The Focal Elear are good open-back critical listening headphones. They are very well-built and very comfortable for long listening sessions thanks to well-padded ear cups and headband. Their open design makes them a poor choice for any other use cases as they don’t block any ambient noise and don't have a microphone or wireless technology. These are premium headphones made to enjoy in quiet environments to benefit from their open sound quality.
Our Verdict
Sub-par for mixed usage. These headphones are designed for critical listening, and their open-back design doesn’t isolate any noise for commuting or the office. They are too bulky and not stable enough for sports and don’t have a microphone for online gaming. If you’re looking for headphones to watch TV without disturbing your household, they leak too much for that usage too. They have great audio reproduction, and you should use them in a quiet environment to benefit from their open design.
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Good audio reproduction.
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Sturdy, durable build quality.
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Comfortable design.
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Poor isolation and leakage performance, by design.
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Bulky and heavy headphones.
Good for neutral listening. The Focal Elear have a great audio reproduction with good bass performance, an even and flat mid-range and decent but slightly veiled treble. Their open design helps to create a more open sound, and they are versatile for a variety of music genres. They are very well-padded and comfortable headphones for long listening sessions, and their excellent build quality will last you for years. However, they lack sub-bass for bass fans.
Bad for commuting. They are open-back headphones and do not isolate any ambient noise, making them a bad choice for commute and travel, especially since they leak a lot, meaning people surrounding you will be disturbed by your music.
Poor for sports. These over-ears are bulky, heavy, and not stable enough for physical activity. Over-ears also trap heat under their ear cups, making you sweat more than usual, even with an open-back design.
Unsuitable for office. While they are comfortable for long hours, they won’t isolate ambient chatter, and you will disturb colleagues with your music since they leak quite a lot.
Sub-par for gaming. Even if they have great sound quality and a long cable that should let you game from your couch, they do not have a microphone for online gaming. However, if you’re gaming alone in a quiet room and have a stand-alone microphone, these could be great headphones to game with thanks to their wired connection, great comfort, and great sound.
- 5.1 Mixed Usage
- 7.8 Neutral Sound
- 3.8 Commute/Travel
- 5.2 Sports/Fitness
- 4.6 Office
- 4.6 Wireless Gaming
- 6.6 Wired Gaming
- 1.6 Phone Calls
- Updated Apr 20, 2021: We retested and updated the Weight, Length, and Width tests. We also tested these headphones for PS5 and Xbox Series X compatibility.
- Updated Mar 24, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.4.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.1.
- Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
- Updated Dec 20, 2018: Review published.
- Updated Dec 18, 2018: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Dec 18, 2018: Early access published.
- Updated Dec 16, 2018: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Aug 24, 2017: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Compared To Other Headphones
The Focal Elear are great critical listening headphones that have good audio reproduction and are one of the better-built headphones we’ve tested so far. Their sound signature is well-balanced and is versatile for a variety of music genres, especially classical and vocal-centric music. They are very comfortable headphones for long listening sessions but may lack sub-bass for fans of bass. See our recommendations for the best audiophile headphones, the best wired headphones, and the best headphones for studio use.
The Focal Elegia and Focal Elear are two similarly-designed headphones that have the same great comfort and build quality. However, the Elear are open-back headphones, while the Elegia are the closed-back variant. Both have good audio reproduction, but the open design of the Elear will give you a more speaker-like experience. On the other hand, the closed design of the Elegia will isolate more and leak less, making them more versatile for outside use cases.
The Sennheiser HD 800 S are better audiophile headphones than the Focal Elear but are way more expensive. The Sennheiser have a bigger and spacious soundstage. On the other hand, the very large cups of the Sennheiser might be too big for some and could create gaps. Also, the Focal are slightly better-built headphones and feel sturdier.
The HiFiMan Ananda are better critical listening headphones than the Focal Elear. Their sound quality follows more our target curve with excellent mid and treble ranges. They also interact more with the pinna and create a more open soundstage than the Focal. On the other hand, the Focal are better-built headphones and feel sturdier.
The Focal Elear are better critical listening headphones than the Sennheiser HD 650, but they are also more expensive. They have better build quality and feel like more premium open-back headphones. On the other hand, the Sennheiser have flatter treble, and they are more lightweight and stable on the head. Both are great headphones, but the Sennheiser might be a better choice if you’re looking for your first pair of audiophile headphones.
The Focal Elear are better critical listening headphones than the Focal Stellia, but the Stellia are a bit more versatile. The Elear are open-back headphones that produce a more spacious soundstage than the Stellia; however, they’re a bit bass-light. Although the Elear provide better value for use in a quiet listening room, the Stellia have deeper bass and also isolate more noise, which is better for use in environments with more ambient noise.
The HiFiMan Arya are better headphones for neutral sound than the Focal Elear. The HiFiMan have a planar magnetic transducer, unlike the Focal's Dynamic transducer. Some users may prefer the planar magnetic design as it can generally reproduce bass better and produce a wider, more spacious passive soundstage, which can give you a better representation of the stereo image. The HiFiMan also have a more neutral sound profile and can reproduce audio more consistently. However, the Focal are significantly better-built.
The Focal Elear and the Audeze LCD2-Classic/LC2C are very similar headphones, but the Focal might be slightly better thanks to a more comfortable fit and a slightly better build quality. Both headphones have very similar frequency responses and should sound practically the same way, but the soundstage of the Audeze is better.
The open-back Focal Elear are slightly better headphones for neutral sound than the semi-open Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Generation 2016. They are more comfortable to wear during long listening sessions since they aren’t as tight as the Beyerdynamic and are remarkably well-built. They also don’t sound as sharp as the Beyerdynamic.
