[god-bluff]

What do you mean by "I wouldn't give them the time of day on point of principle"? Sorry but English is not my native language...Do you still like them or not? Are they built better than their headphones??

Yes I'm sorry What I meant was I was so upset by the quality of the Spirit Classic.

If you can imagine finding a headphone that seems to be perfect for you in everyway. One that you can see satisfying you for many many years to the point where you may never want to purchase another headphone and contemplate selling everything else. That was how much I loved the Classic.

Now imagine when that perfect thing just disintegrates before your eyes and that this happens not once but three times.Due to a cheap bit of brittle metal effect plastic on the headband You would not be happy!

I'm sure the Sphear may be okay
bearing in mind 20% of the reviews on Amazon.uk talk of failure.

I just won't be supporting the company myself. Hope this makes sense!!?!

 

[god-bluff]

I actually bought mine in a French supermarket!

 

[SparkOnShore]

Yes I'm sorry What I meant was I was so upset by the quality of the Spirit Classic.

If you can imagine finding a headphone that seems to be perfect for you in everyway. One that you can see satisfying you for many many years to the point where you may never want to purchase another headphone and contemplate selling everything else. That was how much I loved the Classic.

Now imagine when that perfect thing just disintegrates before your eyes and that this happens not once but three times.Due to a cheap bit of brittle metal effect plastic on the headband You would not be happy!

I'm sure the Sphear may be okay
bearing in mind 20% of the reviews on Amazon.uk talk of failure.

I just won't be supporting the company myself. Hope this makes sense!!?!

I can understand you very well! I also loved my Spirit pro which I have been using excessively for final mixing, mastering and last percussion sounds' placement details on my own music. They really helped me a lot on details checking, at some points where my monitor speakers were not enough... Very very accurate. Real treasure for any studio. I still use them, even broken they get the job done...Only negative apart from the childish built is that they are too big and heavy at least for my ears. I never carried them out of the studio, even though there were times that I was needing to work with them out of the studio...They are not at all travel friendly, to me at least...

On the other hand what you mention about Amazon has really been bugging me for long time now; Every single piece of equipment gets a lot of negative reviews. Very rarely I found items having really few negatives. It seems that people writing,
either buy from bad sellers who have abused the products or there is some kind of "movement" to diminish products, especially the ones produced from reputable brands. Is Shure SE215 selling a lot? 60% negatives on Amazon that they get broken, that they do not withstand water etc. I have been using one pair of those for the last 7 years (edit: it's 4 years, I actually bought them on 2013), practically throwing them everywhere and they work perfectly!! Let's not talk about Apple products because there we can find crazy percentages of negative reviews, making you wonder if all these are for real...Anyway, just an observation that makes me wonder...

 

[god-bluff]

Regarding reviews I agree it's human nature to tell people about bad things that happen so things do get skewed towards the negative opinion

 

[SparkOnShore]

Regarding reviews I agree it's human nature to tell people about bad things that happen so things do get skewed towards the negative opinion

Really? I never thought about it... Skewed towards negativity even if it's a lie? Never stop learning...

 

[doraymon]

Guys I have no experience with the Spirit Classic, but I can tell you that so far I am very happy with the Sphear.
I owned many, many earphones and these are indeed the best value for money SO FAR (fingers crossed, I hope they won't fall apart before my eyes...).
After changing the silicon tips the sound signature shifted right on spot (for me of course). 
One thing that I find special with the Sphear is the feeling of a 3D sound, very involving. And a very decent detail for a 100$ earphone...
 
Fit is good, they are very light, the cable is a bit thick-ish but the button/splitter workes perfectly and looks very premium.

 

[SparkOnShore]

Guys I have no experience with the Spirit Classic, but I can tell you that so far I am very happy with the Sphear.
I owned many, many earphones and these are indeed the best value for money SO FAR (fingers crossed, I hope they won't fall apart before my eyes...).
After changing the silicon tips the sound signature shifted right on spot (for me of course). 
One thing that I find special with the Sphear is the feeling of a 3D sound, very involving. And a very decent detail for a 100$ earphone...

Fit is good, they are very light, the cable is a bit thick-ish but the button/splitter workes perfectly and looks very premium.

I wish you all the best with Focal...Just one remark: take care of the diameter of the tips that you use, because if it's even a tiny bit smaller than the one of the tips provided by the manufacturer, it may have quite an impact on the soundstage and general sound of the earphone...

 

[dweaver]

I have been using the Sphear for several months off and on and thry have held remarkably well.

I too switched to different tips, I use and really enjoy Sony hybrid tips.

 

[doraymon]

I have been using the Sphear for several months off and on and thry have held remarkably well.

I too switched to different tips, I use and really enjoy Sony hybrid tips.

I just ordered a set of Westone Star tips, which I used in the past with other earphones with great satisfaction.
I hope they fit the Sphear nicely.
Has anyone tried?

 

[dweaver]

Interesting you should mention those. I have been playing around with a pair of Westone Beta's this week. I will try out the star tips tomorrow with the Sphear and see how they fair.

 

[doraymon]

  Interesting you should mention those. I have been playing around with a pair of Westone Beta's this week. I will try out the star tips tomorrow with the Sphear and see how they fair.

Yeah let me know!

 

[dweaver]

OK, I used the shortest black core star tip and it took some work but I did manage to get it to go over the nozzle of the IEM. Comfort wise it was very good almost on par with Sony Hybrid tips.
 
Sound wise it reduced the treble for cymbals by quite a bit. So depending if you find the treble splashy or not this will be a good or bad thing. Doing an A/B test between the star tip and the Sony hybrid I found the hybrids to be more engaging, as isolating, and slightly more comfortable.
 
But if you want or need to use one of the longer star tips to get a deeper seal by further insertion into the ear canal then the star tips will do the trick. Just be aware they will affect the signature of the Sphear's.

 

[doraymon]

  OK, I used the shortest black core star tip and it took some work but I did manage to get it to go over the nozzle of the IEM. Comfort wise it was very good almost on par with Sony Hybrid tips.
 
Sound wise it reduced the treble for cymbals by quite a bit. So depending if you find the treble splashy or not this will be a good or bad thing. Doing an A/B test between the star tip and the Sony hybrid I found the hybrids to be more engaging, as isolating, and slightly more comfortable.
 
But if you want or need to use one of the longer star tips to get a deeper seal by further insertion into the ear canal then the star tips will do the trick. Just be aware they will affect the signature of the Sphear's.

Thanks.
So the Star tips are a bit small for the Sphear's nozzle... I suspected that.
Anyhow I have already placed the order for exactly the same tips (black, short Star tips), I guess I will just give it a try.

 

[dweaver]

Yup . You might really like the sound and if not, if your like me you will end up using those tips at some point...

 

[kimvictor]

I ordered a pair last week. It should get to me tomorrow. I'll post a quick impression if anyone's interesting. I'm not so certain I'll be posting a full review though(I honestly won't know until I get them).