Focal Celestee

Notes and impressions:
My first Focal headphones were the Bathys, followed fairly swiftly by the Clear MG. Initially I enjoyed the Bathys a lot, but going to the more warm, lush sound signature of the Clear MG, I really started to crave that presentation in closed back form. The Bathys overall sounded quite a bit more thin.

I love good closed back headphones, as I live close enough to a busy highway that when I’m upstairs on that side of the house, I simply can’t listen to open backs the way I’d like, as the outside noise is just distracting enough to detract from my listening experience.

I had major reservations about this headphone, mostly because I rarely found any user feedback about them that failed to mention “NO SOUNDSTAGE”. Sometimes it wasn’t even mentioned so much as screamed, as if these were simply the narrowest and most claustrophobic headphones on the planet.
However, I can safely say the soundstage is perfectly fine, even good! It’s very accurate. I listen to a ton of film scores and orchestral music, as well as hardstyle EDM, classic rock, and modern metal. When I listen to any song thru the Celestee, I do feel I get a very accurate presentation of all the spatial information as far as left-right. If the song was recorded in a studio, it sounds small and intimate. If it’s a recording of a full orchestra in a huge hall for a film score, it sounds big. It doesn’t make big things sound small, nor does it make small things sound big- it simply presents them accordingly, IMO.

Now, where these shine, is in the dynamics, tonal richness, layering, and imaging within each track. I remember my first impression listening to one of my favorite test tracks- “Godzilla Main Title” by Bear McCreary, from the Godzilla: King of Monsters film score. It starts off with these HUGE brass blasts, playing that classic Godzilla theme, with massive percussion slams, and then directly into very feathery, delicately layered spiccato violins playing an ostinato before being joined by the rest of the strings. Dynamic presentation with the Celestee here is excellent. This is followed by a slow progression of orchestral intensity until the very end of the track. Since they’re closed, arrangements with a 60-100 piece orchestra can start to get cluttered and blurred together. During the final taiko slam, the bass rattled and went fairly deep, and was very satisfying.

Slam, punch, and dynamics are easily the star of the show with any song I threw at them, and really shine with the aforementioned track. Timbre and separation are the most easily noticeable shortcomings.

Space/imaging/layering:

The Celestee presented this song beautifully, much better than the Bathys as far as richness of the sound- these didn’t sound thin at all to me. It seemed a fairly neutral and balanced tonality, rich mids, airy treble (though not very extended), and fantastic bass slam. I also found the left-right layering to be fantastic. I could tell that first violins were furthest to the left, I could tell when second violins played, where each woodwind instrument was seated in the front, again not a HUGE soundstage but not small at all. While it wasn’t a pure “black background” presentation with its speed and precision, it was very musical and enjoyable.

The presentation is not a holographic sphere as much as a long oval going from left to right. It didn’t have the same front/back depth as some others, but the left/right width and layering was superb.


Tone- I would say I understand why some might not like the tone, compared to an open back like the Clear MG, both the Celestee and the Bathys sound more artificial, sometimes a bit plastic-y. I wish there was more detail in the treble. It lacked the crisp, incredibly lifelike tonality and polish as the Clear MG. It also suffered from some mudiness during busy passages- imaging is great when a solo instrument is playing, or when just the strings section is playing- but during very busy arrangements, things could start to get smeared and smushed together. This sort of stuff is expected from a closed-back, but at around $1,000 maybe I was hoping for a bit more. Nothing incredibly disappointing, as they’re still very enjoyable, just not perfect and could use some improvements as far as timbre and separation.

Comparisons:


vs Ether CX
I would definitely say I could tell they lacked a bit in detail and precision compared to my other closed back pair, the Ether CX from Dan Clark Audio/Drop. The Ether CX was wider, more detailed, with more pinpoint imaging and more front to back depth. Where the Ether CX really fall behind is tonality and timbre, where the Celestee really POPS and presents a more vivid and engaging sound signature, especially when it comes to treble energy and bass. I do think the Celestee is the more complete package out of these two.

Vs Clear MG
I do think they compliment each other nicely, and it’s probably the closest you’ll get to having a clear MG in closed back form- but listening back to back, the tonality, detail, and musicality of the clear MG is superior. Clear MG has a layer of smoothness/polish over everything and is much more lifelike when reproducing acoustic instruments, and they’re also warmer. Much more engaging and immersive (they also cost more and it’s closed vs open so it’s not the most fair comparison).

