HeadphoneOverreview

Focal Elex

The HD 600 upgrade a whole forum generation bought — fast, open and punchy, with a driver that hits a hard wall on loud deep bass.

42 sourcesUpdated
$349Typical US price

Score aggregates reviewer opinions across topics.

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Focal Elex

The short version

What to know.

An open-back dynamic tuned close to neutral, with a leaner lower midrange than the HD 600 and a lift on top. Reviewers agree on its imaging and resolution, and most rank its punch and transient speed among the best under $1,000. They split on five things: treble, which most hear as crisp and a minority as harsh on bright recordings; bass, which is deeper than an HD 600's on every rig but hits a mechanical limit that some owners reach at ordinary volumes and others never hear; comfort, where the 450 g weighs on a sizeable minority; durability, where a repairer documents a repeatable voice-coil-wire break; and whether those faults dent the value. It now sells as Focal B-stock at a much lower price.

About this product

The Drop (Massdrop) x Focal Elex — the Elear's driver and chassis with Clear-style perforated microfibre pads, Clear-derived cables and an all-black finish. Not the Focal Elear, Clear or Clear MG, and not Focal's newer Hadenys. Out of regular production; remaining units sell as Focal B-stock.

In December 2017 Massdrop and Focal announced a headphone that took the French company's $999 Elear — driver, chassis and all — fitted it with pads, a headband and cables modelled on the $1,499 Clear, painted the whole thing matte black and sold it for about $700. It arrived into a market where the standard advice for anyone outgrowing a Sennheiser HD 600 was that nothing really replaced it, and it spent the next seven years being offered as the answer.

Drop's audiophile store has since closed, and the headphone has drifted out of regular production; the last new units sold through Headphones.com, which now offers Focal-tested B-stock. Its reputation comes in two halves that almost every owner recognises: the dynamics and clarity people buy it for, and a driver that clicks when pushed hard in the deep bass and, in a minority of units, simply stops working.

A good fit for

  • HD 600 / HD 650 owners who want the same tonal family with far more punch, clarity and space
  • Listeners who prize slam and transient snap over sheer bass quantity
  • Rock, acoustic, orchestral and electronic music at moderate volumes, in a room where leakage does not matter
  • Buyers who want an entry into Focal's sound and can buy the warrantied B-stock rather than a used unit

Think twice if

  • You listen loud or EQ the sub-bass up — that is exactly where the driver reaches its limit
  • You already find the HD 600 a touch bright, or are sensitive to treble glare
  • You want a light headphone for long sessions
  • You need isolation, or listen anywhere near other people
  • You are buying used with no warranty and cannot test the drivers first

The reviewer consensus

Agreement &
disagreement.

5 / 12topics divide opinion
imagingdetailisolationdynamicstonalitymidssoundstagetreblebasscomfortbuildvalue
3 Strong agreement4 Mostly agree5 Divided opinions

Common ground7

  • Imaging, separation and resolution sit a clear step above the Sennheiser HD 600 and HD 650 it was bought to replace
  • Its punch and transient speed are the headline strength — reviewers keep reaching for loudspeaker comparisons
  • It extends deeper in the bass than an HD 600 on every rig that measured both

Points of contention5

  • Treble: crisp and peak-free for most, harsh or fatiguing on bright recordings for a minority
  • Bass at volume: some owners never hear the driver's mechanical limit, others hit a click or crackle at ordinary levels on bass-heavy tracks
  • Comfort: 450 g disappears for most, and is the reason a substantial minority stopped using it

A closer listen.

12 topics · 5 divided
Left: criticalRight: positiveTighter lines: more agreement

Dynamics

PositiveMostly agree
Reviewer sentiment12 supporting sources
CriticalNeutralPositive

Band: opinion spread · Dot: weighted average

The reason the Elex kept being recommended: transient speed and slam that reviewers keep comparing to loudspeakers. One long-term owner hears the same trait as exaggerated.

“it doesn’t quite reach the same dynamic heights as the Elex”

Fc-Construct, Headphones.com (on the HD 600)

“I thought I was listening to the full range towers in my living room”

antdroid, Head-Fi

“To my ears the Elex has too much glare, exaggerated dynamics, and not enough air.”

generic, The HEADPHONE Community
Link to this topic

The hardware

Specifications.

Checked

Design

Type
Open-back over-ear
Drivers
1 × 40 mm dynamic (aluminum-magnesium 'M'-shaped dome, full-range)

Electrical

Impedance
80 Ω
Sensitivity
104 dB/mW≈ 115 dB/V
Frequency response
5 Hz – 23 kHz

Connection

Cable
Detachable, dual-entry, 1.8 mcommunity-sourced: cable entry
Connector
3.5 mmcommunity-sourced
Plugs supplied
6.35 mm, 4-pin XLR

Physical

Weight
450 g

Manufacturer-published figures, not measurements · from drop.com (archived). Connector, cable entry not published by the maker — community-sourced from hands-on reviews: androidcentral.com, ichos-reviews.com.

Follow the evidence

Sources 42

1–6 of 42 sources

Read with context

Limitations & method.

As of

What to keep in mind 6

  1. This is a read of where the reviews landed as of October 2026. Most of the writing dates from 2018 to 2024, when the Elex was new; it is now sold mainly as Focal B-stock and on the used market.

  2. Units vary more than usual. Reviewers who measured several found real differences between samples, and the bass level at which the driver starts to click differs from unit to unit and track to track — so two owners can honestly describe very different headphones.

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