Focal Celestee Review & Why I Sold the Stellia! 

Probably the best Celestee review I’ve seen, smashed it! Thank you.

Great review! Speaking for myself here, but I don’t mind your longer format videos at all. Loving my Celestees for office and on the go! They did require a little break-in on my set, but now they are on my keeper list for sure.

Great approach to reviewing 👍🏻 and every new one gets better and better, well done!

yes, finally a proper mic! Looking forward to more reviews

Great review! Looking forward to trying this out in the future after the Elegia left a bad taste in my mouth for Focal Closed backs

Man I had Celestee, and stupidly tried Stellia at a store. Omg, the difference, for me, was just wild. I didn't expect such a jump and eventually got the Stellia. Imo there is zero contest, and it's not close. Each to their own.

Great review, I really enjoy the Celestee, they are my favorite closed back headphone. I actually sold them originally to buy the supposedly better a Radiance, but I really did not enjoy the Radiance at all. I thought the Celestee were more resolving and had a clear punchy bass, where I thought that the Radiance had more of a bloated bass and a less defined sound. I also had the Audeze LCD-XC, but did struggle a bit with the weight so sold them and went back to the Celestee. I am very happy with them.

yep got mine on HF for $500 and it's been a wonderful option for my office and commuting on light rail. The +'s it's comfortable, well built, neutral tuning, great isolation, very low sound bleed, and easy to drive. The -'s the slam could be better, the stage is small (fine for some music), sometimes has a metallic timbre but this can be mitigated with correct source gear.

Today I was at store testing not only Celestee but also Stellia and many others. Of course UTOPIA and Meze 109 Pro was the best sounding for me, but I needed a closed back. So finally I bought the Celestee. It is true that you can't compare those headphones at a store listening for half an hour or even 1 hour. I'm not an expert at all but I found Celestee so close to Stellia in sound, with Stellia providing a bit more detail to me, beryllium sounds like that, I also have a FiiO FDX and sound similar. But sounds Stellia 3 times better? Not at all for me. In terms of design, despite of colours and leathers used, both are very confortable, so Celestee was my choice and to be even better, now is at 799€. Thanks for that video and nice review!

Really enjoyed this review. Do you have a suggestion for a headphone around $1k for techno/trance music? Been looking at the Celestee.

Hey dude - big fan of your reviews. Agree with pretty much everything you said in this vid - Celestee is fairly overlooked I think and a really solid package overall. The mids have a sweet/lush quality to them that I really like, and these have the usual Focal immediacy/dynamics in spades. Probably the closest to a closed back Clear so far. Personally I don't mind the smaller soundstage (which is probably overstated by people online) on these since these things do some cool things with layering and separation. Do you still own these / still using them for your portable solution? I would urge you to do give the Denon D9200 a go - they are really quite special in terms of high end closed backs.

Wow this reviewing style is second to none. This is the way to do reviews! I love the way you have comparisons to other cans and the harman target when talking about the different aspects of the sound. Some other reviewers do that as well but somehow I feel you do it better making it more relatable to me. I don't like pure harman as well and also find it shouty and a little bloated in the lower bass. Air is also slightly lacking in harman as well IMO. You are the first reviewer to convey this much detail in describing the celestee. Keep up the good work!!!

Hi AAS. I just found your channel and subscribed Thanks for the authenticity and knowledge which shines through. Question on Focal Radiance vs Celestee. I'll cut right to the chase. Is the $300 dollars difference worth it?

please tell me how tu burn in a focal headphone.

Great review! Have you tried Mark Levinson 5909 and compared it to Celestee? Would love to see your impression of them!

Does anyone know if you could run these with a dragonfly cobalt ? I also have a 16 inch m2 max macbook pro. I listen to classic rock and metal and death metal and im looking for a new pair of headphones.

Give us back the long review 😁

I need that Fletcher Munson-style Harman hump, though, because of hearing damage. I think Harman bass is probably excessive, though, and like tailored to bass heads. If you have good hearing, I'm sure this Celestee is a good match, though.

Hi, I have a serious question. If Stellia is the more resolving headphone then isn't it more viable to EQ the stellia into the warm V-shape you like Radiance for? Maybe add a bass shelf and raise mids a bit and voila, a superior Radiance, right? Or is that not how it works?

These are 1300$ usually in Korea, they went on sale for 500$ so I took a chance and got them. I suspect they have some new products on the way~

Have you heard the Elegia? If so, would you say this is a better headphone? I got the Elegias not too long ago. I am having to send them back to Focal for a repair on the headband. Sounds like a piece of metal is rattling around inside the headband.

Thanks for another excellent review!! I recently ordered a Sony MDR Z1 R and am waiting for it to be delivered. However, your review is now making me think whether Celestee would have been a better choice. I own the Hifiman Arya Stealth (btw, your review of the Aryas was spot on!) and they are my go to cans for technical performance and analytical listening sessions. For more relaxed and laidback sessions, I considered the Z1 Rs. Have you had the chance to listen to the Z1 Rs? If yes, how do they compare to the Celestee? Many thanks.

Hi, thanks for great review👍, which should you take for EDM, Hiphop Electronic.. this or Radiance? thanks

I feel like the Radiance is still the most balanced Focal headphone currently. Celestee is really very similar, though. The common downside of all Focal closed backs, to me at least, is an apparent narrow "null" around 5.5 to 6KHz (not necessarily a bad thing, btw), which weirdly enough I don't see in measurements published, but very audible to me (I confirmed this using PEQ using the narrowest possible Q setting). Might be the seal or something, but definitely only Focals exhibit this behavior on my head. Do you notice this too?

That's just insane: trading the Stellia for the Celestee, mainly because getting asked in the office is annoying. Based on the review, the Stellia seems superior in all respects. Additionally, comparing the soundstage of the Clear and the Celestee as similiar seems weird, as all tests clearly show that the Celestee has almost no soundstage (quite narrow) and the Clear has a mediocre soundstage (slightly below the DT 1990, which is already not great).

Man, I am always complaining about selling my Stellias. I haven’t heard the Celestee but love the look so much. That blue is stunning. Does the Stellia really sound so much money better? I don‘t know. Selling Stellias = buying Celestee, Questyle M 15 and do a short trip with the family. Hmmm… PS. Oh… Sennheiser ie600 would also be in the budget. Holy….

Which is your preferred closed back between Celeste and Sundara Closed?

Isnt Stellia better than Celestee ? I sold my Stellia because I bought the VC.

In a very short audition against the focal clear it seemed to me that there was something wrong or not appropriate. It could be because it was closed, but I don't know, something was missing, it not was the base.

You may be the first person i've seen review this headphone to say Celestee correctly lol

are you indian?