[Tanalasta]

A warning though, Utopia can sound very different and also needs a good source (ideally tubes). Stellia is quite rich and musical on anything, but Utopia really needs a tube amp to sound right. It can sound too dynamic, delicate, and extremely revealing on SS, also fatiguing (even with EQ). But tubes make it sound magical!

That it can. But the utopia 2022 addresses that with a more rich, musical and warmer tuning.

 

[elisiX]

Yup I was going to say the same.

2020, sure, but not necessary with 2022.

 

[mainguy]

A warning though, Utopia can sound very different and also needs a good source (ideally tubes). Stellia is quite rich and musical on anything, but Utopia really needs a tube amp to sound right. It can sound too dynamic, delicate, and extremely revealing on SS, also fatiguing (even with EQ). But tubes make it sound magical!

I know some people say this but I disagree. For my own uses a Utopia sounds incredible even from a macbook pro jack. Focal designed it as an easy to drive headphone that scales while sounding superb from anything. Just like Stellia

 

[yrstruly]

I know some people say this but I disagree. For my own uses a Utopia sounds incredible even from a macbook pro jack. Focal designed it as an easy to drive headphone that scales while sounding superb from anything. Just like Stellia

With you on this. Utopia can be source chain picky and many love them on tubes, sure, but it can sound incredible on some SS amps. As ever, YMMV.

 

[Livestock110]

I know some people say this but I disagree. For my own uses a Utopia sounds incredible even from a macbook pro jack. Focal designed it as an easy to drive headphone that scales while sounding superb from anything. Just like Stellia

It can sound good, but I can only handle 20 minutes with it on low-end sources. Utopia becomes so punishing and too dynamic. Bass punches hard, and treble spikes are piercing. With so much dynamic range, you lose background instruments and layers - only main parts are brought out with clarity. It's a weird sounding effect. It really needs tubes, or a soft sounding SS amp, to sound more natural and "correct".

 

[TooFrank]

Yah I know. Bought cover for some other headphones n didn't fit. Tried it on stellia n that's where it stayed. I would never do anything like that to Ana

FWIW: Know it is not what you're asking, but I chose to leave the headband as is and just use and admire the phones. However, I made sure to rub (polish) the headband to make to sure it would darken evenly. Now a couple of years later, the headband is beautifully dark colored. If you didn't know that it was so light brown initially, you wouldn't think about it.....

 

[Lelouch]

Hi everyone, I've been longing for them for more than a year and I ended up getting them at my local dealer after an hour of demo session.
I was A/B testing with DCA Stealth and loved the Stealth a lot but there is no way I can bring the best of it with my M17, even in DC mode...
A/B testing the 2 made the Stellia feel terribly narrow in soundstage so I stopped at some point to not hurt myself too much with delusion. The Stealth is 670,000 yen ($4500) here, whereas the Stellia is 270,000 yen ($1800), I just couldn't think of spending more than twice for the Stealth that I would not use in a portable environment... (Not even talking about my wife's reaction!)
I was also considering the VC and AC but they are 450,000 yen ($3000) here and no way to ever get a demo set in Japan so I bought the Stellia. I feel getting them new at that price is a crazy deal compared to the others, and that also helped me choose the path of reason.
I knew I loved the Stellia with a demo session last year when I compared it with Meze LIRIC, LCD-XC-2021 and Ultrasone Edition 15 Veritas.
After using them for an hour using the stock leather protection, I already forgot the difference in soundstage and am more than a happy owner of this marvel

Please allow me to ask several questions to get the latest status as of October 2023:

1. Maintenance: Leather, I have a hard time taking care of my leather chairs but definitely wanna avoid staining or getting a bad patina on the headband. What do you recommend using and definitely not using?
2. Cables: I have a GUCraftsman 4.4 balanced silver cable for my AFC I like pretty much, great build quality. I already dislike the stock cable build quality and saw that most of Stellia's owners recommended upgrading the cable. What do you recommend for cables? Copper vs. Silver vs. Hybrid for the Stellia signature + M17? Something still reasonable within $500 would be great!
3. EQ: Do you EQ them? I tried the Oratory EQ and didn't like it pretty much, the vocals feel muffled. OTOH some people are saying the soundstage can be widened with the appropriate EQ.
4. Burn-in: How long did you let them burn in before noticing a change (was there a change?)?
5. Pads: I heard about Dekoni pads, are there any pads you'd recommend getting for the Stellia?

On a side note, I cannot work at all with these over my ears... Such a delight that I focus on the music and not on the screen

 

[Tanalasta]

Less is often more.

I almost always recommend listening to a pair of headphones for 50+ hours before you make any meaningful changes.

1. Don't touch the leather. They are fine. Almost anything you add to it may darken it. The leather is quite thin and I suspect won't need anything done. It is natural for any tan leather to ... well tan over time. Patina is part of the beauty of leather. And unavoidable.

