Focal Elex Sound Review Take One 

0:10 "French Open-back"? Sounds a lot sexier than it should lol

Expectation bias runs wild in the audiophile scene

Keepin it real!

Hi Metal 571! Thanks for the review. I have a Focal Elear together with the Elex Pads from Massdrop and Dekoni Fenestrated Sheepskin pads. My impression on Elear with Elex pads are most of the time positive. Elear/Elex has some pretty unique traits comparing with other headphones I have at the price range. It seems to be the only headphone which give similar impact/force as my monitor speakers(mine has a pair of 5.5 inch mid/bass units). Elear/Elex also has a clear/decisive leading edge of sound. When these two traits combine, they seems to give a very clean and well-present sound. Comparing with my electrostatic headphones and HD 800S, Elear/Elex achieves "clear/resolution/definition" in a very different way. Electrostatic headphones and HD 800S present the sound like using LASER tooling/scalpel, which is very precise and delicate/finesse. They tend to get unnatural when the volume gets louder. Elear/Elex tends to hammer down the force to a chisel. It sounds unreal if the volume is not enough. Thus I really think Elear/Elex benefit a lot from clean and powerful amplification with good control. Most of the high of Elear/Elex seems darker than last gen flagship reference headphone (K701/DT800, even a little bit comparing with HD650). However, the clear/decisive leading edge does seem to require a very narrow band between 8K - 10 KHz to be emphasized. This specific band of frequency could sound quite a bit sharper than other high frequency range. HD 650 has a smooth/refine soundsignature, which I think is pretty difficult to beat. Elear/Elex has clean sound from quite a different manner.

Nice review bro.

I have these paired with a little Dot and a tube preamp with tone controls and I love it. It certainly was hot when I first got it. But with the tubes it gets a little bit gooy ish...lol Thanks for the review and eq settings.

This is why even though I have an Elex, I won't sell my Elear. Elear EQ'd with Tru-Fi is just as enjoyable as the Elex to me plus more bass.

Great review as always. I wish you could try the hifiman sundara's and provide me with EQ's :D

It is curious to hear about the highs. I find the highs to be quite smooth on mine. I do agree about the emphasis in the upper lows.

The Focal Elex is now on sale in Norway for about 1400 Dollar in the midt of the year 2021 :)

I bought this headphone and after being disappointed with rattle at moderate volume I exchanged for replacement hoping it was a defect. Nope not a defect, its manufacturer design. However I did notice that the replacement sounded much better in terms of resolution and I have come to the conclusion that they actually sound worse after break in . I am very new and inexperienced to this . This is my first pair of headphones so take it for what its worth.

Thanks for the review. Since I live outside the US, sadly I can't order them. Closest option would be Elear I guess. Are they similar in your opinion, if you had the opportunity to compare both? Thanks in advance :)

Good review sir. I have had Elex before for a while and I wasn't too keen about it either. Many reviews said Elex sounds very close to Clear. Well, I also had Clear and they sounded much better than Elex to my ears.

@metal571 What are your favorite tracks to test treble extension & details?

love your reviews honest and entertaining Give me DT1990 with smooth treble Where is it ?

Metal571 unfortunately I agree with you the sound. Mind you I JUST got this headphone in the mail today. I remember the Elear evening out after 100-200 hours of burn-in. Try it out? Maybe I’ll try and see if it improves.

good review, glad ur back again, anyways any plan on reviewing iems? zeos is making false hype again lol.

Do you maintain a list of gear you really like? I'm having a hard time understanding your perspective because I don't really recall you speaking highly of anything most folks in this scene seem to really like.

