Focal Azurys  Headphones Review

The Focal Azurys' tuning is warm with a relatively neutral bass that more closely mirrors the conservative response found on studio headphones without falling into the trap of anemic low-end. The mid-range aligns well with our target, too. The headphones' treble response is warmer than our target, but aside from the peak in the low-treble, which lends voices distinctive articulation, the sound relieves your ears of overly excited transients.

The frequency response, especially the treble, more closely resembles the SoundGuys.com Headphone Preference Curve and the SenseLab Aizu target than ours does. And a note for the curious, since Focal recommends a 24-hour burn-in, these measurements were taken after a day's break-in period, even though evidence suggests burn-in is basically bupkis.

The Focal Azurys have middling frequency response consistency. In this case, it means that most people have difficulty achieving a consistent over-ear fit, leading to a different tuning, especially in the bass, across listeners. In contrast, their wireless sibling, the Focal Bathys Wireless, demonstrates a more predictable-sounding performance.

The bass profile's target compliance is remarkable. Besides a minor bump in the mid to high-bass, which adds a touch of warmth and boom to kick drums, the range is very even and nearly matches our target.

The mid-range does an outstanding job of matching our target curve. The frequency response delivers your audio clearly without undue emphasis or major dips, resulting in balanced voices and lead melodies. There's a taper-off in the high-midrange's transition to the treble, which slightly softens the honk in soaring guitar solos.

The Focal Azurys exhibit alright treble profile target compliance. Overall, the range is underemphasized relative to our preference curve, resulting in a mostly warm, veiled top end. There are a couple of peaks in the low-treble and mid-treble, which inject somewhat narrow bands of articulation and detail to voices, though it can cause cymbals to lack a bit of harmonic depth and to sound a little splashy. However, this warm treble range is mostly even, and if you're sensitive to bright treble and excited V-shaped tunings, this can relieve some premature ear fatigue.

The peaks and dips performance is good. Their tuning is relatively even from the bass through the mid-range, ensuring that these frequencies come across smoothly without jumping out within the mix. There's a peak in the low-treble, which adds a narrow jolt of bright detail, followed by a fairly wide dip that dulls the brightness of elements like cymbals. Next, another narrow peak in the mid-treble can give crash cymbals a somewhat splashy tonality, depending on the pitch, but also brightens up the dark treble range.

The Focal Azurys' drivers demonstrate impressive stereo matching. Their weighted amplitude is tight, so each side plays your music back at similar levels. The weighted frequency response mismatch is also close between the L/R, avoiding skewing the stereo image too much to one side. Phase mismatch is elevated, but since the notable deviations are almost entirely in the high-treble at the edge of most people's hearing, there are no obvious issues when listening back to audio content. All that said, these results apply to our unit, and your pair may have different results.

The PRTF measurements of these closed-backs indicate their angled drivers have minimal interaction with your outer ear. As a result, they don't sound like an angled reference speaker when it comes to how they interact with your pinna.

The Focal Azurys have superb harmonic distortion measurements. Even at high levels (94 dB/SPL and 104 dB/SPL), each measured frequency retains the signal's purity without introducing artifacts.

The Focal Azurys are easy to drive to healthy listening levels without the use of additional amplification. So, you can plug these into your laptop's headphone output and hit 'play' on your audio.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The Focal Azurys follow the brand's recognizable visual language, featuring perforated dark grey metal outer housings with pale blue, a theme that continues with the headbands and padding that complement the rest of the headphones. Unlike the (optionally wired or wireless) Focal Bathys, the Azurys cover the pads with a woven twill-like fabric, except for a strip of leather across the top of the headband. This colorway includes a matching cable to tie the look together. Although apparently inspired by the azurite gemstone, the shade of blue leans far closer to celestite, but perhaps the Focal Celestee forced the brand to choose a different rock inspiration.

The Focal Azurys feel great. They're very comfortable thanks to their lightweight frame and plush memory foam padding, which also doesn't add much pressure to glasses. Their fabric-covered pads aren't prone to trapping in heat either. The angled earcup design feels good around the back of your ears, too. Meanwhile, the headband has plenty of notches to dial in your exact fit, but it can be a little annoying if you share the headphones with others. The sizing range tends to favor average and small heads, so if your noggin is on the larger side, you might find the sizing extension can't accommodate you well.

