Ok thanks. Someone else said that too. Maybe too easy to drive.
They are low impedence, so a SET tube with lower output impedence might work in some cases, but low impedence cans in general just donāt play well with tubes, especially planars, largely due to current requirements and damping factor
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The elegia arenāt too amp picky, but sound like ass on most otl imo. For a nice transformer coupled amp it depends, you can get ok or meh results, or get something that sounds good, but generally I find myself preferring them on solid state
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Recently I was asking about amp upgrades for the Elegia since they apparently arenāt too amp picky and you said something like āpick up the Asgard 3 and call it a day.ā (Not a direct quote 
) Are there other amps at $500 and below that would be a better pairing than the AS3 in your opinion or do you think it mainly comes down to preference at that price point? Looking at G111, RNHP, and maybe others.
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I would say those are generally higher tier than the Asgard 3 imo, I think if you are looking in that range my preference with focals is the rnhp mainly because it does a good job giving them a very natural mid-range and treble, and a more focused sound, where the g111 would be a bit more dry in comparison, but would be pretty impactful and would give the elegia a bit larger presentation than the Neve as well. Honestly under 500 those would be my frontrunners
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Very helpful as always. Thanks! I hope that info benefits others as well. Here is a curve ball question that is slightly off topic. My other daily drivers are the Nighthawks which are also easy to drive cans but obviously a very different sound from the Elegia. Between the Asgard 3, RNHP, and G111 which do you think pairs best with the Hawks? And since Iām looking for an amp to do both, what would be the smart choice? (Leaning towards Asgard 3 or RNHP for the Elegia based on your descriptions. I prefer to lean more natural with mid-range and treble since they already sound pretty impactful to begin with, and I donāt think I want ādryā.)
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To clarify I donāt think the g111 is overly dry, just a bit more dry in comparison to the rnhp. For the Hawks I would prefer the g111 over the rnhp mainly because Iām a sucker for slam and impact, and the way the g111 recreates space works very nicely with the hawks making them sound larger and more spacious. The rnhp does drive the Hawks well but I think I prefer the g111 here mainly for impact and more spacious spatial recreation. I think for what you are after you might find the rnhp might be more up your alley than the g111 for serving dual duty. The a3 again is a great all rounder but I would hesitate to pick it over an rnhp or g111 in this case if I have the budget
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I really gotta get my hands on a RNHP one of these days to compare to the G111 for myself with the elegia and elex
Honestly I donāt know what the budget is yet. Trying to decide. If Iām impatient it will be the Asgard 3. (And Iām usually impatient. Lol)
Also gave me a no when I tried ordering the other day
Yeah, I tried again on the last sale. 
[quote=āTrixbunny, post:282, topic:8572ā]
the bass and clarity are improved slightly imo
[/quote] I must have a weird head shape, because the bass increased by a lot with those sheepskin pads. Due to this, the Elegia sounds more full and complete. I cant imagine the Elegia without those pads, they would just sound limp and dead
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I am currently selling my Focal Elegia. If anyone is interested, DM me and we can work out a deal.
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Dang. Wish I saw this last week. Oh well. GLWS!
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BTW, I prefer to listen to these with Dekoni Sheepskin earpads, as they seem to tame the lower treble and fill out the 200Hz regions, making them sound āfuller.ā
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I have had these for a couple of weeks now, so here are my thoughts. First off i feel if you can get these under 500, do it. Great closed back, not amp picky. Sounds great and unique with all the amps Iāve had. 800i,a3, hip dac. Takes really well to the hip dac and its bass boost. I highly reccomend that combo for portability. Very nice. You could even get the hip dac and Elegia for under 500. Money well spent imo. Elegia is pretty versatile in the way it adapts to the music it plays. I enjoyed every genre with it. Gives slam if needed, and super detailed when called for. Pretty nice. And the added bass boost on the hip dac makes it more fun than a neutral sounding headphone. Great headphone in this price range.
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These are almost exactly the same as my thoughts about the Elegia as well as the Hip Dac combo. I feel like there is some really good synergy there, especially for a solid portable setup. If you are on-the-go at all and want something to throw in your backpack these seem hard to beat if you enjoy the sound.