Vs Bathys-
I think celestee wins by a large margin besides portability and isolation. Celestee isolation is good, but obviously Bathys have ANC, and are smaller and much more convenient. In every other aspect, I think Celestee is better. More rich, bigger sound, better layering.

Vs ATH AWKT
My latest closed back pair also costs much more, around $1900. So, yes this is an unfair comparison, but the AWKT slaughters the celestee in every area except bass and slam. They sound huge, much more depth, significantly more detail with laser-accurate imaging and unparalleled separation for a closed back.

If you’re used to a TOTL closed back like the mentioned ATH AWKT, or an open back above $1,000 that is known for good soundstage, yes the celestee will then sound tiny. If you’re used to an HD650 or 660s, well you’ll love the Celestee. It’s a very good headphone. There are many, many things to love about it. It only gets brought down because it replace the Elegia which commonly sold for under $400, and it occupies a weird place- most people willing to pay $1000+ for headphones already have heard something with a much bigger soundstage, so the celestee gets instantly thrown into the category of “tiny soundstage”. Those willing to spend $2500+ almost certainly go for the Stellia or another TOTL pair.

If you’re in it for the musical engagement and want a great Jack-of-all-trades, or upgrading from a sub $500 pair, you’ll love these. If you’re looking to compare and contrast with open back, these certainly aren’t in the category of “closed backs that sound open”.

Gear tested on: iPhone 13 Pro
Apple Music lossless when streaming,
or Hi-res FLAC files from iPod touch.
Dragonfly red when mobile
Topping l30/a30 II stack on desktop.

These do noticeably scale and sounded bigger and better on the topping stack than a dongle or device headphone jack, though they can easily be driven by a laptop or even Nintendo Switch 3.5mm jack. SUPER easy to drive.


Added impressions after initial review:

EDM- the song Alien Intelligence by Second Identity sounded incredible on these. The really gritty, textured basses and sound design really dig in, right inside your head. Treble doesn’t get too hot, a nice polished sound but it can sound a bit plastic-y, for lack of better word. The Clear MG, Ether Flow 1.1, and hd660s/650/600 sounded significantly smoother and more natural. On the Celestee, the texture of electronic and distorted guitar sounds is better than the timbre of acoustic/orchestral instruments overall- these are perfect for electronic and metal.
The bass punches very hard and sufficiently deep. Doesn’t dig into your gut like a planar, but it certainly grooves and keeps you awake!!

Jurassic Park Theme by John Williams- again, beautiful dynamics and engagement, fantastic imaging, but separation and high mid/treble timbre could be improved for busy orchestral arrangements and acoustic instruments.
On the ATH AWKT, Clear Mg, and Ether Flow 1.1, the instruments are more clearly defined and much more seperated. The harp and solo horn are also further away when playing solo passages. Width is fine with celestee, but once the other instruments join the horn and harp, they more easily get smeared together where the others stay very clearly defined and seperated.

The All Spark (Transformers Score) by Steve Jablonsky- the floaty electronic sounds, bass, and solo cello is all beautiful here. Imaging is fantastic, cello is in front with great detail. Bass is deep. More minimal arrangements, and more electronic-focused songs are where Celestee shines.

Admittedly, I am very late to be posting my impressions. I guess that’s mostly to do with how I just didn’t fall in love with these headphones.

My immediate impression of the sound was that they seemed thin at first, but still a full feeling (possibly due to less energy in 150-200 hz range based on measurements I looked at after listening). It’s not like I could specifically pick out any notes that were missing and they seemed to have more sub-bass than my open backs (my go-to reference are HD580s), but there just wasn’t a ton of body, the bass was mostly all slam. There was detail without presence. I would describe the sound as clear, possibly clinical.

They felt a little bit bright? My "torture" track for treble is Out Of The Races And Onto The Tracks by The Rapture and is definitely make the highs somewhat piercing.

That said, the vocals were lovely, easy to get lost in a track and enjoy. The vocals felt very present, holographic even, on something like Friend by Cheyenne Marie Mize. Great detail in there.