Test Results
The Focal Elear are great looking headphones that have a high-end and premium feel. Most of the build is metal, and the cups are large and well-made. They are practically all-black, expect for the metallic silver finish on the cup hinges and logo. They have a nice grill on the cups and a well-padded headband. Even if these are bulky over-ears, they aren’t flashy and don’t necessarily stand out.
Update 04/20/2021: We originally reported that these headphones weighed 1.4 lbs. This value appears to be the combined weight of the headphones and the audio cable. However, we currently measure weight by placing the headphones on a digital scale while the audio cable rests on our table. When we remeasured the headphones using this process, the headphones weighed 1.01 lbs. We have updated our review but the scoring of this box hasn't changed.
These headphones are very comfortable. They don’t put too much pressure on the head, and the materials used for the ear cup padding is cushiony and soft. The cups are large and deep so that your ears don’t touch the drivers. However, they are quite heavy, although they don’t feel like it once on the head. Also, they could feel a bit tight on bigger heads.
These headphones do not have an in-line remote with controls.
They are decently breathable thanks to their open-back design which helps with airflow. Over-ears usually trap heat under the ear cups, but the grille on the cups helps to lower the temperature. They won’t be ideal for sports as you might sweat more than usual with these headphones on.
Update 04/20/2021: Due to an input error, we incorrectly reversed the length and width values. We have corrected these values but the scoring of this box hasn't changed.
Like most over-ear headphones, the Focal Elear are not very portable. They have a bulky design, and they do not fold into a more compact format. The ear cups also don’t swivel to lay flat. However, you shouldn't be on the move quite often with critical listening open-backs.
These headphones do not come with a case, which is disappointing since the closed-back variant Focal Elegia do. However, you can use the box that they are packaged in as a case, but it adds a lot of bulk and won't be practical to carry around unless you have a really big bag or suitcase. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem since you shouldn’t be carrying around critical listening open back headphones often.
The Focal Elear are very well-built headphones that have a solid, high-end design. The whole build is almost all made out of metal, making the headphones very sturdy. They also have a detachable cable, which is convenient and easily replaceable if broken, which makes them more durable. Overall, they have few moving parts that are susceptible to breaking and are made like premium headphones.
These headphones are not the most stable and won’t be suitable for sports. They have decent clamping force to help the headphones to stay in place, but they will come off fairly easily during physical activity. This shouldn’t be a problem for casual listening sessions.
The frequency response consistency is great. The maximum amount of deviation across our five human subjects is under 3dB at 20Hz, and the rest of the bass range is consistent. The treble delivery is also very consistent across multiple re-seat, especially under 10KHz.
The Focal Elear have good bass. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 44Hz, which is decent. Low-bass is under our target curve by 4dB and could lack thump and rumble, which is common to bass-heavy music like EDM, hip-hop, and film scores. However, the lack of sub-bass is not too noticeable, especially on headphones. Mid-bass, responsible for the body of the bass guitars and punch of the kick drums, is almost on our neutral target. For slightly more bass with an open design, take a look at the semi-open Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Generation, although the Elear might still offer better overall value.
The mid-range is great. The response is even and flat throughout the range and is within 2.5dB of our target curve, suggesting a clear and well-balanced reproduction of vocals and lead instruments, with a slight overemphasis.
The Focal Elear have good treble performance. The overall response is relatively well-balanced and even, which is important for producing accurate vocals and lead instruments but is slightly veiled. The dip around 4KHz to 6KHz will have a small negative effect on the brightness and detail of the vocals and instruments while other S and T sounds might feel too sibilant. However, not everyone will have the same listening experience.
The imaging performance is great. Weighted group delay is at 0.17, which is excellent. The GD graph also shows that the entire group delay response is below the audibility threshold. This ensures a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit were well-matched in frequency, amplitude, and phase. This is important for the proper placement and localization of objects (voices, instruments, video game effects) in the stereo field. However, these results are only valid for our test unit, and yours may perform differently.
The Focal Elear have a decent soundstage. The PRTF graph shows a decent amount of pinna activation, with an average amount of accuracy. However, there is not a 10KHz notch present. This suggests a decently large soundstage that may be perceived to be located inside the listener's head as opposed to in-front. Also, due to the open-back design of these headphones, their soundstage may feel more open than that the closed-back counterpart Focal Elegia and Focal Stellia.
Poor isolation by design. This performance is expected by open-back headphones. The Focal Elear don’t offer any isolation up to 2KHz and achieved only 8.5dB of isolation in the treble range, which is sub-par.
Bad leakage performance, but this is also expected by open-back headphones and part of their design. The significant portion of their leakage is spread between 300Hz and 20KHz, which is very broad. The overall level of their leakage is quite loud too. With the music at 100dB SPL, their leakage at 1 foot away averages at 63dB SPL and peaks at 78dB SPL, which is over the average office noise floor.
These headphones do not have a microphone.
These headphones do not have a microphone.
They are passive headphones that do not require a battery.
There is not a companion app for the Focal Elear headphones.
They do not have Bluetooth connectivity.
Being wired headphones, they practically don’t have any latency, which is suitable for gaming and watching video content.
These headphones have a 1/4” TRS connection that will need a 1/8” adapter to be used on PCs and consoles. However, they do not come with the adapter in the box, unlike the Focal Elegia that have an included 1/8" to 1/4" adapter.
Update 04/20/2021: We have tested these headphones for PS5 compatibility.
These headphones can only receive audio on PCs as well as PS4 and PS5 consoles using their TRS cable. However, you need a 1/4" female to 1/8" male adapter for the cable to be compatible, which isn't included.
Update 04/20/2021: We have tested these headphones for Xbox Series X compatibility.
These headphones can only receive audio on Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles using their TRS cable. However, you need a 1/4" female to 1/8" male adapter in order for the cable to be compatible, which isn't included.