Focal Spirit One review: Focal Spirit One

The $279 Focal Spirit One is affordable for a headphone designed and engineered in France (but actually made in China). The Spirit One's ear cups are somewhat larger than the Bowers & Wilkins P5 on-ear headphones ($299), but the size advantage pays dividends with superior isolation from environmental noise. I prefer the Spirit One's sound over the P5 because it has more powerful bass, and the overall sound is more immediate and lively. With strong sound performance, cushy ear pads, and a generous two-year warranty, the Focal Spirit One deserves a solid recommendation for anyone shopping for a universal over-ear headphone.

Design and features
Focal's engineers put extra effort into developing a headphone that conforms to a variety of head and ear shapes, but comfort is only average. It's great that the earcups pivot on not one, but two vertical hinges and one horizontal axis to help ensure the soft, faux leather earpads apply equal pressure around your ears.

The clever design improves the seal on the ears to more effectively block external noise and maximize bass. My main gripe with comfort is the moderately high ear pad pressure against my head, but I suspect the stiffness will lighten up after a few months of use. The aluminum hinges that attach the ear cups to the headband should also ensure long-term durability compared with the plastic parts used on many other headphones.

The Spirit One's "soft-touch" finished ear cups and lightly padded headband have a luxurious feel, I also liked that the cups are clearly marked "Left" and "Right."

The 40mm Mylar/titanium drivers are rated with 32 ohm impedance and are highly efficient with volume, so this headphone can play as loud as you'd safely want from a phone or portable music player.

The Spirit One comes with a detachable, 42-inch long, cloth-covered cable fitted with phone controls for your Apple smartphone. The beautifully finished metal (not plastic) phone controls and base plug are a step up in quality from what I usually see on similarly priced headphones.

The cable's 2.5mm connector makes a reasonably secure fit to the left ear cup, but a moderate tug can inadvertently yank it out of place (a locking connector would have solved the problem). The ear cups can fold in toward the headband for fairly compact storage, and accessories include a semi-hard zippered and padded travel case, a soft cloth travel pouch, airline adapter, and a screw-on 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapter plug.

The two-year parts and labor warranty doubles the usual length of coverage for many headphones, and the Focal importer handles the repairs. Keep your invoice or proof of purchase with the box; you'll need both to initiate a warranty claim.

Performance
The Spirit One has an unusually smooth bass-midrange-treble tonal balance that makes similarly priced headphones like the Audio Technica ATH-M50 sound "canned" and thin by comparison.

Additionally, these headphones let you hear more detail from your music for a more intense and immediate sonic experience. I compared the Spirit One and Bowers & Wilkins P5 using Amy Winehouse's funky grooves and slinky strings on Back to Black, and the P5 flattened out the sound, creating the sonic equivalent of turning down the contrast and color on a TV. To its credit, the P5 has a warmer tonal balance that some might prefer, but I think it sounds smaller and cramped by comparison with the Spirit One.

I conduct all listening tests on my iPod Classic, but I also tried the Spirit One at home plugged into a FiiO E17 USB headphone amplifier and digital-to-analog converter. The extra power juiced up the bass, but the Spirit One sounds surprisingly better plugged into the iPod! That's atypical for an over-ear headphone since most full-size headphones sound better with home amplifiers, but the Spirit One really does its best with portables.

Finally, it's a closed-back design, so it does a good job blocking external noise, and won't leak much sound to anyone nearby.

Conclusion
No surprises here, Focal knows the sound that audiophiles want, and it delivers the goods. The Spirit One not only scores with superb sound quality, but it's reasonably comfortable with first-rate construction quality and a classy style.