On the topic of detail, stereo separation and instrument placement on something like Jethro Tull's Mother Goose was excellent. It's tight and well defined.

That said, I was still somehow expecting more punch from the lows than I was getting, but that could be an expectation bias for any closed-back set.

They’re remarkably airy and have a wide soundstage for close-backs. Not a tremendous amount of isolation, granted, but more than my open backs afford, obviously. The pads made good seal on my face, and they didn't lose that seal when I moved my head or jaw, unlike other closed-backs I've worn. As such, the sound profile remains the same and I wouldn’t have to sit perfectly still to avoid dramatic changes in perceived frequency response as the closed chamber around my ears changed.

That build quality is tremendous. The materials feel truly luxurious, solid. Very nice details to the design and assembly. They were also extremely comfortable, mostly due to the richness of that material.

As has been mentioned in most other reviews, the cable is indeed too short. Maybe the design idea is for mobile usage, but I personally couldn't imagine walking down the street with headphones of this cost.

In the end, I wasn't exactly sad to pop my HD580s back on, despite their age (though possessing nearly brand new earpads and headband) and their plastic construction. Soundstage isn't quite as wide, but there's some warmth back in the mix that I felt was missing with the Focals. Vocals perhaps a little less angelic/holographic, but the full mix feels more present, and it's not like vocals don't sound lovely. There's more detail in the Focals, to be sure, but if it was my $1k I don't think I'd spend it here. There's something in the Focals that just doesn't have the full mix rise during an epic rise like Purple Rain or Brandi Carlile's The Joke. It's good, it's airy, detailed, and built to a tremendous quality, but does it _swing?_ It didn't for me. The overall sound could be described as lean, missing a visceral body. It would be great for mastering, if not for relaxed listening.

I found them easy to drive, which is nice for a portable source. Given the short cable, I figured I'd give that a try. On an older iPod full of ALAC files or an iPhone using the Apple Lightning-DAC playing qobuz, it was indeed easy to power, with plenty of loudness around the middle of the volume range (HD580s needed one or two notches down from max to achieve the same approximate spl). Similar audio results to desktop amplification. Passive isolation was nice enough in an office environment, but given the choice, I'd stick to some IEMs. If you're entirely opposed to in-ears, though, this was good. Can't say they’re kilobuck good for me, though.

They’re beautiful to look at, and have a wonderful build. The included case is also very nice.

If one's priorities lean more towards the luxury material side than the pure audio performance side, I could easily recommend these.

I definitely enjoyed my time with this set as a learning experience and want to thank Todd of TTVJ for the loaner program and the opportunity to test out a headphone I otherwise likely would have only have otherwise known of by reading others experiences.

I am a big Focal fan, having owned the Clear, Clear MG, and Elegia. I prefer them over dozens of others I've tried and owned over the years. For me, Focal gets closest to the detail, dynamic range and energy I enjoy in a headphone. They do most things right--and most of all, they're a lot of fun.

The Clear MG are my go-to phones that I use 95% of the time. But, I recently decided to try the Celestee through Todd The Vinyl Junkie's tour, and glad I did. Until the Celestee, I didn't like the limitations of a closed-back, preferring the breadth and air an open-back provides. However, the Celestee changed my opinion quite a bit.

Simply put, the Celestee sounds very close to the Clear MG, but offers a touch more intimacy, and sense of being there. Sure, the soundstage is smaller, and there is slightly less bass slam, slightly less microdynamics, the timbre isn't quite as right, but otherwise, it's pretty darn close to everthing I love about the Clear MG. I also enjoy it more with my HiBy R6, because it's both very efficient and keeps the noise out when I'm roaming around.

Is it better than the Elegia? Yes, but not hugely. It just does everything a bit better, except for the slightly smaller soundstage. Although I own the Elegia and the Clear MG (among several other phones by other companies), I felt the Celestee would be an enhancement to my collection and bought a pair. I'll probably sell my Elegia simply because the two are so similar. Nonetheless, if you can get an Elegia at the current under $500 pricing, jump on it. Get the Dekoni Limited Edition pads, and don't look back.

