Focal SPIRIT PROFESSIONAL Impressions thread
- Thread starter M-13
- Start date
imackler
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2008
- Posts
- 5,913
- Likes
- 527
I didn't have them at the same time but less than the K545. The FSP is a more refined headphone, with better quality bass, imo, but less quantity.
imackler
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2008
- Posts
- 5,913
- Likes
- 527
Sorry to hear this.
Do you wear glasses? Trying to figure out if I'm the only one... Besides that, best closed headphone I've heard! I can't believe how good they sound right out of an ipod, either.
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2011
- Posts
- 3,505
- Likes
- 248
I do not wear glasses. I'm glad you like the sound at least. Amazing headphones. I was SUPER excited when I heard them the first time. I actually started this thread becaues I was blown away (first thread I've created).
I would say try to work through the comfort issues for a few days. Massage the pads and stretch the headband. They're fairly robust and will hold up to moderate stretching (I think?)
*Honestly, I would stop wearing glasses for this kind of sound. Go around half blind if I have to. Haha.
dbdynsty25
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2010
- Posts
- 2,283
- Likes
- 257
Yes...less bass on the FSP...however I disagree and think the bass on the k545 was more accurate and textured, and it also seems to go deeper. Unfortunately neither work well with glasses so my search continues.
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2011
- Posts
- 3,505
- Likes
- 248
No offense meant, but...
I think you may have a defective unit. I would say trade it in for a new one. The reason I say this is because the Spirit Pro go as deep as the LCD-2 in terms of bass extension. This subjective impression is backed up by Innerfidelity measurements. Have you seen the 30 hertz square waves? My lord I haven't seen anything like that from a closed headphone in a long time, now that good bass! The frequency plot is pretty much flat all the way down to out of human hearing range too.
I would say double-check your fit and seal and try a lot of different songs with deep low sub-bass and if your opinion is the same, go exchange it because your FSP is defective. I guarantee you're not hearing what it should be doing and Focal may have quality control issues.
TMRaven
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2011
- Posts
- 7,327
- Likes
- 1,086
30hz square waves aren't everything. The RE-400 has super clean 30hz square waves but that thing has limpdick sub-bass performance.
I can't wait to hear the Spirit Pro when it comes in. I don't doubt that it'll extend all the way down and with ease. It's a closed headphone that seals good, and it's always way easier getting clean extension out of a good sealing headphone. The M50 for instance goes down real low and decently clean, although its bass is boomy overall.
I can't wait to hear the Spirit Pro when it comes in. I don't doubt that it'll extend all the way down and with ease. It's a closed headphone that seals good, and it's always way easier getting clean extension out of a good sealing headphone. The M50 for instance goes down real low and decently clean, although its bass is boomy overall.
dbdynsty25
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2010
- Posts
- 2,283
- Likes
- 257
Certainly not out of the question. I've already received fake or used M100s from Amazon recently so I think I'm just going to return em and find somewhere else to buy from. They def didn't seem lower than the k545s so I'm definitely not dismissing the possibility. I don't know a damn thing about response curves or frequency response so can't really speak to that. Haha.
grizzlybeast
My name is grizzlybeast and I'm an audioholic.
k545 bass is tight and deep/neutral without impact and any resolution/texture. If the pro has less in quantity that would be below or exactly at what I would call neutral. the k545 to me lacked the impact to make its quantity appreciable. but my neutral is louder than most.
I am trying to finish setting up my home studio and I keep gravitating towards the pro to try but I am scared of its bass. but let me read what tyll has to say about it:
thoughts:
1. now that looks like all three are from the same maker
They are from the secret society of headphones....
2. well he mentions no lacking of bass or being really pleased by it. He describes the bass as having its boost where it makes sense in a studio environment. He was less subjective than he promised but it was very informative.
but here is the thing if the focal spirit pro has awesome dynamics then it should also punch in the bass. The headphones I have had with less quantity than others actually seemed like they had more than some just because of the dynamics. that is what my yamaha does. It smacks and becomes forward at times and even has better attack than the 7520. So I would expect the pro to have punchy,tight, clean, and deep bass.
3. I also believe a lot of hp's will look like that.
I am trying to finish setting up my home studio and I keep gravitating towards the pro to try but I am scared of its bass. but let me read what tyll has to say about it:
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/two-strike-zone-focal-spirit-professional-and-spirit-classic
thoughts:
1. now that looks like all three are from the same maker
They are from the secret society of headphones....
