[chucknoel2015]

Are you guys referring to the Addicted to Audio price on the Celestee?

yes indeed

 

[AussieMick]

I’d love to hear from anyone who’s using their Stellia with a TT2 and any pros or cons that involves. And, I know the Stellia is an easy load to drive, but whether or not you’ve had any value in adding an amp to the TT2.
Cheers

 

[ruthieandjohn]

I use and love the TT2 driving the Stellia—in fact, almost all the listening of the Stellia is with the TT2. I then went even further and added the Mscaler. That made no improvement for me.

 

[pattont]

I picked up a pair of like-new Stellias for $1575 this week. I have lusted after them and the Utopias for a long time, but I decided to go closed back for work travel and the fact that I can listen near my wife and not disturb. I also picked up a Gryphon and Mojo2 to compare for my to-go setup. I put the Gryphon back in the box after 30 minutes of A/B testing, to me it just did not compare musically to the Mojo2 and this is my first ever Chord product so I'm far from a fan boy. I even A/B tested the mojo2 against my Schitt Jot2/BF2 stack and while I need more testing there I felt like the mojo2 won there as well. I am just blown away by these two products!

I hope one day to add a Felik's Euphoria to my desk for these cans!

 

[sari53]

I picked up a pair of like-new Stellias for $1575 this week. I have lusted after them and the Utopias for a long time, but I decided to go closed back for work travel and the fact that I can listen near my wife and not disturb. I also picked up a Gryphon and Mojo2 to compare for my to-go setup. I put the Gryphon back in the box after 30 minutes of A/B testing, to me it just did not compare musically to the Mojo2 and this is my first ever Chord product so I'm far from a fan boy. I even A/B tested the mojo2 against my Schitt Jot2/BF2 stack and while I need more testing there I felt like the mojo2 won there as well. I am just blown away by these two products!

I hope one day to add a Felik's Euphoria to my desk for these cans!

I also love listening to roon with mojo2/poly and stellia. great set

 

[Oakley2727]

I just got the FiiO K9 Pro ESS to pair with my Stellia’s. Quite amazing sound. I also have the
FiiO BTR7 for a portable unit. It is also very good but not as good as the K9.
The sound is very clean and detailed with absolutely no noise. I use the Bluetooth input with my iPhone 13 playing Amazing Music.
The FiiO app works great and the built in EQ works very nicely.

 

[Oakley2727]

I recently got (Wednesday morning) the FiiO K9 Pro (ESS version). I'm coming from using straight from the source--PC, Samsung Note 20--and FiiO BTR5. Very similar sounds to the BTR5. It's more open, separation and clarity. Of course a lot louder is possible. Overall, it makes the Stellia sound better.

I did some quick comparisons of cables between the Focal cables and Meze Classic 99 upgrade cables that have the silver lining: 3.5mm vs 3.5mm, 3.5mm to 6.5mm adapters received from Focal vs FiiO, and 4.4mm (Meza) vs XLR (Focal). The Focal and Meza cables had similar volumes. No difference in the 3.5mm to 6.5mm adapter, which was expected. The Focal cables sounds good. The have worse microphonics though. The XLR and Meze balance cable have microphonics from the headphone to the y-junction. It's louder in the Focal. I find the Meze cable to be more airy. They give the impression of a slightly wider sound stage. Although it's not. The focal sound darker or muffled (still very clear and articulate). I put the Focal cables back in the Focal Stellia box because I prefer Meze sound characters.

I did order some GUCraftsman cables--16 strands 7N single-crystal Copper/Silver mix and 6N Single Crystal Silver. Going to see if there is a sound different from a more pure silver cable or mix compared to the silver-lined. I suspect it'll be minimal, but may be something I like more.

That’s the only downside of the Stellia’s.
For $3000 dollar headphones, the 2 cables they come with suck.
The first thing I did was order high end cables.

 

[Oakley2727]

I agree 100% on waiting for burn in before you make any changes. A cable wont transform signature, but it can have the effect of fine tune certain areas of the performance. If you dont like the basics its not going to help, but UPOCC (continuous mono crystal) silver has different sound characteristics to typical solid silver cable. It has much fuller more natural tone and can be easily mistaken for good copper, except the clarity is just way improved along detail retrieval, separation and layering. The bass is beautifully rich and extended but just with more control than the equivalent copper. Obvs personal preference comes in to play, so mixed 8 core cable cable using 4 copper and silver 4 silver cores which add some extra body weight and slam to the lower end of the stellia presentation while the silver element enhances control, separation and stage depth. This is probably the best value vs performance options. But as i say i agree totally with @GreenBow about waiting till both the cans you ears are burnt in before tweaking.

The Stellia’s are the absolute best in sound quality. But the two cables they come with are terrible. They are stiff. The first thing I did was replace them with high quality cables.

 

[chaz_flhr]

From my experience, having been keen on the Celestee and wanting to compare it to the Elegia, I made the (expensive) mistake of trying the Stellia in the shop. Once I listened side-by-side, I couldn’t believe the difference and honestly couldn’t go back. I’m sure after a few days the “cheaper” option would have sounded great again, but I would have know what could have been. If you have the budget for it, and think you might try it in the future anyway, maybe try the Stellia first, just to avoid any future regrets. The difference is striking.


It's difficult to unhear the Stellia once you listen to it

 

[pattont]

The Stellia’s are the absolute best in sound quality. But the two cables they come with are terrible. They are stiff. The first thing I did was replace them with high quality cables.

Yea I totally agree. I bought a Hart Audio cable and some interconnects which I love!

 

[Oakley2727]

I totally agree.
The Stellia’s are my first hi-end headphones.
The definition and clarity is amazing. Don’t know how this sound could be beat.
I find myself listening to different genres.

Focal definitively hit a home run with the Stellia’s.

 

[WatchWinder]

I am thinking of buying a pair of these, bit only have a Fiio M11 Plus ESS. Would it be a waste to pair these high end headphones with a cheapish DAP like the M11?

 

[pattont]

I am thinking of buying a pair of these, bit only have a Fiio M11 Plus ESS. Would it be a waste to pair these high end headphones with a cheapish DAP like the M11?

I don’t think so at all. Hell they sound good plugged straight into my 16” MacBook Pro. They are so easily driven everything but a literal potato is gonna sound good.

 

[AussieMick]

I am thinking of buying a pair of these, bit only have a Fiio M11 Plus ESS. Would it be a waste to pair these high end headphones with a cheapish DAP like the M11?

Not a waste at all! Yes they scale up with other DACs and amps, but as stated above they sound good from a laptop. Super easy to drive.
As a comparison, I preferred Stellia from Mojo2/Poly over Celestee from TT2. They are a super headphone and can stay with you for a lifetime of other upgrades.

 

[Oakley2727]

I am thinking of buying a pair of these, bit only have a Fiio M11 Plus ESS. Would it be a waste to pair these high end headphones with a cheapish DAP like the M11?

The Stellia’s will sound great no matter what
you plug them into.
They have excellent precision, definition and instrument separation. Like no other closed headphone on the market. The sound is simply addictive. They are the heroine of headphones.