Focal - Clear MG Headphones

Focal’s open-back magnesium reference — a 40mm ‘M’-dome driver, hand-assembled in France, easy enough to drive from a portable DAC.

Clear MG sits in the upper middle of Focal’s home headphone range: below the two beryllium reference models, Utopia and Stellia, and above the newer aluminium/magnesium pair. It launched in 2021 as the magnesium-dome successor to the original Clear, and it is the least expensive Focal open-back still built on the full-size 40mm ‘M’-dome architecture with a frameless copper voice coil.

Two ideas define the driver. The ‘M’ profile is an inverted dome that dips inward at the centre and rises again toward the surround; seen in section it traces the letter M. The voice coil attaches at the ridge partway out rather than at the very centre, so the driving force lands closer to the diaphragm’s centre of mass and the whole surface moves more nearly as one piece. The folded profile is also intrinsically stiffer than a flat sheet of the same mass, the way corrugated panel is stiffer than flat panel. That is what lets one driver cover the whole range with no crossover.

The dome material is magnesium, the lightest structural metal in common use and one with unusually high internal damping — it turns resonant energy into heat inside the material rather than ringing. Beryllium, used on Stellia and Utopia, is stiffer still and buys more extension at the top, but magnesium is not a compromise driver; it trades ultimate reach for a naturally self-damped, neutral character. The voice coil is frameless: the copper is wound and bonded to itself with no bobbin, so there is less moving mass, one fewer glue joint between motor and diaphragm, and no metal former acting as a shorted turn in the gap.

At 55 Ω and 104dB it will run properly from a portable DAC, but the 3m balanced XLR cable in the box tells you what Focal expects — it scales with a desktop amplifier. The honeycomb grille is genuinely open, so it leaks in both directions. This is a headphone for a quiet room, not an office or an aeroplane.

Features

• Circumaural open-back headphones, hand-assembled in France
• 40mm (1-5/8″) ‘M’-shaped magnesium dome full-range driver — no crossover
• Frameless copper voice coil bonded directly to the dome
• 55 Ω impedance and 104dB sensitivity — drivable from a portable player, but scales with a desktop amp
• Perforated microfibre ear pads and a honeycomb open grille
• Solid aluminium yoke, headband in leather and microfibre
• Both cables supplied: 1.2m unbalanced 3.5mm and 3m balanced 4-pin XLR
• Woven carrying case included, finished to match the headphones

Specifications

• Type: Circumaural open-back headphones
• Driver: 40mm (1-5/8″) ‘M’-shaped magnesium dome, full-range
• Voice Coil: Frameless copper
• Impedance: 55 Ω
• Sensitivity: 104dB SPL / 1mW @ 1kHz
• THD: 0.25% @ 1kHz / 100dB SPL
• Frequency Response: 5Hz – 28kHz
• Weight: 450 g (0.99 lbs)
• Finish: Chestnut and Mixed-Metals, with semi-aniline leather
• Supplied Cables: 1 x 1.2m (3.9 ft) cable with 1/8″ (3.5mm) unbalanced jack; 1 x 3m (9.8 ft) balanced 4-pin XLR cable
• Supplied Adapter: One jack adapter, 1/8″ (3.5mm) female to 1/4″ (6.35mm) male
• Carrying Case: Woven case, 250 x 240 x 120 mm (9.8″ x 9.4″ x 4.7″)
• Origin: Handcrafted in France
• Note: Focal publishes no cable conductor specification, power handling or physical headphone dimensions for this model