Hello is me again,
I wonder , how much does the dekoni pads affect the sound of the elegia?
And is there benefit to burn in the elegia?
According to Resolve, a significant amount (if weāre talking about sound). And considering the difference from my stock pads and the Dekoni Sheepskin, I agree with him. In terms of comfort also a improvement, but the Elegias were comfortable for me from the get go, so there is that.
As for burn-inā¦ Well, Iām firm in the āthis is not a thingā territory but I will say some folks had a different experience. Some especially said about ābrain burn-inā, since they were not used to sound signature like the Elegia.
I personally knew they werenāt going anywhere after a few hours of listen so YMMV.
Are you having any troubles?
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Not really, i want to experiment with them , i wandered if the sound could change over the course of several hours .
I want to customize my elegia, i like this headphone.
I was curious to know what differences could the dekoni pads bring to the elegia 
Makes sense. What a treat the Elegia is turning out to be.
Have you considered software based EQ? I have hears that Focals in general take to equalization very well. While I have very little basis for comparison, I can definitely say I am enjoying the results of some A/B testing between some EQ presets found on AutoEQ. With the preset that sounds best to me, its almost like a wet blanket was between my head and the sound, and applying the eq is like taking the blanket off. A wee bit more bass, but upper mids really start to shine, and I can hear the recording space more clearly (including all sorts of tiny sounds I didnāt even realize were there, like paper shuffles, clothes rustling, etc.)
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The Elegia takes very well to EQ, my preset is similar to the one by Resolve with a touch more bass. It basically creates a small bass shelf and adds a little to the upper treble. I definitely recommend if you can.
As for the pads, I think the sheepskin does a fantastic job, itās definitely worth it IMO. Canāt say about the other dekoni stuff, but I will leave the link to Resolve evaluation of the Focal Clear pad rolling. At around 12:00 he talks about the Elegia, but donāt get too much in depth.
You have my deepest thanks.
Hey everyone
The elegia are on sale at the moment and Iām looking for a semi portable closed back headphone that does it all. I have noise cancelling cans for things of that nature.
At the 500 dollar price point are there any other closed back headphones that can compete on pure sound quality. Iād like to be able to run them of a quidelex 5k or just a mbp16.
Much love
=The elegia definitely falls into the semi portable category and better they are so efficient that they will sound really good out of a phone jack.
The passive isolation is quite good.
=The comfort is particular due to the spring loaded technology which Focal uses on their premium headphones.
The pads are comfy ,
=The clamp ,on the other hand,is like that guy at the restaurant ,he didnāt get his well-done steak and instead got a" medium-rare"
They clam hard.
The shape of your head will dictate if you will be able to bare the elegia for more than several minutes.
=If you lean toward trully natural ( like a hd600)stay away from the elegia unless you are willing to eq them.
=The elegia has a tilt in tonality( on stock eq sound) that can make some track sound the best they will ever be and some othersā¦ well it s gonna be a massacre.
Original soundtrack such as:
" lady maria of the astral tower "
itās okay but it definitely sounds better on the hd600 and sundara.
(On stock eq)
If you have to get the elegia ,i would recommend you to take a companion to go alongside the elegia .
I can easily recommend you to go with the orphan of koss ā¦ hermmm*
the Koss kph30i (30$)
with an eq ( -4db at 63) and (-2 db at 125)
Or a hd600 ( 300$ average)
Both are open tho.
If you are still willing to suffer for a great sound the etymotic er2se is a good option they can even block up 30db and moreā¦ but the fit .
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Welcome to HFGF! The elegiac are very easy to drive, so they could be used on the go. I donāt think of them really as all around because some recordings may not sound great on them. Also I would find them really big for walking around, but thatās personal. Comfort may vary as comment by @Cardo_Jeremy. Also agree with his assessment on sound, at least in general.
Also, how are you with your noise cancelling headphones? Which ones have you owned/heard? Usually they have a tendency for warm V shaped, with a lot of bass. The Elegia is very far from this sound signature, so if you like it they are not your cup of tea.
Personally, for portable, I think Koss stuff and IEMs are better but thatās my opinion. I would also advise against going to much upper in price if you donāt know what to like in headphones. Starting at $200 and below, experimenting with various flavors to find what you want from your headphones is usually the way to go in this Hobby, at least IMO.
