[DarginMahkum]

I am listening to Stellia at the moment. This thing is like a tastier studio headphone. I always check the headphones based on how easily I can follow the electric bass lines of some recordings. It is simply amazing how the instrument can be heard without bleed on Stellia. I can see why he calls it boring, as it very well balanced. Utopia was for me too much in your face and aggressive. Great instrument separation.

 

[teknorob23]

I am listening to Stellia at the moment. This thing is like a tastier studio headphone. I always check the headphones based on how easily I can follow the electric bass lines of some recordings. It is simply amazing how the instrument can be heard without bleed on Stellia. I can see why he calls it boring, as it very well balanced. Utopia was for me too much in your face and aggressive. Great instrument separation.

Me too and at 50 hours in the bass has just turned up..wow. Not big and bloomy but controlled and layered with a huge side effect of filling out the body of the whole presentation, which when i checked in at about 24hrs just wasnt there.

I'm listening to Joy Division's Unknown pleasures and the Stellias are breathing a whole new life into martin hannetts's already astonishing mix. I'm hearing subtleties and textures in the bass, drums and discordant guitar riffs that i've simply not heard before. Yes the stage isnt as wide as the Utopias or LCD4zs but Focal have achieved and effortless immediacy which is transporting me right into the middle of the studio.

From my experience with the Elegia and Utopia which really started to sing at 150/200hrs+, i'm very excited about the elegia, more than 46 year old man with a lot of work to do should be!

 

[Acemcl]

Just got hold of the Stellia's and have to say they look absolutely gorgeous.... the one gripe i do have is that none of the Sony ( & the sony Kimber ) cables with the pentacon connectors work since the Stellia 3.5mm sockets are relatively recessed

 

[Legendz1818]

Hi have a astell and Kern sp1000m if I brought the stellia would want a balanced cable with a 2.5 end

Can you recommend some cables which would make a excellent pairing

Many thanks

 

[Wooglish]

Just got hold of the Stellia's and have to say they look absolutely gorgeous.... the one gripe i do have is that none of the Sony ( & the sony Kimber ) cables with the pentacon connectors work since the Stellia 3.5mm sockets are relatively recessed

This is bad news! I was hoping the Sony cables would work! You would think the 3.5 would be semi-standard fit (or you would think they would have used lemo so we could all use our aftermarket Utopia cables!)

 

[Acemcl]

This is bad news! I was hoping the Sony cables would work! You would think the 3.5 would be semi-standard fit (or you would think they would have used lemo so we could all use our aftermarket Utopia cables!)

it's because the sony cables have that weird locking mechanism

 

[Acemcl]

does anyone know if the two standard Stellia cables are exactly the same except for the length and the headphone termination? I'm wondering if the balanced cable has more wires to deal with the higher output. If the cables are the same, i'll have the 1/8th terminated into the 4.4 pentaconn.... Plus sound charges about $50 for that which is fairly reasonable

 

[AmusedToD]

does anyone know if the two standard Stellia cables are exactly the same except for the length and the headphone termination? I'm wondering if the balanced cable has more wires to deal with the higher output. If the cables are the same, i'll have the 1/8th terminated into the 4.4 pentaconn.... Plus sound charges about $50 for that which is fairly reasonable

That’s a great idea, there are not many options on the market that would match the Stellia as well as the stock cable in terms of esthetics.

The Stellia cables are probably the same as the Clear cables on the inside, and I remember the Clear sounding just fine with the stock cable.

 

[teknorob23]

Hi have a astell and Kern sp1000m if I brought the stellia would want a balanced cable with a 2.5 end

Can you recommend some cables which would make a excellent pairing

Many thanks

Depends how large you want to go budget-wise but I can highly reccomend the Atlas Zeno. It’s beautifully made, solder free copper cable and sounds great with pretty much anything I’ve tried it with. £300ish depending on length and termination. I love it because unlike a lot native iem manufacturers atlas have built to allow as open a window possible on the source and not add colouration to cure or enhance the the headphones performance

 

[DarginMahkum]

Me too and at 50 hours in the bass has just turned up..wow. Not big and bloomy but controlled and layered with a huge side effect of filling out the body of the whole presentation, which when i checked in at about 24hrs just wasnt there.

I'm listening to Joy Division's Unknown pleasures and the Stellias are breathing a whole new life into martin hannetts's already astonishing mix. I'm hearing subtleties and textures in the bass, drums and discordant guitar riffs that i've simply not heard before. Yes the stage isnt as wide as the Utopias or LCD4zs but Focal have achieved and effortless immediacy which is transporting me right into the middle of the studio.

From my experience with the Elegia and Utopia which really started to sing at 150/200hrs+, i'm very excited about the elegia, more than 46 year old man with a lot of work to do should be!

I didn't take it home as I am also looking into a beamer and might need to adjust the budget accordingly. But the day will come. Soon. I am sure of that.

But what surprised me during my comparison was the HD820. Frankly I don't get why Sennheiser built it at all! It leaks in and out well beyond what a closed HP should leak, bass is not that impressive (at least was not better than its open sibling, for me), smaller sound stage, massive housing. And!? Why should I buy a compromised HD800S and pay more money on top?

The two issues for me with Stellia were the cable (no 4.4mm termination) and after a while my ears started to get really warm. But otherwise comfort is amazing. Details were jaw dropping. Initially I thought it is too warm (coming from Ultrasone Jubilee 25) but got used to it. J25 has better comfort, I think but Stellias treble is a tad better. Yummy yummy!

 

[teknorob23]

I agree 100% on the hd820s, I just get it? I had them for a weekend when I was demo’ing the elegia. I had listened to them in the shop, thought they sounded bad but equally thought there must be something about them as they’ve had a lot or praise, but even rigged my forgiving euforia, I just couldn’t get anything worth listening to out of them. Almost sound broken to my ears and the hd800s sound so good????

 

[Legendz1818]

Thanks for the heads up, much appreciated

Depends how large you want to go budget-wise but I can highly reccomend the Atlas Zeno. It’s beautifully made, solder free copper cable and sounds great with pretty much anything I’ve tried it with. £300ish depending on length and termination. I love it because unlike a lot native iem manufacturers atlas have built to allow as open a window possible on the source and not add colouration to cure or enhance the the headphones performance

 

[Trance_Gott]

Stellia is easily the best closed headphone on this earth. And I like it even more then Utopia. More balanced, better bass and warmer. More organic it is how I wanted the sound from Utopia and now get with Stellia. Well done Focal. I know all the other closed TOTL like HD820, Mr Speakers, Audeze. They are not nowhere the Stellia. I don't think somebody can beat it in the next 3 years on the closed back market.

 

[liujun050612]

The Stellia is sort like the closed back Utopia from Focal. If Elegia is the closed back Elear, curious to see if Focal will release a closed back of clear in the future. The sound is very close to Stellia, but in a more affordable version. Just like clear between Utopia and elear.

 

[QueueCumber]

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