Review: Focal Stellia Headphones

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Watch our video below for a complete review of the Focal Stellia Headphones. In the area?... Stop by a World Wide Stereo showroom near you to check them out in person.

Summary

The newest closed-back headphones from Focal take style and cool to a new level. The Focal Stellia Headphones are the baby brother to the amazing Utopia Headphones—using many of the same materials such as the insanely lightweight and responsive Beryllium. The warm-hued, cognac color is incredibly easy on the eyes, coupled with form-fitting memory foam and full grain leather ear cups isolate your beats, bass, and riffs from the world around you. These uber-premium headphones come fully equipped with a 4’ cable capped off with a 3.5mm jack as well as a 3.5 female to 6.35 male connector in addition to a 10ft cable with 4-pin XLR connector. And yes, even the cables are beautiful. And they match the hardshell case that protects your Stellia’s while you’re on the go.

Focal Stellia Closed-Back Circum-Aural Over-Ear Headphones (Cognac)

Focal Stellia Closed-Back Circum-Aural
Over-Ear Headphones

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Video Transcript

"Hi, everyone. This is Adam with World Wide Stereo. And today, I'm going to be doing a product showcase for you on a brand new set of headphones from our friends at Focal, the Stellia. So, I want to get started here by showing you my experience with these headphones, starting with opening the box and, literally, they had me at hello. The presentation is fantastic. It comes with your accessory pouch here and, of course, your little carrying case for the headphones, which is gorgeous.

And the beautiful Stellia headphones. All right. So, I want to take this box, put it off to the side so I can show you a little closer detail of what's inside this box and the cables that are in here. So, open it up. Again, here you have your product item information, warranty information. But here are your two cables. You have a 10-foot cable and you have a 4-foot cable.

The 10-foot cable has a balanced XLR connection for its output, and then, on the other side, you have your socket eighth-inch jacks that'll go into the headphones. The other cable over here is a four-foot cable, and on one end, it'll come with a quarter-inch jack, but you can also unscrew that connector and you'll get your standard eighth-inch jack, which is great for portable devices, high-res players, stuff like that.

And then, again, on the other side, the eighth-inch socket jack that'll go into the headphone. Now, I want to show this to you, this is actually a neat little feature, kind of locks into place. So, when you put the cable in, you'll hear it click in, and it's nice and snug. But it's not so snug that, if it were to get caught on something, it's not going to damage the headphone. It'll pull away pretty easily. So, nice feature from Focal. You see the color of them, it's cognac and mocha, okay.

Nice leather pads right here, really nice and soft. And I got to tell you, the first thing I noticed about these when I put them on is their comfort. They're incredibly light and incredibly comfortable. Unlike its bigger brother, the Utopia, that's an open headphone, this is what's called a closed-back headphone. Typically with a closed-back headphone, you're going to notice that the bass is going to be stronger. It's going to be a little bit more dynamic.

And there is no right or wrong answer here, they're both great headphones, they just both have different styles of sound to them. As I was listening, I couldn't hear anything that was going on around me because of the closed-back design and these ear cups kind of providing some good sound isolation. I was so into the music that nothing else could bother me. This will be the second headphone in their lineup that's going to utilize Beryllium as the driver material.

That material is so light and so strong it produces great sound at all frequencies. I noticed that it didn't matter what volume that I was at. When I was at a lower volume, I got really nice full sound. At a higher volume, that stayed consistent. These headphones have an impedance of about 35 Ohms and their frequency response is from 5 Hertz to 40,000 Hertz.

Put that in perspective for you, we basically hear from 20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz and, like, a kick on a drum set is about 100 Hertz. So, be able to go down that low, again, at all volumes is really special. It's a really full sounding headphone. So, overall, I'm really, really impressed with these headphones. Like I said, I listened to them for about a week long, and every time I put them on, I didn't want to take them off.

They were so comfortable and the sound was so easy on my ear. It wasn't harsh, it wasn't too boomy. Everything just fit in the pocket really, really nicely, the bass, the midrange, and the treble. Really impressed with these. These are the Focal Stellia headphones. They'll be available online at worldwidestereo.com or, if you're in the area, please stop by our Montgomeryville or Ardmore, Pennsylvania showrooms. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Do you like open-back? Do you like closed-back? Are there any videos you'd like to see me do? Further product reviews? Let us know. Also, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and please subscribe to our YouTube channel. This is Adam, with World Wide Stereo, reminding you to listen to music every day.

So long."

Comments (1)

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1 Comment

Hi Adam
Happy New Year.
I would like to now buy a pair of Focal Stellia or Focal Utopia. I also plan to buy a DAC/Amp called iFi xDSD Gryphon.
I need some advise and let me share what is my primary objective

I want a portable pair of Headphones, something very Robust, LOUD, HIGH Quality sound, Taking it to the next level—better than Focal Bathy’s level (if I may).
I am looking for a pair of headphones that I can have on the go, when going for a walk, on a treadmill or on a plane.
What type of Headphones would be best—Open Back or Closed back? Which will be best suited for my use case and also give me the max Volume/output and great quality sound.
I realize that open back headphones do not have any noise cancellation, but i’m an old guy who never saw value in noise cancellation as I grew up using traditional headphones like Beats or Bose before they had noise cancellation. And a little bit of external environmental sound does not bother me. Once you put a pair of headphones on, you cannot hear anyone or anything and hence, noise cancellation to me is a “nice to have”, not a “must have”.
Having said that, what is the best Headphone model to go for? Stellia or Utopia or Something else. Please advise. Needless to say I would like to go for the best value for money.
Regards

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