Focal Listen Review | 93 Data compared

The Focal Listen is a premium, closed-back circum-aural headphone designed for daily nomad use, specifically optimized for smartphones and tablets with its 32-Ohm impedance. Priced at 199 euros, it achieves an overall review score of 9.0 out of 10 by delivering an exceptionally well-balanced, dynamic, and clean sound signature. It features 40mm mylar/titanium transducers and 22mm thick thermosensitive memory foam ear cushions that provide strong passive noise isolation. For portability, Focal designed a flexible headband with retractable, folding earcups, and sheds 7 grams compared to its predecessor, the Spirit One S. It comes packaged with a 1.4-meter OFC cable featuring an omnidirectional microphone, a soft carrying case, and an airplane adapter. The review highlights several distinct pros and cons regarding the performance and design of the headphones: Pros Acoustic Performance: Offers a dynamic, non-aggressive high-end, and perfectly balanced bass response. Design & Practicality: Features a robust, flexible soft-touch headband with space-saving folding earcups. Noise Isolation: The 22mm thick memory foam earcups successfully block out surrounding ambient noise. Smart Cable Layout: Separates the remote button and microphone on the cable to...

The Focal Listen, reviewed by Maison et Domotique, is a closed-back, over-ear headphone featuring 40mm Mylar/Titanium drivers, designed for easy driving with mobile devices and priced under €200. It is lauded for its exceptional musical balance, high fidelity, and superior sound quality for the price, delivering a rich, accurate audio experience across genres. While offering excellent sonic value, the headset's main drawback is its rigid headband, which causes high clamping force and discomfort during long sessions, prompting a recommendation to try them on for fit.

The Focal Listen Wireless is a closed-back, multipoint Bluetooth 4.1 headphone that stands out for its exceptional, audiophile-leaning sound quality, which remains identical whether used wirelessly via aptX or through a wired connection. Originally launched at €250, this model delivers a highly balanced, clean, and near-neutral audio signature with excellent instrument separation and detail extraction. It skips active noise cancellation (ANC) but compensates with class-leading passive isolation that seals in sound and effectively blocks high-mid and treble frequencies. Battery life is another strong suit, faithfully delivering around 19 to 20 hours of playback time alongside a durable, creak-free plastic construction. However, the headphone compromises on comfort and user ergonomics. The headband exerts high clamping force and is relatively short, making it poorly suited for larger heads or users who wear glasses. Additionally, the internal ear pad dimensions are narrow, causing larger ears to sit awkwardly between an over-ear and on-ear fit. Other notable drawbacks include a slightly cluttered, non-intuitive layout for the rubberized side buttons and a deeply recessed, non-standard 3.5mm jack that limits aftermarket cable replacements. Finally, while technically...

The Focal Listen WirelessGo review by ON-mag highlights a robust, practical closed-back bluetooth headphone priced at €250, giving it a 3.5 out of 5-star rating. The pros center on its exceptionally sturdy, "all-terrain" construction featuring thick plastic sliders that allow the unit to fold into itself seamlessly. Sonically, it utilizes 40mm mylar/titanium drivers to deliver a warm, non-fatiguing, and pleasant audio profile with consistent bass—achieving its absolute best performance when used in wired mode. Additionally, the heavy-duty design provides highly effective passive noise isolation and a secure grip that ensures the headphones stay firmly in place. Conversely, the review identifies several notable cons. The headphones are physically heavy and feature a quite basic, simple visual design lacking advanced features like touch controls. The strong clamping force required to keep them stable compromises long-term wearing comfort. In terms of usability and Bluetooth functionality (which uses Bluetooth 4.1 with aptX), the reviewer noted that the volume controls lack sensitivity, and the wireless sound signatures crave greater definition and firmness.

The Focal Listen Wireless is the French brand’s successful first entry into the wireless headphone market, offering a robust 22 hours of battery life that exceeded the manufacturer's 20-hour claim. Tested by Labo Fnac, the headphone delivers high-quality audio with minimal distortion and a very consistent frequency response, meaning sound profile and quality remain nearly identical whether connected via Bluetooth 4.1 (with AptX compatibility) or standard audio cable. It features an elegant black design alternating between matte and glossy plastic finishes, weighs 307 grams, and boasts an exceptional "acoustic perturbation" score of 10/10, ensuring that sound leakage is non-existent and nearby people cannot hear your music. However, the headset has notable drawbacks regarding ergonomics and isolation. It applies a highly pronounced clamping force of 789 gf, which can cause physical discomfort and pressure on the skull during long listening sessions. Additionally, the headband's adjustability is limited for larger head sizes, and the plastic construction makes users wish for more durable, premium materials. Finally, because it relies strictly on passive noise isolation through its leatherette ear cushions, the headphones score a...