Soundstage on the Elex is intimate and fairly narrow. I agree with that as well. I don't get those who say the Elex has a great soundstage. I am pretty disappointed with the width actually. I feel the 6XX sounds wider, or, at least, the left and right "blobs" are less apparent with it. Imaging is decent on both, but Elex is no better than HD6XX in imaging either. Elex has better clarity and transparency though. It sounds more vivid, more alive, more effortless... But the differences are nowhere near what you would expect given the over 3x price difference. I think you are underestimating HD6XX. It's very underpriced for the performance at $199 IMO - VERY underpriced. To my ears, my Clear isn't much better either and I also much prefer the 6XX over HD800 I had before for music enjoyment, due to HD6XX' much better tonal balance. I don't think HD6XX gives up much at all compared to current high end cans, at least those up to $2k. It's truly an amazing bargain.

Hey, I have the Elex and I agree that it's not much better than the HD6XX. I actually agree that the highs are better on the 6XX - smoother, more even. Elex has better transients and attack. It has better clarity than the 6XX, but not better resolution. At least not significantly better. The bass does sound much cleaner than on the 6XX though and the mids are a bit more textured... I don't think your unit is abnormal. Mine also can sound oddly dark at times in the highs actually. Some regions of the treble are emphasized, while other parts are withdrawn. In other words, the highs on the Elex are somewhat uneven.

Great review as always! Don't be afraid to speak against the masses, you are much more accurate than them.

I own both the Clear and HD600. Didn’t hear the Elex, but to my ears, the Clear bests the HD600 in almost every way (speed, bass extension, macro/micro dynamics, treble sparkle, build quality), but not by a huge margin (it's not night and day, but it's easily noticeable). The only thing which HD600 might do better to my ears is the midrange timbre (especially for male vocals), but the Clear have definitely more resolving mids. I still think HD600/650/6xx are an incredible bang for your buck, but the Clear have better speed, clarity, more finesse/nuances and have a more engaging and even sound across the entire frequency range. They sound quite neutral and liquid sounding, less boring than HD600 IMO (they sound more like speakers than like traditional headphones). HD600 sounds more compressed and less articulate, not as enjoyable as the Clear. Both Clear and HD600 need some good amplification to really shine though. The Focal lineup shows very impressive technical abilities, but the company’s house sound is very “digital” sounding and could lack some of an organic touch vs ZMF, Audeze and other warmish HP. Some who prefer a more lush and laid-back tone will probably not like that kind of sound (like you Metal571). I personally do like it a lot and I think they are very special (they’re not like other headphones I’ve tried). They definitely worth a try, I recommend everyone to give them a listen before falling behind other’s opinions.

maybe it's the amp you are using? these are a bit amp sensitive imo. My best pairing (I have) is they lyr 3 with ken-rad vt231 tube black glass (which is hard to find), so maybe a bit of hybrid sound goes along way. I will pick these up for music almost every time against my 6xx's, but will grab the 6xx's for podcasts, vids of talking, and just comfort sometimes. 6xx, is just much more rolled off and natural sounding (I say rolled off as a bad thing).

I do like what I hear about the Elex but I'm not able to try it out so I'm thinking of buying these based on reviews. I have the DT990 and a Modi/Magni3+ setup. I'm considering the Elex and the Topping DT90/AT90 so I can run them balanced. Can you please give me some advice regarding whether to go ahead with this upgrade or not?

Got you that 200th like. Hoping I win something. XD

Some people have also reported clipping issues in the bass, not even necessarily as high as 90+dB volumes and had no option but to return it. Seems that these Elexes may have some possible qc issues.

Would love to know more about these from a mixing engineer standpoint

what headphones is metal wearing on his head now, he's been wearing them for the past year and I can't figure it out

Wooooow that,s ok my 650 woowThank uou

JUST as I get my Elex in he mail

How would these sound on a LG with quad DAC?

The Elex is rather amp dependent. It sounded drastically different when I plugged it in to multiple ss amps.

Also, do you actually think LCD2C has better resolution than HD6XX? Maybe in the bass, but I doubt that's the case for mids and highs. HD6XX is very resolving to my ears. I don't even think HD800 is more detailed - it just hypes the treble so much that it gives a false sense of extra resolution IMO. Maybe the mids are a bit more nuanced on the 800, but not by much IMO.

