#Focal pro ice pro#

The other small knob selects among three '3D Holographic Matrix' circuits labeled 30-60-90-degrees, for either headphones or loudspeakers. The front panel is jam-packed with switchy doodads, including a three-position switch that lets the user choose among Solid-State (pure class-A J-FET), Tube (all-tube class-A with two 5670 tubes), and Tube+ (which reduces negative feedback).Д«esides the big Input and Volume dials, there are two smaller knobs: one controls iFi's XBass 'analogue signal processing (ASP)' bass-correction system, which offers up to 12dB of boost at three low-frequency turnover points: 10, 20, and 40Hz.

#Focal pro ice pro#

Products with long menus of features make me think their manufacturers are pandering to the marketplace, wasting customers' money, and lack authentic audio aesthetics of their own.ДЇor these reasons, my extremely positive CanJam auditions of iFi's first product in its new Pro series, the iCAN headphone amplifierВ–preamplifier, were marred by what I perceived as a plethora of pandering features. I prefer my DACs and amps to come in solid, pedestrian cases with sturdy isolating feet, but no display, buttons, or remote control. They mean features, and I am no fan of features. But in audio, choices are mostly annoying and unsettling. In life, having choices makes me feel safe and empowered. Will it make a good preamp? Will it drive the HiFiMan Susvaras?

As I removed the polished outer sleeve, the silver iFi logo on the box within had me thinking, Classy logo, classy companyВ—hope the sound is classy. Opening the shrink-wrapped box containing iFi Audio's Pro iCAN headphone amplifier ($1699) felt exactly like unpacking an expensive new Apple product. They had that super-satisfying, just-right Goldilocks magic. Fortunately, listening pleasure is exactly what the Focal Clears gave me. Nowadays, I use the Utopias and LCD-Xes as tools for studying recordings rather than for listening pleasure. The Utopias are the least dull, most highly resolving headphones I know, but, like the Audezes, they deliver music with a kind of metal-tempered resilience that I find distracting. To my ears, the Elears seem subliminally dull on some microdynamic level that makes them less engaging than the more extroverted Clears. The Clears' greater transparency wiped away the LCD-Xes' slight veiling, revealing more of Akbar Khan's mastery of the sarod.Д¬onclusions: I have logged months of daily use of the Focal Clears, and compared them at length with Audeze's LCD-X and with Focal's own Elear and Utopia headphones. Spatial perspectives were more precisely described.

Ali Akbar Khan, playing the sarod (an ancient, Hindustani stringed instrument) on his Indian Architexture (SACD, Water Lily Acoustics WLA-ES-20-SACD), sounded noticeably more pure of tone and transparent than with the LCD-Xes. And their metal domes sound less metallic than do the Audezes' Mylar-film, planar-magnetic drivers. I cherish the Audezes' lively, blues-with-a-feeling dynamics and the burnished-toned way they reproduce the sounds of violins, guitar amps, and sopranos.Д«ut while the LCD-Xes have long satisfied my tastes, Focal's new Clears sound, to me, more correct in tone and spectral balance. My experiences with the venerable HD 800 Ses are limited to trying them at CanJams, but the not-always-comfortable LCD-Xes have spent more time on my head than have any headphones other than the Koss Porta Pros. They and Sennheiser's HD 800 S headphonesВ—both models cost $1699В—are the ones that Focal's Clear, at $1500, needs to beat.

Focal Clear vs Audeze LCD-X: Audeze's easy-to-drive, 20-ohm, 103dB/mW LCD-X headphones are my real-world reference cans.