Focal Clear vs Focal Elear vs Focal Utopia

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The Focal Clear is a new over-ear open-back headphone from Focal made for audiophiles. The Clear bridges the gap perfectly between the Elear and the Utopia, finally giving you an option between their price points. The Clear has all the strengths of the Elear with none of its faults. Gone is the mid-range dip and uncomfortable pads. The Clear has excellent bass extension, clear, detailed mids and highs that truly stand out. The Clear also features perforated memory foam cushions and a lighter design meaning it can be used for extended listening periods with ease!

The Focal Clear features leather and perforated microfiber adjustable headband with ear cup rotation and a one size fits all Aluminum Yoke with 20mm memory foam ear cushions. The Clear from Focal has low impedence (55 Ohms) which means taking it on the go with a high-resolution digital audio player is easier than ever! The Clear also features 3.5mm locking jack sockets and comes with 3 cables (instead of just the one cable provided with the Elear and Utopia). Discover a listening experience similar to that provided by high-fidelity loudspeakers and excellent performance when connected to portable high-resolution audio players.

Highlights
* Handcrafted in France
* Open-back, over-ear
* Full-range “loudspeaker-like” sound
* Easily adjustable to any head size or shape
* Copper voice coil (25.5m x 5.5mm)
* 75 micron thick suspension
* 3.5mm jack socket to 6.35mm jack plug adapter
* Breakup level of 24khz
* High-performance acoustics
* Comfortable and ergonomic
* High-quality materials

[Nick_i]

Absolutely fantastic review. You're one of the few people who seems to have a reasonable outlook on audio in terms of price and things that make a difference. I really appreciate your humility in recognizing that you might not be able to find differences in DACs and such. I'm looking forward to more audio reviews in the future.

Also I'm constantly impressed by your taste in music (Let Down is my favorite song)

[westinkriser]

Made it to the end! I can't say I always watch ALL of your videos, due to the length of them, but I can say one thing. Watching your videos makes me happier than most other YouTubers🤣. I don't exactly know what it is about you man, but I find you funny and easy to watch. I just feel like your videos are so niche, and I find myself in that; I tried showing my mom one of your vids b/c I thought you were frickin hilarious, and she wasn't having it😂. But that's what I love about your channel, you're super detailed and don't try to shorten your videos by cutting out your funny, unnecessary bits. Keep up the great work man, you've got my respect👏🏻

[grahamsalvail]

Watched all the way to the end. You're a great communicator with a good sense of humor. I appreciate how you really grapple with explaining what you're hearing in the most accurate way you can even though you're not familiar with audiophile terminology. Can tell you truly have passion for music. (FYI: that thing you're describing of 2D flat sound vs layered 3D sound is called soundstage depth).

At one point you mention the cables on any of these 3 headphones can be replaced with aftermarket ones. It might be interesting to do another video comparing these headphones with a fairly high end replacement cable.

[jamesjin]

on that elear vs clear frequency thingy, elear is known for sucking out 5khz to create a virtually wider width of perception in music. Where in fact it is actually making you listen to non reference sound. But the smoother sound due to high mids sucked out on elear may sound more "realistic" to you where in fact it is not. And it is the reason why it sounded more mushed together and pushed back as the high mid frequency(5-6khz) in mixing a piece is critical for "placing" the position of a instrument in stereo mix. Boost 6khz and you have something more upfront. Cut it and that thing would duck into the background. This is where cheaper gears will fall short and they do vocals actually better as they sacrifice on those "muscial" quality about instruments, but make human voice more audible which majority of people are used to. As human voice occupies a frequency range that is very audible compare to many other instruments. This is the same analogy for video/photo editing dudes like comparing sRGB to Adobe RGB and human eye color perception. You eyes see much more colors than any machine can print on paper or publish on web as the color range is limited more and more, to a point where the center of that triangle is dominated by human voice.

ATH m50 actually has a slight V shape where mids is sucked out so human voice which occupy that range will sound thinner. This enables your ear to automatically notice more details in the treble and bass region.

[deesm]

Nice you're going down this rabbit hole. Digging it.

