As I mentioned, I’m new to Focal headphones. It’s too early to say what I think of these regarding sound quality, although they certainly sound very nice.
The only significant issue I’m having with them at the moment is around fit. Unlike all of my other headphones, including the Sennheiser HD600 and HD650, the ear cups are held to their yokes with a curiously forceful springs that prevent them from sitting flush to on the sides of my head. The spring compels rotation of the cups such that the bottoms are forced together and the tops are pried apart. As a result, there’s a lot of pressure on my jaw and something less than a good seal around the tops of my ears. The force of these springs, which I guess are internal to the cups, is remarkable!
I’ll skim this thread again, but I’m curious to know if I’m alone in discovering this and (crucially) if there’s any way to adjust the tension. The cups in my Sennheiser headphones tip forward and back in their yokes with no resistance and fit beautifully. I don’t understand the purpose of these powerful springs in the Focals.
Note: I’m not talking about the headband spring. Rather it’s individual springs in each cup that compel them to tilt into alignment with the yokes and away from a more logical parallel position that’s required for a human to ware them. Thanks.
Edit: After doing some research, according to this thread, the springs are fairly easy to remove. Not sure how difficult they would be to put back in, but I may give it a try. This is such a strange design decision. How is it beneficial to have more than twice the clamping force at the bottom of the cups as at the top??! There’s no way to get a good seal like that. I don’t think my head is particularly unusually shaped.
Edit 2: Another fitting strategy that I’m trying is to press my index fingers on the tops of the cups, rotating them forward in the yokes as much as possible while putting them on such that the tops of the cups contact my head above my ears. I then gradually releasing them. This approach uses friction between the tops of the pads and my head to pull the headphones down and also resist the force yoke springs on my jaw. Perhaps it just takes some practice?
Edit 3: Heart Audio Cable and Interconnects has arrived. This color matches the Radiance quite nicely.
