Focal Celestee Review (Headphone)

[Helicopter]

Although I did just listen to this song and the right driver was rattling a bit ...
https://music.apple.com/ca/album/fog-jamie-xx-remix/1499854643?i=1499854651
Fog (Jamie XX Remix) Nosaj Thing

Anybody else hear some rattling with that song? deep bass...

I don't hear anything that's not obviously in the recording with my Celestee. The vocals have some rough and distorted edginess, but they are supposed to sound thay way.

 

[Fabdub]

Yeah it's more like the bass at beginning.

 

[Helicopter]

Yeah it's more like the bass at beginning.

The bass at the begining is super clean on mine. There is some high pitched bird chirp or squeeky hinge type sample going on with it, but no rattles.

 

[Fabdub]

Hi, I got a question....
I just got my Celestee. It was quite ok deal. After listening for couple of hours and being happy with it I went https://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php ...
There is this secition "Quality" and here I found the "bug".

My setup: Chord Mojo connected to my PC, Win10. Chord Driver installed.

If I set the volume on the Mojo to "light-blue" or 59 klicks (out of 100) then the right can starts to crack. I can listen to this but it is quite loud and not my normal listening volume.
I recorded it with my mobile (recording is attached).
The test starts with low frequencies and there you clearly hear the issue. It does not happen to the left can, so I assueme this is a quality issue.
If I reduce the volume the issue disapears.

In my opinion it is a difect, since left speaker does produce the bass correctly.
What do you think? Should I return the headphone?

thx.

Was your issue the popping sounds at first?

This is what I have ... right is worse.

 

[Wesen]

Was your issue the popping sounds at first

Yes. Exactly, if the bass the deepest is. The right can had a problem with it.
The replacement headphones don't have it.

 

[ericafterdark]

How do these compare to the Audeze LCD-2 Closed Back?

 

[imagidominc]

It sucks that Amir didn't like this headphone very much because I've had it for almost a week now and me and the Celestee are vibing. I really love the sound signature of this headphone, even without EQ. I say that as someone who is biased towards the Focal house sound, though. The mid range is a bit muffled going from a more revealing headphone like an HD800, but my ears quickly adjust and I can happily live with it. This is certainly not an endgame headphone for everyone that does everything correctly, but as a beautiful little closed back that I can take to work with me, I'm very happy with it.

EDIT: It's been 9 months and yep, still love it. I own technically superior headphones and Amps/dacs like the Clear and the HD800, but with the low impedance of the Celestee, even running if off of the aux jack of my 2023 MacBook Air sounds engaging. I'm sure it won't impress any hardcore audiophiles, but that's not even the purpose I use it for. I should've noted that I got the Celestee for $600 on eBay. At that price, it's a no brainer.

 

[onethreetwowaitthatswrong]

Celestee currently at 645€ on black friday deals, 699 with a AQ cobalt. Is there any closed back that beats it in the same price range ?

Senn HD820 is at 1600€, Denon AH29-200 around 1300, even LCD2 Closed back, which seems like the serious contender here, is at 1050€. Denon AHD-7200 at 700€ ?

 

[FreaK]

Celestee currently at 645€ on black friday deals, 699 with a AQ cobalt. Is there any closed back that beats it in the same price range ?

Senn HD820 is at 1600€, Denon AH29-200 around 1300, even LCD2 Closed back, which seems like the serious contender here, is at 1050€. Denon AHD-7200 at 700€ ?

None of them is worth ecen the third of that price. Here's a real good deal (from DCA news letter):
AEON RT Closed + Schiit Asgard 3 with
9028 DAC for only $679

 

[onethreetwowaitthatswrong]

With delivery fees to Europe and custom fees, that's very likely 800 to a thousand bucks deal :/