[JeffJacquesmd]

I have the Clear. Lovely, bright, detailed, good bass, with transparent treble and mids.

[kaorurei]

Watch from start to finished, and I must say how you review is a lot more interesting than others. Altho the length could be shorten up, but I can see why people would love a lengthy one such as this, overall I enjoyed it and hope you keep it up.

[jamiesmith]

I think you did a bang up job here! Thanks.
I actually came to the same conclusion. Only difference I didn't give the Clear as much attention as the Utopia and the Stellia above the Clear.
After extended listening sessions, i've came to the conclusion the Utopia are my number 1. The Stellia, number 2. Now if the Clear, at half the price of the Stellia can bring me 90% of what 1 and 2 are doing? Number 3 at $1500 (still a big price jump for me) may just be my livable headphone conclusion?

[thommmo]

hey dude, nice review (im surprised myself that i watched it all to the end). Keep it up, really good insight into the products. i was actually in a store today and by chance ended up listening to the Focal Clears. I was actually in the store to buy the Dragonfly Cobalt DAC, but seriously thinking about getting the Clears now and ditching my other headphones. hope you do more headphone reviews, you have a knack for it and keep the viewer interested and entertained.

[booksalongtheway]

Great review! I was trying to decide which one I wanted and I was leaning toward the Clears before your video and you pretty much helped me make that choice. I don't normally subscribe to channels but damn, you earned it! Thanks!

[josepedro]

Great review, thanks!. I have been watching reviews for several years and I really liked your freshness and spontaneity and the descriptive manner in which you explain things. I do have the Focal Elear and I really love them. They are the best headphones of the many I have tried since I started this headphone hobby back in 2017. I was really convinced that I should be happy enough with them as my end game but now I feel that you provoked the itch to come back again 😂. Btw, I also love Tom Waits, Radiohead and specially the Doobie Brothers. I have taken notes of the other songs you mentioned you see whether I feel the same as you did with the Elears. Kind regards and keep on with your good work! ❤

[MisterChibs]

This was great! Looking at Focal Clear and hd800s and here you are explaining how the Focal‘s sound. Describing sound must be exponentially harder than bags but you did well!

[Iancreed]

Hey Chase, the way you describe music is really interesting and doesent come off as snobby. You've introduced me to several songs and described them in a way that got me interested to listen to them even though they may have not initially been something I would have listened to on my own, but ended up loving them anyway.

I think it could be a pretty cool concept for a sepperate channel if you dig up cool songs in the sea of music out there (that I dont have time to navigate), and bring on different headphones depending on what kind of music you are reviewing and what kind of headphone it is( and link the headphone below(. I would routinely watch a channel like that just to discover cool new music. Just an idea

[kennethmcpicsou]

Great presentation, those 38 minutes flew by quite quickly, nice work!

[jimmyrustle]

This is hands down the best headphone review of all time! You're the realist bro! I think you have captivated my attention watching your review as well as the Clear on the rig with tunes. Lol.
Fantastic!

[DuskWalker]

Came for the masterful presentation. Zero interest in the products. Love this dude

[hoodwinky]

Hey man, really enjoyed the review, watched all of it as well :).

Thought your presentation, fun personality and unashamedly original way of describing the sound was quite a trip. Had me laughing quite a few times there, and have definitely made the choosing between Elear/Clear that much harder, if only because of all the nuance described.

Would look forward to more of these, and yet I hope you've managed to withhold from falling down the hi-fi chasm too much!

[arthurhogan]

Thank you for this video. The way you explained what you heard on each song, has given me an appreciation of what headphones can provide the listener. Looking forward to having the same experience, now that I understand, better, what to listen for.

[tucatucz]

Focal Clear owner from Brazil just listening to what other people have to say about it!

I love your way of talking about music and gear!

[camarykaren]

Great review even better personality. Joined your channel.
I love my Focal Clear even better then my Oppo pm1 and Sennheiser 650 , but I just can't stop thinking I want those Utopia.
Just waiting for them to go under 3k from a legit dealer .
Thanks for the review