[John Massaria]

Whacky Mid section - bottom line nfg- once again Focal fails again in so many ways but does do somethings really well... but too many fails for me for the price ... just published 4 hrs ago and is exactly the same opinion I have of the Stellia's

 

[BowWazoo]

Whacky Mid section?!

The Stellia should also be personalized with EQ. You just have to know your preferred frequency response. I've already owned the Utopia, D8000, Stellia, Empyrean, Arya, LCDi3, Solaris, and many more. Everyone benefited greatly to decisively from the fact that I personalized the frequency response. The Stellia is a Ferrari, the settings of the suspension are up to you...

 

[mainguy]

Whacky Mid section - bottom line nfg- once again Focal fails again in so many ways but does do somethings really well... but too many fails for me for the price ... just published 4 hrs ago and is exactly the same opinion I have of the Stellia's

Whacky mids? Definitely my favourite mid range of any headphone I've ever tried.
The Clear which unequivocally 'clear' in the mid range, put it side by side with the Stellia. You'd be mad to think the Clear has it beat there.

 

[arielext]

Was his review based on the listening with the dekoni hybrid pads?


Screenshot closeup taken at 3:41:

Throughout the video he is only showing Stellia mounted with these pads

Please note that the graph shows the Utopia and not Stellia.

 

[Malevolent]

Whacky Mid section - bottom line nfg- once again Focal fails again in so many ways but does do somethings really well... but too many fails for me for the price ... just published 4 hrs ago and is exactly the same opinion I have of the Stellia's

To be honest, the mids are the Stellia's best attribute, IMO. I didn't fully enjoy its treble response, but the midrange on this headphone is quite exceptional. In tandem with a fairly-lush tone, the Focal manages to convey a lot of emotional depth within a well-layered, highly-resolving body. It is expensive, and it may not fit everyone's tastes, but the Stellia is not a bad headphone; in fact, it is pretty good to me.

 

[arielext]

Was his review based on the listening with the dekoni hybrid pads?


Screenshot closeup taken at 3:41:


Throughout the video he is only showing Stellia mounted with these pads


Please note that the graph shows the Utopia and not Stellia.

Answered in the video comments:

The stock pads sounded worse. They were worn out and had lost much of their spring (ability to keep the headphone off of your ear). I tried 2 pair of Dekoni pads with the Stellia. I noticed mostly a slight change in bass response, but nothing that altered the fundamental tuning of the headphone. All three (including the stock pads -- which I used for the First Impression/What's In The Box video) presented the same mid-range bump that produced the hollow, peaky sound.

 

[John Massaria]

To be honest, the mids are the Stellia's best attribute, IMO. I didn't fully enjoy its treble response, but the midrange on this headphone is quite exceptional. In tandem with a fairly-lush tone, the Focal manages to convey a lot of emotional depth within a well-layered, highly-resolving body. It is expensive, and it may not fit everyone's tastes, but the Stellia is not a bad headphone; in fact, it is pretty good to me.

It could be as I sometimes say some variations on some examples- honestly anyone making headphones over $500 should include a frequency spec sheet for accuracy compared to static target - where Michael De Lazzer and I have heard similar onomilies with the Stellia in similar area (upper mids) others may hear it else where in frequency response as deficient due to quality of matching to target... could be a pad thing too - this hobby is so subjective and pads do make a HUGE difference in some cases especially closed backs (I invited him here to address which pads)

 

[Malevolent]

It could be as I sometimes say some variations on some examples- honestly anyone making headphones over $500 should include a frequency spec sheet for accuracy compared to static target - where Michael De Lazzer and I have heard similar onomilies with the Stellia in similar area (upper mids) others may hear it else where in frequency response as deficient due to quality of matching to target... could be a pad thing too - this hobby is so subjective and pads do make a HUGE difference in some cases especially closed backs (I invited him here to address which pads)

No worries, John. At its very core, this hobby is a highly-subjective one. Moreover, variations in pad shape, size, and firmness play a relatively big part in modifying the sound; thus, what you've heard on your unit may not necessarily correspond to my own personal experiences. As they always say, YMMV!

 

[John Massaria]

His idea is pads made little difference
But hey you are 100% correct it’s all opinions about their sample

 

[Clemmaster]

Tried the Dekoni Stellia pads. They sound like s**** and clearly different from the original ones...

 

[noplsestar]

Tried the Dekoni Stellia pads. They sound like s**** and clearly different from the original ones...

exactly also my findings
In addition I had the Stellia special Dekoni pads. They are an alteration that is also worse than the original pads IMO.

Don’t know where this review guy is coming from or if he has ever seen (or heard) a studio (let alone a mastering studio) from the inside BUT one thing is for sure: He doesn’t have golden ears!!

 

[boxster233]

exactly also my findings
In addition I had the Stellia special Dekoni pads. They are an alteration that is also worse than the original pads IMO.

Don’t know where this review guy is coming from or if he has ever seen (or heard) a studio (let alone a mastering studio) from the inside BUT one thing is for sure: He doesn’t have golden ears!!

Agree. I use dekoni Stella pads for passive listening and save the OEM pads (on my second pair) for critical listening because they both sound very different. The OEM pads wear over time. Not sure people should do reviews with second hand or heavily worn components.

 

[John Massaria]

exactly also my findings
In addition I had the Stellia special Dekoni pads. They are an alteration that is also worse than the original pads IMO.

Don’t know where this review guy is coming from or if he has ever seen (or heard) a studio (let alone a mastering studio) from the inside BUT one thing is for sure: He doesn’t have golden ears!!

"Michael De Lazzer is a two-time Emmy® Award winning coordinating producer for Entertainment Tonight. If a project is complicated, loaded with challenges both technical and creative, he's the person you call." He's an expert when it comes to audio and video editing- again that mean zero to many but being a producer myself and a perfectionist of anything audio recorded live or in studio - audio/ video editing is a complicated endeavor for the obsessed if you are making content for the business in general and if your ear sucks then you get no work

 

[boxster233]

His mission is to “eliminate graphs” and “bring fun back to headphones.” He has lots of experiences that sound like “audio” credentials. But more of them are focused on video reproduction of audio experiences.

Either way, he should have gotten new set of Stellias with stock pads and reviews that and then only used the alternate pads as an additional comment.

 

[John Massaria]

The guy is pure audio obsessed his microphone and his other gear choices shows me how carefully he chooses equipment- he is an aficionado when it comes to recording methods in the studio - but that's my opinion of course... but I do 100% agree about trying new- sometimes we need to just fill in the blanks for user equipment - I can say I do not like the Stellias for more than an hour - I gave them up and mine was new returned after a month- but everyone's opinion is subjective