In conclusion, the Celestee is a great headphone. Not as great as the Clear MG, but for a closed-back, it's excellent. I want to put in a special thanks and pat on the back to Todd The Vinyl Junkie for allowing me to audition the Celestee. That was truly old school generous, so I encourage everyone to give him your business when buying audio.

Todd the Vinyl Junkie recently offered up the Focal Celestee ($990) on review tour. Described on the Focal website as “high end closed back headphones,” these cans use an aluminum magnesium moving coil dynamic transducer. On condition of the tour, we are obligated to offer our opinion in a review. We were in no way pressured to say anything one way or another. These thoughts in this review are mine and mine alone.



Before we get into the music, I think it is fair to say a few things about where I am coming from. My experience with high end closed back headphones is minimal. All of my headphones have been open back planers. I’ve been spoiled. I currently own the SendyAudio Aiva (pretty amazing for the price), and the vaunted Audeze LCD-2C (which I adore). Another issue I feel the need to disclose is that I auditioned the Focal Clear, about a year ago, with the intention of buying them. I left the store with the Hifiman Arya instead. I heard the Focal Clear 1 times before that, and both times I didn’t like them. They sounded ham-fisted to me; a ‘construction’ if you will with no coherency or finesse. This is one of the reasons why I was interested in hearing the Celestee. I know Focal is beloved by many audiophile, so I was eager to hear what all the fuss was about.



Much has been made about the aesthetics of the Celestee. I dissent. Tho the metal pattern of holes over leather is really cool, I cannot get excited about the color scheme. Apparently, the colors are supposed to invoke a sense of “the cosmos”: I suppose the bluish color is supposed to invoke the ‘golden hour’ of sunset, where the blue sky is fading to inky black and the veil of stars… Unfortunately the ‘bluish’ color reminded me of art class. Remember in art class how they made you paint with water colors? And the water you were given in a cup soon turned to that ‘mud’ color? That is what the blue on the Celestee reminds me of, and also the case. The case color looks like someone took bunch of colors and mixed them together, and said, “There!” Yuck.



Before I get into my sound impressions, I want to share a summary of professional reviewers on the Celestee, just to orientate ourselves. Headphones.com lauded the Celestee’s detail retrieval, as well as its “forward, detailed” presentation, it’s “great imaging clarity and texture,” and it’s “analytic” bass.” The timbre is described (by more than 1 reviewer) as being a bit “off.” The reviewer was also impressed with the Celestee’s “bright, airy tonality.” Moonaudio described the Celestee as “natural and smooth” and; “lively and engaging in a mellow kind of way.” Recognizes “front to back soundstage”. Headphonia.com went on to say that the Celestee has a “lively, dynamic tuning matched with great detail retrieval and is pleasingly well extended at either end of the frequency response.”



These observations pretty much matched with my own initial gushings during the ‘honeymoon period.’ Armed with this knowledge, I forged on with my own critical listening. I tried to draw on a mix of genres to see what the Celestee could do. I used my Shanling M8 DAP out of the 3.5mm standard out with an adapter. I did not have access to a balanced cable.

Sir Duke Stevie Wonder

First impression I get is that of ‘Clarity’; the second impression is ‘Anemic bass’. Good detail. Soundstage sounds more narrow than it should. Excellent depth and layering tho. Bass has good control and detail, It just doesn’t have enough quantity. It’s more than that tho, even if there was more ‘quantity’, the bass still has a lean presentation. Cymbals have great splash and sizzle.



Wishing Well Trent D’Arby

Opening drum hits lack slam. Sound thin and chintzy. Lacks authority. Treble sounds rolled off to me. Mid-forward presentation lacks energy and excitement. Vocals and backing vocals in the mids sound too ‘busy’…too congested.



Dread Internal Bill Laswell

Bass dub…Bass certainly sounds ‘richer’ and the sub-bass hits more pronounced. This actually demonstrates great bass extension relative to the other recordings. Again, the mids sound congested to me. General lack of excitement. The good detail here sounds a bit fussy and contrived.



On the Right Road Jah Wobble

Demonstrates excellent imaging. The excellent imaging and detail, combined with the anemic and over-controlled bass, and the mid forward presentation, makes for a wonky listen which lacks organic coherency.



