Iāll go check just in case.
Yeah id try using a different cable if you have one, and see if the issue persists.
Did you do a sanity check with another headphone?
Some amount of channel imbalance is not uncommon and some headphones have it worse than others. Normally the imbalance is only at certain frequencies and not across full range.
def check on the cable, switch sides and wear the headphone opposite side too to make sure that itās not ur ears or the cable. But since this is the elex that we are talking about it might be a channel imbalance, ive seen 2 die, 1 became imbalanced then died shortly after while the other one suddenly died. def contact focal if the problem persists!
Tried the balanced stock cable and tried my other amp and still had the same problem. I think Iāll probably just be fine EQing it though. I mean, when switching I can hear the singer in the songs Iām testing with go from being perfectly in the center from what I can tell with EQ to drifting about 20 degrees to the right without EQ, and I think the perfectly in the center with EQ is the way itās suppose to sound in these songs.
No headphones just an iem but itās more than just a little. The whole time Iāve been EQing Iāve just been listening to a constant frequency adjusting the volume on the left to match, no doubt in my mind it has imbalance.
It is good to test with proper test tones also.
There are songs where singer is not in the center and with ānot so good equipmentā might have missed that. Friend played a really good song to me and i just had to listen to it at home.
SO at home i thought my setup / EQās was off. Singer was ~10 degrees to the right.
So i fked my settings. Singer was at center and had very good 1h at listening.
Then i played something else aaaaand everything was ~10 degrees to the leftā¦ So 2 hours of tuning and listening i realized it.
The new song, singer was not in center at the live bar recording. Exactly not at center.
Did not even notice it at first with quick listening with headphones from laptop. Of course now i do since i know.
Ok, at this point, Iāve kind of just given up, this just seems so out of wack. I had to start doing the right side because I couldnāt even add any more. It sure as heck isnāt perfect and Iām constantly having to go back and readjust and Iām not even sure if itās because Iām moving one and itās affecting others which is the most likely scenario or something else.
Putting it to default with no EQ and just going through the tones, once you get to about 6k and above, it just goes all out of wack.
Dude what are you doing? 
Itās practically impossible to EQ with that degree of precision. Part of the reason is headphones donāt respond perfectly to EQ. Itās also not unusual for the FR of headphones to get messy in the high ranges for many models
You also canāt go by measurements for high frequencies, no cheap measurement solution is accurate much over about 4K and even the expensive stuff is inaccurate over 10K.
My understanding is the only way to get accurate frequency response measurements over 10K is to remove the driver and test in isolation.
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Well then, I guess Iām just confused as to what is within reason of being imbalanced between channels and what isnāt reasonable. Can anyone give me some sort of max decibel difference at certain frequencies ranges to go by?
Why donāt you start with what you here if you run a frequency sweep.
It should be more or less central, and it shouldnāt move significantly as the frequency changes.
If it moves from side to side either you have a hearing problem or there is something wrong with the drivers.
Ok, at 900 - 2k hz, the sound shifts to the right with 1k - 1.6k hz being the peak of itās shift. If I lower 1.1k hz on the right side by 3.5 db, it sounds centered to me. At 2.4k - 3.7k hz I hear it shift to the right, this time by not quite as much, there isnāt really a peak as itās mostly constant throughout the range with how much itās shifted. -2db on the right side at 2.55k hertz and it sounds centered. At 5.6k - 6.75k hz there is a big shift to the right with the peak at 6k - 6.5k hz. -4db at 6.3k hz and it sounds centered. 6.75k - 7.5k hz there is a huge shift to the left with the peak at 7k - 7.2k hz. -17db at 7.1k hz and it sounds centered. I think those are all the really major ones I can pinpoint right now. It still shifts a little bit going up more, but it starts to be where I canāt hardly hear it anyways until my hearing cuts out completely at about 18.5k hz.
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Some amount channel imbalance at certain frequencies is common. My LCD-2 for example very noticeable imbalance at couple ranges for example. But it sounds like you got a pair with unusually bad channel matching. What sucks is how you probably canāt make a warranty claim even if it really does fail Focalās quality standard.
@NoName
It is in the range of possible.
high-frequency hearing loss range is 250hz - 8000hz.
It should happen on every headphone, the center image moving.
That sounds like a problem with the drivers, assuming the Elex is the only headphone that does it.
Itās not normal if the shift is significant.
If you bought from Massdrop, theyāll probably end up refunding, since they have no current stock AFAIK.
For the last week or two I have been going back and forth with several headphones on two different amps trying to be VERY analytical.
Today I said āScrew it!ā and plugged my Elexās into my Liquid Platinum and just enjoyed the music.
Can barely see tube light from the chair, but when I got up to grab a coke, I saw this:
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I know pads on Focal cans make a huge difference, but what if you stick to the same kind of pad just from a different manufacture. I was thinking of having a 3d printed clip made for the Elex and then picking up something from ZMF. Something like a perforated suade pad. Yes I know the sound will change but how much is the question, as its sort of the same pad if I make any sense. Think ZMF pads on the Elex can be insane. Thanx
Dekoni make very similar pads and they donāt sound the same.
The material and the foam on the Focal pads are pretty unique, nothing like the ZMF Suede.