They are a great headphone when you want to just kick back plug them into iPAD or iPhone and listen to tunes or watch a video.
3 Likes
When I received the Stellias, they sounded great, but I had two problems: the clamping force was really strong (I have a large head), and they would become really uncomfortable too soon. I solved this by stretching the Stellias over a bunch of books for a few days, and now they are very comfy.
I also didn’t like the stock cable. It was way too stiff, and was always getting caught on things. I solved this by gettting a Lavricables Master (12 cores of 5N purity silver). I have been skeptical about after-market cables, but in this case they bring out the best of the Focal Stellia headphones, with no micro-phonics and easy flexibility. They have made the Stellias a definite keeper for me.
8 Likes
I listen to headphones all day while I work. For many years, in the dark ages before the headphone market really took off, I used HD650s with a Headroom MAX amp, and a variety of sources. I had a private office so open headphones were fine. Then I switched jobs and ended up in an open office, so the 650s ended up in their box and were replaced with AKG K550s, because I wasn’t going to spend $1500+ for LCD-XCs, which were the only great option back then (2013). I missed by HD650s. Then came the Aeon Flow Closed (nice) followed by the Elegia (even nicer). Then I made the mistake of listening to the Stellias at a meetup, and it was love at first listen. So comfortable! And that bass! And also, that price!
After a year of talking myself into it, I finally bought a pair and they arrived about a week ago. Like many people, I’m working from home at the moment. In an attempt to keep my desk uncluttered, I slimmed down my headphone stack to a Massdrop THX AAA789 and the Grace SDAC. I hooked up the Stellia, and … hmm. That’s not what I remember. They still sounded good, but the WOW wasn’t there, especially in the bass. I listened for a few hours, thoroughly enjoyed them, but was wondering if maybe I’d remembered the sound wrong. I’d last listened to them on a Phonitor X and a Chord DAVE, so I wasn’t expecting quite that level of performance but I was still a bit disappointed. I listen to a lot of Malian music, which often includes very deep bass played on a large gourd. When you hear this live, you feel it more than hear it, and it just wasn’t there in the music. As a last ditch effort before spending even more money on new gear, I went and grabbed my old Benchmark DAC1 from the basement. And suddenly the magic gourd bass was there! Whew! I’m still planning some upgrades, but for now, my playback chain is sorted. Time to get down to listening.
Everything I’ve listened to so far has been fabulous. Mostly I’ve been listening to tracks I know well, but I keep finding myself wanting to listen to the whole album. All tracks are from Tidal, unless otherwise specified.
-
Timbuktu Fasso (Amine Bouhafa, performed by Fatoumata Diawara). Even if you don’t speak Bambara (I don’t), this song is really moving and it’s usually amongst the first things I listen to on a new system because 1) I like female vocals and 2) if it doesn’t move me, what’s the point? It’s nicely recorded and on a good system, the separation between the vocals and the various instruments is clear. Through the Stellias, it sounds lovely. The vocals are lovely with plenty of texture, the other instruments are all clearly audible, and the bass is solid. And it hit me right in the feels, so clearly something was working.
-
Dies Irie (from Requiem for My Friend). This is a really tough track for almost any system, because the vast majority is just soft, deep organ notes, with a few glorious chorale sections. I’m dying to hear this on a really big full-range system (Wilson Alexx or the like) to get a sense of what it should sound like. On most headphone system, you can sense the organ music but you don’t really hear it. The Stellia does an OK job - it’s clearly better than the Elegia - but it still doesn’t go quite deep enough. The chorale sections are superb, though - no brightness, good imaging etc.
-
Solringen (Wardruna). Spotify suggested this to me a while ago, and I really like it. It opens with some solid bass, with a tapping noise overlayed. Through the Stellia, you can clearly hear that the tapping is two pieces of wood hitting each other (drumstick on a block of wood?), and then as the other instruments come in, it all works together. What I love about the Stellia is how clearly I can hear the placement of instruments in the soundstage, and the textures of the individual instruments - the sound of a bow on the strings, fingers strumming, and so on. Bass is really important in this track, and the solidity of the bass through the Stellia makes for a much more enjoyable experience.
-
Marian (Sisters of Mercy) - I used to listen to a lot of Goth music, so I decided to give this a whirl. Sisters of Mercy got a lot of crap for using a drum machine, but it had never really bothered me. With the Stellias, you can definitely hear that they’re using a drum machine, and it sounds … not so good. But that’s not the Stellias fault.
-
4th of July (Aimee Mann). Through the Stellias, Aimee’s voice sound lovely and there’s plenty of detail. At 1:07, there are series of drum beats lasting until about 1:20. On a good speaker system, the bass is placed quite far back in the soundstage, making it feel like it’s live performance. With the Stellias, that depth wasn’t there. I missed it.
