I took my Aurium with my Focal Clear and Hugo 2 DAC to a shop where I spent almost 2h comparing it A/B against the Violectric V281. That’s to say, while they have a number of different design elements than other Focal headphones, including color offerings, they carry that classic Focal headphones look, the beautiful mesh grills on each ear cup, and so on. Also the brown showing on the circles of the cups is apparently a layer of leather, also gleaned from the Verge article that @pwjazz posted in the Focal Elear deal chain.. Not sold on the color scheme…but I can appreciate the artistry of it, and the effort that went into making it a “luxury” item. The Stellia are closed-back in design, and their impedance has been reduced to 35 Ohms to make them friendly to portable audio sources. The black device has a stylish metal housing with cooling fins and internal power supply. Open-back headphones, on the other hand, are for people who are willing to compromise on versatility and noise isolation for the sake of the best sound. It is. The Russia-linked SolarWinds hack which targeted US government agencies and private corporations may be even worse than officials first realized, … Putting a closed-back design around the beryllium speaker of the Focal Utopia, the Stellia are also sonically impressive and will wow music lovers whether they’re audiophiles or not. I have both and the Utopia is stunning ... but different. The production of that album is extremely elaborate, and the Stellia represent every layer with forensic precision, so it’s separable and distinguishable from the next. Let’s get away from the price thing for a moment. Pieces of a … With the Arche model, Focal offers you a premium device for stationary use. Frequency Range: 5-40,000 Hz Nominal Impedance: 35 ohms Sound Pressure Level (SPL): 106 dB As you can see from these specifications, the Focal Stellia claims a fairly wide frequency range. Here’s the problem: the absolute best-sounding headphones, to my preference and that of many others, don’t sound perfectly flavorless. The Focal Clear headphones are unmistakably Focal. Clear is Focal's next evolutionary step in the realm of high-end, open-back reference listening headphones. Though built on the same physical frame as the preceding Focal Utopia, Elear, and Clear, the Stellia are recognizably unique, thanks to their striking exterior, which features an overlay of perforated metal atop yet another layer of leather. Alas, I never quite fell in love with the Stellia to the degree where I could advocate doing that. With dimensions of approximately 32 x 20 x 30cm, it looks like a high-quality hi-fi component and can actually be used as a preamplifier, thanks to the analogue outputs. I was on the verge of sending of the Focal Clear back because it didn't make sense to own something that I can't really 'use'. Picking them up when I get settled in for a day’s work, even taking them out on the move when I feel particularly ostentatious, I get a reliably exciting and insightful performance every time. Nevertheless, reviewers from sites, such as Head-fi, SoundGuys, The Verge, and Headphone Review all gave it a spot on their list. Last but not least, I have to mention Tadashi Tajima’s Shingetsu album of shakuhachi performances. They are what people think of when they think headphones: a way to take your music on the move, keep it private, and isolate yourself from a noisy surrounding. This resolution is achieved courtesy of the super-expensive beryllium speaker inside each ear cup, which minimizes distortion and deviation, and thus leaves room for every note, shuffle, and whisper in a recording to come through. 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