Glad you are enjoying them 
Somewhat, not as much as the clear but getting something like an rnhp for them is really nice sounding.
Not the best with an otl. But you have mentioned hybrid tube amps and those would work well.
So you’d consider the RNHP a worthwhile upgrade from the SH-8 and Spark, and would pair well with the SU-8? Judging by the RNHP thread, I’d assume so.
I would say so yeah imo, that would be a decent improvement
Haha…looks like you just answered part two of my question in that thread. Thanks!
4 Likes
After trying the dekoni sheepskin pads my Elegia. I recommend staying away from those. They completely ruin the resolution and adds alot of bass. They get noticeably less detailed sounding.Going to get Dekoni elite velour pads soon. Hopefully they will be a better fit for the Elegia.
4 Likes
I’ve heard that the dekoni pads only sound decent on the elear. I can’t verify this myself, but it is something I’ve come across on other forums. It is unfortunate because Focal really price gouges on replacement pads.
3 Likes
Read on Head-Fi ( I think) that someone had tried elite velour, and that reduce the treble, and bumped up the bass a bit without destroying the resolution.
2 Likes
bUt aRe’Nt tHeY aLL bAsiCaLLy THe SaME bUt wITh dIFFerENT pADs?!
SaME fR!!!
WhY bUY aN eLeGiA wHeN yOu CaN eQ yOuR kOsS kSc75 To SoUnD lIKe A fOcAl UtOpIa??? Lol
8 Likes
OnLY nEEd UtOpIA pADs!
3 Likes
You guys are not well… 
6 Likes
I took the plunge and ordered these tonight. Should get here in a couple days. Hoping this will be the last set of headphones I need for the office where I do most of my listening.
10 Likes
I just ordered a set as well, got them on sale with a Dragonfly Red included
5 Likes
Hello guys, this is my impression of the Elegia in comparison to the DT1990. My setup: Dac is Aune X1s 10th anniversary and amp is SMSL SP200 THX. I a/b’d both of these headphones and the Elegia EASILY faaaaaaaaaaaaaaar outclasses the DT1990 in sound. I level matched, had a good seal on both and eq’d them to sound similiar. The elegia is capable of providing more intense and expansive bass than the DT1990, provided with a good seal and a little bass boost (add a simple low shelf filter). With this, metal concerts sound a lot more cohesive and realistic. In example, you can finally experience the rumbling- and thrusting sound of the double bass and the fullness of the bassist, which is nonexist on the DT1990. I also eq’d specific mid frequencies of the Elegia a few db down, because they were very forward and kinda shouty. Now they are quieter, but still remaining distinct! On the DT1990 the vocals sound thin, distant and there is no seperation. On the treble side of things, the DT1990 sounds very open and wide, but fakes it’s soundstage, because there is ZERO depth to it. Imagine having a big room, but all the instruments are crammed somewhere in the middle and the sound doesn’t travel beyond it, effectively using 1/4 of the provided space and WASTING 3/4 of it, which we perceive as “airiness” or “openness”. On the other hand, the Elegia has a middle sized room, but utilizies EVERYTHING of it. It has half the soundstage of the DT, but amusingly provides double the depth, which I intepret as double of the real soundstage. The DT has no detail and tries to fake it by boosting the 8khz of it’s mediocre treble. I play acoustic guitar in my spare time and know the body and sound of my guitar and the Elegia represents it relatively realistically (it still misses some things here and there). On the DT1990 I only could BARELY recognize my OWN guitar in comparison. I’m totally serious, the DT1990 misses so many layers of texture, detail and depth, that it just sounds 1-Dimensional. The DT1990 has the same amount or slightly more detail than it’s little brother DT990, which I also owned for several months. The Elegia is like watching a 3D movie on 4k bluray, while the DT is a simple 2D movie on 480p. I also would intepret the soundstage as follows: Imagine being in a live concert and you stand somewhere far away from the band, the music sounds thin, depthless and all the instruments sound the same, thats the DT1990. You are standing faar way back and thats why everything sounds so 1-Dimensional and undefined. In comparison to this: Imagine standing in front row, directly infront of the band! You can hear every detail, the position of the instruments and everything sounds full and very loud, that’s the Elegia. Now to other aspects. If I would price both of them realistically in my country Germany, I would pay 300€ to the DT1990 and 600€ to the Elegia. Yes, the Elegia is twice as good as the DT1990. The difference between having detail and depth and NO detail and depth, is effectively 100%. So I pay 100% more omegalulz. When it comes to built, the DT uses far better and higher quality material, while the Elegia is a mediocre and cringe plastic monstrosity. The DT is light, very flexible and stays on your head firmly. The Elegia has an okish weight distribution, my neck hurts more than on the DT, but that only happens after like half a day. When it comes to looks, the DT has some kind of Darth Vader Galaxy Star Wars Death Star theme, which I totally dig and I love the heck out of it. The Focal Elegia tries to take the more elegant and high class approach, but fails on it’s plasticly materials like a toy. It looks mediocre on pictures and also in real life. Actually, that’s totally unacceptable quality from a company like Focal. Well yeah thats my review.
EDIT: I noticed that I totally destroyed the DT on the sound aspect. I would like to add that, when using eq, the DT1990 can have a very balanced FR and acceptable sound signature which fits ALL genres of music. It is a very versatile headphone with good built and looks for under 500€ and I had good times with it. The Elegia fits with 90% of my music library, while the rest of the 10% sounds okayish, the bad mastering- and recording quality is to blame. I also heavily eq’d the Elegia, without eq it’s a terrible sounding headphone, too much emphasis on 1khz imo. Be sure that you have a good seal on the Elegia, otherwise you have ZERO bass. (I had to manually increase the clampforce on these by wrapping it around with paper and tape and leaving it like that for few days 
). If you have any questions feel free to ask 
14 Likes
Nice write up. When I had the DT1990 I wasn’t much of a fan. I felt the same, like it tries to fake detail. Others seem to like it tho and I think it could be an amp thing. When I had the DT1990 I was using the thx 789 and smsl su-8. I don’t think that pairing did them any favors. I’d like to try them on a decent tube. I think a tube would help them out. Similar to a sennheiser or zmf being better on a tube vs ss.
3 Likes
I would be very thankful and interested to hear your thoughts when you pair a tube amp with a DT1990. Maybe the soundstage will get some depth and the sound will get fuller or sth? Dont forget to level match them, its so important.
EDIT: Im going to correct myself. The THX amps are very powerful and measure perfectly so far, a DT1990 with easy 250 ohm should pose no threat at all. I experienced twice as much depth with the Elegia than DT1990 on a SMSL SP200 THX amp. The amp is NOT the problem and is capable enough, so the real culprit would be the headphone itself!
They have arrived. Impressions to come in a week. Initial thoughts are good and interesting contrast to the Eikons.
12 Likes
Eager to hear your thoughts, my LP is coming today and Elegia’s tomorrow, paired with an SU-8 instead of the Geshelli though.
1 Like