original Clear. Thanks for sharing.
That was an excellent review. Itās also nice to see Judeās impressions aligned with our own.
Itās a great headphone.
Received my Clear Mg today, despite only ordering them yesterday afternoon. That was an extremely pleasant surprise, and even though Iāve never done anything like this before I thought Iād give my initial impressions before plugging them up and listening to them:
The unboxing was exactly what Iād been led to believe it would be. Quality. From the box everything comes in, to the carrying case for the headphones, to the box that the cables are kept in, no part of it was a disappointment. Speaking of the cables, this is one area where people are going to complain. For those that didnāt already know, the Clear Mg comes with two cables, a balanced XLR and a 3.5mm with a 1/4" screw-on adapter. Material wise, they seem like perfectly fine cables, but the 3.5mm cable is at least a foot too short. Sitting here at my computer, it is just long enough to reach my Jot2 which sits just to the side of my monitor.
Enough of that though, onto the headphones themselves:
Visually, now that I have them in hand and can see them in person, I like them much more than I thought I would from the pictures and video Iāve seen. I flipped through the filters on my phoneās camera to find the one that most closely matched what I see, and thatās as close as I could get. While thereās no mistaking the brown of the padding, or the almost khaki color of the headband, the metal of the yoke and ring of the cups is more of a dark gold color to my eyes. Do I still prefer the black and red of the Mg Pro? A little, yes, but itās gone from a lot to only a little, and thatās only due to my inherent preference for matte black on everything. These are lovely headphones.
Comfort wise, Iām undecided yet. They are decidedly heavier than my 6XXs, and I canāt quite make my mind up if I should have them completely retracted or opened up one click. Either way, there is going to be an adjustment period coming from the light as a feather 6XX to these just on the weight alone. As far as padding goes, the interior of the headband is soft and springy. I wouldnāt have complained if there had been a bit more padding there, but this is a bit of a nitpick and likely something I wonāt even notice once I get used to wearing them. The ear-pads on the other hand, while very soft, are a bit too soft. They give too much and I can feel the upper part of my ears just touching the honeycomb grill covering the drivers. To be clear, this isnāt an issue that everyone will have. While my ears donāt stick out to the side in the worst way, they do stick out a bit more than the average personās does, so please be sure to keep that in mind.
Those are my initial thoughts, now Iām going to hook them up and give them a listen. Maybe even do a quick A/B with my 6XX since Iām a complete neophyte with all of this and see what differences I can notice, if Iām feeling frisky.