Can someone please help me choose a headphone combo? Or perhaps suggest one that I have not considered. Or if it would make sense to go used instead of new. I am either thinking of getting the Focal Clear OG with the RNHP amp or a Hifiman Arya with a cheaper amp or a Sennheiser HD800s with a cheaper amp. I really like the idea of the Focal Clear OG being well… clear. I currently own the HD6XX with a IFI Zen Can and am feeling the need to upgrade a big thing I don’t like about the HD6XX is what I believe is called the blob effect where audio only seems to come from the front and sides, not encompassing the entire surrounding. I also wouldn’t mind a little more bass. They would be used as my daily drivers, so for gaming and listening to music. I listen to pretty much everything except metal. The pricing for the headphones and the RNHP is as followed.
Focal Clear OG $1049 CAD
HD 800s $1799 CAD
Hifiman Arya $1799 CAD (Could drop as this is full price)
RNHP Amp $899 CAD
hey Kasawra, the rule of thumb is that your whole sound chain should be of equivalent quality, so don’t go cheap on a new DAC / Amp as those headphones require something better than the Zen CAN to make them truly sing. will they work? most likely but they won’t have as much life as they could, which would have been the reason of having bought them.
have you looked at CanuckAudioMart for deals on used headphones? I buy from tehre frequently…well, had been, not for a while now, LoL, but I check it every day in case there’s something unbeatable.
also, what kind of music genre’s do you like listening too? perhaps there are other options you had not considered. I’m not sure why these are popping up in my head as a recommendation, but the Grado Hemp would be a good one I think. 
Think the combo clear + rnhp is Mon approved which goes a long way in this forum 
Otherwise I think the 800s won’t give you the bass improvement you’re searching for and the Arya could be good with better vertical soundstage but those will need a better source chain to get them really going like Marzipan did say ^^
Hello Marzipan, I have been checking CanuckAudioMart, I’ve seen some good deals oustide of my area but don’t want to deal with shipping. I am in Ontario and I’m new to the used scene, is there anything you would recommend doing if I am going to buy from someone else instead of a store? Also is there certain amps I should be looking for that go well with these headphones? How much better are the focal clear MG than the OG? The MG is going for $1599 new. I like pretty much any music except metal.
Also would the Arya or HD800S work with something around the 500$ mark like the Schiit Valhalla? Or would they be seriously underpowered and lacking there true potential?
I’m new to this kind of thing, any idea how important upgrading my dac would be if I where to get the Focal Clear with the RNHP amp?
The Valhalla is a bit of a special case as it’s an OTL (output transformerless) tube amp, which means it generally won’t pair well with lower impedance headphones like the clear and will likely struggle especially hard with a very low impedance headphone like the Arya.
I However have definitely enjoyed my Elex (very similar to the OG clear) from the schiit Asgard, which has more than enough power for any of the headphones you’re considering. And as a more standard solid state design doesn’t really need to worry about the impedance concerns the Valhalla does.
I haven’t heard the hd800s/Valhalla pairing but it is a high impedance headphone that should pair well with an OTL amp and seems to be generally well regarded by people who like the hd800 sound signature and/or schiit gear.
As for the MG vs OG, imo it’s hard to justify the incremental improvement of the MG given the current prices on the OH (hence why I bought the Elex a few years ago when the OG was around the current MG price point) but if not having the “latest and greatest” is going to bother you it may be worth it.
Hard to comment on DAC upgrades without knowing what you’re currently using.
If you have any decent 100 buck DAC it should be good enough to go but if you want to upgrade the next big stepup would be the 500-700 buck range like bf2 ares or v1se
The only dac I have write now is the one that comes with the IFI Zen dac. I believe it is the first iteration. Also, how would the Asgard stack up against the RNHP if I were to go with the Focal Clear OG?
That dac should be largely sufficient and given everything you’re looking at is single-ended you probably won’t get a huge upgrade until you start getting to the $600+ price point.
I’ve never heard the rhnp so can’t really comment on it in comparison to the Asgard, hopefully someone with experience with both can chime in. From a purely technical perspective both have plenty of power for the Clears.
Okay so I bought the focal clears and am using them with the IFI Zen Dac right now. I am a little underwhelmed, can I get some suggestions on what to do next? I heard with the RNHP you sacrifice on dynamics, is this true? If I where to get the RNHP would I need to get a decent Dac as well? Or is the
IFI Zen Dac really good enough? Also would burn in help here?
I only got the elegia but those did noticeable improve with burn in, so I would give them some time
Would a better amp like rnhp or g111 help? I would think so but give them time because brain burn in is also a thing imo
If you like the sound in general a better amp can improve them but it won’t change the HP and the zen DAC is a decent DAC so it should suffice as that but if you want everything out of the clears a better chain would help
Definitely agree on giving new gear a bit of time, there’s definitely a gap in experience as you get used to it.
