Just a small follow up - itās not that thereās something offensive about them. I can wear them 12 hours straight no problem. Itās more like somethingās missing.
1 Like
Past the month or so I have the Elegia, I have found some flaws in them. But still, whenever I have really complex tracks and some sub-bass ones I simply cannot get anywhere else right now. And since Iām not going to spend more right now on phones, these arenāt going anywhere soon.
1 Like
Hi guys, I got steered toward the closed headphone world by my newborn and I am considering pulling the trigger on a used Elegia but I am having doubts about comfort. Currently, I own a Senn HD569 and the earpads are very tall/oval, going around my ears without touching, which I love. Could you please measure the inside of your Elegia pad (metric pls 
) so I get an idea of how much room there is for the ear? Or does the Elegia go on the ear and it doesnāt bother you at all? 
Thanks in advance. Pete
Elegia is very comfortable for me. Weight is not an issue either (I canāt do heavy headphones). Pad oval opening measurements are 63mm X 53mm and 24mm deep.
2 Likes
The Elegia pads are pretty similar in size/shape to Senns, but a touch wider and shorter. I havenāt personally had any issues with either pressing on my ears between the Elegia and 58x, or the Game Ones I used to have and I believe used the same pads as the 569.
2 Likes
Thank you guys, you are very helpful.
I had Elegia and 58x, I think Elegia is more comfortable. I ended up selling both but if I have to keep one, I would keep Elegia.
1 Like
I wasnt so lucky with the elegiaās stock pads, they were very uncomfortable for me. the padding looked thick, but itās actually hollow, so my ears touched the driver. the pads didnāt seal correctly, so I had no bass. I then bought the Dekoni Sheepskin Pads and all the problems got fixed. Focal Elegia with stock pads was a nightmare.
1 Like
Iāve noticed that the Elegiaās are almost universally acclaimed, but yeah people sell them used a alarming rates myself included. I honestly think itās for the same reasons that Zeos gave for people not being too keen on the Stellia. They are very situationally great for specific instruments/genres and can out-detail any other conventional headphone in a similar price range, but thatās kinda it. Theyāre very neutral in their FR but are easy to drive so amps canāt really change the FR in a meaningful way. I think you can get more āexcitingā options in the price range that can still handle detail very well. I think the Elex are so popular because theyāre FR is tuned to be naturally funner. At the cost I think people want excitement and detail and the Elegia leans too far towards the technical/analytical end for some people. Although, if I could only own one headphone the Elegia or the NDH20 would be at the top of my list, but I sold both if that says anything.
3 Likes
But what would you consider the better closed alternative with great comfort?
I think the Elegiaās sin is not having a party trick. I donāt think it does anything wrong itās just missing something. Itās definitely not a bad can, it just leaves me wanting more.
3 Likes
Iāve pulled mine out recently after playing with higher end cans for awhileā¦ Itās fine. I kinda agree with @A_Jedi, it does its job but doesnāt really have a remarkable feature that other competitors donāt also have. Iām also finding that with entry-level chip-based amplifiers it gets very crunchy. I think this is what I noticed when I used the Zenās internal amp but heard it on a couple of the newer measurement-chasing hadamps out there as well (reviews in progress).
3 Likes
I was wondering about that. I thought perhaps I was nuts - the Elegia sound like a different headphone when I run them with the Liquid Platinum. They (to me) sound more rich and are smoother, and I donāt have the urge to run them thru the Zendac with Truebass - the Modius and LP together fill in the voids.
I still really enjoy them and I run another pair in my home office on an atom stack as my daily driver in there. On that setup yes, it is very source dependent on how they sound, but I am usually just listening to jazzy/chill/ambient playlists and those suit the Elegia. But if I want to rock out sometimes they can be āharshā. Forgive my nomenclature Iām sure it is not correct descriptive wise. Iām still learning.
1 Like
Those adjectives are consistent with my thoughts. Iām still learning a lot too. Elegia was my āgatewayā headphone as I said above. Good enough to show me I was missing a lot, but not quite there on most of the music genres I listen to. Iāll always appreciate it for that.
2 Likes
My experience reflects you guysā. On cheaper amps itās crunchy. I wasnāt able to try it on the LP due to shitty volume pot but a replacement will be here this week. I find it interesting that there are a lot of comments that Elegia donāt scale or they sound the same with most amps. My experience has been different.
1 Like
I saw a review from Andrew/Resolve Reviews a good while back where he said the Elegia were his āworkā headphone; closed back, smooth, good for what he listens to ā primarily acoustic jazz, if I understood him ā and can āignoreā so to speak, while working.
I think thatās probably pretty much a perfect use case and is why I bought them when they got cheap ā though I also think theyāre more versatile than that, relative to the universe of closed backs.
For more active listening, I much, much prefer the Elex (among others).
I donāt get āharshā ā even on āmeasurement chaserā solid state amps ā but that may be a question of relative volume and music choice.
3 Likes
I understand the confusion. To my ear the Elegiaās change from Asgard to MLP and G111 was very small. Those are all class A/B or a tube pre with a class A/B amp section (I think). For my review I really didnāt use cheaper chip-based amps because I didnāt have many on hand and the one I did (Atom) I just wasnāt using because Asgard had pretty much replaced it. Looking back I should have played more with different amps. Lesson learned. Nonetheless, it does seem Elegiaās signature and detail retrieval are tailor-made to expose what I consider one of the big limitations of most current chip-based amps: a harsh and brittle treble. I still like Zen + Asgard + Elegia but the lack of strong combos Iām finding outside of that are frustrating me with this headohone.
2 Likes
Yup, same here. Can have them on all day. Thatās definitely better than something that becomes fatiguing and needs to be removed. And itās actually one of the main reasons I bought them. Maybe Iām just not right in the head - wanting two extremes at the same time. Something engaging yet chill and easyā¦
3 Likes
I had some of that reaction too. I thought they were āsmooth to a faultā at first. So not getting harsh or crunchyā¦ but my preferences lean more toward so-called āanalyticalā I suppose and ā maybe more significantly ā I just havenāt really spent a lot of time with the Elegia outside of the low-volume, work scenario.
1 Like
Smooth to a fault may be the right term. And itās another reason I bought them - I get annoyed with cans that are nasal/have glare/are sibilant/etc. Perhaps thereās such a thing as too smooth though. Maybe I need to try them out with a very analytical amp.
2 Likes