While Focal has nothing left to prove in the world of hi-fi speakers, the manufacturer is also keen to make a lasting mark on the headphone scene. After a number of successful models, including the Utopia and Stellia, the brand is completing its range with a new closed-back headphone, the Focal Celestee. Our new favorite?
Founded in 1979, Focal is the perfect example of French success. From its beginnings as a simple design office (France Filières), the Saint-Etienne-based brand, which is still based in La Talaudière today, now covers all areas of hi-fi, mainly at the top end of the market.
Behind this success is a passionate duo: Jacques Mahul, engineer and technical journalist, founder of Focal JMLab in the 1980s, and the late Gérard Chrétien, editor-in-chief of L’Audiophile magazine, who joined the venture in the early 1990s. These four decades of passion have been marked by numerous successes and the introduction of many technical innovations, which have since been widely adopted in the Focal catalogue. Note, for example, the inverted dome tweeter, introduced in… 1981 and still used today on many of the brand’s loudspeakers.
Another feat is the use of pure beryllium in its tweeters, a rare metal seven times more rigid than aluminium, enabling the frequency response to be extended well beyond 20 kHz thanks to its lightness and incredible damping factor. The only problem was its price, which was ten times higher than gold, so it was reserved for the Utopia, Electra and Kanta series.
Focal’s big break came in 2011, when it bought the legendary British manufacturer Naim. This major operation strengthened the Group’s international position, and it can now boast a portfolio of prestigious brands working together to satisfy audiophiles around the world.
This long-term effort has been rewarded with the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant (Living Heritage Company) label, awarded by the French government to celebrate just over a quarter of a century of beautiful sound developed and produced in France.
The subject of this test, the Focal Celestee, designed and assembled in the Saint-Étienne factory, is the brand’s third closed sedentary helmet, between the Stellia and the Elegia.
Presentation of the Focal Celestee
A true masterpiece, the Celestee retains the excellent quality of assembly that Focal is renowned for. More accessible than the Stellia, both in terms of price and overall aesthetics, it benefits from the same meticulous attention to detail in terms of construction and finish.
The broad aluminium yoke, covered by a wide support band, is draped in magnificent semi-aniline leather, directly inherited from the world of luxury cars. This exceptional material is also found on the wide earcups, which are veritable cocoons for your ears.
A real success, the headphones play on contrasting colours. The helmet’s numerous copper inserts perfectly underline the new Navy Blue colour introduced with the Celestee. The same refinement extends to the speaker protection grille, cut from a solid sheet of stainless steel and then painted in the same colours as the headphones.
Behind these grilles are the famous 40mm-diameter full-range M dome drivers. Very similar in design to the Stellia, they nevertheless swap beryllium for an aluminium/magnesium alloy, much more in keeping with the Celestee’s price pretensions.
As with the Stellia, this new model continues to boast astonishing figures, with high sensitivity (105dB SPL) and a particularly low impedance for sedentary headphones (35 ohms). Let’s face it, Focal may present the Celestee as a semi-nomadic model, but its 430g (excluding cable) will soon bring you back to reality.
To top it all off, the Celestee is made entirely in France. The brand is quick to point this out, engraving the much sought-after Made in France label in brass letters.
The set up
Let’s face it, the Focal Celestee won’t be going anywhere. It’s true that you’ll be able to move around the house with the headphones on, connected to an audio player, but don’t imagine for a moment that you’ll be able to take part in the slightest sporting activity or wander the aisles of the Paris metro with these headphones as your companion.
On the plus side, thanks to its thick leather earpads and closed shells, the Celestee offers first-rate isolation, more than enough to mask the hubbub of an open space or the roar of traffic once the music has started.
Surprisingly easy to power, the Celestee made do with our FiiO M15, which was almost over-dimensioned in terms of power, with the over-ear mode proving useless in practice. The same applies to the Kann Alpha, which confines itself to low/mid modes without ever exceeding half the volume. A surprising pair of headphones, then, that we’re eager to listen to in greater depth.
The sound
From the very first listen, it’s clear that Focal didn’t look far for its Celestee. Anyone who has had the chance to put an ear to the Stellia will soon notice the many similarities in the way it sounds… much to our delight.
The tonal balance is perfectly respected, with the headphones taking advantage of their W-shaped diaphragm to deliver clean, deep bass that never spills over into the midrange or treble. And while it can’t compete with the incredible finesse of the Beryllium dome, this new aluminium/magnesium driver doesn’t fall short – quite the contrary.
Dynamic, fast and marked by particularly lively attacks, the treble runs high without ever tiring. If a slight emphasis remains in the upper midrange, it operates without any sibilance ever appearing, adjusting the message without colouring it. The engineers knew how to play with the limit without ever crossing it. This is all the more striking because the Celestee descends so low, without any trace of roundness or exaggerated fullness. The impact of the bass drums resonates with force, while the vocals take advantage of this aplomb to project themselves towards us with disconcerting naturalness.
Minute after minute, hour after hour, the headphones chime out the notes of a well-oiled score. Whether it’s the syrupy jazz of Stacey Kent, the tangy R&B of Jhené Aiko or the electro-metal of ToneBox, Celestee strikes hard, but above all strikes true. So hard, in fact, that you’ll be tempted to turn up the volume, much louder than you should.
Of course, it’s on a high-end source – in this case our FiiO M15 and Kann Alpha – that the headphones really come into their own. With an ultra-wide soundstage, transparent phrasing and a staggering dynamic range, Focal is a real eye and ear opener. Proving, if proof were needed, that what’s beautiful can also be beautiful.
Our conclusion
Magistral, the Focal Celestee reaches new heights. Incredibly musical, superbly constructed and eminently capable, these headphones are a great success. While it obviously doesn’t match the excellence of the Stellia, it does come dangerously close.
So we can fully recommend this Celestee, certainly one of the best affordable introductions to closed-back headphones.
Author: Haja Randrianarison
Technical sheet: FOCAL Celestee
- Origin: France
- Price: €999
- Weight: 430 g
- Transducers: 40 mm full-range M dome aluminium/magnesiumtransducers
- Frequency response: 5 Hz-23 kHz
- Harmonic distortion: 0.1 % @1 kHz
- Impedance: 35 ohms
- Sensitivity: 105 dB/mW
