[Trunks159]

At $200, they compete but not at $300.

 

[Clemmaster]

Quote:

At $200, they compete but not at $300.

 
That's because they're made in Europe for the Europe market 

 (they probably could sell it for $200, excluding VAT, if they wanted to).
Gears are much cheaper in the US because you don't pay for the 20-25% taxes. It's hard for us, Europeans, to be competitive in the FS forums here because most of the North American never paid 1/4 of the cost of the unit to the post man at delivery... 

 
They get a much better visibility on French forums, that's for sure.

 

[Jepu]

Quote:

 
That's because they're made in Europe for the Europe market 

 (they probably could sell it for $200, excluding VAT, if they wanted to).
Gears are much cheaper in the US because you don't pay for the 20-25% taxes. It's hard for us, Europeans, to be competitive in the FS forums here because most of the North American never paid 1/4 of the cost of the unit to the post man at delivery... 

 
We might get a bit off from Senn's and Focals and such, but good luck trying to find Grados or Shures and such with prices comparable to the US market! Around here you need to pay as much for a Grado RS1i as for Sennheiser HD800.
 
So yeah, especially from an European point of view the Focals are quite a bargain.

 

[Poleepkwa]

I got mine for half the price of the Sennheiser Momentums which I also liked.

 

[alpha10]

How do the Focal sound compared to the M500 ?

You don't even need an amp. Just buy an eq app, like equ, and boost the low frequencies. I felt that the fs1 was bass light also. Im coming from the kef m500 and ma900.

 

[Zoom25]

The Focals have more than enough bass!!!??? 

 
These things are bass light and also don't have bass extension. I even preferred the Senn 598 over these when I auditioned them both a year ago. Recently, I was able to grab one from my friend. Around the same price point (actually less), I have KRK KNS 8400. Similar soundstage, much better bass extension, about the same bass impact. The Senn's didn't go into the sub bass either but at least they were more musical and had a good punch to them.
 
The Denon's bass is loose and easy to drive, but with a tight clean amp like the O2, these are quite tight in the bass region, mids come up quite a bit and very transparent. Similar results with Shure SE 215. The Denon's IMO totally rape the Focals. I define good bass as something on my HE-500, LCD-2 and LCD-3, but of course they cost more so it's not fair. Although still at the price, the Focals were a terrible value for me, the Denon's are much better in this regard.
 
For Iphone and Ipod users, pick up a Fiio amp and you should notice better bass with that and if you want more than use the analog bass boost on the amp. Don't use the EQ on the phones, they are usually terrible. Keep it flat on Iphone/Ipod/Sansa Fuze etc, and change with portable amp.

 

[Jepu]

Quote:

The Focals have more than enough bass!!!??? 

 
These things are bass light and also don't have bass extension. I even preferred the Senn 598 over these when I auditioned them both a year ago. Recently, I was able to grab one from my friend. Around the same price point (actually less), I have KRK KNS 8400. Similar soundstage, much better bass extension, about the same bass impact. The Senn's didn't go into the sub bass either but at least they were more musical and had a good punch to them.

 
That's a really weird statement. Most of the reviews speak of emphasized bass on the Spirit One. It's not heavily emphasized, but it goes very deep and stays very sharp and fast despite the power. There are certainly headphones with punchier, more emphasized bass but if you say that the Spirit Ones lack bass extension you must've bumped to one of the first generation ones with faulty drivers or then it's the headphone amp's fault. Saying that they lack bass extension is pretty outrageous.

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

 
That's a really weird statement. Most of the reviews speak of emphasized bass on the Spirit One. It's not heavily emphasized, but it goes very deep and stays very sharp and fast despite the power. There are certainly headphones with punchier, more emphasized bass but if you say that the Spirit Ones lack bass extension you must've bumped to one of the first generation ones with faulty drivers or then it's the headphone amp's fault. Saying that they lack bass extension is pretty outrageous.

 
I tried one back a year and a half ago. Another time at a store about 8 months ago. Recently a month ago at home in ideal conditions - my friend bought these very recently. With each pair, I never really liked them. I have used Fiio E10, Fiio E11, iPod/Sansa Fuze, O2 as well as a Teac USB/DAC combo. 
 
Maybe I am just used to a much higher quality with the planars (HE-500, LCD-2 and LCD-3), one could argue that. However at it's price point and beneath it, I found better stuff like D2000, SE215, DT770, KNS 6400/8400, M-50.
 
To me these are quite boring, something like my Shure SRH240s.
 
