does anyone know when thus headphone was released?
The first reviews date to December 2017, so thatās when they started accepting orders. No idea when they actually shipped.
The pads for the elex look like its easy to remove. would it be ok to just remove them and throw them into the washer and dryer?
also theres a set of valour headpads on amazon for 50$ would that change the sound much from microfiber?
They are very easy to remove.
But I would personally not put the pads into the washer. They will wear out a lot faster that way. And they have plastic pegs that are used to attach them to the headphone that could break.
IMO the pads on the Elex are pretty easy to keep clean with a cloth. They donāt pick up and attract dust that easy.
And, yes, changing the pads from stock will change the sound. You could try them and see how you feel, maybe will you be okay with the changes.
What if i put them on gentle cycle and let them dry in the sun. iāll put them in with my other laundry so they dont get knocked around so much. i just need to wash them once. what do you think?
Velour and Microfiber are both cloth. there wont be that much change in the sound right?
So I would say you can do that with something like dt880 pads, but not these. If you really wanted to wash elex pads, I would recommend filling a bowl of warm water and cleaning them by hand with hand soap. I actually think focal recommend a soap when I asked about cleaning elegia pads.
Here is the soap focal recommend for me to clean my elegia pads
Maybe you could try cleaning with this.
https://www.amazon.com/Sonax-206141-Upholstery-Alcantara-Cleaner/dp/B00BBWJ16U/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=alcantara+cleaner&qid=1571066655&sr=8-4
I personally would never put them in the washer with your other cloths. I think you should try and be gentle with them when it comes to cleaning.
They are your pads, though.
Here are stock replacements if you end up needing them. 
Thanks Giova, but i make it a policy to never buy headphones accessories that would be the price of another good headphone. If i bought those i couldnt get the Fostex T50RP. Then i would be able to send them in to get Argons later. You wouldnt want that would you?
I feel like you guys think im being funny. But OCD is a serious affliction. and i dont appreciate it being taken lightly. ok i know! iām being a bonehead! but i must have clean headphone pads! 
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But there very gooddddd
I still think itās worth
Iām crazy so I bought a used broken set for the parts. It came with 2 good pads, 1 good driver, headband, and housingā¦ and the connectors are all good. 1 driver has a burnt out voice coil. Also came with the cables unused with the little plastic still on the connectors. I might attempt to resell those.
The Elex is probably the only headphone I own I would go that far for thoughā¦
Says a lot about how good the headphones are. Iām gonna get the elex but I also noticed that the elear is also usually selling for around 300 bucks. Think Iāll get these too.
Pads piss me off though. Makes me want to make my own and sell them for 5$ just to spite them
Personally I wouldnāt bother with the elear. The elex is just a step up imo. I would suggest just getting a different pair of headphones for that price instead of the elear
Also they do put a lot of care into how their pads contribute to their sound, so Iām not going to knock them too much, but they are overpriced
Here in Canada at least Iām seeing the Elears on deep discount, sold out, or no longer listed. If this is true elsewhere, it suggests their demise.
While the Elex represents the desirable low-end Focal product that the Elear was presumably meant to be, its restriction to Massdrop leaves room for Focal to introduce a new low-end to their premium line-up.
No idea if they want to. Just saying they could. Without the Elear thereās this nice symmetry of Clear+Utopia for open and Elegia+Stellia for closed. But thereās also no general-distribution product to capitalize on the price point between the consumer products like the Listen and Spirit models and the premium products.
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I think focal wants to keep a high end separation with not really a mid-range oriented products, as even the elear originally came out at 1k, they want to keep a clear (no pun intended) line between their lower end and higher end, at least I would guess so.
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Could well be.
What I find it hard to believe is that they just leave the R&D and the engineers ā who have been totally jazzed these last several years putting out exciting new premium headphones ā to gather dust. My money is on this team being kept together and already hard at work on the next premium headphone product. But whether thatās a headphone Grande Utopia or a Baby Clear my crystal ball sadly isnāt showing.
Baby clear would be a new one lol. What about the cleartopia pro, a utopia made for studio use lol (I actually might buy something like that, especially if it came with the sick red and black color scheme)
I think they do want to innovate though like you said, and arenāt really concerned about the best bang for the buck
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Didnāt you say the clears where your favorite focal headphone? Why is that?
Itās the most detailed and accurate of the focal line imo (although the utopia edges out the clear by a bit for detail, but not worth the price jump imo). I use it in the mastering rotation because of it being able to be eqed to pretty much flat response but still maintain a natural-ish sound with accurate spatial recreation (I think itās spelled right now lol). The elex is the most exciting and something I would actually rather take for kicking back music enjoyment, but the detail and neutrality of the clears is helpful for mastering work. If I could get the technicality of the utopias in a more refined flat signature I might consider that a step up from the clears
No, itās still āspacial.ā
Made you look!!!
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