2. well he mentions no lacking of bass or being really pleased by it. He describes the bass as having its boost where it makes sense in a studio environment. He was less subjective than he promised but it was very informative.
but here is the thing if the focal spirit pro has awesome dynamics then it should also punch in the bass. The headphones I have had with less quantity than others actually seemed like they had more than some just because of the dynamics. that is what my yamaha does. It smacks and becomes forward at times and even has better attack than the 7520. So I would expect the pro to have punchy,tight, clean, and deep bass.
3. I also believe a lot of hp's will look like that.
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2011
- Posts
- 3,505
- Likes
- 248
My 2 cents about Spirit Pro bass:
The confusing thing about the Spirit Pro bass is that there is no set quantity. I know this is very strange because every headphone has a certain amount set in by default. The Spirit Pro will go from bass light to thundering bass depending on what's in the mix and what is not. If you think they're bass light I say keep playing different songs with lots of sub-bass presence, several dozen if you have to. You will find one that actually has thundering bass in the original mix and then the Spirit Pro will slam your face with delicious gobsmacking bass.
These headphones are amorphous, there is nothing really set about them. Not even basic things like bass quantity, extension, PRaT, how forward they sound or laid back they sound, etc, etc. I think it's easy to misjudge them because a person will play songs that sounded crazy bassy on other headphones but sounds anemic on the Pros because the bass is actually not in the mix and was an artifact of other colored heapdhones.
* This headphone is a tool to figure out your music, not the other way around. No music can show you what this headphone is like because it's not even there.
IMHO, YMMV, etc, etc...
** This headphone will ruin songs you used to like because you find out a lot of your favorite parts were added colorations. But on the flip side, a lot of songs you did not like before, the tracks you skipped by habit because you didn't like them on other headphones, you will suddenly like them as they come alive because you hear them for their true self. This is why I recommend people trying lots and lots of different songs, even ones you did not like before. You will suddenly hear what I'm hearing.
The confusing thing about the Spirit Pro bass is that there is no set quantity. I know this is very strange because every headphone has a certain amount set in by default. The Spirit Pro will go from bass light to thundering bass depending on what's in the mix and what is not. If you think they're bass light I say keep playing different songs with lots of sub-bass presence, several dozen if you have to. You will find one that actually has thundering bass in the original mix and then the Spirit Pro will slam your face with delicious gobsmacking bass.
These headphones are amorphous, there is nothing really set about them. Not even basic things like bass quantity, extension, PRaT, how forward they sound or laid back they sound, etc, etc. I think it's easy to misjudge them because a person will play songs that sounded crazy bassy on other headphones but sounds anemic on the Pros because the bass is actually not in the mix and was an artifact of other colored heapdhones.
* This headphone is a tool to figure out your music, not the other way around. No music can show you what this headphone is like because it's not even there.
IMHO, YMMV, etc, etc...
** This headphone will ruin songs you used to like because you find out a lot of your favorite parts were added colorations. But on the flip side, a lot of songs you did not like before, the tracks you skipped by habit because you didn't like them on other headphones, you will suddenly like them as they come alive because you hear them for their true self. This is why I recommend people trying lots and lots of different songs, even ones you did not like before. You will suddenly hear what I'm hearing.
grizzlybeast
My name is grizzlybeast and I'm an audioholic.
you have said this before and I forgot... and I actually cant get that word amorphous out of my head now... it makes sense.
AustinValentine
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2013
- Posts
- 432
- Likes
- 216
The problem with discussing the bass of the FSPs is that they lack any appreciable midbass hump (which most consumer phones have) *and* they have memory foam pads. For a lot of people, that midbass hump is what people experience as bassy. You definitely don't have that going on here.
The viscoelastic material in the pads responds to body heat and pressure - when I first put the headphones on cold out of the box I felt like they had absolutely no bass extension and that they just rolled off too quickly at the low end. I knew from experience that that was just caused by cold pads; just like M-13 said, bass response is almost always a function of getting a good seal. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to get them to initially acclimate. Because of the pad material, if the fit isn't there with adjustment to begin with, it might take a few days for the pads to adjust to the shape of your head before the seal works itself out.