IMO, these roll off quite early, aren't planar tight or a bit loose to enjoy (I can't find the intention/purpose for these). These aren't fast either. I'd put them as a Shure model. KNS 8400 at $150 is much faster. So to me these don't go "very deep" aren't "very sharp" or "fast"
 
Deep bass extension is LCD-2, LCD-3, HE-500, D2000, even KNS 8400 with low impact

 

[Jepu]

Quote:

IMO, these roll off quite early, aren't planar tight or a bit loose to enjoy (I can't find the intention/purpose for these). These aren't fast either. I'd put them as a Shure model. KNS 8400 at $150 is much faster. So to me these don't go "very deep" aren't "very sharp" or "fast"

 
Testing just now from audiocheck.net I could hear the low frequencies with plenty of power up to lower 20s in the Hertz range. No bass boost used. 24 Hz went easily still, but I'm not sure if I heard 20 Hz anymore. 24 Hz was powerful enough that I wouldn't believe the roll-off to be that instantaneous. Then again, no other headphone that I have seem to reach down to 24 Hz with the same sort of volume and they're dead silent at 20. That being said, I don't have any high-end Audezes of Hifimans or such to test these against.
 
Edit/additional info: Used Practical Devices XM6 (8740, BUF634) via USB to test the Spirit Ones. My Graham Slee Novo has much worse bass extension.

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

 
Testing just now from audiocheck.net I could hear the low frequencies with plenty of power up to lower 20s in the Hertz range. No bass boost used. 24 Hz went easily still, but I'm not sure if I heard 20 Hz anymore. 24 Hz was powerful enough that I wouldn't believe the roll-off to be that instantaneous. Then again, no other headphone that I have seem to reach down to 24 Hz with the same sort of volume and they're dead silent at 20. That being said, I don't have any high-end Audezes of Hifimans or such to test these against.

 
That's a cool site. Just tried it out with KNS 8400. It was doing 15+ Hz and very controlled. However when you have music playing, that same response goes away. Tone sweeps on most cheaper headphones and speakers differ when actually fed through a complex signal. I guess it isn't fair to compare them to Audeze or Hifiman, however, even when I didn't have them I still didn't like them for hip hop, pop, and especially not for electronic music.

 

[nicholars]

Quote:

 
I tried one back a year and a half ago. Another time at a store about 8 months ago. Recently a month ago at home in ideal conditions - my friend bought these very recently. With each pair, I never really liked them. I have used Fiio E10, Fiio E11, iPod/Sansa Fuze, O2 as well as a Teac USB/DAC combo. 
 
Maybe I am just used to a much higher quality with the planars (HE-500, LCD-2 and LCD-3), one could argue that. However at it's price point and beneath it, I found better stuff like D2000, SE215, DT770, KNS 6400/8400, M-50.

 
Ah someone else who really likes the SE215 even though they are cheap and technically not that good. Still have my SE215 even though I have owned and sold more expensive IEM's something about the overall sound of them which sound good.

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

 
Ah someone else who really likes the SE215 even though they are cheap and technically not that good. Still have my SE215 even though I have owned and sold more expensive IEM's something about the overall sound of them which sound good.

 
Agreed. For it's price, nothing to complain about the sound quality. Only problem is the cable, it usually loses a channel once in a while. I have this problem with all Shure products (headphones and IEMs). I'm a IEM noob, SE215 is the only IEM I have. It was between the Klipsch something4 and SE215. I got a good deal on SE215 and so picked it up. I was really happy with the purchase. Great isolation and fun sound. Decent bass without affecting the mids.

 

[Poleepkwa]

These are mobile headphones, so the planar are not really fair comparison.

 

[dan.gheorghe]

I really cannot say about the Spirit One that it doesn't have bass. I am quite satisfied with it. It goes deep, it is very fast and tight. This is also shown in the measurements .

 

[oldmantone]

I just got my Focal Spirit One cans. They are quite smaller than I thought; definitely on the portable side of the spectrum. My admittedly large head stretches them to the point of ridiculousness. The pads don't quite wrap the bottom of my earlobes. That said, they do get a decent seal because of the clamping force. Bass is best described as accurate and controlled, not overwhelming. It's more neutral than the Momentums. Imaging is average at best, not what I would call spacious. Vocals are forward and I imagine these would be decent studio monitors (odd, given their portable size and mass market styling). I actually like the braided cable, it's been kink-free in my usage.
 
I got them for use in the office, I wanted something fairly neutral with good isolation with little to no leakage in or out. Listening comfort in terms of physical and sonic qualities was paramount. They are left out in the open so I didn't want anything too enticing to sticky fingers. The FSO meet my neutral requirements. They seal out well but not so much in. They are not as comfortable physically as I would have wanted mainly because I have them stretch so far that the top pad presses on my head quite aggressively. The glossy red finish is more noticeable than I'd like but being surrounded by Senns and Beats should keep these relatively safe.
 
All of my observations reflect my own ears. YMMV.