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Thanks to both of you. I will look at other options!
Hmm, I have the px7s, airpod maxs, xm4. The music I listen to is a very wide mix. I listen to soca, Indian music, Arabic music, rap edm jazz. I find the px7s are good for western music but donāt really do well with other genres. For those I prefer the air pods or just normal speakers.
I donāt know what I donāt know. Iāll take any suggestions that come my way. I was told at my local audio store that nothing under 500 bucks would knock my socks off and that I should look at the focals.
The only mandatory requirements I have is that it is closed back. I just donāt have a lifestyle that will allow for significant use of an open back headphone. I would also like a headphone thatās over ear with decent sound isolation.
I thought the elegias would fare well with the instrumental and vocal focused nature of Indian and Arabic music. I guess Iām looking for a pair of headphones that will allow things to be heard the way they were meant to be heard.
@Cardo_Jeremy I have a tiny head so normally a strong clamp force is good for me. If the major criticism of the elegia is the EQ, can it be changed? I was also looking at the drop pandas and the audeze mobius. Not sure if theyāre in the same league as the locals but they will probably be better than my current headphones
I will advise to take the kph30i and see is the sound of the stock kph30i leans towards yout preferences .
They are 30$ .
Keep in mind the kph30i takes eq well.( That s a a sign of a good headphone. )
If you donāt want to eq the elegia,
the focal celestee 990$
sounds more appropriate . Itās basically the headphone which replace the elegia lineup .
However they will lack space to breathe, thing the elegia is doing a fantastic job at .
If you are ready to eq the elegia :
The eq i displayed here is the one i utilize for epic soundtrack and orchestra jazz can sound good on the stock but better with the 4k rise .
The elegia possess a dip toward 3-4k range range which can make the elegia sounds weird on some track.
It basically end up making the mid-range thick sounding. Like a pillow over the rest of the frequency.
I bounce between the stock and personal eq .
This one is on a Samsung device.
Since i really enjoy the weird spin the stock elegia can bring on some track ā¦
On the technicalities of the elegia.
Even on stock eq , the elegia is extremely detailed, not metallic sounding but the highs have a lot of information that can be a double edge sword.
They are more resolving more so than hd600.
But they are revealingā¦if itās good mp3 compression you are good to go ,
however would like to point out that the flac and wave have never been more worth it.
The elegia is a monster 
As for going out. I hope for you that you live in a safe place, the elegia arenāt that under statedā¦
They more bling-bling irl than on video or photos.
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If you enjoy the kph30i the road is gonna be easy
. Go to sennheizer hd600 line up. ( 58x ,6xx, 600,660s)
The 600 lineup wonāt be as bassy as the kph30i.
The (hd600) is the best suited for jaz and orchestra.
You can mod them to make them closed back.
They will still sound great.
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Ok 
. Iāve ordered the elegia and the koss. Both are returnable so it should be easy to just test them out. Iām excited, I keep wondering what the jump from wireless commercial headphones to hifi wired will sound like. If I like the elegia, do you think I should just go ahead and try the Celeste?
Hard to answer 
The elegia , in the focal lineup, is much like that weird brother.
No focal will share identity in the sound.There is the clear but despite the fact they both share the same driver they sound quite different
You should try if possible but i cant be categorical on if it s gonna be a an upgrade
I would say different.
If you can order them and send them back if you donāt like ,why not?
However the look of the focal celestee is definitely the best among all the focal.
If you want to stay on the focal course.
The (elex: open / elear:open/ celestee:closed)
Among the focal, i would say that the elex is a good twin companion 
Your question si trickyš
On technical level the elegia is quite the innovation.
For being in possession of several open back headphone .
The elegia sounds almost open .
Especially in comparison of the wh1000xm4 and xm3.
As for the jump from mainstream to hifi.
I donāt want to hype up .
The main advantage is principally the latencyā¦ it s gone. ( from Bluetooth to wired)
You might be disappointed at firstā¦ the mainstream headphones are designed to be pleasing.
What you should look up in priority instead of branding and mainstream or hifi.
Is the frequency response.
Is it (v shaped )( neutral)( diffuse field)
Out of all the headphone i possess ,the hd600 is most literal āhifiā
Sounds more true to the source
If you want to crack the boxer ( etymotic er2se and hd600 are literally hifi)
The rest is compromise between fidelity and coloration)
The elegia is a little colored but lean more on the hi-fi spectrum then fun .