I guess it really depends how you EQ'ed the focals and hd650. For out of the box use without EQing the focals for sure beats the hd650. It also depends on how you hear things as well. Very interesting inputs but i still love my focal elex and elegia.

Have you reviewed the Focal Clear yet? I searched but couldn’t find it. If you haven’t would you please put it on your list to review. Thanks so much!

Is the audio off on this video for anyone else

Whats the best headphone under 500 dollar? Listening acoustic, pop, jazz, and edm songs

Hon hon hon nous make le 'edphones

*Is this a worthwhile upgrade from the Hd660S ?*

I dont remember you praised any headphone ever

As a patreon supporter I am sorry you got a bad Elex. I have one and enjoy the heck out of it. I prefer the house sound of Focal though so I like the Clear's better (even over the Utopia) to the Elex, but I still love the Elex a lot. Mine has none of the characteristics you've mentioned though. As a side note, this case here on Amazon www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CVT9FQC is a PERFECT fit for the Elex.

Understand you're relaying what you hear.... though that has not been my experience comparing my Elex to HD600 (not 6XX).... the Elex is definitely more detailed to my baby virgin new-ish audiophile ears. I understand you have a lot more experience than I do, but to put it plainly, I hear more details on my Elex than both my HD600 and DT 1990 Pro. And to elaborate more on other comparisons, Resolve's review more or less mirrors my experience comparing the Elex to the 1990. Elex sounds more detailed in comparison to both.

Very informative review as always. Although I havent heard the Elex, as it is almost impossible to get it in Europe, I tend to think that your unit may not be defective at all. Recently I heard the Clear and the treble was metallic and sibilant, with huge peaks in the lower to mid-treble area. Definintely not an upgrade in that regard of the DT 1990, which also has similar issues (although the bass was MUCH better on the Clear). I also did not hear any significant extra resolution there, and the other MrSpeakers models I auditioned (Aeon closed and Ether 2) definitely outperformed in treble smoothness and imaging accuracy. Sometimes extra treble energy can be identified as extra detail, but that is just a fake impression. I am kind of tempted to say that this is the case with the Focals, therefore I cannot see choking up that amount of money for them. When I go north of 1K USD/EUR, I dont want to see any serious resonances AT ALL! It is kind of annoying that when you hit the kilobuck range you run into the same issues as with the ones costing a fraction of it. My M50x, which is not a TOTL headphone by any means, delivers serious amount of detail and it is clear as the night sky when fed from a decent amp.

I'm mad about Focal as a French headphones enthusiast. I had the opportunity to listen to all of their recent headphones and have been pretty impressed. But how can you have apparently such a poor quality control ? I have experienced this myself in an audio show in Paris, few months ago. On their own exhibition stand, they were presenting the new Elegia. One of them was clearly defective ! It took several listener feedbacks like me for them to pay attention to their demonstration product and to change the headphone. Frankly, reading or watching all these reports, Focal headphones sound signature is a marginal problem. I'm stupid enough to spend a lot of money in this hobby, but I'll not take a chance on a device that can be too often defective ...

a new comer to the sub $1k ia the MD x hifiman edition xx which is basically a cheap edition x v2

Between $300-1000, how about Stax 3100?

Guess what Metal, I think your review is spot on. This is unfortunately the way they are shipping now. I got my Elex on Friday and have been burning them in hoping things would change.....It's Monday, they haven't. I compared the Elex to my LCD X and guess what, the resolution is not there, despite the fact it is brighter than my 2018 X's. It does beat out my Sundara, but not by much. The soundstage on these is very compressed too, which makes it hard to locate instruments on that soundstage. Really want these to work, but your review is really disappointing me, because it mirrors what I have found to the tee. I might have to seek out a pair of Clears and if they sound the same, then it's on Focal. I know people are going to ask....I am using both an RME ADI-2 and a Topping DX7s. If the QC has gone down on these, then that will hurt the Focal name for sure. So far, just not what I was hoping for.

