First post here thought I should as I lurked here a lot while making my decisions.
So I jumped on a set of these as an upgrade to an old pair of DT770 Pro 80 ohms which had kicked the bucket. I wanted a pair of reference headphones for assisting with mixdowns in my home studio (as a mid way solution before upgrading monitors from Alesis M1 520 - which is next on my list of studio wants among other things, I've never quite trusted them).
My choices were between the focals, Beyer DT880 Pro and Sennheiser HD600. My budget wouldn't stretch to the 800's! Unfortunately I could find nowhere to audition all three. None of my local audio/music equipment stores stocked the Focals, one had the Sennheiser and one had the Beyers. I went for the focals on the recommendations including here and from the store I eventually bought them from. So off to the outskirts of London I went to make my purchase (the store which was the most helpful when I spoke on the phone and had some shipped from another store for me to collect the same day).
The most important consideration was accuracy in order to better translate mixdowns onto different systems, make EQ decisions etc. Comfort was less important, as I won't be making whole tracks wearing them, rather donning them to listen to individual sounds to check their suitability for the mix as I go. I'll continue writing on the monitors, then going back to the cans when mixing down. Probably wearing for 5-10 minutes every half hour or so when writing and for a couple of hours at a time with regular breaks when mixing down. Aesthetics were not a consideration in my decision but they look "ok" to me, maybe a bit plasticy in places. Durability wise I preferred the detachable cable of these over the Beyers although first impression they look a little less rugged than either the Beyers or Sennies in general.
They are driven straight from the headphone output of a MOTU 828 Mk2 audio interface.
First impressions of the sound..
I spent half a day listening to various music through my audio interface and iphone. Mainly dance music but also some rock, jazz, hip hop, a little classical. I was immediately pleased with the level of detail I could hear. Crisp highs, sweet mids and punchy bass (not appearing over hyped in any department and revealing plenty of detail).
Bass: I produce mainly dance music with some electronica so being able to hear the bass clearly is important, but loudness doesn't mean accuracy here. Determining the balance between kick and bass without it overpowering the rest of the low mids is far more important. Immediately the bass is less prominent on these than on the DT770's but reveals more detail. Promising... I always struggled to translate kicks from my 5" Alesis monitors, and the DT770's didn't assist me as I found them rather muddy in the low end (although loud), however I trusted the Focals straight away (will see how they fair after more burn in).
Mids: I felt I could hear everything in it's space, like the creators of the music intended it to sound. Very clear and precise.
Treble: Bright and full of air and space without being too harsh. Lovely listening, after a couple of test mixdowns (more below) I had over-egged the treble a little, but more likely because of me being used to a more hyped sound.
In real use:
After my half day listening I spent a day in the studio mixing down three tracks.
Tweaking existing material:Track one was already mixed down (also already listened to in car / home stereo / ear buds / Decent PA system at a gig).
I wasn't totally happy with the sound so this was perfect for adjusting levels, EQ decisions and some compression settings. I probably had an idea of what I wanted to achieve after hearing it through all those different sources, but I felt comfortable using them and felt I could hear the effect of the adjustments very well. I also picked up some hum on a stray open input on an audio channel which I had not heard on my monitors at all...helpful! After finishing up it sounded good through the monitors too and translated well first time in the car/home stereo. and ear buds. Delighted.
Fresh mixdowns: The other two tracks were not mixed at all yet.
For each I did quick arrangement then set about mixing. I found that I was a little on the bright side when these were played via phone/car/home system but the bass and mids were pretty much spot on. In particular high hats were a little loud/bright but I'm sure this is a case of learning the sound and probably due to the flat response of the headphones vs the augmented treble on my listening sources and monitors.
Considering this was day 1 and 2 I am mighty impressed, very happy with the purchase indeed. Will see how they burn in, but after a couple more sessions I'm confident I will be able to translate mixes just fine.