Focal Sphear S High-Definition In-ear Earphones, Black

The Focal Sphear's are one of the better sounding pair of headphones I have bough (somewhat close to my HD600's). I primarily use these while working on my laptop and sometimes use it with my phone. These headphones are easily powered and are plenty loud at half volume for most phones.Pros:Extremely comfortable. I have never had a pair of headphones where I used the buds that come already installed on it.Sound is very linear and clear. Mids and Bass and exceptional with highs being very good but is the only thing I would say it not on par with my Hd 600's (still very good though).The 60-70 degree angle on the plug is something that I found to be quite convenient. It doesn't bend from direct force from any direction unlike a right angle or straight one would.The case it very nice and just the right size.The control buttons in the middle of the headphones is perfect. Not only does it add additional rigidity to the splitting part but also makes it so it doesn't weigh one side of the split part more than the other (annoying if you run with headphones)The mic sounds decent.Cons:The looks are OK if that matter to youSound isolation is not as great as some other buds I have used but almost seems more open. The symbol on the outside of the drive is a mesh which you can move air through. I prefer an open design so perhaps it enhances the quality of the sound.The cable is a little flimsy and not terrible thick but I haven't had any problems with it.I do not like how you have to use the controller buttons (1 click pauses, 2 next song). No volume button's.Overall, for the money, these headphones are quite exceptional even with the very few nitpicky flaws the sound is outstanding.

I got really let down by these earbuds, because I couldn't get the left bud to fit properly. I kept pushing it in and it wouldn't seal right. The resulting sound was a bit hollow, very muddy on the left side, lacking some detail and any "punch" to the bass. I planned to return them immediately, disappointed that these $150 MSRP phones were so lacking.Then I found out that my left ear canal is larger than my right one, which affected the sound SIGNIFICANTLY (as you probably know). Wow, what a learning experience! If you're like me and have slightly different sized ear canals, try out ALL the pairs if you're not totally sure what size ear canals you have in each ear. I was somehow sure that my left ear couldn't be the largest size, and I was wrong. A humbling experience and a cool one, because now I know how to get the perfect fit for all of my other earbuds and headphone products, whereas this has apparently been an issue for over two decades of listening to, and loving, music. Use the foam tips: they produce a much better sound.Now that I have a solid seal, the noise cancellation I would say is 3 stars. Slightly above "average", as you can still hear noises around you, but you shouldn't be able to hear faint treble-based noise, and other noise is reduced by maybe 10 DB, if I had to guess. With the improper seal, I could hear my neighbor's dog barking through the wall clearly, but with this seal, I would probably hear it at maybe half or less of its volume, depending on how loud my music was.The sound quality of these I would rate as 3.5 stars, and I'm kind of picky (for comparison, I have the Cambridge Melomania wireless earbuds, and I'd rate their sound as between 4 and 4.5 stars). The Focals have a solid delivery for their price range. I would be pretty disappointed if I had spent the full $150 on these, but I'm factoring in that the cost was only $40. For $40, these deliver some pleasant, casual listening experiences. This is especially the case if you listen to treble-forward music, like jazz, classical, or acoustic. The vocals are warm and generally good, but they lack real precision and clarity, IMO. I still hear some muddiness coming through on treble, and they're not as crisp as I'd like... perhaps the word is "dark"? Bass is pretty boomy and satisfying on EDM and pop tracks, but lacks a sense of controlled tightness with that punch, if that's what you want. It's more of a dispersed bassy feel. There's still some satisfying depth to the bass, depending on the track you listen to. There's also a little soundstage that you get on these -- I listened to R&B, pop, hard rock, jazz, psychedelic, and singer-songwriter, and I could hear some acoustical separation between the instruments and vocals. However, these can't keep up with the pace of a true IEM that is starting at $100+.My favorite part about these headphones is the comfort and ergonomic design, which would get 4.5 stars. I've kept them in my ears for at least a few hours today and have very little perceivable ear fatigue. This is HUGE to me, considering that my ears are rather sensitive, along with feeling pressure in my ears. The design makes them amenable for long listening or studying sessions, which was the main reason I purchased them. This alone might be the reason why I keep them, as a really comfortable spare headphone pair when I need to just do some easy to enjoyably moderated listening. Just an FYI, these buds do slightly protrude from your ears, so I doubt you'd be able to sleep comfortably on your side with them on.If you don't need or want precision, clarity, or a neutral sound for live monitoring, if you want a warmer and to me slightly "dark" kind of sound, and you don't mind a little muddying of the sound (that is still enjoyable to listen to across the musical spectrum), you should try these out. Just make sure you get a proper seal!!

I had a very difficult time deciding between these and the V-Moda Zn. I was listening to both back to back, and also switching over to the Panasonic Ergofit every now and then as another point of reference. These were amazing and sounded just as good as the hype, but I ultimately chose the Zn's.Everything you hear is true: these are ultra clear and crisp and do very well to capture voices and live music. You do hear artifacts in low quality recordings, and high quality recordings are amazing. These were clearer and crisper than the Zn's and the Ergofit. The bass was decent, and did require a "burn in", but was weaker than the Zn's, and slightly better than the Ergofit.These were comfortable, as you have a lot of tip options to chose from. I'm unique in that my right ear is slightly larger than my left, but the options still worked out. One minor bit is that the earbuds have to be in a specific orientation to sit in your ears, but I think this may be by design as it gets cradled in the shape of the ear. One bit I did not like was the sound bleed. People next to you will be able to hear what you are listening to pretty clearly. On the other hand when you pause your music you can hear the outside without having to take the earbuds out.The carrying case is a nice touch. Has a zipper and is a hard, and enough room for the earbuds. The Zn's case is lacking in that it is a leather pouch, doesn't add as much protection and can hardly close with the earbuds in. The Sphear case is nice.So why did I choose the V-Moda Zn over the Focal Sphear? Sphear's potential for good sound was higher. My lossless collection of acoustic music and live concerts was amazing and better than the Zn's. However, the majority of my music is not like that, mostly mp3's of a wide variety of genres. The Sphear's had a weaker bass and revealed artifacts from lesser quality music that the Zn's smoothed over; The Sphear's felt too specialized while the Zn's felt more versatile.I'm giving 5 stars because I believe these are perfectly engineered music devices that do what they are designed to do: produce clear, crisp, beautiful sound. I may not have kept these in the end, but that is not because these are poor devices, these just aren't what I was looking for. I was looking for a luxury daily driver, and these were fined tuned specialized track car.