I guess its not worth upgrading from hd58x?

Wow I nailed down the spoiler impressions I left in a comment if you recall.

If somebody has the Elex try it with "Sleep Deprivation" fromThe Black Dog that song made the bass a terrible clipping noise at relative hight volume in my Elex, I end up returning it

Some people say the focal elex is similar to the Focal clear on massdrop. When I heard the Focal clear about a month ago, it just really came close to the HD 600 in terms of mids to me. The treble well the HD 600 treble was really laid back and the focal clear followed a laid back approach but I would say the focal less laid back than the HD 600? This is someone who owns a DT 990 and isn't bothered by treble a lot and prefers it without oratory1990 EQ. In terms of bass the focal clear wiped the floor of the HD 600 bass and coming close to DT 990 bass maybe by a margin of 5-10% in terms of quantity. I did hear on zeos videos that over driving Focal Clear can make the bass more apparent? But I think that he may have chosen his words wrongly when he compared them to beats tier bass. It is apparent in terms of bass, I'm pretty sure I didn't overdrive them with my phone and the amp/dac there but I think beats would have a decent bit more bass. In terms of soundstage the Focal clear followed the intimate soundstage similar to the HD 600, imaging was just nothing remarkable but not bad either, just okay. Maybe it wasn't the best assessment demoing in a store but the Focal clear wasn't anything that WOWed me like the HD 800s or LCD-X I demoed. It was very subtle in its sound. Maybe if it had HD 800 tier soundstage and imaging I would say that's the perfect headphone for me as an all rounder. I feel like I need more bass whenever the genre calls for it in the HD 800s, almost perfect for me. Some people say the Elex is more forward in the treble but I'm not sure how far that goes. I'm pretty new in this hobby but I'm enjoying my time here so far. I'll probably try lots more headphones at canjam. thanks for the great review again metal.

So you're just F-lexing on us huh? uwu

I don't necessarily think the LCD2C is overpriced when there are no real alternatives with similar characteristics. Would i be happy if LCD2C was cheaper, sure, but i know i want the planar characteristics and this kind of sound signature so i'm not gonna complain about having to pay the MSRP (I'd actually consider myself lucky to be even able to buy the audeze at MSRP in europe) when there are no better, less expensive options available. M1060 doesn't count, had it, it sucked, returned it.

The Elex is pretty amp picky. What did you pair it with for your review?

blah, I'll stick to the 58x and the LCD2c :D

These were my favorite headphones. Until I got Utopia.

With all this talk , I want everyone with a 6XX and the Elex to do me a favor. Go listen to the song Layla by Eric Clapton in the Unplugged album. This song very clearly shows what the 6XX lacks and where the elex absolutely excels beyond it. And after that, tell me the 6XX is not that much better, because I bet you will change your mind.

These are picky cans IMO. They were okay out of my schiit vali/modi3 but are amazing out of a raspi based custom dac/streamer to a jotunheim... so matching matters more than it does with a lot of cans. I don't even like the jotunheim with the 6xx and I love the vali2/6xx combo hmm

elex are too heavy with rolled off treble. many praise rolled off treble and many lost their hearing above 10k anyways...elex does alot of good things...but for the price you can do better. I like the fostex t60rp and the senn 600's.

Wow what a wrong review. I had the HD800-S and lcd-x and the Elex. The Elex is as detailed more or less than the HD800-S... Price range means nothing in audio. Nothing.... there are $100,000 speakers that suck and $10,000 speakers that are great.... same with headphones. I would take a Grado rs60e over have the head all the headphones out these days. True story.

700 US dollars for headphones which have 40 mm [ ! ] driver is a robbery. The 40mm driver is too small, it can not properly balance bass and treble frequencies. The Focal should have developed a proper headphones driver of at least 50 mm size. What the company did was to take a 40 mm speaker tweeter, placed it in a metallic ear eclosure and started selling the contraption as headphones.