Hey Folks,
We have received a new shipment of earpads for the Focal Elex.
Before shipping out to customers we tested and compared samples from this batch against those from a 2018 sample. We compared materials and construction to ensure they were identical. The new samples were also weighed to get an average of 20.63 grams.
Our reference sample weight is 20.35 grams giving us confidence this batch had been made to the correct standards.
2.3k requested these ear pads, if they were gone in six minutes, must have been very small inventory, or someone bought them all for a mark up on eBay.
I'm thinking of ordering a pair (🤞) while the price is "low," but since I shouldn't need them for quite a while with my new Elex headphones, I'm wondering about their shelf life. Is there anything about memory foam pads that degrades when left in their original packaging for a couple years?
rrrrrichardI'm in the same boat.
Mods are going a little overboard on deleting comment. Seems like massdrop is not taking any criticism or jokes on the previous drops related to Elex.
After getting my pair in I am starting to wonder if a lot of the "different" claims are from people who commented without using them much? May pair felt very different than what I remembered the Elex pads feeling like and very different than my Elear pads. Even yesterday the pads started breaking in and feeling more like I remembered. I actually ended up falling asleep in the chair last night listening to them and they are even more like I remember now and seem to be breaking in quickly. The foam is so much more soft and airy feeling now. The fabric that was stiff and almost felt scratchy has now changed to a soft and almost stretchy material that now feels more like microfiber and much more similar to the fabric on my Elear pads. The difference a good solid 10 hours of use made was huge. While size variation may still be an issue I feel pretty confident now that at least the materials are fine.
I'm glad you enjoy them. I was not a fan of the fenestrated sheepskin Dekoni's. Idk if yours are different than the sheepskins but I was put off by the change in vocals. It seemed like it brought them too far forward and they lost body compared to the elear or elex pads. The performance wasn't bad but I didn't like the tonal change they made.
mrcrunch08Yeah, they vary tonally. I happen to enjoy the sharper/dynamic signature especially with instruments, it also offsets my alternate HP the Ananda. Could also be the sound I'm accustomed to since the Elear pads were kinda dead sounding to me, though I do enjoy pad swapping. Enjoy the sounds and cheers...
[Mass]Drop created a new product listing for Focal OEM Elex pads to try to cleanse themselves of the fiasco that was the previous Elex pad drop. Smooth.
Link to the original listing: https://drop.com/buy/focal-pads-for-elex-headphones-2020-version
Still have a pair from the very first drop in August 2018, let's see how the QC lottery treats me this time around.