Prior to my Elegias I was in Audiotechnica ATH-M40X
The EQ I use on them are presets meant to emulate the 2018 over ear Harmon target (which may or may not suit your tastes - mileage will definitely vary). Therefore, it could be said that they were equivalently tuned (or nearly so) after EQ.
With the Elegias, there is so much better soundstage, spacial recreation, isolation, seperation. Pinpointing where individual instruments and voices are is easier.
They are also much more resolving. I listening recordings I thought I knew very well that now have a whole world of new sounds and information in them I was unaware of.
Finally, they sound a bit more ānaturalā. Iāve played in a jazz/rock ensemble, so I know what itās like to be in the room while we played āIn the Moodā and āBasic Basieā. I know what trumpets, trombones, saxiphones, etc sound like when youāre in the room with the real instrument. The Elegias sound just a touch more like the real thing - even though the (tuning + EQ) FRC is āequalā.
For an iem i can recommend you closed eyes.
The etymotic er2se or xr variant.
Passive isolation 30dbā¦
The best part is that they sound really neutral so you can eq them to suit your taste better.
They are around 100$
Just received the elegias. My first impressions are:
Theyāre amazing. So much better than anything Iāve listened to. I donāt have my DAC yet but I think once I have that this will be my go to combo.
I like the EQ functionality, it works well when changing between styles/types of listening. I find a small bass boost is necessary but on focals website they say around 24 hours of runtime is required before the bass really kicks in. Even so, as it is right now with a preset EQ these are leagues better than what Iām used to.
They are massive, definitely not as portable as I would like but probably manageable.
The cord is SO SHORT. why?
Anyways, I appreciate all the advice and education, Iāll probably follow up in 72 hours once Iāve become well acquainted with the headphones
@Cardo_Jeremy Iāll probably pick up the etymotic er2se soon!
Yeah, Focalās stock cables are kind of a joke. In fact, theyāre kind of a running joke. Did you get the stiff plastic coated round one, or the even more horrid rectangular weave-wrapped one thatās two cables wrapped side by side? Theyāre both terrible, but the rectangular one I hear is the worse of the two (I got the plastic round one). I ordered a Hart cable when I ordered the headphone, having been forewarned. If I had known you were so close to pulling the trigger, Iāda warned you about them.
I am pretty satisfied with Hart for the replacement. Itās not spactacular, a little microphonic, and even at 4ā + the interconnect (adds like 6"), I still wish it were a little longer, but to get longer from them you have to wait for their custom shop.
Periapt also has a pretty good reputation, though I have yet to try them. There are, of course plenty of very cheap chinese cables - some of which I have heard some good things about. Also, as with everything in this hobby, The sky is the limit - there are vendors making cables for hundreds, and even thousands of dollars from exotic materials like graphene cores with pure fine silver coatings and all such sundry. Some believe high buck cables improve the sound, but I havenāt got the cash to try that sort of thing out for myself. Even the staunchest cable roller will admit they have a very small impact - smaller and more subtle than any other change you can make to your setup.
I have a local dude here for small things. I try and buy local when I can. Iām going to pay him a visit tomorrow. He suggested these headphones but was sold out of them himself. I find that for some genres the towel over your ears analogy is quite accurate. The equalizer REALLY changes the way the song sounds. Like it goes from atrocious to glorious, with very little in-between. it is interesting.
I am still trying to narrow down the filter(s) in my preset most responsible for the clarity increase. Thereās got to be a cut somewhere (I think in the upper bass area, but I could be off track) that just lets the rest shine through.
Also, the website saying the bass will improve after 24 hours of runtime - they werenāt lying, but it took mine nearly a week of listening for 10+ hours a day. I put them on this morning, and had to adjust my EQ to take out a little of the bass. They just felt boomier and thumpier than I remember them. Or, maybe my brain and ears are getting accustomed to them? Either way, I had to ease up on the bass a little.
Itās always a good sign when less EQ sounds better, I guess.