While having itās fun trick which is to simulate an open sound.
Ho really revealing.
You will rediscover soundtrack with the elegia. Especially coming of the wh1000xm4 and airmax
There is some much more to say and it s hard to be conciseā¦ English is not my native language
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You did an excellent job man. Thank you for your explanations, theyāve been really helpful. Your English is better than mine. So if Iām understanding you correctly, the headphones ātuningā is the frequency response curve ?
fidelity = neutral e.g. HD600
coloration = other curves e.g. mainstream headphones
And all consumer focused hifi headphones fall somewhere in-between that spectrum?
Does EQing a headphone change the frequency response curve of the headphone or does it change the source to balance out the frequency response of the headphone?
EQ will change the signal sent to the headphone to compensate for the natural tuning, effectively altering the FRC that gets to your eardrums. Some try to āflatten the curveā and achieve a very analytical sound. If thatās what ya like, I mean, more power to ya, but the human ear doesnāt hear all frequencies evenly, and there are differences from one person to another.
Thatās why I sometimes chuckle in my sleeve a little at the idea of music āas the artist intendedā. Thereās no real way to anticipate what the artist āintendedā, since that artistās ear likely doesnāt hear a sound the same way yours does.
Some headphones respond more readily to EQ than others. That can tell you something about the headphone. Iām not entirely sure what it tells you about it, but I feel like thereās some deeper lesson to learn from that fact. For what itās worth, Elegia in specific, and Focal headphones in general have a reputation of taking to EQ very well. I canāt speak for the rest of the line, but I am listening to Blackpink through a pair of Elegiaās right now, and I can add to the reputation - they do indeed respond beautifully to EQ.
I am just starting to explore the power of EQ. As such I am still starting with presets built for my headphone by people with more experience and pretty solid reputations in this area (Crinacle, Rtings, referenceaudioanalyzer, etc). Thereās a whole shit ton of presets on AutoEQ. You canāt really stop there though - most of those presets are made to try and mimic the 2018 over ear Harmon target, which has a lightly V shaped FRC. That may be a place to start, but then you can use additional EQ or changes to the preset to get the sound to where you like it. It can be a pretty fun excercise - A/B testing changes, observing the difference, then trying something for a good long session or two to really see if it suits you.
I gave up on strict, flat āfidelityā when I found that the right preset for my current headphones sounded like pulling a wet towel off my head - all of the sound was there, but suddenly, I was right in the middle of it. If youāve ever been to a concert, and heard the sound from outside the venue, then went in to where you were supposed to be, you can imagine the difference, it was not unlike that. Just clearer, cleaner, more open, and I could hear the room better. I never really understood what people meant when they described a headphone as having a āholographicā spacial presentation until I got the right preset to start with. Now Iām tweaking the EQ to figure out why it made such a difference, to see if itās optimal, or if I want more or less, etc.
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Interesting. This forum is great! So EQ to taste and play around with it to discover what my taste is. I have a feeling Ill be using different EQs for different reasons.
If everything sounds different to everyone, Is it more important to have quality cans that take well to EQ, or am I looking for a headphone with tuning that suits me. Essentially how do I evaluate the headphones when I receive them? Is having to EQ a headphone a negative or just an enrichment of any listening experience?
Both / neither
Most people donāt EQ at all. The most common advice people have given me was to spend sime time with less expensive headphones discovering what sorts of things are important to me. Did I like a flatter FRC, a more V shaped one? U shaped? Do I like really elevated bass, or maybe a bump in lower mids?
By spending some time buying / selling through less expensive HP, you donāt go broke while you figure out what you want. Then, when your tastes are more developed and established, and your ability to describe what you want is more solidified, you are ready to ask for and evaluate advice about better (and often more expensive) headphones that will suit those tastes. With that experience, you are also more able to evaluate reviews on your own.
Most people would probably say that it is better to get a HP that fits your tastes perfectly, without any need for EQ at all. Many would also probably admit that the āperfectā HP probably doesnāt exist. On the flip side, I would also have to admit that EQ does have its downsides, and the more you have to use it to change a HP, the more youāre sacrificing.
So thereās a balance to be struck. EQ can have negative impacts, so tread lightly, which means starting with a HP pretty close to what you want anyhow.
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