2. It is unusual to find a cable for $500 that is a lot better than a stock cable. You could try the Moon Audio Silver Dragon but your money is probably best spent elsewhere ... and just living with the cable. If you must, I would suggest silver, thick gauge which is often ++ $>500. Have a look at options from Norne Audio.

3. EQ - Decide for yourself... It is impossible to comment on EQ due to the number of variables.

4. Just keep to the stock pads. They are actually very good. Experiment when it's time to replace them.

My advice would be to twiddle less. Enjoy your new headphone. And it is a very, very good one.

 

[tyk103]

1. Maintenance: Leather, I have a hard time taking care of my leather chairs but definitely wanna avoid staining or getting a bad patina on the headband. What do you recommend using and definitely not using?
2. Cables: I have a GUCraftsman 4.4 balanced silver cable for my AFC I like pretty much, great build quality. I already dislike the stock cable build quality and saw that most of Stellia's owners recommended upgrading the cable. What do you recommend for cables? Copper vs. Silver vs. Hybrid for the Stellia signature + M17? Something still reasonable within $500 would be great!
3. EQ: Do you EQ them? I tried the Oratory EQ and didn't like it pretty much, the vocals feel muffled. OTOH some people are saying the soundstage can be widened with the appropriate EQ.
4. Burn-in: How long did you let them burn in before noticing a change (was there a change?)?
5. Pads: I heard about Dekoni pads, are there any pads you'd recommend getting for the Stellia?

On a side note, I cannot work at all with these over my ears... Such a delight that I focus on the music and not on the screen

Don't overthink or overcomplicate things. You just got these headphones. Follow the advice of @Tanalasta

 

[yrstruly]

Just on the headband point, I think it’s well worth getting a headband cover for the Stellia, if only to preserve a bit more resale value.

 

[judomaniak57]

i got a cheap knitted headband for another headphone but it didnt fit so i put it on the stelia, make a comfortable headphone even more comfy. and protects the leather if you care about that, i dont but some do

 

[TooFrank]

Less is often more.

I almost always recommend listening to a pair of headphones for 50+ hours before you make any meaningful changes.

1. Don't touch the leather. They are fine. Almost anything you add to it may darken it. The leather is quite thin and I suspect won't need anything done. It is natural for any tan leather to ... well tan over time. Patina is part of the beauty of leather. And unavoidable.

2. It is unusual to find a cable for $500 that is a lot better than a stock cable. You could try the Moon Audio Silver Dragon but your money is probably best spent elsewhere ... and just living with the cable. If you must, I would suggest silver, thick gauge which is often ++ $>500. Have a look at options from Norne Audio.

3. EQ - Decide for yourself... It is impossible to comment on EQ due to the number of variables.

4. Just keep to the stock pads. They are actually very good. Experiment when it's time to replace them.

My advice would be to twiddle less. Enjoy your new headphone. And it is a very, very good one.

FWIW: I have had the Stella's since they were released. I have not done anything to protect the headband besides making sure that it darkens evenly. Using the natural "grease" only. The headband is now almost as dark as the pads. And really nice looking - I think Have a look:

 

[Jonne Haven]

Hi everyone, I've been longing for them for more than a year and I ended up getting them at my local dealer after an hour of demo session.
I was A/B testing with DCA Stealth and loved the Stealth a lot but there is no way I can bring the best of it with my M17, even in DC mode...
A/B testing the 2 made the Stellia feel terribly narrow in soundstage so I stopped at some point to not hurt myself too much with delusion. The Stealth is 670,000 yen ($4500) here, whereas the Stellia is 270,000 yen ($1800), I just couldn't think of spending more than twice for the Stealth that I would not use in a portable environment... (Not even talking about my wife's reaction!)
I was also considering the VC and AC but they are 450,000 yen ($3000) here and no way to ever get a demo set in Japan so I bought the Stellia. I feel getting them new at that price is a crazy deal compared to the others, and that also helped me choose the path of reason.
I knew I loved the Stellia with a demo session last year when I compared it with Meze LIRIC, LCD-XC-2021 and Ultrasone Edition 15 Veritas.
After using them for an hour using the stock leather protection, I already forgot the difference in soundstage and am more than a happy owner of this marvel

Please allow me to ask several questions to get the latest status as of October 2023:

1. Maintenance: Leather, I have a hard time taking care of my leather chairs but definitely wanna avoid staining or getting a bad patina on the headband. What do you recommend using and definitely not using?
2. Cables: I have a GUCraftsman 4.4 balanced silver cable for my AFC I like pretty much, great build quality. I already dislike the stock cable build quality and saw that most of Stellia's owners recommended upgrading the cable. What do you recommend for cables? Copper vs. Silver vs. Hybrid for the Stellia signature + M17? Something still reasonable within $500 would be great!
3. EQ: Do you EQ them? I tried the Oratory EQ and didn't like it pretty much, the vocals feel muffled. OTOH some people are saying the soundstage can be widened with the appropriate EQ.
4. Burn-in: How long did you let them burn in before noticing a change (was there a change?)?
5. Pads: I heard about Dekoni pads, are there any pads you'd recommend getting for the Stellia?