Quote:
I really enjoy these phones, but this is jumping the shark a bit here. "Accurate," "Neutral," or "Even" are great descriptors for this phone - but saying things like the headphones reveal a track's "Truth" or "True Self" are a bit over the top. It sounds way too close to what people used to (or, even still seem to) say about the O2 and ODAC. Next thing you know people will be running around the forums saying things like "The Focal Spirit Professionals are the best headphone because they are audibly transparent *jazz hands*." "The Professionals are the only headphone you ever need because they show you things as they really are." The headphones definitely have a "set quantity" in that they have a measurable sound signature and frequency response. (It's also how you made the comparison to the LCD-2's bass response, they "extend as deep as." It's also how Tyll made comments on the treble resolution of the FSPs relative to the HP50 in his review. With a perfect chameleon, these types of comparisons just aren't possible.)
Not trying to be a buzzkill, just trying to keep things reasonably grounded. It's easy to get excited when you've got a headphone that is just this good on hand.
It is enough that these headphones sound very, very, very, very, very, very, very (...) good. Their treble isn't shelved or harsh. They have excellent detail retrieval. They don't add undue coloration, which means to me that they sound great with practically every genre of music from Folk to Dubstep, from Black Metal to Baroque Pop. They have excellent tonality across the spectrum, I didn't hear any of the metallic sound that others mentioned. They have very natural midrange and vocal reproduction (in part due to the absence of coloration from the lack of a sizable midbass hump). They isolate well and have a good solid clamp for mobile use. Major Plus: They are punchier than any other headphone that I've heard; the closest being the Sennheiser HD25 Amperior, which might be on par with it for sheer force. I can't think of another headphone that reproduces drums with the same kind of impact than these two. While I was listening to the Busta Rhymes track "Turn It Up/Fire It Up (Remix)," I actually was startled by the sound of the popping ember at 1:18. Startled. That doesn't happen every day.
In late 2012, Tyll wrote in his Sennheiser Momentum review, "Any serious headphone audiophile will be happy to rattle off the things that are wrong with just about any 'Audiophile' headphone out there, and at some point we have to admit that being an audiophile headphone is just as much about not doing anything wrong as it is about doing particular things very right." With the FSP, the FSC, and the NAD HP50, I feel like we've finally got a series of closed phones that are not just playing a defensive game. They match up with the Olive-Welti-McMullen curve very well. They have a remarkably neutral character. Frankly, it's about damn time that the enthusiast community got a closed headphone that we could be excited about because of what it does well, not only just because it doesn't tragically fail at some part of the listening experience.
I wear glasses, and I've been thankful that I don't have any problems with their fit. This hasn't always been the case; I couldn't get the Momentums to seal while my glasses were on because the pad openings were too absurdly narrow. However, my glasses frames are small, flat aluminum frames - if they were any thicker or rounder, I could see a definite problem with getting a fit. The pads did soften for me over the past few days.
The viscoelastic material in the pads responds to body heat and pressure - when I first put the headphones on cold out of the box I felt like they had absolutely no bass extension and that they just rolled off too quickly at the low end. I knew from experience that that was just caused by cold pads; just like M-13 said, bass response is almost always a function of getting a good seal. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to get them to initially acclimate. Because of the pad material, if the fit isn't there with adjustment to begin with, it might take a few days for the pads to adjust to the shape of your head before the seal works itself out.
Quote:
My 2 cents about Spirit Pro bass:
The confusing thing about the Spirit Pro bass is that there is no set quantity. I know this is very strange because every headphone has a certain amount set in by default. The Spirit Pro will go from bass light to thundering bass depending on what's in the mix and what is not. If you think they're bass light I say keep playing different songs with lots of sub-bass presence, several dozen if you have to. You will find one that actually has thundering bass in the original mix and then the Spirit Pro will slam your face with delicious gobsmacking bass.
These headphones are amorphous, there is nothing really set about them. Not even basic things like bass quantity, extension, PRaT, how forward they sound or laid back they sound, etc, etc. I think it's easy to misjudge them because a person will play songs that sounded crazy bassy on other headphones but sounds anemic on the Pros because the bass is actually not in the mix and was an artifact of other colored heapdhones.
* This headphone is a tool to figure out your music, not the other way around. No music can show you what this headphone is like because it's not even there.
IMHO, YMMV, etc, etc...
