Focal Elegia review. One year later.

Hello, I’m Alexander, and today we will talk about Focal Elegia and my 1 year long experience with this pair. This is my personal pair. No one paid me to make this review. And as always all thoughts and opinions expressed in this video are my own.

Elegia was Focal’s first closed-back headphones followed by Celestee, Radiance, and Stellia. Focal initially released it in 2018 and it came with a hefty price tag of $900. Things have changed since that, and nowadays you can grab a pair of Elegia for as low as $399. This is still a lot of money, especially if you are new to the headphone hobby.

Focal Elegia features a beautiful design, 40mm M-shape drivers with an aluminum/magnesium dome. It also comes with a high-quality memory foam ear pads, a perforated leather headband, and a de-attachable cable.

Focal also announced Elegia as end-of-life product at some point. But they still have it listed on the official website and you can find it for sale online. I think there is either excessive old stock or Focal keeps on making them. Anyway, If you have any insights on this – please let me know in the comments section below.

The headphones arrived in a stylish black box with a Focal logo and model name on the top. Focal is famous for packing its products well and Elegia is no exception. During the unboxing you feel that you are opening an expensive product.

In the box:

• Focal Elegia headphones
• High-quality storage case with a fabric exterior
• A de-attachable 1.2-meter-long cable
• A 3.5mm to 6.3mm screw-on adapter
• User manual
• and a warranty card

Design & build

Aesthetics are important selling point of Focal headphones and part of their visual signature. Most of their headphones use a similar headband design and shape, as well as the ear cup shape and size.

The top of the headband is covered with leather, and the bottom part is covered with perforated leather. The center part of the headband is unfortunately plastic and this causes some problems over time. The joints that connect the headband to the ear cups are made from metal. And this means metal is pushed against the plastic during the operation. I think it’s a design flaw so don’t try to apply excessive pressure to the headband.

The perforated leather on the inner headband is prone to wear and discoloration. That’s exactly why a lot of people use a headband protection covers with Focal headphones. In my case the wear is quite minimal, as Elegia is not my only pair of headphones, but you can see discoloration on camera.

Ear cups and ear pads

The ear cups are made from high-quality glossy plastic with little dots pattern. There is also a metal accent ring with three screws and a laser cut Focal logo. This makes the headphone design vented or semi-open if you like. But this sound port doesn’t leak sound too much so it’s none of any concern. 

The ear cups are also spring-loaded, a rare feature you can see on the headphones. The springs increase the pressure and improve the ear pad angle, so it provides a better fit & seal. The ear cups host a 40mm M-shape dynamic drivers with an aluminum/magnesium dome. The drivers are angled and are protected by metal grills that have honeycomb cut-outs that look fantastic. 

Focal Elegia ear pads are made out of suede and have memory foam inside. The ear pads have an oval shape and are 110 mm in height and 95 mm across. The opening of the ear pads is 65 mm in height and 55 mm across. The ear pads are 25 mm deep so it will accommodate a lot of ears very well. 

Under normal wear the ear pads should last you a year and a half. The replacement pair of ear pads costs $100 which is not cheap. As an alternative, you can also try leather ear pads from Dekoni. They cost slightly less and also improve the bass response.

Cable

The cable that comes with Elegia can’t hold a candle to the overall build & design. It has quality connectors that perfectly snap in the sockets. But the cable is short, tangly, and has a lot of memory.  

My pair arrived with an updated black cable. The so-called “iron cable” that is shipped with the first revision of Elegia is even worse. I recommend changing the stock Elegia cable as this pair deserves a more flexible and longer cable.

Fit and comfort-wise this is one of my favorite pairs. The headphones are massive, but the fit is excellent in my case. The weight of the headphones is evenly distributed. I didn’t experienced any discomfort or hot spots during long listening sessions. I have large ears, but they completely fit inside the ear pads. During long listening sessions, the ear pads tend to get a little warm. But nothing really to make the experience uncomfortable. 

Focal Elegia sound impressions

Now let’s talk about the sound. As always, all sound impressions on my channel are completely subjective. You should take them with a grain of salt. 

Focal Elegia has a low impedance but it still needs some power to open up and shine. While it sounded quite okay with my phone, I recommend pairing Elegia with better sources. It can be either a dongle that can provide at least 80 mW of power at 32 Ohms. Or it can be a proper desktop source. This will help you to utilize Elegia’s driver capabilities and the tuning fully. 

