Grabbed a pair of Focal Clear MG Professional other day after auditioning over 50 open back headphones from planar, electrostatic to dynamic and only ones I liked were the Focal Clear MG to go with my Focal Elegia overall, but liked the Audeze LCD 5 and 4's for planars but stupid money for them and was not going down that road but was willing to spend silly money meaning £1-2K max for a nice open back, but I'm happy to say the ones I fell for were no where near that silly price of over £2K and I even blind listened to them after I put the ones aside I liked and always ended up with the Clear MG and surprised even the staff where I was listening with said same thing and was his first time going threw so many and was happy to join in with me so he could see what they were all like with my gear I brought with me to test with and my music and he said same thing at end and was shocked how so many more expensive ones sounded so bad for the price.
In the end my honest opinion was hifiman sundara 2020 versions was a bargain for a planar and were £220 and I liked them for the price but I was after one set of open backs to go with my closed back Elegias that I like a lot for when I'm doing listening and making music without disturbing others or when recording with a microphone they are not heard by the mic as they are closed back. Might still grab a pair of the sundaras to have around as planars as they were only ones worth their asking price to me apart from the silly priced lcd 5 and 4..no thanks for the price of them I can buy more monitors that I want not headphones. Ohh also liked the lcd x and they were in my top 5 when picking the ones I liked too, they came in a nice creator bundle too with a case and they come in closed back too lcd xc and were very nice too and for their price I think they were worth it too, just not 100% what I was looking for, but if I have a spare £1K+ again to waste on headphones these maybe it the LCD X, they were very nice for planars.
Everything else I listened to even some closed backs I went threw all the focals from Elegia to Utopia and best part was I liked the clear MGs more than even the Utopias and the original clears they had too at a discount as they are end of line and was hoping to like them as they were a lot cheaper than the MGs he offered them to me at, but the MGs were just a match made in heaven to my ears and the sound I was looking for.
I honestly have to say the worst sounding headphones came from sennheiser and the 820 were a really bad joke for headphones almost costing £2K the 800s were the only ones I liked from them and they were still not worth the price compared to the Focal clear MGs and didn't have the punch the focals had or the really clear detailed sound they sounded hollow compared to the focals and the 820s sounded like I was stuck in cave with high mids and high treble only with everything else in the background or not there. The music I used to test with was my own created music and audio files that I know how they sound on studio monitors and I own Focal twin6 Be monitors and Adam a77x monitors and also a sub with both when needed switched on, I also use IK Multimedia iloud MTMs too for the laptop area and anyone that's heard these monitors I use and likes them will love the Clear MGs as that's what they sounded like to me like sitting in front of my monitors.
I listened to the Focal Clear MGs they are a brown nutty bronze colour scheme and decided to get the pro versions as they are the same but in red and black and came with a spare set of pads too, they are exactly the same headphones just colour is different and the accessories are extra ear pads and different cables as no xlr cable with the pro version. I broke them in and went back with them to the store and tried them again against all the headphones I liked and confirmed also they sound exactly the same as the regular clear MGs too and again came out liking them that day too. Great open back headphones and would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a nice open back set.
Focal Clear MG Professionals.
Regular Focal Clear MG in case you like this colour version and the ones you will find in stores to test but if you like them and like the Pro colours they sound exactly the same.
ifi-audio.com
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