Tightrope Jah Wobble

Unimpressive drum hits. Lacks texture, sounds ‘glossed-over’…Notes sound flat. The sound sounds ‘contained’ as if it was playing inside a glass jar. Could be what I’m hearing is the claustrophobic soundstage. The layering and depth cannot make up for the lack of width and extension.


Romance in A Rachmaninov

The detail and clarity really brings out the strings of the violin. The piano notes lack overtones and depth. Ultimately the violin sound brittle and lacking richness and microdetails.



Oh, dear. Honestly, I expected more from a pair of cans that cost a grand. The main problem for me, is that there is just not much ‘there’, there, as they say. For me, the ‘analytic’ bass sounds over controlled. The 2C has succulent bass, the Celestee has chintzy bass. Could it be that the Celestee is just too bright? The narrow soundstage and the thin, brittle tonality is the ultimate demise of the Celestee.



In conclusion, I just want to say that I do not think the Celestee is a ‘bad’ headphone. I am giving them 3 out of 5 stars. They are 'good', they are just not ‘great’. And I think they are over-priced. Also, too, is the issue of my experience with open back planar. To put this in context, I recently participated in a review tour of the $3,800 Rognir, and I hated them. To the point that the tour sponsor and I thought they may have been damaged in transit. The next person in the tour loved them. Go figure. To me, the Rognir sounded worse than the Celestee, at almost 4X’s the price! Perhaps my love of open back planar has ruined my ability to be impartial. I like to treat myself maybe once a month to a nice bottle of wine. I always go for a decent Malbec. Last month, while passing the ‘French’ wine section, my eye caught a highly rated bougelet. I bought that instead, and when I drank it I was disappointed. It was thin and watery…lacked depth and richness. I could say the same thing about the Celestee…yes the Celestee had a few things going for it, but it didn’t put those things together to make them greater than the sum of it’s parts. In this sense, like the wine, the Celestee fails to impress. It sounded ‘good’, it did not sound ‘great’. Honestly, for a cool grand, I think, as audiophiles, we should expect greatness. In this sense, the Celestee failed to deliver.

First of all thank you to Todd and TTVJ for sponsoring this loaner tour.

I've primarily been an open-back headphone guy, but I've been growing curious about what the newer products in the closed-back market have to offer. Spending time with the Celestee impressed me in many ways while at the same time confirming some of my reservations about closed-back headphones.

Associated Gear

Bluesound Node 2i
RME ADI-2 DAC
Schiit Raganarok 2
iPad Pro M1
Apple Music Lossless Streaming
FLAC CD Rips on USB

Build/Styling/Packaging/Accessories

I'll start with one of the best things about the Celestee - it's possibly the best looking headphone I've seen, with striking styling in various shades of blue with copper accents. Opening the stylish travel case (that's reminiscent of a high end purse) you're immediately greeted by the smell of high quality leather used in the pads and the headband. Picking the headphones up they're surprisingly light but feel sturdy and well made. I didn't hear any creaking or rattling during my time with them.




The included cable, while very short, is in a matching shade of blue with the copper accents and is very flexible with no cable memory effects that I noticed. The pads are quite soft and have enough room for my ears that they were never irritated rubbing against the insides of the pads. The pads are a hybrid design with leather covering the outside and areas that touch your face, and a cloth ring on the inside. The driver is covered with a copper-colored metal grill that matches the accents on the outside of the headphone and features a foam ring surrounding it, likely to help reduce reflections inside the cup. You can also see Focal's Aluminum-Magnesium 'M Shaped Dome' driver through the metal shield, which is constructed more like the driver in a speaker, with a rigid cone and a rubber surround, as opposed to typical headphone drivers that have tiny mylar domes surrounded by large plastic surrounds. This speaker-like driver seems to be a major contributor to Focal's ability to make headphones with excellent dynamic punch.




On the outside of the cups there's a perforated metal shell around what appears to be leather, and a center-cap featuring the Focal logo which is used as an air-pressure relief vent to prevent pressure buildup when putting the headphones on.




Although it's somewhat difficult to see in photos, the Celestee makes use of several shades of blue, from the deep navy on the rings around the cups, an almost-navy on the cups themselves, to a lighter cobalt or royal blue used in the yokes, accents, and pads.




All in all Focal absolutely nailed the styling on the Celestee as a luxury product. This is a headphone that wouldn't look out of place sitting on a table top in a Beverly Hills mansion.

