Focal Spirit One Headphones

Focal, a French name that most audiophiles would recognize straight away for their Utopia BEs for HiFI and car audio. Earlier this year, Focal has ventured into the portable audio segment, with the Focal Spirit One with more ranges to come. With an opportunity to try it out over the week and after breaking in, thought it was time to write about how well this headphones perform.



Introduction:
The Spirit Ones are closed back headphones, with a claimed sound insulation of -20db. It was designed with the impedance and efficiency mainly for apple products (iPhone,iPad and iPod) hence the ease to drive it without requiring any external amps.

The following is the technical specs:
Impedance 32 Ohms
Sensitivity 104dB SPL / 1mW @ 1kHz
THD <0.3% / 1kHz / 100dB SPL
Frequency response 6Hz - 22kHz
Driver 40mm (19/16“) Mylar/Titanium
Net weight 0.5lb (225g)

High-end headphones tend to come with lots of goodies which Focal went further with the following items:



Package Contents:
Removable, anti-tangle cord with remote and mic
3.5-mm/6.35-mm jack adapter
Hard storage case
Soft travel bag
Airline adaptor and jack adaptor cord

Source:
iPad with iOS 5.1.1
Goldenear for FLAC files playback
* Test with other source in progress

Headphones that I've used before:
Ultrasone HFI-780 & Shure SRH-840

Listening Environment:
Quiet bedroom and commuting on LRT

Compatibility:
The mic works well with voice over phone call on my iPhone 4s. It comes with a remote to +- Volume, Prev/Next Song, Play/Answer Call Button.



Comfort & Built Quality:
The Spirit One was designed to fit onto variety of head and ear shapes with very thick and comfy earpads. Hooking up the Spirit One on my head was pretty comfortable but with a little tightness over my ears. Probably it is still new? After having the headphones over my head for 2.5 hours over my head, I would have to say the Shure's SRH-840 I had before is more comfortable for long hours listening. Having a 1.2-metre cable, they're meant more for commuters or for people with their source being placed nearby. The noise isolation did work really well, as if 70% of the surrounding volume has been decreased by 70%.

It is solidly built with aluminum hinges that attach the ear cups to the headband while the headband is made with quality plastic. The ear cups and lightly padded headband have a luxurious feel.



Sound Quality:
Now comes the sound quality. My first impression when I tested immediately right after opening the box was, "wow! These are pretty bright sounding while bass was almost in-existence!?" Now now...don't get the wrong impression. Deliberately, I let the headphones run on my iPad with run-in demo files for 1 night, followed by mix songs for 5 days. After all the running in and putting them over my head again, not noticingly, i nod my head and thought to myself "this is how it should sound". There's warmth, spaciousness and accuracy, with no fudging of low bass, and smooth, soaring highs. Very 'Focal' characteristic indeed.

Various songs were tested on my iPad, all in FLAC files. First, I started of with vocals and classical. Lana Del Rey - Video Games, Lana Del Rey sounded really smooth and very forward sounding while echo and instruments sounded pretty spacious. Same goes to Ellie Goulding - Your Song and Birdy - Skinny Bird. The deep noted for 'Your Song' with the bass drum beat was deep and tight. Very addictive to listen to indeed. At times, i feel as if I was in the studio.

Moving on to fast moving beats, fun.-We Are Young, sounded really fun! Initial drum note was pretty tight while vocal, again, is more forward. I was expecting it to sound pretty fatigue after a while but i was wrong. Vocal and instruments were well separated, while highs are smooth and did not sound too harsh especially when it came to the chorus. Nikki Minaj - Starships was played mainly to test out mid and low bass. The Spirit One delivered really good bass and even bass crazy listeners would enjoy them, though i hope for a little bit more on the mid low bass.

Verdict:
The Focal Spirit One is definitely a must to test list if you are hunting for a good pair of headphones. Though price may sound a little high (RM1299), I would say you pay for what you get. It is well-made, sounds great (*Would say it is more an all rounder compared to the SRH 840), the only draw back I would comment now would be on the comfort site which I can't give a final verdict as it is still new. I will be giving it further test with *external source and amp (something that everyone will be very interested in) :hehe: which I will also be writing on later on.

Classical 5/5
Vocal 5/5
Jazz & Instrumental 5/5
R&B 4/5
Comfort 4/5
Built Quality 4.5/5
Overall 4.5/5

Nice write up. Good to see another head-fi enthusiast around.

Can the cups be folded?

When you mentioned noise isolation, its purely based on the closed back design right? There are no electronics behid it like a noise cancellation headphones?

elhefe wrote:Nice write up. Good to see another head-fi enthusiast around.

Can the cups be folded?

When you mentioned noise isolation, its purely based on the closed back design right? There are no electronics behid it like a noise cancellation headphones?

Thanks Elhefe. Nope they cant be folded but only rotatable. Sound insulation is helped by its closed back design. After using it for a while, It is much more comfy now