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Focal Stellia Review (Closed Back Headphone)

Rate this headphone:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 66 31.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 94 44.3%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 35 16.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 17 8.0%

  • Total voters
    212

Harmonie

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Thank you Amir for highlighting these objects
We have wayyy better options at sub such price levels
 

Dzhaughn

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Hehe. The Stealth looks like a headphone for this stealth jet.
index.php

1200px-F-117_Nighthawk_Front.jpg

Really, you shouldn't be able to see either of them.
 

Merkurio

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These make my APM at $440 a bargain in comparison, being wireless, with similar build quality, far better distortion behavior and only 2-3 filters to make them sound amazing.

$3000 for this, Focal please…
 

PeteL

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I am surprised that EQ could save something with those objectively quite high level of distortion. That's significantly more THD than something like the 149$ basic ATH-m50X with response compliance to target a tad better but with some similarities in the end, same general flavour. This distortion should be audible I think. It'd be interesting to AB. When I look at all the measurments as a whole (Channel differences, etc)) I believe that after EQ the m50 should be the better performer.
 
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BostonJack

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I had many wonderful hours with the Stellia (adjusted to Harman, of course).
I really liked acusic, vocals, jazz on the Stellia. EDM, Hip Hop, and Rock, on the other hand, I didn't like on the Stellia.
Because these styles of music have revealed the great weakness of Stellias: the bass is "soft".
It has no "punch" and no "slam".
A typical DCA bass...
This characteristic cannot be remedied with an EQ.
Stellia is nowhere near the utopia.
In my opinion the Stellia is overpriced...

View attachment 165816
Beautiful photo, is it yours?
 

RichT

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Howdy all, yes like so many of these "high end" headphones, the performance is just not there. Gee but you sure look cool wearing them.
 

Helicopter

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Thanks Amir. This is one I have really anticipated. A bit too expensive for me to buy then try too. I would also really like to see a review of Clear MG.

I am surprised and disapointed with frequency response and distortion. I was hoping for a closed Utopia here.

Price seems fine to me for the placement of the product. I just wish technical performance was there. I would love to see an updated version of this with LEMO connectors, a better cable, the M-shaped driver covers, and excellent sound quality.

Seems the closed Focals fall short of the open backed so far.
 

Robbo99999

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Hard pass on this headphone, especially at those prices, that's one nasty frequency response....but interesting notes on the subjective good soundstage during the listening test after EQ. Voted "Poor" by me.....at that price couldn't be swayed to a "Not Terrible" even with Amir's positive spatial soundstage observations.
 

PeteL

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Wondering if it's representative of the taste of this community, but is it me or Focal seems quite overly represented? I'd like to see more Grados, some of these models sound very good to my ears but measurments are hard to find from trusted sources. Not that I own any to contribute, just seams we pretty much went trough the whole Focal Catalog. Is Focal that much more popular than other brands? Maybe just an impression, didn't do the maths.
 

Odradek

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However disappointing these may be for the price, I will say 1 thing for focal.

Tha fact that their headphones all have different freq. responses is clearly an advantage as there is choice! And different people may find this or that preferable. You have to try them though. I this nonsense?
 

Helicopter

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Wondering if it's representative of the taste of this community, but is it me or Focal seems quite overly represented? I'd like to see more Grados, some of these models sound very good to my ears but measurments are hard to find from trusted sources. Not that I own any to contribute, just seams we pretty much went trough the whole Focal Catalog. Is Focal that much more popular than other brands? Maybe just an impression, didn't do the maths.
Focal is an engineering-focused company with some excellent speakers. Utopia was also excellent. Their aesthetic and industrial design are also top notch, often incorporating superior materials and construction. I find their products more interesting than others for these reasons.

Obviously the technical performance of the closed headphones has some room for improvement.
 

phoenixdogfan

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I guess it should mean Stellia. Anyway, the "expensive headphone curse" strikes again ;)
It really doesn't cost all that much to make a really exceptionally performing headphone. With these super premium designs, companies are trying to create a luxury look with expensive leather/woods, carbon fiber, designer paint jobs. etc. and a distinctive sonic profile to differentiate them from the $1k and less designs. Problem is, those cheaper designs are older and got most everything right, and differentiating the new "super premium" phones will actually take them into territory where they get a whole lot wrong sonically. Means a lot of these will be marketed to the "Wilson Audio buyer" crowd.
 

Ron Texas

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Beautiful, but $3k for cans is real money.
 

PeteL

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Focal is an engineering-focused company with some excellent speakers. Utopia was also excellent. Their aesthetic and industrial design are also top notch, often incorporating superior materials and construction. I find their products more interesting than others for these reasons.

Obviously the technical performance of the closed headphones has some room for improvement.
Oh I like it too, I have the Elex and it's great. I am just curious as why there are other well known brands that never seem to make their way trough. It's no one to blame really but maybe some brands attract people that are less interested in measurments, it'd be interesting to me to know why?
 

Zim

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It is a luxury object, it has to be expensive. You are not buying the headphones. Price is the product.
Luxury generally implies a certain degree of quality. With the amount of issues these headphones have, I can’t imagine it being labelled as luxury. It’s just expensive. And not all expensive things are luxury.
 

Xii-Nyth

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I wasnt planning on buying focal headphones but at this rate of strange colours we are just 5 years away from a magical pink panther fur-covered semi-closed back that gives it perfect measurements (synthetic of coarse)
 
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