šŸ”· Focal Elegia

Iā€™m on set #3 nowā€¦limited edition (WITH a decent cable!!!) came up for 350 euroā€¦how the hell can you pass up a can this goodā€¦decided to make it my work closed backā€¦yes I now have a work open and work closed set of cansā€¦oh to justify.

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All so true IMO. The Elegia was the first headphone that wowed me and it was like I did not know headphones were capable of sounding so good. I guess the bad, or good thing about that, depending on perspective at the moment is, that I then started wondering what about those other headphones out there? The Elegia was the entry point/catalyst to chasing after more, and more, and moreā€¦

Enjoy that piece, and let the Music be the Medicine!
:headphones:

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Hear, hear. This experience has allowed me to put things in better perspective. I always thought that thousand dollar and up headphones were just a rip-off and people were just being stupid paying that much. And I still think that for those who pay 5 thousand bucks and more for a set of headphones. Sorry, thatā€™s just the way it is. But forget about that. That is another kettle of fish that I am not concerned with.

I have been shown that there is a place in that 1 to 2 thousand dollar range where there are sets that are truly worth the price because they produce that ā€œnext levelā€ of sound performance and yet still deliver value. The Elegia is one of those sets. Never mind the fact that I paid half that - these deliver for 1,000.00 - they waaaay over-deliver for 500.00 IMO. And this aligns with the capability of my gear. I donā€™t know that it would do me any good to buy a 6,000.00 dollar set of phones because at that point, if you believe what has been written, the gear is probably going to be a bottleneck. So itā€™s all relative I guess.

I just know that I am already counting the hours until I can get home and spend more time with them. And that is what matters.

Elegia journey, Chapter Two! I have been loving these headphones, man. But the nagging in my brain to get them on the balanced output of the TA-20 has been killing me! As yā€™all know I fully intend on getting another Custom Hart. But dammit, I canā€™t wait a month! So I found this from Sukira HiFi to get me through

Ya know what? Itā€™s a nice cable! It definitely exceeded the expectation. Itā€™s performing beautifully. And it gets the Elegias on the balanced output of the TA-20. The urge has been especially strong since I put the new tubes in. And the verdict isā€¦

Holy Shit, man. I mean seriously, Holy Shit! I thought they were amazing on the SE outputā€¦ this is something else again. More stage, deeper stage in that the sound ā€œbubbleā€ got bigger, tight punchy Bass, incredible detail and incredibly, no fatiguing trebleā€¦ itā€™s truly better in every way than the SE output.

These headphones are pretty amazing. I couldnā€™t be happier with them.

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@Raptor168 Thatā€™s what itā€™s about!! Happy for you.

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I bought that cable a year or two ago. Great value!

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Thank you, Tim. Itā€™s certainly been an eye-opener for me. I kinda get it now. Iā€™m not saying Iā€™m gonna get into some Audeze LCD-5ā€™s or something crazy like that, I donā€™t have the wallet for that, and I still think they are ridiculously overpriced. But I do understand a bit more about why someone would want them. I would seriously like to audition a set one time just so I could hear for myself what the difference would be.

But hey, Iā€™m happy and grateful for what I have. Rock onā€¦

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Very cool! I was pleasantly surprised for sure. Itā€™s a tad stiff, but itā€™s already starting to soften up a little as I work it. Nice build quality, it came to me without janks (huge bonus there), it looks good and sounds fantastic. I completely agree, this cable delivers great value.

Iā€™ll still get the Hart, but now I can take my time and not be bothered over wait time. And when I do get the Hart cable, this one will find itā€™s way over to the Sundaras. So win-win.

If you are going to build a collection, you should look at the HAC system. Just buy a couple of connectors for your amps and then buy a cable for each type of headphone connector.

I currently have a 3.5mm cable, a Sennheiser two pin connector, an Audeze connector and a Monoprice M1570 connector. The cables without connectors are pretty cheap and Much less than complete custom cables. The most expensive I have seen yet is the Cascade cable at $82.00 (shares connectors with the HD800S, I believe).

If you are building a collection this will be much cheaper in the long run. Every cable I have bought SO far is much cheaper than what I paid for the Sikura.

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These have been my daily drivers at work for over a year now and I absolutely love these things. The stock pads are probably the comfiest stock pad of any headphone I have used so far. Not sure if adorama is still doing the ~420$ sales, but that is honestly a steal for this thing. The tuning is a little bit wonky, but for daily use with podcasts and random music listening it is very appealing. Had to replace the stock cable months ago though because the left-side cable died on me (and the cable also sucks). I should really test these on my home setup, but I honestly have just been exclusively using them for work! Too hard to put down the open-backs at home.

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I hear ya. I love the fact that they are eazy to drive. That makes them pretty versatile. So far I have not taken them outside. But the option is there and I like that.

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Man, I gotta follow @11_Clouds ā€™ lead and get one of those headband covers. I was worried about the beautiful gray finish and possible exposure to hair oil that could damage it. So Iā€™m using the felt wrap that they shipped inā€¦ HORRIBLE, I know! :rofl: But hey, itā€™s just me in the cave, and Kathy doesnā€™t give a flyinā€¦

But yeah, thanks for the link, Nathan. Iā€™ll go ahead and cover it proper like! I reckon I like them, eh?

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:laughing: I did the same thing with the felt for a while with a strip of velcro. Went with the Geekeria knit fabric one. I definitely stained the headbad after one week of had to get something on there

Geekria Knit Fabric Headband Padā€¦ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G4T07IK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

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For all from europe/germany. 499ā‚¬ on german amazon right now

Focal Elegia Over-Ear-Kopfhƶrer, ohrumschlieƟend, Schwarz/silberfarben https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07J5MDMTQ/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_X0APW3ETARSR8GSZR7EV

I pulled the trigger on these and hope that this isnā€™t a fake site or something. Mine should be in on tuesday. Excited to compare them to other headphones in my collection (sundara, zeus, denon ahd 2000, b&o h6 2nd gen and akg k371)

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andorama has been having them consistently for $400 I tried them but besides a more premium build wasnā€™t an upgrade over the 177xā€™s I got for $300 so sent them back (also that clamp is killer)

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Andorama isnā€™t available in europe. My link doesnā€™t seem to be a fake site, because the elegia arrived today.

It seems they changed the cable, because mine is all black. I saw a black/white or black/grey cable in review videos and on pictures.

The fact that it is very short and stiff, is convincing me that i purchased an original focal headphonešŸ˜…




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This is the ā€˜updatedā€™ cable and the same one I received a few months back. It still sucks and if Iā€™m gonna get a crap cable would have preferred the old one they still show in the photos because at least it looks good. Get yourself a new one.

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I agree. I was somewhat disappointed to see that disgusting thing laying there in the box. At first I threw it in the trash but my Wife reasoned with me and so I have ben trying to unjank it. itā€™s been about a month now and I have been making progress, but itā€™s still kinda janky. If they would have just coiled it it would have been so much better. But hey, itā€™s getting there! I did get a replacement cable immediately.

That said, the headphones themselves are fantastic. I feel they are the best set I currently own.

They either donā€™t have the cable anymore, since they changed in all the lines; or they changed because of multiple people having the cable fail after a few months (like mine). Either way, even this bad cable seems better than the garbage old cable IMO. And if donā€™t break, even better.

Ignore your wife and please throw it anyway! Or maybe recycle itā€¦
Besides being a wire only fit to close a gate with the cable I had actually had different frequency responses between the left and right channelā€¦ I actually thought I was going insane at the time, but after building my own cable the issue was gone.
How can you fuck up a cable that badly, itā€™s literally just a wireā€¦

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