Focal Spirit Pro

Headphones

The ‘Pro’ badge here is no token addendum — Focal is calling these ‘studio’ and ‘monitoring’ headphones, appellations that come with some pretty firm requirements. They should be a closed design (tick). They must be fully over the ear (tick, just). And most important of all, they must be utterly flat in their frequency response. If you’re mastering music, you can’t use headphones which have bumps and dips, otherwise your recordings will emerge with precisely the opposite holes and peaks.

Such professional headphones are usually bling-free zones—but perhaps Focal’s French penchant for high fashion couldn’t resist adding an unusual finish to the headshells and band, a not entirely successful stipple effect that resembles randomly splashed water; this catches the light and glitters.

Pro headphones usually also come with curly cords, and a four-metre curly is included but also a 1.4-metre straight cable with an inline remote and microphone which can pause music (though not control volume) and answer calls. So Focal presumably sees these Spirit Pros doubling up as streetwear— even though flat response is not currently à la mode dans la rue.

Well it should be. The Spirit Pros are wonderful headphones for the daily commute. Their memory-foam ear-cushions do a good job of passive noise isolation in both directions, comfortable through the ability to swivel slightly side to side and to adjust for height through the expansion band, and exerting only enough inward pressure to keep them well sealed, my only note being that the leatherette can start to get slightly sweaty on our more sweltering Australian days. The headshells fold inward as well for somewhat easier storage—only a soft bag is provided for transportion.

And the sound is near faultless for a closed design, with everything in its place—excellent detail and zero peakiness up top, a richly presented midrange and a real, solid and fast bass. They do lack the sparkling openness of ‘open’ headphones, but those would satisfy neither street nor recording use.

Even difficult recordings get proper treatment—Ian Dury’s vocal on What A Waste can get thin and spitty on lesser ‘phones, but Focal’s 40mm Mylar/titanium-membrane diaphragms deliver this correctly, projecting the vocal over a busy mix. Lower down, the three gigantic rotating bass notes that open Bjork’s Hyperballad (Radio Edit) were thrillingly resonant and entirely bloat-free, while the Focal’s clarity also made obvious the slight change in vocal tone (and soundstage position) between verse and chorus, indicating a different take or even a different session and/ or microphone. These are just the variations any producer needs highlighted rather than glossed over.

Male and female spoken voices were highly accurately presented, a simple but often tricky test of tonal neutrality.

All these delights gain additional solidity when provided with the power of a decent headphone amp. I ran them from a Lehmann Audio headphone amp and from the output of a ProTools MBox (for home recording), and they confirmed the Focals’ credentials for delivering the requisite analysis of a mix. In this they are hardly alone, but their 32 Ω friendliness and the ability to switch cables for road use do offer something rare.

I loved the Focal Spirit Pros. They’re not cheap at $500, yet for me, they make all the right decisions (except perhaps that textured finish, and the lack of remote volume control on the non-curly cable). One final note: if you get a chance to audition them, listen as long as possible—the very first impression may be that they are lacking in impact, precisely because they have such a flat unemphasised response. Stay with them. Chances are you’ll like it flat, too. Jez Ford