Focal Classic
Focal is selling this headphone at $350 and I believe that it might be one of the most underrated headphones that I’ve ever reviewed.
This headphone is everything I wanted the Ultrasone Edition 8 to be, yet this minuscule price range by comparison the classic outperforms the Edition 8 ( roughly $1600 ) in every way.
Clarity across the board is superior on the Focal at a cost of roughly 5 times less. Ultrasone is being schooled by Focal.
Design
This model shares the same build quality and design as the other two in the Focal Spirit series, however, its headband is a bit different than the classic model in that it is thinner and lacks a fully wrapped leatherette material.
There is a thin foam pad on the underside of the headband which offers plenty of support, the general comfort qualities are identical on all three models, however I do wish again that the Classic model employed either the same type of headband as the Professional version here, or something entirely different and more basic.
The fully wrapped Classic headphones headband is thicker, as well as more rigid. I prefer the thinner appeal this Professional version has.
One thing I’ve noticed about these headphones is that they tend to get relatively hot in a short period. I can easily see someone sitting in a studio booth for extended recording sessions, wiping sweat off the ear pads now and then if the room is not well-cooled with a proper air conditioner.
The headphones are sealed well and do isolate more than the average set of closed headphones, as memory foam tends to, the experience will undoubtedly get warm quickly.
Sound Impressions
Summary
This headphone is all about warmth, gentle coloration, and high musicality. There is a noticeable exaggeration occurring on the low end as well as the upper end, but I find it to be tonally beautiful and one of the most well-tuned and enjoyable musical experiences that I’ve had in a long while.
I very much enjoyed my LCD-XC because it is a Summit-level headphone that sounded like it was tailored for high musicality instead of the reference, analytic type of presentation.
In the case of the Focal Classic, the experience is very much the same: high Fidelity meets high musicality, and high fun factor meets reference clarity.
This headphone is unlike most other headphones that I’ve heard in its price tier. The only other headphone sub $500 that I am aware of that sounds similar is AKG’s K267…which happens to be one of my favorite headphones and also one that no other headphones have been able to dethrone in this price tier.
Treble
The upper end of this headphone is well accentuated, anti-sibilant, and offers a gorgeous luster very similar to HIFIMAN headphones: something bright, but not overly so, something plentiful but never harsh.
It has a very nice sheen and appeal to it that is very similar to the way the K267 from AKG portrayed its treble. It is highly musical, especially rare to find in this price range for portable closed-back headphones.
Beyond this, the general clarity factor of the upper end is without question the best I’ve ever heard sub $500 in a closed-back headphone.
I find this very appealing, something that is sorely neglected by most headphones released recently that seem to be leaning towards a more analytic tonality, something flat and boring but also highly accurate.
Such is not the case with this headphone, despite offering a noticeably accentuated upper-end experience, the general clarity is prime. Top-tier clarity is offered through this Classic model.
Bass
Except for the Fostex/Denon series of headphones, as well as the Sony 950BT, this Focal classic reaches deeper in the bass than any other portable headphone I’ve ever experienced and I think I’ve reviewed most of them if not every single popular model that is available outside of the Sony 950BT.
When running this headphone via testing through Foobar2000’s realbassexciter I can achieve a level of bass authority that is near unrivaled.
I have my Sennheiser HD 800 here, it doesn’t reach anywhere near as low as this Focal Classic headphone. The texture is very Hifiman, solid center with soft edges. You can certainly feel the center point of the experience and the outermost areas lose solidity by comparison.
Despite that, the Classic can reach incredibly deep and retain that solidity exceptionally well. At +3 dB, you can achieve a noticeable increase in bass quantity without losing any quality…emphasis on “any”.
It isn’t until we reach +6 dB, which is a ridiculously unrealistic level of bass boosting, that this headphone begins to falter. Once you near that +6 dB threshold, you’ll notice the headphone begins to feel shaky with bass quantity, dipping noticeably more and more in quality and muddiness beyond +5 dB.
This headphone is extremely responsive to both treble and bass equalization. I found it very impressive and is something I’ve hunted for a very long time that no other portable in this price tier could offer thus far.
It is quite shocking how headphones can be so musical and enjoyable, yet also responsive to the way the track was recorded concerning quantity levels of any specific area of the audio spectrum.
Midrange
As for the midrange, much like the AKG K267, there is a gentle forwardness that I find highly attractive. I consider these headphones very engaging, and very fun.
If you’re into the vocal thing, you might be a little disappointed due to the linear field this headphone offers concerning stage presentation shape.
Despite the treble and bass potential, which again is excellent, the midrange generally feels like it plays hand-in-hand with both. No one major quality (bass, mids, and treble ) vies for attention unless the track calls for it.
There isn’t much midrange bloom and for that reason, I wouldn’t consider this a vocalist’s dream product, as it will be accurate to the way the track was recorded and will not push forward vocals on tracks that you might feel to be recessed in setup.
Staging
As for the soundstage, I would consider it relatively above average, but also wonderfully complete and lacking nowhere on an objective level. Subjectively, I feel as though there is a lack of sense of width and height, generally only because I’m a soundstage nutbar and prefer extremely vast sound.
Of course, you can never compare the Focal headphones to something like the D series or Fostex TH-series headphones, but I feel they do fairly well in stage depth and offer a solid sense of separation between instruments.
I don’t feel a lack of quality in the stereo imaging prowess of the Focal headphones. On a side note, the Classic version has a noticeably brighter background that is almost identical to the way the Audeze LCD XC is set up, something that is noticeably less darkened in the backdrop than the Focal Professional.
Click on page 3 below for my impressions of the Spirit One S.