Yes, the stock Focal cable is an absolute joke. I happened to get the stiff, janky, pathetic plastic coated round one. I could never un-jank it (believe me I tried!) it sounded terrible and had tonal imbalance from side to side. It went into the garbage. I went with the Flow cable terminated in XLR to solve that problem. I wanted to go with the Hart, but frankly I was not blown away by the one I got for another set here. So after a slight venture with an Amazon replacement cable, I went with The Flow cable, which for me, sounded better.
And it took about 7-10 days for them to settle in. Now they are good to go. A definite keeper, these are.
So I am trying these for about a week without EQ. Iāve been looking a lot at the downsides of EQ lately, and decided to try living without for a while to see if my impressions hold up after letting my ears / brain burn in to the sound of these cans without inturruption.
So far, I am of mixed opinion. Iāve been at it for some 4-6 ish hours. I miss the extra bass (not the thump, so much as the slow decaying boom Even though these are headphones, I would describe the bass as something you can feel in your chest as much as hear with your ears), but thatās not really a /problem/.
With some tracks, I find these a little honky/ shouty. At first, I thought it might be sibilance, but no, thereās just a trumpet horn quality added to some mids/ upper mids. Not all, but especially my beloved female vocalsā¦ Reference tracks:
I am committed to a week without EQ before I A/B test them again. Even if it turns out I prefer these with EQ, I am hoping this will help teach me what to look forward to in any future upgrades.
What source gear are you using with the Elegia? If you are missing a little bit of that low end weight you could pick up something with an analog bass boost such as the iFi Hip Dac. I had one that I paired with my Elegia for a while and the bass was very satisfying on that combo. (And Iām very picky about my bass.)
Itās a Soekris Dac 2541, and a Vioelectric V281. They kinda outweigh the Elegia in scale a little, so I can focus on HP upgrades in this future, knowing my source gear will hold up.
The bass isnāt by any means ālackingā, and if anything, is a little tighter without the EQ - but there was a not insubstantial boost in my favorite preset which made them into real thumpers. I want to spend a full week giving the non-EQ sound a try so I can teach myself more about what I really like. I figured I could drop my thoughts on the process here so others might be able to garner some comparative information along the way.
I did that - No EQ what-so-ever since Christmas. Gave me a new-found appreciation for each headphone I have, especially the Elegia. Having said that, the EQ is back, and I am back to having real fun again. The nice thing about this EQ is that you can defeat it if you want to, so I can go back to raw any time I wish.
I love these headphones. Lol compared to all the other headphones I have these are gold. I am also a huge fan of EQ. I find that different songs benefit from different EQs.
Oh yeah you are set on source gear then. Nevermind what I said. Lol
That stack should drive just about everything. Curious to see where you go with headphones next.
Iāve always gone the route of simplicity and never used EQ. I guess I just like to know exactly what a headphone sounds like on its own when paired with my sources. Iāve never tried to āfixā a headphone with EQ and have instead tried to fine tune my audio chain to achieve what I want. I have a couple flavors of headphones for different moods and I donāt ever try to go for a specific target FR. Iād rather have the variety.
So i just order my Elegias, really excited (my largest single headphone related purchase so far), anything i should know aside from the cable? (I got a hart audio cable so im good)
That makes total sense. I tried some EQ with these headphones mostly as a curiosity thing. - I already had equalizer APO installed, and I have an EQ profile set up for my mic. Heck, why not?
I was surprised by how much I disliked what most of the presets did to Elegiaās sound. Not as surprised as I was by how much I liked what one of them did though.
Now I am taking a break from it so I can re-test whether I still prefer EQ, or if it just sounds āgood differentā without sounding ābetterā.
For me itās not about being a purist or anything else. I like to have fun with the music. Sometimes I want to hear it honest and untouched; sometimes I want to screw around and have fun. Having an EQ available does that for me. Again, This is not an endorsement or argument in any way. that is simply how I do it.