The in-line remote control features one button for audio playback commands. It's dead simple: one press to play or pause, two to skip ahead, and three to skip back. Since it's attached to an analog cable terminating with a conventional 3.5 mm (1/8") headphone jack, you're essentially limited to devices with headphone outputs, like a PC. Your mileage may vary concerning compatibility if you use a USB-C to 3.5 mm dongle and connect to a smartphone.

The Focal Azurys have middling portability. They're essentially the same size as the Focal Bathys, albeit lighter, so you could take them with you, but given their wired-only design and relatively chunky size, they're not ideal for on-the-go use. Still, you can swivel the ear cups to lie flat to take up less space, and rest these cans around your neck.

Their carrying case is great. It fully zips shut and is a hardshell design with a pale grey and blue variegated fabric exterior, which looks nice but might stain easily. The inside is molded to fit and protect the headphones, and it features a built-in pouch to keep the detachable cable safe.

The Focal Azurys are well-built. Their metal frame is sturdy, free of creaking or loose hinges and yokes. The notched adjustment sizing is tight and doesn't seem liable to loosen up over time either. The metal housings feel solid, with no sharp edges, and the aluminum and magnesium domed drivers appear robust. Their memory foam padding is ample and covered in a relatively soft fabric, though it may be difficult to clean and maintain if you wear makeup, greasy hair products, or tend to sweat, which is the downside of ditching leather. Their detachable cable helps extend the headphones' lifespan, and it's a little thin rather than overbuilt, but this keeps weight down. Like most audiophile headphones, these don't have an IP rating, as they're meant for indoor or fair-weather use.

These over-ears are passably stable. Since they aren't meant to accompany you to the gym, this makes sense, alongside their not particularly tight clamping force. If you like to energetically nod along to your tunes, they'll probably slide around or fall off if the song is good enough.

• Focal Azurys headphones
• 3.5 mm (1/8") TRRS to 3.5 mm (1/8") TRS cable with in-line mic and remote (1.23 m / 4 ft)
• Hard case
• Quick start guide and warranty papers

The Focal Azurys have disappointing full-range noise isolation, which makes sense given they only passively isolate. They mainly block out high-pitched sounds and very slightly dampen mid-range sounds like voices, while leaving low frequencies untouched.

Their noise isolation in common scenarios is bad, as is expected of closed-backs without active noise cancellation. They muffle high frequencies somewhat, and mids a little, but don't meaningfully block out low-pitched noises. So while they take the piercing edge off of an office kitchen's blender, they can't do much to fully silence your coworkers or the din of traffic.

These have okay leakage performance. Depending on the ambient noise of your space and the volume of your audio, people nearby may be able to hear a faint version of it. Most of what leaks is mid-rangey and a bit bright. In an average office, it shouldn't be too loud unless you sit side-by-side without much room between you and colleagues.

The in-line microphone sounds not bad. It captures a bit of your voice's warmth in the mids, though it can sound a little boxy and lispy, depending on your natural speaking register. Overall, your voice is intelligible and not overly dark or bright. However, the mic adds an audible background hiss, which may be distracting.

The in-line mic's noise handling is disappointing. In the absence of noise gating or other tech trickery, the mic relies on off-axis noise rejection. Consistent background noise is easily picked up alongside any voices, yours or other people's. Similarly, overwhelmingly loud noises, such as a subway train, can drown you out, depending on your proximity.

The Focal Azurys come with a single detachable analog audio cable with a built-in mic and in-line remote. The 1.23m (4') cable terminates with a 3.5 mm (1/8") TRRS jack and connects to the left ear cup with its 3.5 mm (1/8") TRS jack. It's all analog, so there's basically no latency. The TRRS jack is also angled at about 45 degrees, seemingly as a compromise to suit a variety of audio players without sticking out or limiting your connectivity. You also don't get a 6.35 mm (1/4") headphone adapter for use with a hi-fi amp or synthesizer, but you'll also lose the mic capability if you add your own. At this price point, the single cable is acceptable, though it serves as evidence of the premium-on-a-budget nature of the package. If you want a balanced cable and an adapter too, there are the FIIO FT1 headphones, though they have no mic.

The Focal Azurys' cable can plug into the headphone output on your PC for full audio and mic support.

The 3.5 mm (1/8") headphone jack can plug into your PS console's controller for mic and audio support.

You can connect the headphones' 3.5 mm (1/8") TRRS jack to your Xbox controller's headphone output port, so you can listen to your game's audio and speak with teammates.