Focal Elegia Headphones Review

READ OUR REVIEW: http://bit.ly/2AsqW58

SHOP THESE HEADPHONES:

Focal Elegia Over-Ear Headphones: http://bit.ly/2Sjhkk3
Focal Utopia Over-Ear Headphones: http://bit.ly/2PVFWhd
Focal Clear Over-Ear Headphones: http://bit.ly/2CHFVd1
Focal Elear Over-Ear Headphones: http://bit.ly/2JgFDe7

The Focal Elegia comes packaged in a black, heavy duty cardboard box which opens up to reveal a clam shaped case which protects the Elegia. This is a very nice grey, fabric wrapped hard shell case with zippers and a carrying handle. The Focal logo is in the middle of one side of the case and their slogan: “Listen Beyond” is lightly engraved into the carrying handle. We do wish the case had a flatter bottom as that would enable it to sit upright and thus take up less space. Inside the case, are the headphones, the very nicely done cord, and a mini to full size headphone end adaptor.

The challenge with closed back headphones is that there is a very small space for air to move and you risk losing fast and deep bass response due to resonances from the small cavity. However the Focal engineering team developed a special venting system to assure that the Elegia would have that great bass accuracy their other models are known for.

Like the Clear, the Elegia uses Focal’s super accurate full range headphone 40mm inverted dome driver made of aluminum and magnesium. The earpads are actually over ¾ of an inch thick and covered with a very soft microfiber material giving your ears the comfort they deserve.
Each black colored ear cup has a recessed connection for the headphone cable on the bottom. This makes for a great fit with the molded cable connection as it should never get knocked loose. The cable itself is very sturdy and made of a thick material. It's about 1 meter in length and splits into two cords each about 16 inches long. The stereo headphone connector is mini plug sized and has a pretty cool little velcro strap to wrap up the cord for the travel case. The Elegia also comes with a full sized headphone jack adapter that screws on to the mini in for a super solid connection.

The adjustable Elegia headband is a solid aluminum yoke that has quite a bit of flexibility to it. The part that touches the top of your head is memory foam covered in a soft and ventilated microfiber. The top part of the headband is a hard leather material.

A couple minor design elements that we think could be improved: The fist, the headband lacks any type of marking that helps line up the earcups in the same position. The second, which is only a one time hassle, the only way to tell which ear cup is left and right is an extremely tiny L and R next to the cord connector. We would have also liked a color coordination system to line up the left and right ends of the chords with their respective plug in the earcups.

Overall, the Elegia is one heck of a comfortable headphone. We may have had a few minor complaints about the labeling of the channels and headphone band markers, but we have to say, all was forgiven once we started playing some of our favorite tunes!

The 40mm full range driver used in the Elegia came from what Focal learned when they developed their $4000 Utopia ultimate headphone. This single driver extends way out on each frequency extreme and has no need for a crossover or any type of filtering to get in the way of the signal.

We found that the sound quality improved every time we increased the quality of our DAC. We tested them with a Windows PC using Tidal, then an Audioquest Dragonfly Red, a Chord Mojo, and finally a Chord Hugo 2. Each time the very revealing Elegia showed off the improvement in the DAC/Headphone amp. While you’ll still get great sound using devices such as phones, computers, and tablets, we highly recommend you pair them up with something better.

After testing several of our favorite tracks, these are hands down the best pair of closed back headphones we have heard at giving you an open back sensation. We were stunned by the openness of the midrange on a closed back headphone. Treble was never etched or forward but super detailed and accurate. The bass was also incredibly accurate with great definition but almost feels like they achieved this with some loss of bass power. Even when put to the test of a fast bass line, the bass contained some of the best definition we have ever heard.

The Elegia certainly is a headphone that is just simply amazing in midrange clarity and openness, albeit with a very small sacrifice in ultimate bass energy. The audio reproduction is incredibly accurate while sealing the sound out from the outside world and sealing you in. But unlike many closed back headphones, the sound still sounds like it is coming from an open back design with a huge soundstage.

MUSIC: Ryan Little - http://bit.ly/2CEIHzp