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Focal, everyone knows their TOTL speakers and headphones, bearing the moniker "Utopia" and straightaway you know you are in for a treat. But today, we are not talking about the Utopia. Let us turn our spotlight to Stellia.

Bearing a whole new suit of premium, brown, full grain leather, enough to make the most hardcore bikers turn their heads and eyes in jealousy. The metal yokes spots cognac colour which makes the whole package complete. While they do look gorgeous, where does this headphone fall? Is it just meant for a showpiece instead of a worthy headphone? Or does it cater just to some fashion models wearing just for the looks? Or does it belong to some on-the-go rich folks that are using full blown Utopia floorstands? We are about to find out.

With a headphone costing you over RM15000, what can you expect from the packaging? It comes with a brown faux leather box, upon sliding it up, reveals a matching leatherette fold-out box containing 2 pairs of cable(one long cable with 4pin XLR balanced connection and one short cable with 3.5mm plug with 6.3mm adapter). The headphones sit inside a hardshell travel case with matching maroon-brown colours. Inside holds enough space for the Stellia and the cables to-go. The Stellia has no creaks, flex or noise when handling. There is no give, no unwanted noise, just screams "Premium" everywhere you look. The earcups have springs to hold them back into positions, so it can stay on your head and give a perfect seal with the headphone and your ears. The headphones weigh just around 435 grams, solidly built and well-padded on top of the head and around your ears.

As you can see, it is a closed back premium headphone, so it must be claustrophobic, bass-boosted kind of headphone? Stellia is none of that. Stellia makes you forget you are wearing a closed back headphone, although you can't really compared it to something like Sennheiser HD800 or Hifiman HE-1000SE, but still blows most of the closed back out of the water. Bass is fast, snappy and tightly controlled and never bloated. Although tight, it still provides enough rumble for your EDM or jazz when the bass calls for it.

It has the sonic feature of any other Focal headphones, and carries a tinge of warmness to the music, bringing you non-fatiguing listening sessions all day long. The positioning and imaging is absolutely excellent, might be even better than the Clear MG in terms of instrumental positioning. Details and technicalities are no slouch either, it may not be the most detailed headphones, but still able to hold its ground with other TOTL headphones. With lower impedance of 35 Ohms and 106dB, you could just carry it around with you for outdoor listening session with just a DAP(digital audio player). The 'M'-shape, pure Beryllium dome, former-less 100% copper voice coil works hard for you to enjoy the music. The specially designed internal damping system reduces unwanted reflections and slightly angled driver positioning to to ensure the best dynamics and an ideal tonal balance on the entire audio spectrum. Although Stellia can be driven by pretty much anything from merely a headphone jack from a phone to a high-quality DAC and Amps, do note that it is still heavily dependant on the chains. The staple sound signature still carries over to other setup, but the details, clarity and impact improves with better source hardwares.

What pairs best with Stellia, one might ask. The answer is: Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition(Do read on our Naim Uniti Atom HE review, releasing soon!). The Naim pairs exceptionally well with any Focals, even the Stellia, or rather, it impressed me the most especially with Stellia. You just couldn't believe how this is a closed back headphone at all with this pairing. Sound signature doesn't change as much across hardware, but it just added some extra flavour (just like how Uncle Roger likes it) you can't get from other pairings. You could just plug it in, kick back, and just forget yourself in the music.

A headphone, which might potentially burn a hole through your wallet, is it worth getting? There’s only one way to find out. You know where to find us.😉

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✒️ Author : Leong | 📷 Photo : Hai Wei
👉 More Stars Picker's In-House Review | starspickeraudio.net/blogs/blog
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■ Type: Circum-aural closed-back headphones
■ Impedance: 35 Ohms
■ Frequency response: 5Hz–40kHz
■ Sensitivity: 106dB SPL / 1mW @ 1kHz
■ THD: 0.1% @ 1kHz / 100 dB SPL
■ Driver: 40mm pure Beryllium "M" shape dome
■ Weight: 435g
■ Cables provided:
1 x 1.2m OFC 24 AWG cable with 1/8" (3.5mm) TRS Jack connector
1 x 3m OFC 24 AWG cable with 4-pin XLR connector
1 x Jack adapter, 3.5mm female – 6.35mm male
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⭐ Official Store | bit.ly/Focal_Stellia_SP |
□ Retail : RM15,000 | Promo : PM for best price⠀
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■ 8 years physical shop / audio specialist⁣
■ Authorized Focal dealer
■ 100% genuine / warranty covered⁣
■ Malaysia first audio theme cafe / library