-
Jacob Marley’s Chain (Aimee Mann). The opening features an acoustic guitar. Through the Stellias, you can clearly hear that the guitarist is playing slightly closer to the neck of the guitar than the bridge - it gives the sound a slightly “woodier”, less metallic feel, and I think that’s the first time I’ve really noticed that. There’s also an interesting “ding” at around 0:39 - on a great speaker system, the sound appears to come from well to the right of the right speaker. The Stellia did a pretty nice job with that, though obviously not as good as a speaker system.
-
Familiar (Agnes Obel, 44/24 FLAC from 7digital). During the track, there’s some cello plucking, which I’d never noticed before. Towards the end of the track (3:20), there’s some fairly intense deep cello bowing, and that definitely sounded better than I’ve heard it before - I could really hear the bow moving over the string.
-
Diaraby (The Toure-Raichel Collective). This track features Idan Raichel playing piano, with Vieux Farka Toure singing one of his late father’s most famous tracks. I’ve seen this performed live, and it was very moving: dark stage, piano off to the left, Vieux sitting on a chair in the middle of the stage with a spotlight on him, and he was clearly very emotional. The Stellias really did a great job with the texture of Vieux’s voice - you could hear all the emotion as he sang.
These headphones are really doing it for me. Everything I listen to just feels right. I was listening to a track by Juluka (Inkunzi Ayihlabi Ngokumisa) which I’ve listened to hundreds of times. It made the hair on my arms stand up - first time ever. Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker” - fantastic. Dead Can Dance - everything I listened to of theirs felt special.
So I think these are my endgame headphones. The only thing I don’t particularly like about them is their appearance - since I normally listen to headphones at work, I prefer that my headphones draw a little less attention to themselves than these do. So I think I’m going to have to hang on to my Elegias for use at work, which is a shame, because these are so much more enjoyable (and comfortable).
Overall: love 'em!
14 Likes
That’s awesome!
Great write up. 
3 Likes
Nice write-up and interesting music selection. You’ve got good music taste.
5 Likes
And I didn’t even mention the Tuvan throat singing! Huun Huur Tu for the win!
4 Likes
Excellent writeup and great impressions.
4 Likes
It’s amazing how important audio chain is for synergy and enjoyment!! Glad you are enjoying these!! #StelliaGang lol
4 Likes
I couldn’t agree more. I will not pay any attention to a review unless it describes the chain of equipment feeding the headphones. My experience is that a headphone can sound markedly different, depending on the source and amplification. I would add that certain after-market cables can make a difference as well. I found that replacing the cable on my Stellias made a very positive difference in the sound quality.
This also applies to iems, but also introduces the variable of eartips, which can dramatically change the sound quality and presentation.
5 Likes
If you like great quality precise Bass you should try the just brand new Kennerton Gjallarhorn, it will blow you up with the type of music you listen, it is a very big competitor of the Stellia at a much compete price.
3 Likes
Thanks for the tip. I will keep an eye out for them.
What I read about the Kennerton: much more bass, yes, but less resolution overall. More of a high level fun headphone. Which is fine. You just need to know what you lose when the bass is cranked up.
3 Likes
Thanks. I went looking for reviews, but was unable to find any 3rd party reviews online.
1 Like
If you want more resolution with a bit less bass, the Kennerton Magni is just perfect
1 Like
I Don’t think it’s a matter of synergy in this case, I just think that SDAC isn’t a great DAC - I found the Elegias must less enjoyable when using it, too. But it’s was $80 so why would it be awesome. I’d love a DAC upgrade - the Benchmark is great but it’s large and it doesn’t have USB, which means I have to use a Schiit Eitr - even more desk space gone, even more cables cluttering things up.
2 Likes
Schiit Modius just came out and looks like it is a RME ADI-2DAC without all the whiz bangs…only $200 plus tax and shipping from Schiit
4 Likes
Aaah … are you a Kennerton sales promotor? Because these are your first posts here and everything you do is saying those headphones are so great, no word about the Stellia. Maybe you‘re just in the wrong thread? 
2 Likes
No I am just an enduser from Switzerland interested of good closed back Headphones, in Switzerland we do not need any money from Russia we reach enough with our strong and reliable Swiss francs !
And also we have the reputation to be quiet objective and neutral.
Welcome to the forum @Frabera
I was about to ask the same question… as @newernow
It is great to endorse a headphone but, try not to push it too hard in different threads… If you don’t see a thread with your headphone of choice or company feel free to ask a mod to create the thread if you don’t have access to that functionality yet =)
Cheers, your friendly neighborhood mod!
6 Likes
The Modius is interesting, but I’ve learned my lesson with the Stellia: just get the thing you want instead of going for the cheaper version and eventually realizing you should have just bought the thing you wanted from the get-go, so I think I’m going to get a Bifrost 2.
4 Likes