Focal Stellia HEADPHONES REVIEW

The Focal Stellia look great. They share the same design language as the Focal Elegia but have a more retro look with a cognac and mocha color scheme. The headband is well-padded and covered in full grain cognac leather. The yokes and back of the ear cups are also cognac in color but are made of metal. The ear cups are plush and densely padded with mocha leather covers. The Stellia are reminiscent of vintage leather headphones and have a design that stands out a lot more than that of the Elegia or the Elear.

The Stellia are very comfortable over-ear headphones. Their headband is well-padded and their ear cups are large and deep. They’re lighter than the Focal Elear and although they are a bit bulky, they don’t feel fatiguing to wear over long periods of time. The leather ear cups feel pleasing on the skin and seal a bit better than the fabric coating of the Focal Elegia, but they may not seal as well on everyone and can create gaps around the ears.

These headphones do not have an in-line remote with controls.

Like most closed-back over-ear headphones, the Focal Stellia aren’t very breathable. Their leather ear cups are comfortable but also trap a fair bit of heat around your ears. They won’t be ideal for sports as you will sweat more than usual with these headphones on. It should be noted that these headphones fit somewhat awkwardly on our testing equipment, so we had to find a way to make them fit more tightly, which means the results may be warmer than what you would experience on a normal head with a normal fit.

Like most over-ear headphones, the Focal Stellia are not very portable. They don’t fold into a more compact format and their ear cups don’t swivel to lay flat. They come with a nice carrying case to protect them when you’re out and about, but it adds additional bulk.

The Stellia come with a large hard carrying case that helps protect the headphones against scratches, water exposure, and physical damage. The interior is molded to snugly fit the headphones and technically fits the Focal Elegia and Elear as well.

The Focal Stellia are outstandingly well-built headphones. They are made nearly exclusively of metal and have very few moving parts, which makes them feel durable and solid. The ear cup padding and headband have full-grain leather covers, which lends a very high-end feel to the headphones. The cognac leather finish does stain easily, but this is to be expected of a natural leather product. The headphones come with a thick detachable braided cable that can be replaced if broken, but don’t come with extra ear pads like the Beyerdynamic DT 1770 PRO.

The Stellia have a stable enough fit to remain on your head during casual or critical listening sessions but won’t be ideal for sports, as expected. If you attempt to run or work out with these headphones, they are likely to fall off. They’re fine otherwise, though, so you shouldn’t have a problem with them wiggling around too much unless you’re making exaggerated movements.

The Focal Stellia come with a 4-foot 1/8” TRS cable, an 1/4” TRS adapter and a 10-foot XLR cable.

The Focal Stellia have great bass. Low-frequency extension (LFE) is at 10Hz and low-bass is within about 1dB of our neutral target, which means these headphones have deep and extended bass with an appropriate amount of thump and rumble. This makes them suitable for bass-heavy music like hip-hop, EDM, and film scores. There’s a 3dB bump that begins in mid-bass and continues into high-bass, however, which can make these headphones sound a bit boomy and muddy.

However, it is worth noting that their bass delivery varies significantly across users, and is sensitive to the quality of fit, seal, and whether you wear glasses. This represents the average bass response, and your experience may vary.

The mid-range is great. The response is even and flat throughout the range and is within about 3dB of our target curve. This suggests an overall clear and balanced reproduction of vocals and lead instruments, however, the slight overemphasis in the high-mids results in vocals and leads that may sound a bit forward.

The Focal Stellia have good treble performance. The response is relatively well-balanced, which is important for producing accurate vocals and lead instruments. However, it is slightly veiled. The dip from 4kHz to 8kHz will have a small negative effect on the brightness and detail of the vocals and instruments. That said, not everyone experiences treble frequencies the same way so your listening experience may differ.

The Stellia have sub-par frequency response consistency. Their bass delivery is quite consistent across our human subjects, with the exception of the one who wears glasses. If you have a lot of hair between the headphones and your ear, or wear glasses, then you may experience a noticeable drop in bass. The maximum deviation at 20Hz is about 8dB for our human subjects. There’s also a fair amount of inconsistency in the treble range, with up to 10dB of deviation depending on the position of the headphones on our dummy head. This means that your treble response may change as the headphones move around on your head.

The imaging performance is very good. Weighted group delay is at 0.32, which is great. The group delay graph also shows that the entire group delay response is below the audibility threshold. This ensures a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Additionally, the left and right drivers of our test unit were well-matched in frequency, amplitude, and phase. This is important for the proper placement and localization of objects (voices, instruments, video game effects) in the stereo field. However, these results are only valid for our test unit, and yours may perform differently.

The Stellia have a poor soundstage. The PRTF graph shows that the response doesn’t follow our reference very closely. There’s a limited amount of pinna interaction and activation, and there is no 10kHz notch present either. Since creating a speaker-like soundstage is dependent on the amount and accuracy of pinna interaction, these results suggest the Stellia’s soundstage will be perceived as relatively small and located inside the listener's head. Also, because the Stellia are closed-back headphones, they will feel less open than the open-back Focal Elear.

The harmonic distortion performance is very good. The amount of THD produced is very low throughout the range. However, the peak around 1kHz could make these frequencies a bit harsh and impure.

The Stellia have mediocre noise isolation. These headphones don't have active noise cancelling and therefore don’t isolate in the bass range. This means they let in the deep rumbles of bus and airplane engines. They do alright at blocking out speech, isolating in the mid-range by about 15dB. They perform fairly well in the treble range, responsible for sharp sounds like S and T sibilants or A/C fan unit noises, isolating by about 28 dB.

Their leakage performance is unremarkable. The significant portion of their leakage is spread between 500Hz and 5.5kHz, which is a relatively broad spectrum concentrated in the mid and treble ranges. Therefore, their leakage will sound fuller than that of in-ears and earbuds, but not as loud and full as open-back headphones. However, the overall level of the leakage is not too loud. At 100dB SPL, the average leakage at a 1-foot distance was 43dB and peaked at 61dB, which is about the average office noise floor.

These headphones don’t have a microphone.

These headphones don’t have a microphone.

These headphones don’t require a battery.

There is no companion app for the Focal Stellia.

The Stellia don’t support Bluetooth.

The Focal Stellia have a 1/8” TRS connection that provides audio on consoles and PC as well. They also come with a 1/4” adapter and an XLR cable for compatibility with different amps, receivers, or other forms of audio gear.

These headphones don’t come with a dock.

The Stellia aren’t wireless headphones, so you’re limited by either their 4-foot long TRS cable or their 10-foot XLR cable.

Since the Focal Stellia are wired headphones, they have virtually no latency, which is great for gaming or watching videos.