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Focal Elegia + Asgard 3 is
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Anyone want a lightly used Elegia? $500 + 1/2 shipping.
INTRODUCTION
I have been listening to the Elegia A LOT over the last couple of weeks. The TL;DR version of this review is the Elegia are a really good headphone that performs well with a wide range of musical styles, does so in a closed-back form factor, and is an absolute steal if you get if under about $600USD. No, it isnāt perfect, but for what you get and what it can do at that price point there is very little to complain about. Read on to see more detailed thoughts on all that.
I have tried to make this review āscale-ableā by making it clear what parts are targeted to newer audiophiles and readers who havenāt read my other reviews on this forum and which parts are more useful for more veteran audiophiles. Alright, letās get to it.
KNOW YOUR REVIEWER (skip this if youāve read lots of my posts on this forum)
My preferred genres are rock/metal and classical/orchestral music. Iām getting to know jazz more and enjoying quite a bit. I also listen to some EDM and hip-hop. My hearing quirks include a high sensitivity to midrange frequencies from just under 1KHz to around 3Khz, give or take. My ears are thus quick to perceive āshoutinessā in headphones in particular. I describe āshoutinessā as an emphasis on the āouā sound of āshout.ā Itās a forwardness in the neighborhood of 1KHz and/or on the first one or two harmonics above it (when I make the sound āooooowwwwwā into a spectrum analyzer the dominant frequency on the vowel sound is around 930Hz, which also means harmonic spikes occur again at around 1860Hz and 2790Hz). In the extreme, it can have the tonal effect of sounding like a vocalist is speaking or singing through a toilet paper tube or cupping their hands over their mouth. It can also give instruments like piano, but especially brass instruments, an added āhonkā to their sound. I also get distracted by sibilance, or sharp āsā and ātā sounds that can make ssssingers sssssound like their forssssssing esssss ssssssounds aggresssssssively. Sibilance does not physically hurt my ears nearly as quickly as shout, though. Itās distracting because itās annoying and unnatural. Readers should keep these hearing quirks in mind as they read my descriptions of sound.
Prior to owning the Elegia I had the V-Moda Crossfade M-100, Beyerdynamic DT990-32ohm, Monolith M1060, Dekoni Blue, Sennheiser HD6XX, HiFiMan HE-4XX, Ikko OH-10, Tin T3, Beyerdynamic DT880-600ohm, HiFiMan Edition XX, and Fostex TH-X00 Purpleheart. The amps and dacs Iāve used for the Elegia include SMSL SU-8, iFi Zen, iFi Hip-Dac, and Schiit Asgard 3.
ELEGIA INFO (for beginners)
The Elegia is a closed-back, dynamic-driver headphone which initially sold for 900USD. I found this head-fi video with Focal engineer Nicolas Debard really interesting, and it goes into detail about the design and build. The parts about the āportedā design and thinking of a closed-back headphone as being essentially a very large speaker in a very small room were quite interesting. I will also put here that they isolate very well. You can get away with playing them loudly in an office. And loud they will play. They have a rated 35-ohm impedance with a 105 dB/mW sensitivity. They are easy to drive.
The current going rate for a new Elegia appears to be about $690. The price appears to be dropping because itās now a discontinued model. At the time of this writing, though, itās still quite easy to obtain. Adorama has had a few iterations of that ludicrously good price of $429, but I do not know how many more of those they are going to do (I also got mine from them at that price). However, they are still offering used/open box units for $519 as of 13 Aug 2020. Also at the time of this writing, there have been good deals offered on Elegias in our Buy/Sell thread on this forum.
BUILD
The Elegia looks and feels like a quality product. It feel solid without being heavy. The earcups are spring loaded around a horizontal axis so they pivot vertically. The earpads are a soft fabric material and feel quite luxurious. I really only have one gripe about the build. Look at this picture:
Thatās the Elegia next to my Beyerdynamic DT880-600 (which I dual-entry modded, if youāre wondering where the cord went). Do you see the difference? The Elegia takes up WAY more physical space when itās ārelaxedā and not on your head; much more space than any other headphone Iāve had through here. I donāt know if thatās a general Focal thing or just Elegia, but it you have a rack/shelf/hanger rod full of headphones (and if youāre on this forum you either do or will) know that Elegia can screw up your storage spacing.