On a side note, I cannot work at all with these over my ears... Such a delight that I focus on the music and not on the screen

Hey @Lelouch,

Congratulations on your purchase!

I've been EQing the Stellias for over a year, particularly to give them more shine and emotion as well as really pushing it too reveal the phenomenal resolution it has particularly exemplified in vocal "S" and "Shh" sounds. Just phenomenal potential in terms of resolution in these cans.

Attached is the latest EQ for the Stellia I have (though it is always a work in progress) ...and, yes, EQ is a matter of taste, but you might agree that it's worth a try right? Freely given after all and all that. I've tried Oratory1990's EQ, and I don't think that you'll find my EQ muffled...you may find it has more bass than you're used too but I design my EQs to be easily customizable as per below instructions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Important notes about P.E.A.C.E. (if you're using it)
My EQs go to the the hundredth decimal place of some Frequencies values as well as the hundredth decimal place of some Gain values. Unfortunately the Import function of the current PEACE v. 1.6.4.1 does not import these decimal place values as they are in the txt file I've shared.

I wrote to PEACE creator Peter Verbeek and he has fixed this issue in beta version 1.6.5.0 just for this fix! And he did it within 24 hours of my writing him!
This beta version is available at this link: PEACE Beta V. 1.6.5.0

Instructions:
1. Rename the downloaded exe file from Peace1650.exe to Peace.exe.
2. Copy the downloaded and renamed file to c:\program files\equalizerapo\config, overwriting the existing Peace.exe file (perhaps after renaming the existing Peace.exe file to Peace.bak just in case for safety.
3. In case you haven't already done this, change the Settings/Sizes And Amounts Settings - "Snap to dB gain" setting to 0.01 as in the following pic:

4. If you don't want to go through the trouble of downloading the BETA Peace version, you can always import the txt and just manually input the values of the gains and frequencies that do extend to the hundredth of a decibel place.

If you're into graphs and such, here is the my Stellia EQ's Compensated graph with the Harman 2018 graph overlay:

Note that I've put in a lot of bass (compared to Harman 2018), which is not necessarily the Stellias strong point, but I wanted uniformity with my other headphone EQs. I know that bass is the most disagreed over and thus customized aspect of the frequency range so I've designed the EQ to make the bass easily adjustable to your taste...so if you would like less (or more) bass simply follow below instructions:

To adjust overall bass: Adjust gain value of Filter 5 to taste.
Be sure to re-adjust the pre-amp gain so that it does not exceed -0.1 to prevent clipping.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a side note, my Stellias were actually gifted to me by a member of this forum who enjoyed an EQ I made for the LCD-XC 2021 so much that he went and bought the LCD-X 2021 just to try out my EQ for them. Later, that generous member gave me a pair of Stellias (which cost $3000 new here in U.S.) just so that I could EQ them and share that EQ with him. I've NEVER known a complete stranger to be as generous as this member who I do not know in real life, in fact we don't even have each other's emails!!! But since then he has also gifted me with a $1500 Sendy Peacock!

His example has driven me to give more freely of myself, including giving my EQs (which I work very hard at) to the world, even if I get hateful posts about them.

So that's why I'm volunteering this EQ for you! Though I may get some nasty posts about it...I hope not!

Blessings and Happy Listening to a GREAT headphone!
-J

 

[botmann]

... 1. Maintenance: Leather, I have a hard time taking care of my leather chairs but definitely wanna avoid staining or getting a bad patina on the headband. ...
2. Cables: I have a GUCraftsman 4.4 balanced silver cable for my AFC I like pretty much, great build quality. I already dislike the stock cable build quality and saw that most of Stellia's owners recommended upgrading the cable. What do you recommend for cables? Copper vs. Silver vs. Hybrid for the Stellia signature + M17? Something still reasonable within $500 would be great!
...

The leather on Focal headphones petinas very easy. I suggest getting a some kind of headband. There are many on Amazon you can find. I like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0814D2NG7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 Beyond that, wipe down your headphones whenever you finish listen to them.

I use GuCraftsman cable with mine. I've heard the silver and the hybrid. You'll be fine with either. I assume the same with the copper. I found the sound differences to very minimal and was very subtle. The hybrid is probably the best general use if you listen to mutliple genres. If you listen to a lot music that has a wide sound stage or "airy", the silver will sound slight more airy. The big thing, they'll be way less microphronic compared to the stock cable. That's the biggest difference between them on the stock cable.

 

[babarrun]

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.

which would you reccommend:

Stock XLR
Lavri Grand Silver (using pigtails)
Silver Dragon (terminated in 2.5m so adaptor for 4.4m)

equipment is spring & bliss.

thanks.