The Focal listen are the latest cans to arrive and I have been testing them out some time now and overall they are a quality made comfortable that comes in a nice range of colours to boot. We have the Black gloss version even thought the colour was not to my taste they do a great job and are very comfortable..
UNBOXING
First off the presentation is excllent which is something I prefer in a prodcut they are well packed and come nicely presented in a solid package and looks good on opening, We get all the usual requirements including a carry bag which some manufacturers tend to forget, headphones are portable and we need to store them when not in use especially when travelling.. Also included is a 1.4m (4.5ft.) OFC cable with remote control and omnidirectional microphone and Aircraft adapter.
Design – Plastic all round which is nothing new to be honest they could have had more metal here but its not a deal breaker, the hinges again are all plastic but seem sturdy enough and should last a while if you are the carefull type, One thing that also was a small gripe is that the cups do not rotate this makes way for comfortable storage but as is leaves them more on the bulky side but they do come with a soft touch case so we can forgive them for that.
Controls – The buttons are large and covered in rubber and easy to navigate blindly after some use, at the beggining you will find it hard to select blindly there is a proper slider switch on/of you also get voice commands albeit sounding robotic it works well and with this on board you know where you stand and thats good. The usual factors that come into play are here (volume up and down,Track forward, play/pause) and the Bluetooth connection button lights up Blue which is nice and looks well.
All the buttons are on one side,the right which keeps things simple, Also on the right is the charge port which changes colour on charge status which is a nice effect,On the left is the 3.5mm socket should you run out juice which is sunken into the cup itself keeping that cable safe and tight fit.
Comfort – These are comfortble,the headband has a nice rubber band underneath which is typical with most manufacturers today and the cups are a nice soft leather which sits nicely over the ears isolating noise from outside, if you are using these outdoors you will find them working well enough to isolate noise given there no ANC on board here, I did notice some sweat build up after a long session wearing them but this can happen with any type and again weather and individual use comes into play here.
Sound – Wired or wireless they sound great probably better though wired,although there is an argument for another day here on that subject they where easy to connect to my smartphone and connect promptly each time I turn them on,some headphones can lag in this are this was not the case here everytime. Listening to all formats of music from many genres male and female they sound great and any audiophile will be impressed enough with them but the average Joe who is not use to having many headphones will be pleasantly surpirsed with the sound quality on offer here and will not be dissapointed and they are also quite loud turned up to the max with little or no distortion.
Overall I was impressed with these given I had the Black Gloss,they are a fingerprint magnet like anything in Black gloss and I would have liked to seen more metal on show,the battery life is decent and overall they are really comfortable and offer good value for the price you pay and on point with similar in the price range.