Before getting my pair I was doing a lot of research and it seemed that many people were having a love-hate relationship with this pair. That’s why I had Elegia on my wish list for over 6 months, but I was hesitating to order. Suddenly my wife, who knew about my wish-list decided to get it as my birthday present. Thank you darling!

I can describe the sound of Elegia out of the box in one word – it’s strange. Strange to the point you are not sure, whether you like it or not. By the time I got Elegia, I already had several Mid-Fi headphones in the $350 – $500 price range, but Elegia’s sound was something else. 

Bass, mid-range, treble

Out of the box, Elegia has a quite linear and neutral bass, forward midrange, and uneven treble. And you don’t need any graphs to understand this. When I tried Elegia for the first time, it sounded surprisingly muffled to me. As if someone put some kind of veil over my recordings. Feel free to disagree, but out of the box, Elegia’s timbre just doesn’t sound accurate at all. 

Things drastically changed when I applied the EQ. In my case, I used the Harman preset made by Oratory1990, which worked wonders and Elegia finally opened-up. The veil was gone and the timbre was almost completely fixed. Hence all of my sound impressions from this point onward are with the EQ on. 

The depth, speed, and texture of bass are fantastic. Not that the stock bass was bad in any way, but EQ unlocked the hidden potential of it’s dynamic driver. With the EQ the sub-bass becomes more prominent and the mid-bass obtains a solid body and slams hard. I particularly enjoyed Elegia’s bass response with well-recorded EDM and metal music that has double-bass drums playing. Despite much information with such genres, the bass on Elegia was textured, detailed, fast and never muddy. Without the EQ the bass is still well-rounded, detailed, and clean, but with a proper EQ it shines.

Moving to the midrange, I was quite okay with the stock tuning, but to me, it sounded a bit lean. With the EQ the midrange becomes even better as it starts to sound more full-bodied and forward. The midrange timbre is excellent both with or without EQ and the midrange neither lacks clarity nor energy. It’s quite forward, lush and emotional. The upper midrange is crisp and detailed as well. And overall I found the midrange on Elegia very enjoyable, especially with vocal genres. 

The treble is the weakest part of the stock tuning. It’s uneven and lacks refinement. I have no idea why Focal tuned it like this. But it affected the overall timbre of the headphones in a bad way. EQ can make the treble more linear, adding the air and sparkle that was initially missing. I don’t think you can completely fix the treble with EQ, but you can make it sound more organic. The EQ adds a lot of details and outlines to the music presentation, helping to reveal many details and nuances. With the EQ the treble becomes resolving and complimentary and there was enough sparkle and air for my personal preference.

From the technical perspective, the Elegia is a very capable pair, thanks to its driver and chamber design. It offers great detail retrieval, texture, and definition. The drivers on Elegia are fast and with busy musical pieces, you are not losing any important information. Macro-dynamics and micro-dynamics are great and that’s what you should expect from Focal. 

The sound stage width is surprisingly wide for a pair of closed-back, yet it’s also quite deep and tall. The instrument placement is great and instrument separation is also very good. The imaging is great too. I had no problems identifying the placement and direction of sounds both in my music and in my games. 

So what do I like about these headphones?

• Aesthetics are top notch
• Excellent fit and comfort
• The drivers are very capable and the EQ can be easily applied
• A spacious sound stage for a closed-back
• Transparent, and cohesive sound
• Strong and detailed bass
• Lush and textured midrange
• Great technical abilities
• and a good carrying case. 

What I don’t like?

• Stock tonality is not the best
• The stock cable is awful
• The top headband part is made out of plastic
• The inner part of the headband is prone to tear and discoloration
• The replacement ear pads are expensive
• and the lack of user-replaceable parts questions longevity

Focal Elegia is not perfect, but it’s pros easily outweigh their cons in my case. It’s a great pair of closed-back headphones and offers an excellent entry point into the world of more expensive Focal headphones. If your budget allows and you are okay with using EQ, I strongly recommend considering the Elegia as your new closed-back pair of headphones.

And that concludes my review for today. If you want to see more content like this consider subscribing to my YouTube channel for future updates. Thank you for joining me, and until next time, goodbye!

🛒 Focal Elegia on Amazon

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