Sound

Overall I'd describe that sound of these as very clear, focused, and fulfilling. Perhaps my biggest praise for them is that I did not feel the need to apply any EQ to them while listening during my time with them, something that doesn't happen very often with headphones.

Bass

Bass extension is deep with solid performance even in the sub-bass. While it's not Audeze LCD level in its ability to dig into the subterranean frequencies, it holds its own and never felt unfulfilling even on tracks that require solid bass performance. There's a very slight midbass bump, but it ends up being just enough to give them a bit of kick without making them sound warm or muddy.

Whether electronic bass such as in Yello's The Expert, Bass Guitar such as in Steely Dan's Negative Girl, or Orchestral Bass such as in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture, the bass was always quick, punchy when called for, and well defined with excellent timbre and clean delineation between the notes.

Midrange

The Celestee has a small dip in the lower midrange which works to to cleanly separate the bass from the midrange and helps aid in focus for vocals. Upper-Midrange is one of the most important aspects of headphone performance for me as I listen to a lot of female-vocal focused music, and the Celestee performs very well in that regard, holding close to the Harman Curve up through 3Khz, with some drop-off after that (a little more energy up through 5khz would be welcome, but it gets the majority right).

Vocals are forward, with dead-center presentation, and the timbre has enough bite and brilliance to give the upper vocal harmonics some emphasis. Male vocals are also well presented, and without any chestiness or excessive resonance. Detail retrieval in the midrange struck me as well above average, with details in vocal inflection, breath, vibrato and resonance, etc, all being quite audible.

Selected midrange/vocal test tracks included: Alison Krauss & Union Station - Gravity, Solji - Please, IU - Strawberry Moon, Willie Nelson - Stardust

Treble

Treble performance on headphones has never been a big priority of mine - as long as it isn't piercing or completely dead up there I'm OK with it. The Celestee performs completely acceptably in the treble range, nothing stands out to me as good or bad, which is a good thing in my book, the treble exists, there's some air up there, but it doesn't ever make itself center-stage or try to steal the show.

Treble test tracks: Vivaldi - The Four Seasons: Summer III - Presto, Aaron Copland - Fanfare for the Common Man

Soundstage and Imaging

Typically areas that are hard for closed-back headphones to perform well in, and the Celestee hits and misses here. Imaging is acceptable, very good even for a closed back, but not close to top of the pack when open backed headphones are considered. I believe the challenge comes from the rather narrow soundstage - it's hard to define a clear image when the soundstage itself is rather small.

I'm not one that cares about a super-wide soundstage, so that's fine for me personally for most music. Pop, rock, acoustic, ballads, etc, all work well within the small soundstage, they sound focused and detailed. Listening to large orchestral works and classical is where it falls apart in terms of soundstage and imaging. While those genres are tough for headphones in general, the Celestee underperforms open backs and many other closed backs when it comes to painting a realistic picture of scale and position when listening to symphonies.

Source Pairings

My main setup is a BlueSound Node 2i fed with Apple Music Lossless and FLAC files on USB stick through an RME ADI-2 DAC and a Schiit Ragnarok 2 amplifier. This setup worked very well (aside from the need for an extension cable) and easily powered the Celestees.




Since this is a closed-back, which seems to indicate that it would be intended for mobile/public use, I also decided to test it out using my iPad Pro M1 with the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm headphone dongle. Surprisingly, I could not hear any difference with the Celestees using this setup compared to my primary one. The Celestee appears to be an extremely efficient headphone, and even using the rather low-powered output of the Apple Dongle there was more than enough volume range on the Celestee, and bass extension and impact did not suffer. This is a headphone that can easily be driven by portable sources.

Quibbles

While I found the Celestee to be a delight overall, there are some areas I could see room for improvement on. The cable is extremely short, which is fine for a product that will be used 'on the go' but is not great for home use, or even office use if you have a large desk and need to roll around a lot. Some Focal headphones come with multiple cables, and at a nearly $1,000 MSRP, Focal could have and should have included a 3m cable along with the shorter one for portable use. There were also instances where I could hear a resonance in the upper-bass range, likely some reflection inside of the cups. Some of that is unavoidable with a closed back headphone of course, and I'm not sure what Focal could do to fix that. The adjustment range of the headphones are also on the smaller side. I was able to get a good fit, but I was on the second-to-last click on the adjustment rods to do so, those with heads larger than mine may face some difficulties.

