šŸ”· Focal Elegia

I’m on set #3 now…limited edition (WITH a decent cable!!!) came up for 350 euro…how the hell can you pass up a can this good…decided to make it my work closed back…yes I now have a work open and work closed set of cans…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 more…

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, that’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 don’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 it’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 y’all know I fully intend on getting another Custom Hart. But dammit, I can’t wait a month! So I found this from Sukira HiFi to get me through

Ya know what? It’s a nice cable! It definitely exceeded the expectation. It’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 is…

Holy Shit, man. I mean seriously, Holy Shit! I thought they were amazing on the SE output… 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 treble… it’s truly better in every way than the SE output.

These headphones are pretty amazing. I couldn’t be happier with them.

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@Raptor168 That’s what it’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. It’s certainly been an eye-opener for me. I kinda get it now. I’m not saying I’m gonna get into some Audeze LCD-5’s or something crazy like that, I don’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, I’m happy and grateful for what I have. Rock on…

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Very cool! I was pleasantly surprised for sure. It’s a tad stiff, but it’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.

I’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 it’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 ’ 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 I’m using the felt wrap that they shipped in… HORRIBLE, I know! :rofl: But hey, it’s just me in the cave, and Kathy doesn’t give a flyin…

But yeah, thanks for the link, Nathan. I’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 Pad… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G4T07IK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

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For all from europe/germany. 499€ on german amazon right now

Focal Elegia Over-Ear-Kopfhörer, ohrumschließend, 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 isn’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 wasn’t an upgrade over the 177x’s I got for $300 so sent them back (also that clamp is killer)

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Andorama isn’t available in europe. My link doesn’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€˜updated’ cable and the same one I received a few months back. It still sucks and if I’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. it’s been about a month now and I have been making progress, but it’s still kinda janky. If they would have just coiled it it would have been so much better. But hey, it’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 don’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 don’t break, even better.

Ignore your wife and please throw it anyway! Or maybe recycle it…
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 channel… 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, it’s literally just a wire…

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