Review: Focal Clear MG open-back, over-ear headphones

Frontal sound with a wide sound stage and crystalline clarity

“Crystalline clarity,” I say. So, yes, not every crystal is clear, and most have inclusions that would make them unlikely to sell for much money. These Clear MG’s on the other hand, are the kind of crystals that are clear and free of inclusions. Comparing them with Sennheiser HD650’s may seem a bit unfair, but that’s where my reference point was (the HD650’s) before I tried the Clear MG’s. I walked into a shop I’d already gotten a turntable and phono stage from, and the staff are very nice. And they have a couch. Anyway, there is a McIntosh integrated amp on a table, with headphones on the bent-wood stands that are probably familiar to any headphone enthusiast, are arrayed around it. I tried all the headphones, with an average price of a little bit south of a grand. I was concerned the impressions I would get would be warped compared to what I would be using at home, since McIntosh is above my level of willingness to shell out checks. Or something like that.

The Focal Clear MG’s beat all the competition, hands down. There was no comparison in my mind. The space around me, with the large, wide sound stage, was entrancing compared to the in-my-face sound of some of the others, and the general flatness of tonal palettes. The Focals are beautiful, but Focal didn’t spend their money putting diamonds on sapphires; they designed headphones that sound good. It took me a bit to notice a key aspect of the headphones that sets them apart from most of their competition, that the drivers are set ahead of center and are angled toe-in, so the sound comes from ahead, allowing my auricles (that’s the outside, fleshy part of the ear, with its unique peripheral contours and all its interesting folds that give so many ears their personalities) to play the role they normally play in shaping the sound I hear in an in-person performance. This may play a role in the creation of apparent aural space that I thought made the Clear MG’s unbeatable in the comparison at the shop.

The bass is powerful, and the cymbals are clear and high when needed. The mids are not over-done. The Sennheiser 820 closed-back reference phones I recently acquired are much more mid-strong. The HD650s have a tonal signature more like the Focals, and I’ve always liked the HD650’s for their lightness and clarity. They just are on a different price point than the Focals and the sound stage cannot compare to the Focals’ width. The highs are not as pronounced on the HD650’s, and the lows are very heavily panned to one side on this recording of John Coltrane doing “But Not For Me,” whereas the acoustic bass is audible—and felt—on both sides, though still heavily panned right. Perhaps the difference is that the Focals reproduce lower frequencies better, getting the omnidirectional effect of bass tones, lessening the sense that they come only from the right.

The Focals are like much better HD650’s in a way. They have the lightness and clarity of the Sennheisers, while not having bass that creates the low-end cocoon I’ve written of when reviewing the Sennheiser HD6XX’s (here: https://open.substack.com/pub/hanscox/p/review-sennheisers-hd6xx-open-back). There is still the sense that the sound is light and airy, and while external sounds can be heard sometimes, I like that when I am out walking, with bicycles and who knows who approaching from behind. In a way, they’re safer headphones for walking, since they allow more situational awareness. This goes for both the Focals and the Sennheiser HD650’s (and the HD600’s, which sound a lot like the HD650’s). Post-HD650 Sennheiser 600-series headphones don’t have that transparency, and I don’t like to walk with them as much.

The Clear MG’s are solidly built. They don’t fold together like the Sennheiser 600-series or the Sendy Peacocks (reviewed here: https://open.substack.com/pub/hanscox/p/review-sendys-peacocksopen-back-over). Instead, they have a bronzed-metal fixture that connects each earphone to the leather-covered, rigid-but-flexible bar that rests on top of the head and helps support the headphones, which are in a higher weight class than the Sennheiser 600-series. Compared to the HD650’s, the Focals feel extremely comfortable. The earphone pads are at least a half-inch thick and are wider, with a half-inch or larger lip to rest against the head, around each ear. The Focals also keep the drivers far away from the ears, and this, I suspect, also helps to create the sense of aural-physical space. The HD650’s feel cozily small, while the Clear MG’s feel expansive.