Comparisons

Beyerdynamic DT177X

Perhaps not a fair comparison given that the Beyerdynamic is a much cheaper headphone, but it's one that I had on hand and could do AB testing so I gave it a go. While the Beyerdynamic is built well in a utilitarian kind of way, it doesn't come close to the Focal in terms of style or luxury quality of materials used. The DT177X feels like it could survive being thrown into a backpack without a case, something I wouldn't do with the Focal, but it's not nearly as pretty and doesn't feel as special in the hands.

In terms of sound quality the Beyerdynamic lacks the upper-midrange extension and detail found in the Celestee, it sounds a bit more dead in that region in comparison, and also has more subdued treble. While the DT177X has copious amounts of bass, the bass on the Focal is more detailed, more defined, with considerably better texture and timbre, the DT177X coming off as a bit more 'one note' in comparison.

Audeze EL8 Titanium

An out-of-production model, but another I had on hand. Build quality on the Audeze is excellent as it is on the Celestee, though style-wise the Focal still wins. The Audeze outperforms the Celestee on bass impact and a tad on sub-bass rumble, and the two are matched well when it comes to midrange performance, with the Audeze perhaps having a bit more going on in the top of the upper-midrange/lower-treble region, and sounding just a bit thinner.

The Celestee does win from a comfort perspective, with the EL8's pads not breathing nearly as well as the Celestee's, and with the Audeze being prone to an annoying crinkle sound from the drivers when you move your head.

Dan Clark Audio Ether CX

This is one I tested quite a while ago, so I am going by memory. The Ether CX was a headphone that absolutely required EQ for me - the bass was way too anemic without it, but it did have a beautiful midrange presentation, and excellent build quality, though going for a more tech-focused look with carbon fiber and exposed headband wire than Focal's Paris Fashion Week approach.

Both are extremely comfortable headphones, and though DCA uses faux-leather in their pads, it's faux-leather of an incredibly high quality that feels better than the real leather used in some brands.

While matched (from memory) in midrange performance, the Celestee pulls ahead again in terms of bass quality, with the Ether CX falling victim to a bit of 'one note syndrome' when the bass is boosted to an acceptable level.

Focal Elex

While this a bit of an apples/oranges comparison considering the Elex is an open back, it's the only Focal headphone that I own (it's actually an Elear with Elex pads, but measurements have shown that's really all an Elex is - an Elear with cosmetic differences and Elex pads), and it's positioned in the same point of Focal's lineup as their entry-level open back.

It could be because my Elear/Elex is a bit older, but it creaks quite a bit, something the Celestee never did. Style-wise I think the Celestee is a clear winner as well, much nicer to look at than the Black/Chrome on the Elear/Elex.

When it comes to sound though, the Celestee falls short compared to its open-back brother. The Elex has considerably more dynamic impact (I'm guessing there's some mechanical air damping happening inside the Celestee), a much more open soundstage, more precise imaging, and doesn't seem to lose anything when it comes to bass performance.

This brings me to....

Conclusions

Who is the Celestee for? It's a beautiful high quality luxury product with excellent sound for a closed back, falling short in a few small areas, but outperforming the competition in many more. While sound isolation is good, I don't know how well it would fare on a plane compared to an ANC headphone (though the sound quality is quite a bit better than any ANC headphone I've heard). For home use an open back would provide better performance, provided you have a quiet space away from people.
Therefore I'm thinking the target is office use, perhaps use in bed next to a partner doing something else, or perhaps a commute on public transportation. Since they can run very well off of even low-powered sources they're quite versatile with what they can be driven from, making them excellent potential road-warrior headphones. Since the case is quite compact it may even make sense for someone to take two sets of headphones on a trip - some Bose or Sony ANCs for the plane ride, and the Celestee for when you get to your destination, the isolation is quite suitable at blocking out AC noise, so should be great for hotel rooms.

I enjoyed my time with the Celestee, and in a final reckoning I'd say they're absolutely worth the price, especially if design and luxury materials are priorities of yours, and you need a closed back headphone.