Hello everybody,
I have been waiting for this for a while now. The first headphone from Focal, the Spirit One impressed me very much with their unique sound.
From that moment on I was really curious to see what Focal will come up with next in the headphone department.
Well, the time has come, as I have both new models from Focal on my desk, the Focal Spirit Classic and Spirit Professional.
The review was dedicated mostly to the Focal Spirit Classic, and you can find it here.
I will extract the piece that was describing the Spirit Professional:
Both headphones come with a gold plated 3.5 to 6.35 jack, a 1.4 m detachable cable for phone usage that also includes a microphone and another 4 m detachable cable (spiral for Pro).
In terms of isolation both do a great job, Spirit Professional coming a little on top here as it has a better grip letting less sound getting in or out.
I find it very interesting that Focal launched 2 headphones that are quite different in their sound signature. The Classic doesn’t have too much of Spirit One’s signature but the Professional does, and it sounds like a very good evolution from it, while Classic is a ramification in another direction.
The Pro version sounds more aggressive with faster transients and better attack.
The treble is more present on it, with more spark and better extension leading to a more opened sound as there is more air on top.
I feel that Classic has is fuller and deeper bass while Pro has a stronger punch.
The male voices have a better presence and texture on Spirit Classic while female voices are cleaner and crispier with the Spirit Professional.
Spirit Professional didn’t get the name for nothing, as it has better imaging and is better detailed.
On long listening sessions the Spirit Professional tends to get a little tiresome while with Classic I can listen for hours.
Both headphones are very good and I loved them both.
If I had to pick one, I think I would go with Spirit Classic as I love it’s refined and euphonic sound with deeper and fuller bass.
It has a smooth presentation reminding me of Sennheiser HD650 with added energy, extended treble and a full sound with a wonderful, deep and full bass that reminds me of LCD-2
On the other hand Spirit Professional has a more transparent and detailed sound with better imaging & treble extension.
Both headphones have excellent transients with exploding attack but more aggressive on Professional. Sometimes I feel like the instruments , especially drums and guitars are inside the headphone.
Pros:
Both of them have worked their way up in the top of my closed headphones department.
I have been waiting for this for a while now. The first headphone from Focal, the Spirit One impressed me very much with their unique sound.
From that moment on I was really curious to see what Focal will come up with next in the headphone department.
Well, the time has come, as I have both new models from Focal on my desk, the Focal Spirit Classic and Spirit Professional.
The review was dedicated mostly to the Focal Spirit Classic, and you can find it here.
I will extract the piece that was describing the Spirit Professional:
Both headphones come with a gold plated 3.5 to 6.35 jack, a 1.4 m detachable cable for phone usage that also includes a microphone and another 4 m detachable cable (spiral for Pro).
In terms of isolation both do a great job, Spirit Professional coming a little on top here as it has a better grip letting less sound getting in or out.
I find it very interesting that Focal launched 2 headphones that are quite different in their sound signature. The Classic doesn’t have too much of Spirit One’s signature but the Professional does, and it sounds like a very good evolution from it, while Classic is a ramification in another direction.
The Pro version sounds more aggressive with faster transients and better attack.
The treble is more present on it, with more spark and better extension leading to a more opened sound as there is more air on top.
I feel that Classic has is fuller and deeper bass while Pro has a stronger punch.
The male voices have a better presence and texture on Spirit Classic while female voices are cleaner and crispier with the Spirit Professional.
Spirit Professional didn’t get the name for nothing, as it has better imaging and is better detailed.
On long listening sessions the Spirit Professional tends to get a little tiresome while with Classic I can listen for hours.
Conclusions
I always felt that Focal did a very good job with their first headphone and I expected their new products to be very good. I was not mistaken.Both headphones are very good and I loved them both.
If I had to pick one, I think I would go with Spirit Classic as I love it’s refined and euphonic sound with deeper and fuller bass.
It has a smooth presentation reminding me of Sennheiser HD650 with added energy, extended treble and a full sound with a wonderful, deep and full bass that reminds me of LCD-2
On the other hand Spirit Professional has a more transparent and detailed sound with better imaging & treble extension.
Both headphones have excellent transients with exploding attack but more aggressive on Professional. Sometimes I feel like the instruments , especially drums and guitars are inside the headphone.
Pros:
- Excellent, fast deep punchy bass with more impact than Classic but less body
- Very detailed
- Good transparency
- Excellent transients with exploding attack and quick decays
- Good clean female voices
- Better imaging than Classic
- More present treble with more spark and better extension
- Bigger soundstage than both it’s brothers
- Good build quality
- Ergonomic cable
- Good price for what it offers
- Can get a little tiresome after a while
Both of them have worked their way up in the top of my closed headphones department.