** This headphone will ruin songs you used to like because you find out a lot of your favorite parts were added colorations. But on the flip side, a lot of songs you did not like before, the tracks you skipped by habit because you didn't like them on other headphones, you will suddenly like them as they come alive because you hear them for their true self. This is why I recommend people trying lots and lots of different songs, even ones you did not like before. You will suddenly hear what I'm hearing.
I really enjoy these phones, but this is jumping the shark a bit here. "Accurate," "Neutral," or "Even" are great descriptors for this phone - but saying things like the headphones reveal a track's "Truth" or "True Self" are a bit over the top. It sounds way too close to what people used to (or, even still seem to) say about the O2 and ODAC. Next thing you know people will be running around the forums saying things like "The Focal Spirit Professionals are the best headphone because they are audibly transparent *jazz hands*." "The Professionals are the only headphone you ever need because they show you things as they really are." The headphones definitely have a "set quantity" in that they have a measurable sound signature and frequency response. (It's also how you made the comparison to the LCD-2's bass response, they "extend as deep as." It's also how Tyll made comments on the treble resolution of the FSPs relative to the HP50 in his review. With a perfect chameleon, these types of comparisons just aren't possible.)
Not trying to be a buzzkill, just trying to keep things reasonably grounded. It's easy to get excited when you've got a headphone that is just this good on hand.
It is enough that these headphones sound very, very, very, very, very, very, very (...) good. Their treble isn't shelved or harsh. They have excellent detail retrieval. They don't add undue coloration, which means to me that they sound great with practically every genre of music from Folk to Dubstep, from Black Metal to Baroque Pop. They have excellent tonality across the spectrum, I didn't hear any of the metallic sound that others mentioned. They have very natural midrange and vocal reproduction (in part due to the absence of coloration from the lack of a sizable midbass hump). They isolate well and have a good solid clamp for mobile use. Major Plus: They are punchier than any other headphone that I've heard; the closest being the Sennheiser HD25 Amperior, which might be on par with it for sheer force. I can't think of another headphone that reproduces drums with the same kind of impact than these two. While I was listening to the Busta Rhymes track "Turn It Up/Fire It Up (Remix)," I actually was startled by the sound of the popping ember at 1:18. Startled. That doesn't happen every day.
In late 2012, Tyll wrote in his Sennheiser Momentum review, "Any serious headphone audiophile will be happy to rattle off the things that are wrong with just about any 'Audiophile' headphone out there, and at some point we have to admit that being an audiophile headphone is just as much about not doing anything wrong as it is about doing particular things very right." With the FSP, the FSC, and the NAD HP50, I feel like we've finally got a series of closed phones that are not just playing a defensive game. They match up with the Olive-Welti-McMullen curve very well. They have a remarkably neutral character. Frankly, it's about damn time that the enthusiast community got a closed headphone that we could be excited about because of what it does well, not only just because it doesn't tragically fail at some part of the listening experience.
I wear glasses, and I've been thankful that I don't have any problems with their fit. This hasn't always been the case; I couldn't get the Momentums to seal while my glasses were on because the pad openings were too absurdly narrow. However, my glasses frames are small, flat aluminum frames - if they were any thicker or rounder, I could see a definite problem with getting a fit. The pads did soften for me over the past few days.
PolRoger
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2013
- Posts
- 15
- Likes
- 10
Nice to see a more active thread going here for the FSP!
I got a set of these cans for Christmas and I've been enjoying listening to them. I bought them with the thought that they would have a more neutral/accurate sound presentation and I wanted some phones that not only sounded good but could be used to help me compare and analyze the sound of some of my other headphones.
I expect now that Tyll at Innerfidelity has posted up his positive reviews for the Pro/Classic that more people will be giving the Focal's an audition. Since shortly after I received the Pro's I've become quite curious about comparing them to the Classic.
I got a set of these cans for Christmas and I've been enjoying listening to them. I bought them with the thought that they would have a more neutral/accurate sound presentation and I wanted some phones that not only sounded good but could be used to help me compare and analyze the sound of some of my other headphones.
I expect now that Tyll at Innerfidelity has posted up his positive reviews for the Pro/Classic that more people will be giving the Focal's an audition. Since shortly after I received the Pro's I've become quite curious about comparing them to the Classic.
Users who are viewing this thread