Comfort on these cans is really first rate though. I can wear them for hours without any real complaint. Clamp is firm but not hard. Ear pads are soft. The headband is well padded. I donāt even notice my ears getting all that warm, which is a thing that headphones do to me sometimes.
SOUND
Signature:
Elegia is pretty neutral with a slight mid-forward presentation, they may be even just a little on the bright side too. The deep bass, <100Hz, is extended and punchy but not elevated. There is a slight dip in the frequency response between about 100 and 200 Hz, though, and that is audible at times and with certain music. However, they are neutral enough that they make sense as a studio monitor/reference headphone. The dip in frequency response can take a bit of fullness out of the sound. If the material has a healthy amount of info below 100Hz, that is masked a bit. But for rock and metal which sometimes donāt have much in that region, especially with some classic rock, they can sound a bit thin. If youāre a basshead, the stock tuning is likely not going to be to your liking. But, oh how things can change. The Elegia takes to bass EQ VERY well. Iāll talk more about this below with amp pairings. But spoiler alert, you can turn them into bass cannons and they donāt complain at all.
Detail Retrieval:
The Elegia is the most detailed headphone I own. I canāt make claims about what I havenāt heard, but the only other headphone I have heard that competes with the detail the Elegia fires down my ear canals is the DT880. The Elegia is more detailed than the 880, but not by a ton. Midrange detail is especially delicious. Vocal and instrument reverb has a very convincing, āyou are thereā kind of effect on a lot of different material. Even with Spotify premium (320kbps ogg format), it was really hard to wear the Elegia and work because in almost EVERY song I was noticing new details. I wasnāt listening for them either. I was working! They were just there! That doesnāt mean the details were aggressive and forward, they were just present in ways I hadnāt heard before on tracks that Iāve heard dozens if not hundreds of times before. The level of detail may be too much for some at times. I didnāt find it objectionable, but some may.
Spatial Performance:
In a word, pretty good. Focals have a reputation for a 360 degree soundfield. Truthfully, I didnāt notice that. I will agree that the soundstage sounds more like a semicircle in front of me than an arc over my head like the DT880 ā my previous spatial champ ā can do at times. For that reason itās hard to describe the soundstage as wide or deep; itās just kind of around the front half of me. Imaging is also strong. Itās easy to tell where in the soundfield instruments are placed and there is reasonably good separation between instruments, at least horizontally, in the soundfield. There is a hint of depth in the soundfield but thatās also not a thing that jumped out at me as a strength. The same is true of vertical imaging.
I havenāt done much gaming with them, but their performance is at least as good as the DT880 in this regard, if that is of interest to you. In some gaming contexts, they could be even more engaging than the 880 because of their bass extension and impact.
The biggest surprise here is how big and open the Elegia sounds as a closed back. Itās not narrow or claustrophobic. What Focal has pulled off here for under $1000 is really impressive.
Timbre:
Timbre is where there is the biggest mixed bag for me. When I first put them on I was a bit disappointed because the treble sounded metallic and harsh and the mids sounded thrust forward and almost shouty. Iā¦hateā¦shouty. It didnāt take long though for the timbral character to calm down and show up (probably more mental than physical). Cymbal crashes sounded quite natural. Vocals also started to come out well. Voices more or less sound like voices, at least while singing. Drums have distinct snap and impact to their sound. Brass instruments sound aggressive and well, brassy. Thereās even a healthy dose of resinous sound ā that āzizzyā quality, according to Stereophile, that results from bows being dragged across strings. All of those qualities give the mids a natural timbre, most of the time. The tuning does push the mids forward enough that an overly aggressive recording can get piercing. Even vocals that are shouts ā and shoutiness is only a problem when things that arenāt shouts sound like shouts ā can be aggressive to the point of discomfort for me. Still, the Elegia doesnāt appear to inject much artificial shoutiness, it just pushes real shouts forward. Itās a fine line here, but for the most part and for most of what Iāve listened to, Focal walked it well.
