The Focal Elear is 80Ω at 104.0 dB/mW; the Focal Listen Professional is 32Ω at 107.1 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.
The Elear needs 3.1 dB more than the Listen Professional to reach the same loudness — 0.40 mW against 0.19 mW.
| Specification | Elear | Listen Professional |
|---|---|---|
| Impedance | 80 Ω | 32 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 104.0 dB/mW | 107.1 dB/mW |
| Sensitivity (voltage) | 115.0 dB/V | 122.0 dB/V |
| Power for 100 dB | 0.40 mW | 0.19 mW |
| Voltage for 100 dB | 0.18 V | 79 mV |
| Current for 100 dB | 2.2 mA | 2.5 mA |
| Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule) | 10.00 Ω | 4.00 Ω |
| Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280 | 280 | 280 |
Every source in the database that drives one of them drives the other. On power, the choice between these two changes nothing about what amplifier you need.
10 sources are low enough in output impedance for the Elear under the one-eighth rule but not for the Listen Professional (Zoom AMS-22, Arturia MiniFuse 2, Arturia MiniFuse 1, 7 more).
2 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Elear but cross it with the Listen Professional (FiiO BTR11, Rupert Neve RNHP).
280 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both.
The Elear is more demanding than 53% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Listen Professional than 25%.
| dB SPL | Elear power | Elear voltage | Listen Professional power | Listen Professional voltage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | 4.0 µW | 18 mV | 1.9 µW | 8 mV |
| 85 | 0.01 mW | 32 mV | 6.2 µW | 14 mV |
| 90 | 0.04 mW | 56 mV | 0.02 mW | 25 mV |
| 95 | 0.13 mW | 0.10 V | 0.06 mW | 44 mV |
| 100 | 0.40 mW | 0.18 V | 0.19 mW | 79 mV |
| 105 | 1.3 mW | 0.32 V | 0.62 mW | 0.14 V |
| Source | Price | Headroom, Elear | Headroom, Listen Professional | Output impedance | Noise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JadeAudio JA11 | $20 | 14.8 dB | 21.9 dB | 0.5 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO KA11 | $29 | 23.1 dB | 30.1 dB | 0.7 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO BTR13 | $59 | 20.0 dB | 27.1 dB | 0.6 Ω | 1.0 µV |
Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. 67 of them also publish an output impedance low enough for both under the one-eighth rule and a noise figure that stays below the audible-hiss threshold with both.
The cheapest of the 67 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 14.8 dB of headroom on the Elear and 21.9 dB on the Listen Professional, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 10.00 Ω and 4.00 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 20 dB and 13 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.
| Model | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elear | 5Hz – 23kHz | not printed | not printed |
| Listen Professional | 5 Hz – 23 kHz | ±3 dB | not printed |
Focal prints 5Hz – 23kHz for the Elear and 5 Hz – 23 kHz for the Listen Professional.
Listen Professional: Focal puts the tolerance in the row heading rather than beside the numbers: the label itself reads "Frequency response (+/- 3dB)".
Only one of the two is a specification. The range printed for the Listen Professional comes with a tolerance; the one printed for the Elear does not, and a range without a ±dB figure says nothing about how loud that model is at either end of it. The two cannot be compared number against number, however similar they look in the table. Of the 490 models whose maker prints a range, 58 print the tolerance.
Not a measurement; maker by maker.
Both have a page of their own. In full: Focal Elear and Focal Listen Professional. Every figure on this page comes from what Focal published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.