Why compare the Focals to a lower price point headphone that can’t hope to compete? The Focals were my first step up into a medium-level headphone. They’re a different class, and I’m trying to articulate some of the reasons a person who has HD650’s or a comparable pair of headphones or IEMs, would want to make the same jump I did, up to a higher tier of headphone. I’m listening to the Focal Clear MG’s on a Cayin N7, in class-AB mode (reviewed here: https://open.substack.com/pub/hanscox/p/review-the-cayin-n7-digital-audio). They do deserve a DAP at that price point, though the Schiit Audio Valhalla (https://www.schiit.com/products/valhalla-1) I have used for years as a headphone amp, which is a much lower price point than the N7, sounds great with the Clear MG’s too. I have read that the low nominal impedance of the Focal Clear MG’s (about 50 Ω) was intended to allow them to be used more easily with DAPs. In a forthcoming review of the Valhalla, I note that at high volumes, the tube amp introduces distortion into a piano note that is clear as a bell at a lower volume level. The N7 is distortion-free even at high volumes. But the Valhalla gives a depth to the already expansive sound stage of the Clear MG’s that makes them sound even better, while the sound stage of the Clear MG’s with the N7 is much shallower, making some sound more flat than lifelike.

Compared to the Sendy Peacocks, the Focals have a stronger clasping force (though not as strong as the Sennheiser 600-series). They stay firmly atop my head and allow even speedwalking, which the Peacocks are for slower walks and more careful attention to the balance of the headphones on the head. The Clear MG’s are lighter than the Peacocks. And they have a more expansive sound stage than the Peacocks, which sound good too—and both the Peacocks and Clear MG’s are comfortable and feel like luxury clothing. The protective metal webbing on the outside of the Focal earphone is a beautiful adornment, like the filigreed black-and-gold overlapping meshes of the Peacocks. The forward-thinking shape of the Focals is beautiful too. While someone might say that sound trumps aesthetics in an absolute way, where what I consider to be an ugly, but good sounding, pair of headphones would take first place compared to the Focals, I think looks help headphones sound better, or at least feel better, because we often want beautiful things to function beautifully too, and I find that more beautiful things feel better than ugly things, in most cases. A bit of psychology. The beauty of the Focals matches the beauty of their spacious-skies sound. I commented on the beauty aspect of the Peacocks in the subtitle to that review. Well, I have to admit that the Focals sound better than and look about as good as the Peacocks. But for a person who has a certain acquisitiveness for hobby things like multiple pairs of headphones (I am not a music pro, that’s a different case), having a pair of eye-catching headphones partly for the satisfaction of one’s curiosity about how they sound and partly just for the fun of having gold-plating and wood on a pair of headphones justifies itself.

Another genre, please. How about some contemporary classical? I have a DSD 256 recording of trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth’s album Seraph. As a beginning trumpeter, I have particular interest in trumpet music lately, especially that tending toward the avant garde, such as Steph Richards, Arve Henriksen, Hildegunn Øiseth, and Ralph Alessi. Listening to classical-style trumpet is refreshing and helps me hear the instrument in new ways. The reverb on the trumpet is that of a concert hall since this is Helseth performing with the Ensemble Allegria. I’d never heard of either of them. They are good. Helseth’s trumpet is loud and free of buzzing, very clear, very unlike much of the breathy avante-garde work by the abovementioned artists. I am listening to the Astell & Kern A&futura SE 180 with the SEM3 DAC module, supposedly the audiophile’s choice of the four modules available for the SE 180. It allows hearing everything there is in the recording, with the Focals.

Comparing the HD650’s to the Focals, the sound stage is narrower and the high frequencies are not as pronounced (though the Focals are not what I would call “bright” headphones). The bowed double basses do not seem to form the firmament of the world as they with the Focals. The pizzicato strings do sound what I like to say is “woody” or “rosin-laden”, a kind of sound from classical-design string instruments that is unlike the low, smooth jazz bass tone—though this woodiness, which I like, is heard often in jazz bass, such as the bass in the introduction to Miles Davis’ “So What” on Kind of Blue. I think it's an organic sound. Still, on the HD650’s, which I once thought of as about as clear and resolving as a headphone could get, do not portray the subtle nuance of expertly played pizzicato violins. Switching back to the Focals, everything is clearer, smoother, more subtly articulated. The textures of the strings come through beautifully, making the HD650’s seem almost muddy in comparison.

I recommend the HD650’s to anyone just getting into hifi headphones and who wants a kind of audiophile sound to their pair. I recommend the Focal Clear MG’s to anyone who likes the Sennheiser 600-series headphones and is not sure whether spending up to the medium price point of the Focals is worth it. It will be worth it if you will be listening with a decent headphone amp or DAP. The Clear MG’s are not for plugging into a budget Android phone, such as the Motorola I have (cracked screen to boot). Shortly after getting the Focals, I got the A&K SE 180. It’s a leap in price point, but if audio gets your mind spinning with anticipation of the next listening session or however you hear your music with headphones, it’s a leap that many will choose to make, and I hope you have the means to make it someday soon.