There is a thing I donāt like very much here, though. For just normal speaking, such as TV or movie dialog or a YouTube video or a podcast, the midrange timbre on the Elegia is too mid-forward, IMO. In such contexts they can have that hollow, boosted midrange sound of a sound system in many commercial cinemas that are really making sure you can hear the dialog (or were just poorly done, probably poorly done). It can sound like, while not this extreme, the person speaking is cupping their hands over their mouth while speaking. Now, why does this happen during regular speaking and not so much with singing? For one, it might still happen during singing, itās just masked by the wider range of frequencies present. Or it could be that the Elegia just respond better when more frequencies are used, such as singing rather than speaking.
Finally, itās not a timbre thing, but that dynamic quality ā in this case the punch/slam attack variety ā you hear about Focalsā¦itās real. The attack of the Elegiaās sound is quite aggressive and well, dynamic. I think itās fun, but it may not be for everyone.
AMP PAIRINGS
With No EQ
The Asgard 3 powers the Elegia really well. The Elegia has a 35 ohm impedance and the Asgard can pump out close to 5W of power at that impedance. That is more than enough. I was able to listen to rock and metal without EQ and mostly enjoy it. But without EQ the Elegia is better suited to acoustic music like classical, jazz, or opera. But fear not, metalheadsā¦
I Found Zen With Schiit
That response to bass EQ I mentioned, we need to talk more about that. During one of my first listening sessions I was powering the Elegia with a Hip-Dac. First thing I noticed is that the Hip-Dacās more laidback sound signature was a great match to the Elegia. Then I put that X-Bass bass boost on, and WOAH! That 100-200Hz dip becomes a non-issue. The bass extension somehow gets deeper. There is punch and slamā¦LOTS of it. And thereās even rumble. Deep, powerful rumble. The overall sound signature almost become warm. Itās hard to call it V since the mids and treble are on similar levels. They donāt become dark because the treble is still quite noticeable. That X-Bass turns them into bass monsters, though. I did notice that at times that bass can be sloppy and uncontrolled with the Hip-Dac. It just didnāt have the power to seize complete control over the drivers in the deep low end. What would it be like if I could pipe that X-Bass through the Asgard? Iā¦hadā¦toā¦know.
Yeah, so an iFi Zen amp/dac found its way into my Amazon shopping cart (Iām working on a review of that too). The entire purpose was to use it as just a dac, turn on that X-Bass, set the analog outputs to variable, and pipe that bass boost through the Asgard. Holy thumping slamming deep powerful tight tuneful addictive bass, Batman! Look, without that X-Bass, the Fostex biodyna-based headphones, especially the Massdrop X00 Purpleheart, are the bass kings under $1000 (or so Iāve been told). That iFi X-Bass, routed through an A3, and powering an Elegia thoughā¦itās better. Deeper. Punchier. Rumblier (ok, thatās not a word, but you get it). And most importantly, so much more controlled with the Asgard than the Hip-Dac. The A3 grabbed the drivers with an iron-fisted grip and didnāt let go. And the Elegias did not complain at all. Bass torture test after bass torture test, couldnāt detect distortion in the bass or bleed into the midrange. Couldnāt find a noticeable hit in soundstaging or imaging. Rock, metal, EDM, Hip-Hop, all back on the table.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Elegia has earned a place in my collection for quite some time and also inspired a major overhaul of my headphone loadout, which is a work in progress. The Elegia is a strong all-around performer, especially with some bass boost. Itās closed-back with pretty good isolation. It comes with a nice carrying case. Once my home desktop setup is upgraded, I can see the Elegia, Asgard 3, and Zen being my office setup. That trio synergizes very well and because of the option of XBass, or not, can handle just about any kind of music and do so quite well. The Hip-Dac pushes the Elegia well enough that those two will become my travel setup (except on airplanes, the Elegia donāt isolate THAT well). I bought my set of Elegia for $429 and I have to admit, it feels like stealing.
I have joined HFGF Elegia gang, happily. Although I think we should call ourselves The Eleg-ionā¦
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