Great Sound With Small Flaws The Focal Listen Wireless headphones deliver excellent, well-balanced sound with deep, punchy bass and sharp details. They are very easy to use and feature handy physical buttons, including two keys just for skipping tracks. The battery life is a big plus, lasting over 23 hours in real-world tests. The headphones can connect to two devices at the same time and feature NFC for quick pairing. They also offer an impressive low-latency Bluetooth connection of under 150 ms, making them great for watching videos without audio lag. However, the headphones have a few notable downsides. The headband is a bit short for large heads, which can cause uncomfortable pressure on the top of the skull. The rubber cushion on the band also feels quite rough against the head. On the outside, the new glossy black earcups look nice but easily catch messy fingerprints. Additionally, the built-in microphone for phone calls is very poor and nearly useless when you are outdoors. Finally, the headphones completely lack active noise cancellation (ANC), relying only on passive isolation to block...

The JohnCouscous.com review evaluates the Focal ListenGo, a closed-back, circum-aural portable headphone equipped with 40mm Mylar/Titanium drivers and a 32-Ohm impedance. The author praises the French brand for delivering a high-quality product that is incredibly simple to use. Designed for travel, it features a 1.4-metre detachable jack cable with a locking mechanism, easily adjustable ear cups, and a highly flexible, solid headband that handles torsion exceptionally well. In terms of audio performance, the reviewer highlights the headphone's precise sound, featuring rich mids and well-transcribed, above-average bass reproduction for a portable device. A standout pro is its excellent passive noise isolation, which effectively blocks out surrounding city clamour during commutes on the metro. Additional advantages include its highly flexible, robust headband design and its glass-wearer-friendly memory foam ear cushions.

The French tech website diisign gives a highly positive review of the Focal ListenGo wired, circum-aural headphones, calling them a "very good, rational choice" for nomadic listening under €200. The reviewer praises Focal's commitment to audio purity and neutrality, noting that the headphones deliver an incredibly precise, deep, and uncolored sound signature that faithfully reproduces what is on the master track without artificially boosting the bass. Structurally, the headphones feature a highly robust, deformable plastic headband that can be bent without breaking, and foldable ear cups for easy travel packing. The thick elastomer cable includes separate, ergonomically placed modules for the microphone and a single-button control, alongside a unique 3.5mm quarter-turn bayonet locking mechanism at the headphone base.

The Focal Listen is a closed-back, circum-aural wired headphone that received a 4 out of 5-star technical rating from Labo Fnac. On the technical side, it delivers highly impressive acoustic precision, scoring a near-perfect 9.3 out of 10 for distortion across multiple frequencies (80 Hz, 100 Hz, and 200 Hz), which ensures a clean, parasite-free audio signal. It also earns a perfect 10 out of 10 for sound perturbation, meaning it is exceptionally well-insulated to prevent music from leaking out and disturbing people nearby. While the technical frequency response sits at a moderate 6.7, actual users praise its audio signature, describing it as powerful, well-balanced, and capable of rendering deep, rounded bass alongside highly accurate instrument separation. Despite its stellar sound quality, the headphone compromises on some design elements. A notable technical advantage is its strong passive isolation score of 7.1 out of 10, its practical foldable design, and an integrated microphone with iPhone Lightning compatibility. However, a prominent drawback highlighted by users is comfort during prolonged listening sessions. The headphone weighs 305.2 grams, and the inner headband cushion exerts...

Review Overview The Focal Listen is a closed-back portable headphone that delivers surprisingly natural bass, high precision, and a remarkably wide, well-ventilated soundstage for its category. In terms of audio performance, it earns a flawless rating by maintaining extremely low, inaudible harmonic distortion and requiring very little power to drive, making it highly efficient for mobile devices. Its overall construction features robust earcups with easily replaceable memory foam cushions, excellent passive noise isolation, and a thick, detachable cable equipped with a sturdy, universal single-button inline remote. Pros and Cons Pros: Surprising fidelity in the bass and midrange frequencies, precise sound imaging, a wide soundstage, excellent passive isolation, very low distortion, low power consumption, and a solid, removable cable. Cons: Subpar headband comfort due to a stiff, rubbery "soft-touch" coating that exerts tiring upward pressure after an hour or two, a slight lack of "bite" and richness in the upper-midrange (affecting the attack of vocals and string instruments), and the total omission of physical volume controls on the cable remote.