But, is there anything specific that has been underwhelming? Based on your original post were you hoping for for soundstage? Bass?
They just seem muddied and shouty to me right now after trying them on my brothers topping A90 and D90. I literally just got them today though and am scrambling to justify the price difference between these and my HD6XX.
Let me preface this by saying that I agree with the folks on here saying that you need to give new gear time. I generally give a new pair of headphones a good few days to a week of me listening to nothing else before I decide on them unless of course there’s just no chemistry there to begin with. Also, this next part isn’t meant to be a downer at all, just meant to provide info or an alternate perspective.
With that out of the way, let me say that I have always found the Elegia to be a bit of a muddy, oddly tuned, and uninspiring pair of headphones. I have heard several other Focal models and the Elegias have always seemed like the odd one out. It’s almost like they had an idea for a departure from their regular “house sound” and lost interest part of the way through, ending up with a headphone that has a boomy, muddy low end and a somewhat shouty, oddly balanced top end. I realize that there are many people who like the Elegias and there’s another group that swears by them as an amazing performer if you’re willing to EQ out some faults. For me they’ve always come off as an odd duck that doesn’t at all fit with any of the rest of the Focal line that I’ve heard.
What’s my point in saying all this? Regardless of the brand or reputation behind a pair of headphones, you should always trust your ears. All the bettet amps, DACs, and sources in the world won’t change the fundamental character of a headphone. If you have it adequately powered and you’re feeding it decent quality music/audio, then what you’re hearing is unlikely to radically change on a different signal chain. I think you should give them a fair shake and experiment with possible solutions and stuff, but once you’ve done that if the headphones still aren’t what you’re looking for then all the positive reviews from others aren’t going to make a difference. If a pair of headphones doesn’t work for you on a fundamental level, there really isn’t some magic that a new amp or DAC is going to be able to work to change that.
I hope this might be helpful. If it wasn’t just ignore it. Also, I apologize in advance if this comes off as raining on your parade in any way. There was a time when being reminded of this made a big difference in how I go about evaluating headphone purchases and it seemed like it might be relevant here. That’s all. Good luck and happy listening!
I am using Audio Technica headphone. They give me best sound quality.
as @JAnonymous5150 said give them a few days to get used to listening to them…You have to get used to them…If you decide to get a new amp/dac, I throw this out there…I own the Focal Elex and not the clears, but with that being said I have spent a good amount of time with the clears on my solid state set up…My solid state set up consists of a Schiit Asgard 3 and Schiit Modius…They pair very well with the elex and the clears…You will have more power then ever needed for the Focal’s…Just my 2 cents…YMMV
While I too made the jump from an HD 6… series (660s) to a $1,000 + pair of headphones (Arya SE), I also upgraded my chain at the same time. When going up the hierarchy of high end headphones you start to notice the limitations of other parts of your audio chain. While this is not true for all headphones, as some are less reliant on the quality of your amp/DAC there are headphones that do have a noticeable difference in sound quality depending on your source chain. I have not listened to the Focal Clears, but in the Arya’s case they sound noticably different with the combinations of gear I have tried them on. Yet, as others have said before if you don’t like a headphone’s sound signature then it might be best to look at other headphones. That said, if you know anyone who has a Schiit, Burson and/or some other amp or DAC that has a different sound signature than what you have tried them on already, it might give you a better idea of weather it is the headphone you dislike or just the source chain that you have it paired with. For reference I originally had a Asgard 3 paired with a Smsl SU-9, and I am currently running a Burson Soloist 3xp paired with a Bifrost 2/64.
Mostly going to echo what others have said here. Your best bet is going to be to give them a bit of time and a listen with a variety of music you enjoy, but if after that you’re still not happy with them absolutely return them and either consider other options, whether that be new headphones, alternate source gear for your hd6xx’s (otl tube amps pair quite well with them) or even just deciding that you found your ideal or close to ideal setup and sticking with it.
Also agree that if you’re not generally happy with the sound, particularly the tuning, it’s unlikely that changing up your sources is going to magically make you fall in love with a pair of headphones, particularly in the case of the clears since they aren’t very power hungry. If after a bit of time with them/burn in your opinion on them changes and you’re generally happy but would like to make some tweaks to improve things then it’s time to look at modifying the chain.
One thing I think is worth asking about is what music you’ve been listening to, both the tracks and the type of files. Focals don’t typically present as muddled but can be fairly brutal to poor quality recordings or compressed files like MP3’s.
I am also looking for headphones for my PC. I think this thread gonna help me a lot to buy my new headphones.