Although I have no experience with your Focal headphones, I feel the issues you are having could be with the Rogue headphone amp and the Focal being a closed back design ( I prefer the open back headphones myself ). Don't give up as headphones can provide you with an excellent alternative to your main system and provide you with a great musical experience when done correctly. Seek out a way to play your Focals through a dedicated headphone amp and see how that turns out for you. Enjoy the music
Focal Celestee
I just received my first audiophile headphones, the Focal Celestee. I am not necessarily a HP fan, but I needed a birthday present, they were pretty highly recommended by professional & user reviews, my local audio store (even though they were OOS), they were a good price point & I thought I would enjoy them.
I first burned them in running for 24+ hours at a higher volume per Focal recommendation. I then began streaming from my system, several jazz musicians listening through my new Focal’s while A/B with my system speakers (my Rogue plays both headphones & speakers simultaneously).
My issue is the Focal’s don’t sound as good, to my ears, as playing music through my existing system or I had hoped. I understand Focal is not a leader in soundstage & while the Focal’s are more dynamic, I had hoped for a cleaner & clearer sound.
My question is if you think my issues are with the Focal’s or the built in headphone amp in my Rogue preamp and your resulting recommendations / fixes.
My system includes:
Rogue RP-1 pre with NOS Telefunkon medical, Siemens nickel plate & Brimar CV4003 NOS tubes (rolling)
LSA Warp 1 amp
KEF R11 speakers
Rythmic F12SE sub w/miniDSP equalization
Aurender N150 streaming Qobuz
Chord Qutest DAC
Pro-ject 1Xpression carbon classic with Hana ML cart
Rega Aria phono stage
A reason to think the problem may be in the Rogue is the stereophile RP-1 review. While the overall review was stellar, they stated: “… mostly average audio quality of the RP-1’s headphone output.”. But maybe not. Anyone using the RP-1 HP output?
Your thoughts and recommended actions would be appreciated. Thank you.
It’s hard to say, but using the headphone output from an entry level preamp is not likely doing you any favors. That said, your Focals don’t seem to be voiced to be the last word when it comes to detail/air, so I’m guessing that’s a lot of what you’re missing. If possible you should try a pair of Hifiman open-backed planar headphones as you’ll likely get much more openness and detail, and I’d recommend their Ananda Nano ($499) as a good starting point but if you could stretch for the Arya Organic you’ll be at a higher level altogether and think you’d be floored by them. You might be able to buy and return through Amazon so that might be worth a look. Hope this helps, and best of luck. |
I own a pair of celestees, along with a number of other headphones (including their utopia22s). I am reasonably satisfied with the celestees, for closed backs, although they are limited in a few ways because of the closed back nature of them.I would start with a decent headphone amp and see how it goes. Wiim, Schiit, Topping, JDS, and a few others make reasonably priced headphone amps. Check out of those and spend some time getting used to listening to your cans with them.
Headphones are great but a different experience than listening to speakers. |
Thanks, I agree. Here’s my thoughts after much research. Return the Celestee’s & buy the original new stock Clear’s from headphones.com (only $91 more). |
I think you’ll be much happier with the Clears and look forward to your thoughts. I was going to recommend the Singxer SA1 amp that I drive my Arya Stealths with as I think it would deliver the sound characteristics you’re looking for without breaking the bank, but alas it is a ChiFi product as are many HP amps these days. So I’ll add these links more for fyi — one is a review that I think is spot on in terms of assessing the amp’s sonic characteristics and the other is a link where you can buy with a no risk, 30-day return policy (I did this and didn’t return it). https://www.amazon.com/Singxer-Balanced-Discrete-Single-Ended-Amplifier/dp/B08QMDM631 If the Singxer is a no go I’d look at the Burson Soloist 3X (also reviewed on the Soundnews.net site) as I don’t believe it’s made in China although it’s more expensive. Schiit may also be good but I’d read reviews to see if their models offer the sound characteristics you’re looking for. Hope this helps. |
I think I am going to buy the Schiit Lyr+. USA built, good reviews (incl compared to SA-1), remote controlled, good power, price & form factor. Several user express great compatibility with Clear’s. Selectable SS & tube options, which allows for tube rolling (fun) or running straight SS. |
Thanks, I am certainly not a bass head. My preference is clean, clear and neutral, especially in electronics. Solid state seems to be that. Tube performance seems to have somewhat warmer with slightly better sound stage. Should be perfect & the ability to switch modes & tubes is nice. My only reluctance is I have not been happy with previous Shiit products (3). Two were returned, one was downgraded to my secondary stereo. However, those products were on a lower end of their scale. |